- The image is basically Levi’s “Baphomet” which is illustrated in
Waite's translation of Levi’s Transcendental Magic. In the Golden Dawn system,
the Devil is assigned to Capricorn, the Goat.
- Levi's figure of Baphomet shows an upright pentacle on the
forehead. However, there is another figure that
shows the goat head fitted inside an inverted pentacle. I am informed that
this figure appears in Levi original work, possible as the frontipiece. I have not
been able to confirm this and Waite's translation of Levi's work does not contain
this figure. However, Chapter 5 of Levi’s work opens with: "The pentagram with two
points in the ascendant represents Satan as the goat of the Sabbath...." The reversed
Pentagram is also mentioned in the Golden Dawn Portal ritual (Regardie, p 213).
- In Levi's figure, the torch is between the horns atop the head. However, the
downward pointing torch is mentioned in Levi’s Sanctum Regnum and in Papus,
and in the Golden Dawn Portal ritual (Regardie, p 212). In The Secret
Tradition in Freemasonry (p 396), Waite shows the downward pointing torch in an
image of "The Symbolic figure of Hermetic Magic. From a design of Eliphas Levi." The
image shows the torch in the hand of a long-haired woman.
- The lines in the palm form the sigil for Saturn. The official
astrological attribution for the Devil in the Golden Dawn is Capricorn = Goat, which
is ruled by Saturn.
- The flame and fruit in the tails of the demons refer back to the
Lovers card. Their ‘chains’ may reference the “tow chain” which is worn around the
neck of the candidate in the first of the Masonic initiations.
Based on original research by Robert V. O'Neill. To add to this collection of information, please email
Robert V. O'Neill.
