Baphomet, bad speller here. Here are some theories:
- Noel Currer-Briggs, The Shroud and the Grail
It is possible that the head idol was intended to represent the severed head of John the Baptist, based on allegations that he was revered by the Order. The Templars took part in the sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1203-4. Robert de Clari described the opulence and numerous relics at the sacred chapel of the Boucoleon Palace, amongst them supposedly the head of John the Baptist.
- P. R. Koenig, Too Hot to Handle
Another possibility as to the identity of the Baphomet may lie with Nicodemus, who in the Gospel of John who brought spices for Christ's burial. He is also mentioned in the apocryphal Evangelium Nicodemi (4th C.) as a ruler of the Jews who testified in Christ's favor. The Interpolation in the First Continuation of Chrétien's Perceval (12??) tells of the flight of Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea to England and includes the following intriguing passage:
Another possibility for the origin of the Head relates to the imagery on the first Grand Master's shield, which consisted of three black heads on a gold field. After about two hundred years, it is plausible that this head imagery could have worked itself into the legend of the Baphomet. According to more than one account, the Head was the actual skull of Hugues de Payen, which was preserved as an object of veneration.
- Forrest Jackson, The Baphomet in History and Symbolism
We found indisputable evidence for the charge of secret ceremonies involving a head of some kind. Indeed the existence of such a head proved to be one of the dominant themes running through the Inquisition records. Among the confiscated goods of the Paris preceptory a reliquary in the shape of a woman's head was found. It was hinged on top, and contained what appeared to have been relics of a peculiar kind."
- Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail
Herodotus (4:26) speaks of the practice in the obscure Issedones of gilding a head and sacrificing to it. Cleomenes of Sparta is said to have preserved the head of Archonides in honey and consulted it before undertaking an important task. Several vases of the fourth century BC in Etruria depict scenes of persons interrogating oracular heads. And the severed head of the rustic Carians which continues to 'speak' is mentioned derisively by Aristotle."
http://www.crystalinks.com/baphomet.html
Bump for later reading
This is what I found:
There have been many strange idols throughout the ages but the idol of Baphomet seems to be among the most mysterious. All which seems to be known about this unknown figure it that it is sometimes called the goat idol of the Knights Templar and the deity of the sorcerers' Sabbat. Even the name Baphomet seems to be a composition of abbreviations: 'Temp. ohp. Ab.' which originates from Latin 'Templi omnium hominum pacis abhas,' meaning "the father of universal peace among men."
The many accounts concerning Baphomet describe the idol as a monstrous head, a demon in the form of a goat, a figure with a goat's head and a body combining the characteristics of a dog, bull, and ass. The body was thought to symbolize the burden of matter from which arose the repentance for sin. The human hands formed a sign of esotericism to impress mystery upon the initiates. First they represented the sanctity of labor; and by pointing two lunar crescents, the upper being white and the lower black, they also represented good and evil, mercy and justice. The lower part of the goat's body was veiled but expressed the mysteries the universial generation symbolized by the caduceus or the phallus. The goat's female breasts were the only symbols of maternity, toil, and redemption.
Most accounts of the idol Baphomet were from the confessions of the Knights Templar at their trials after the Inquisition. This is why the idol still remain a fascination and a puzzlement. Instead of definitely establishing the existence of the idol the variances in the Knights confessions did the opposite. Not only is there an uncertainty whether the idol existed but, also, whether there was just one or several idols. The uncertainty of the idol's existence arises because some of the heresy and devil-worship charges brought against the Templars were never proven, and Baphomet was thought to represent the devil. During the knights' confessions the idol seemed to change or was shown in different forms. It was described differently as having a frightful head with a long bird and sparking eyes; or a man's skull; or having three faces. Some said it was made of wood while others said it was metal.
Although some accounts give the idol a goat's body as previously mentioned and others are vague, others described the head in detail. It possessed horns and between the two horns was a torch which represented the intelligence of the triad. Still below the torch, on the forehead, is the sign of the microcosm, or the pentagram with one beam in ascendant symbolizing human intelligence. The situating of the pentagram below the torch was to signify that human intelligence is the image of the divine intellect.
Among the heresy charges brought against the Templars was that some had embrace Mahometanism even though they had sworn to fight against every pagan belief. The charge arose when a knight confessed that he was made to adore the idol by kissing its feet and uttering the word 'Xalla,' which was a word of the Saracens. This was seized upon for proving heresy against the Order, but it must be remembered that western Christians were constantly trying to attribute the idol to Mahomet as an expression of their desire to persecute the Knights.
The belief in Baphomet still exists among some occultists. They hold the idol of the Templars was really the god of the witches deriving from the nature god Pan. In the 19th. century the Austrian Orientalist Baron Joseph von Hammer-Purgstal discovered an inscription on a coffer in Burgandy which he claimed indicated the Baphomet came from the Greek words meaning "Baptism of Metis (Wisdom)." This seemed to exalt Metis or Baphomet as the true divinity.
In the 20th. century German occultists formed the secret order of the O.T.O. (Ordo Templi Orientis or Order of Templars in the East). They installed the English occultist Aleister Crowley to head their British section. Crowley took Baphomet as his magical name. A.G.H.
from http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/b/baphomet.html
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