Occult Literature
Baphomet
Waite reproduces Eliphas Levi's Sabbatic Goat as Plate VI: a winged, goat-headed figure with a torch between its horns, a pentagram on its forehead and opposing hand gestures. The visible arm inscriptions, solve and coagula, place dissolution and recombination beside the image's other paired features, making it an emblem of joined opposites rather than merely a monster portrait. Waite's plate explanation reports Levi's identification with Baphomet and explicitly distinguishes Levi's conception of the absolute from Black Magic. That is a nineteenth-century occult interpretation transmitted by this book, not proof of an ancient cult image or a literal supernatural being.
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Citation
Éliphas Lévi (signed design); engraver unidentified. "Baphomet" [editorial title]. In The Book of Black Magic and of Pacts, Arthur Edward Waite. Tenth edition, 1910, 1910, The de Laurence Co.. Source scan leaf 142. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/occult-baphomet
Source details
Editorial title and description. Source details from the Library catalogue.
The symbolic reading is editorial and grounded in visible paired features and Waite's account of Levi. The historical identification with Baphomet of Mendes is attributed to Levi, not endorsed as an archaeological fact.
Sources
From the book
The Book of Black Magic and of PactsArthur Edward Waite1910More from this book
Edward Kelley: ritual frontispiece
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Mystic Figures of the Enchiridion: Plate IIIRelated illustrations
Cite this illustration
Éliphas Lévi (signed design); engraver unidentified. Baphomet. The Book of Black Magic and of Pacts. Scan leaf 142. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/occult-baphomet