Invoking the Baphomet

 

Invoking Baphomet in the strict Éliphas Lévi sense is not a “Satanic” ritual, a Black Mass, or a petition to an external demon. It is a high ceremonial operation whose real purpose is to awaken and equilibrate the Astral Light within and around the operator, using Baphomet as the perfect archetypal mirror of the solved macrocosm-microcosm. Lévi himself never published a complete ritual, but he scattered enough precise instructions (especially in Dogme et Rituel, the chapter “The Magical Sabbath” and the section on the “Conjuration of the Four”) that the historically accurate method can be reconstructed with very high fidelity.

Below is the closest thing to an authentic 19th-century Lévi-style “Invocation of Baphomet” that remains faithful to his own symbolism and theory. It is intended for advanced practitioners only who already possess ceremonial training, banishing skills, and a clear understanding that they are working with their own interior forces projected into the Astral Light.

Lévy-Accurate Invocation of Baphomet (“The Rite of the Living Pantacle”)

Preliminaries (indispensable)

1.  Perform a thorough Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (Lesser or Greater).

2.  The operation must be done on a Tuesday (Mars) or Saturday (Saturn) at the hour of Mars or Saturn, when the forces are most condensed in the Astral Light.

3.  Circle of black and white cloth or tape on the floor, 9 feet in diameter.

4.  Altar in the centre bearing:

•  The image or statue of Lévi’s Baphomet (or a large, correctly drawn plate of it)

•  Two black candles and two white candles at the quarters

•  Incense: storax + frankincense + a pinch of sulfur (traditional “Sabbatic” mixture)

•  A mirror placed upright behind the Baphomet image (the Astral Light is reflective)

The Gesture of Baphomet (the true “sign” of the Arcanum)

Stand facing East. Assume the exact posture of Lévi’s figure:

•  Feet together forming a single point (the inverted pentagram resolved into unity)

•  Right arm raised high, palm forward, fingers together (pointing to the white moon)

•  Left arm lowered, palm forward (pointing to the black moon)

•  Gaze fixed on the Baphomet image This posture must be held perfectly during the entire invocation. It is the living key.

The Invocation Proper

(Spoken slowly, with absolute authority, vibrating each divine name)

1.  Opening Proclamation
“By the name of the Eternal Living God who created heaven and earth, I, N…, magician and priest of the Most High, stand here as the living image of the Great Arcanum: As above, so below!”

2.  Conjuration of the Four (Lévi’s own formula, slightly adapted)
Facing East:
“Caput Mortuum, imperet tibi Dominus per vivum et devotum Serpentem!
Kerub, imperet tibi Dominus per Adam Iot-Chavah!”
(Turn South, West, North, repeating the corresponding names: Cherub, Seraph, etc.)

3.  The Invocation of the Goat of Mendes
(Still in the Baphomet posture, voice rising in intensity)
“O Thou, synthetic image of the Astral Light,
Thou who art called Baphomet, Pantheomorphic Azoth,
Goat of Mendes, living mirror of the equilibrated forces,
Thou who bearest the torch of Intelligence between the horns of Matter,
Thou whose arms proclaim SOLVE and COAGULA,
Thou whose caduceus riseth from the root of the world,
By the name YHVH Tzabaoth and by the name of the Tetragrammaton that is written in the triangle of the Pentagram,
I invoke and conjure Thee!
Descend into this temple and into this body!
Unite the Above with the Below through me!
Make me the living Pantacle, the solved Rebis, the magical Androgyne!
That the powers of the height may descend into the depth,
And the powers of the depth may ascend into the height,
And the miracle of the One Thing be accomplished here and now!”

4.  The Vibratory Formula (repeat 7 times, each time more powerfully)
While maintaining the posture, vibrate the name
BAFOMÉT (spelled in Hebrew בףאומית or simply intoned as seven syllables:
BA – FO – MET – RA – HU – TH – YA)
Feel the name descend from the torch between the horns, down the spine, to the base, then rise again in a perfect circuit.

5.  The Mirror Vision
At the climax, fix your gaze on the reflection of your own eyes in the mirror behind the image. You will see the Baphomet face superimposed upon your own. Do not flinch. Hold the identification for as long as possible. This is the true “possession” in Lévi’s system: the ego momentarily dissolved into the equilibrated archetype.

6.  License to Depart & Closing
When the force begins to ebb:
“O Baphomet, Thou who hast manifested in glory,
Return now unto Thy sphere, harming none,
Until I call Thee again by the great and powerful names.
As above, so below. It is finished.”
Perform the Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram again, then the Kabbalistic Cross.

Warnings from Lévi Himself

•  If the posture is broken or the will wavers, the Astral Light rebounds and can produce obsession or terror.

•  This rite is not for curiosity, domination, or material gain. Its only legitimate purpose is the achievement of magical equilibrium and the Knowledge and Conversation of the Higher Self.

•  Anyone who approaches it with hatred, fear, or Christian demonological ideas will meet exactly the “devil” they believe in.

Lévi’s Baphomet is invoked by becoming it, not by grovelling before it. The rite is the deliberate, willed identification of the microcosm with the solved macrocosm. When performed correctly, the operator experiences a momentary but overwhelming state of lucid unity in which “as above, so below” ceases to be theory and becomes lived reality.

The Goat of Mendez 

The Goat of Mendes (sometimes spelled “Mendez”) is a term from occultism that refers to a goat-headed deity or symbolic figure, most famously associated with Baphomet.

Historical Origins

•  The name comes from the ancient Egyptian city of Mendes (Greek name for Djedet in the Nile Delta). The primary god worshipped there was Banebdjedet, a ram-headed deity linked to fertility, creation, and generation. Ancient Greek historian Herodotus (5th century BCE) described the Mendesians revering goats (especially male ones) as sacred, equating their god to the Greek Pan and noting rituals involving goats as symbols of fecundity. He even claimed to have witnessed or heard of bestiality in rituals (though this may have been exaggeration or misunderstanding).

•  Importantly, the Egyptian god was actually ram-headed (like many depictions of the god Amun/Osiris fusions), not goat-headed. The “goat” confusion arose later from mistranslations and cultural blending of goat/ram imagery in fertility cults (goats and rams were both seen as highly sexual animals in antiquity).

Occult Reinvention: 

Éliphas Lévi and Baphomet

In the 19th century, French occultist Éliphas Lévi (in his 1854–1856 book Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie) popularised the modern image by drawing a figure he explicitly called the “Baphomet” or “Sabbatic Goat of Mendes”. Lévi’s version combined:

•  The alleged idol worshipped by the Knights Templar (accused of heresy in the 14th century; “Baphomet” likely a corruption of “Mahomet/Muhammad”).

•  Goat imagery from witch sabbaths and the Devil in medieval folklore.

•  The Egyptian “Goat of Mendes” as a symbol of primal generative force.

•  Hermetic, Kabbalistic, and alchemical symbols representing the balance of opposites (male/female, light/dark, good/evil).

Lévi’s Baphomet is an androgynous, winged humanoid with a goat’s head, breasts, a caduceus (or phallic symbol), and esoteric tattoos like “Solve” and “Coagula” (dissolve and coagulate, an alchemical principle). It was meant as a symbol of cosmic harmony and enlightenment, not evil—though it terrified conservative Christians

The Knights Templar were accused of worshipping Baphomet during their dramatic suppression in 1307–1314, orchestrated primarily by King Philip IV of France (“Philip the Fair”), who wanted to seize their immense wealth and eliminate his debts to them.

Modern Usage and Satanism

•  In the 20th century, the inverted pentagram with a goat’s head inside (often called the Sigil of Baphomet) became the official emblem of the Church of Satan (founded 1966 by Anton LaVey). It features a goat head in a downward-pointing pentagram with Hebrew letters spelling “Leviathan.” Here it’s explicitly a symbol of earthly, carnal power and individualism

Groups like The Satanic Temple use similar goat-headed imagery (e.g., their famous Baphomet statue with children) for political activism, emphasising reason, justice, and separation of church and state.

Baphomet and goat symbolism in television and cinema 

The Baphomet and characters based on him have in many, mostly horror films that tv shows including:

The Witch , The Crimson Altar, Baphomet and more!

In short: There never was a literal ancient “Goat of Mendes” demon—it started as a fertility ram-god, got misremembered as a goat, and was transformed by 19th-century occultists into the iconic goat-headed figure we know today as Baphomet. It’s now one of the most recognisable symbols in Western esotericism and modern Satanism it represents freedom of expression, sexual freedom and an irreverent opinion of Christianity