The Goat
Of Mendes
I came across The Goat of Mendes when researching into animal gods and goddesses. I came across goats and rams which are also associated with satan in particular religion. I found this incredibly interesting to my project, and wanted my character to be associated with a particular religion and to not only to appear a character that is only known as a myth, but to also link in well what what my character could also represent with a symbolised meaning stamped on the forehead. A faun character is associated with the enchanted woods, appearing half human/half goat. I thought researching into the goat of mendes could link in well with the character I was hoping to create.
The Goat of Mendes was first associated with the occult in the mid 1800’s when the occultist and magician Eliphas Levi drew a picture of a figure inspired to some extent by an early Greek description of the Goat of Mendes being represented by a ram headed and cloven hoofed figure. That image was combined with the image of the devil from a Tarot popular at the time and Levi named his figure the Goat of Mendes and called it Baphomet the Sabbat Goat. Levi is also credited with the first depiction of the inverted pentagram with a goat’s head as a symbol of evil.
Why is it that the goat is represented as a symbol of Satan and evil? Who was Baphomet? First one has to understand how the myth of Satan evolved.
The goat is a very ancient symbol utilized in many pre-Christian belief systems. He often represents fertility, wisdom, knowledge and the chaos before creation. The first astrologers, the Babylonians, saw the goat in the constellation of Capricorn. Capricorn was half fish, half goat, which represented a rather complex theology. This complexity is found in all of the early belief systems. The gods depicted by goats were complex beings that were not so much evil as an opposing force to the qualities of other gods. They often had dual roles where they benefited humankind on one hand while at times also working against humans or other gods. Sometimes they were not only fertility symbols but also possessed an opposite side that represented death.
Serpent and horned gods of the pre-Christian era represented wisdom, knowledge, fertility, death, and rebirth. Christians demonized them and turned them into Satan. Male gods became evil and demonic while female gods became evil witches. It mattered not if the original concepts associated with these figures had nothing to do with evil.
THE ORIGINS OF THE GOAT OF MENDES
The origins of the "Goat of Mendes" can be traced back to Ancient Egypt. Goats and Rams were worshipped in many cities throughout Egypt thousands of years ago. The Goat is synonymous with Satanism. The horns represent the Horned Gods/Goddesses. Goats also symbolized fertility in many different cultures and times. The Goat as a symbol of fertility and focus of religious rites dates all the way back to Sumeria.
The pentagram with two points in the ascendant represents Satan as the goat of the Sabbath, when one point is in the ascendant, it is the sign of the Saviour.
The Pentagram is also a representation of the figure of the human body, having the four limbs, and a single point representing the head.
A human figure head downwards naturally represents a demon that is, intellectual, subversion, disorder of madness.
The old magicians traced the sign of the Pentagram upon their doorsteps , to prevent evil spirits from entering and good spirits from departing. This constraint followed from the direction of the points of the star.
Two points on the outer side drove away the evil: two points on the inner side imprisoned them: one only in the inner side held good spirits captive.
The G which freemasons place in the middle of the blazing star signifies GNOSIS and GENERATION, the two sarcred words of the Kabalah.
It also signifies GRAND ARCITECT , for the pentagram on every side represents an A. By placing it in such a manner that two of its points are in the ascendant and one is below, we see the horns, ears and beard of the hierarchic Goat of Mendes, when it becomes the sign of infernal evocations.
Useful Facts
When used in black magic, the pentagram is called the "sign of the cloven hoof" or the "footprint of the devil" .
The star with two points upward is also called the "Goat of Mendes" because the inverted star is the same shape as a goat's head.
When the upright star turns and the upper point falls to the bottom, it signifies the fall of the morning star [ jesus christ]".
