The Baphomet and the Temple of Lylyth
Though the Temple does not use the symbol of the Baphomet, as members of the Temple Of Lylyth, we consider ourselves of Lylyth as explained elsewhere; traditionally the Hebrew Lamed Yod-Lamed-Yod-Tav is transliterated as "Lilith". The mate of Lilith is Samael. Pan is the Androgyne Goat of Mendes pictured in the pentacle, and Leviathan written in Hebrew around the pentacle, in Biblical esotericism is the One Deity in its double manifestation of good/evil. The meaning may be found in the Zohar (II. 34b), where Rabbi Shimeon said: "The work of the beginning of creation, the companions/candidates study and understand it; but the full or perfect Initiates are those who understand the allusion to the work of the beginning by the Mystery of the Serpent of the Great Sea (Bahu), to wit, Leviathan." In this sense, Leviathan is the Serpent that eats Its tail, the Serpent of Wisdom and even the Kundalini, which is Rooted in Bahu (the Waters).

For a complete explanation of the Baphomet, see the link below. Eliphas Levi, whose real name was Abbe Alphonse Louis Constant, was a learned Kabalist. Eliphas Levi was the author of several works on philosophical magic. He was a member of the Fratres Lucis (Brothers of Light) and happened to once have been a Priest of the Catholic Church (from which he was defrocked when it became known that he was a Kabalist). Eliphas Levi, who drew the full figured Goat of Mendes, translated "Baphomet" as a reversed composition of three abbreviations: Tem. Oph. Ab., standing for the Latin Templi omnium hominum pacis abhas, "(The God of) the Temple of Peace Among All Men." Levi felt this to be a reference to King Solomon's Temple, which he believed had the sole purpose of bringing peace to the world.
Eliphas Lévi considered the Baphomet to be a depiction of the Absolute in symbolic form. According to the author Michael Howard, Levi based the illustration of his Baphomet on a Gargoyle which was on a building, the Commandry of Saint Bris le Vineux, owned by the Knights Templars: "The Gargoyle is in the form of a bearded horned figure with pendulous female breasts, wings and cloven feet. It sits in a crossed-legged position which resembles statues of the Celtic stag god, Cernnunnus or the Horned One, found in Gaul (France) before the Roman occupation." It also resembles a classic Tibetan Narjolpa in meditation position.
Joseph Fort
Newton writes: "Beginning as far back as 1886, Waite issued his study of the Mysteries of Magic, a digest of the writings of Eliphas Levi, to whom Albert Pike was more indebted than he let us know." What can we make of this claim? Albert Pike was a top Freemason - and Freemasons are connected to the Knights Templar. Levi was a prime source for Baphomet and, by connection to his two dualized drawings, he made the 2 point up star a symbol of evil for the first time in history as it never was such prior to this. Freemasonry's Order of the Eastern Star uses the 2 pointed up pentacle to this day; they certainly do not consider their sigil as a representation of anything evil.The Knights Templar were Roman Catholics and at the same time used the image of Baphemetis-Sophia! Sophia is not just the Goddess of Wisdom from the Hellenic and Pythagorean tradition associated with Gnosis; Sophia is also the Goddess and considered to be the Bride of God. Note also that Mary, Mar, is associated with Water - as in the Babylonian/Hebrew word Bahu "The Waters" and Miriam.
It has been held by many that the Templars were followers of the Goddess Sophia or at very least were instrumental in reestablishing the feminine aspect of Divinity that had been excised by the Church. It should be remembered that their patron, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, had an absolute obsession with Mary and was responsible for her being named the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of God. Mary is today considered the Mother of God in Catholicism. Whether the Templars were devoted to the Goddess or simply respectful of Wisdom, it cannot be disputed that Dr. Hugh Schonfield's Atbash cipher theory is among the most plausible explanations of the etymology of Baphomet.

Dr. Hugh Schonfield, one of the scholars who worked on the Dead Sea Scrolls, believed the word Baphomet was applied with the Knowledge of the Atbash Cipher. "This is a Hebrew code which substitutes the first letter of the alphabet for the last and the second letter for the second last and so on. When Baphomet is applied to this code, it generates the Greek word Sophia, which is translated in English as Wisdom. The Greek Goddess Sophia is brought to mind here."
If one writes the word Baphomet in Hebrew and remember Hebrew letters [not shown here] read from right to left, the result is shown here with our letters shown left to right. Applying the Atbash cipher, Schonfield revealed the following: The word Baphomet: Bet Pe Vav Mem Taf BAPHOMET
With the Atbash Cipher: Shin Vav Pe Yud Alef SOPHIA
Although written in Hebrew it reads as the Greek word Sophia that translates into "Wisdom" in English. No matter what you use, Wisdom is always coming up with regards to this word whether you use Sophia, Bahu Mid, or Baphe Metis. (See links below)
One of the main things in Jewish Mysticism is the Tetragrammaton, which most are told is the four-letter Name of God, YHVH (Yod, He, Vau, He). If, as Eliphas Levy did on his second figure, you add the letter Shin in the middle, you get YHShVH, Joshuah or Yeheshuah, which got Romanized into "Jesus." It's symbolic of the Holy Spirit (Shin, which looks like a fire) being inserted into the material world (the four elements, earth/air/fire/water). It's the adding of that one letter into the name that means that the Spirit of the Lord is being inserted into the world. As Tetragrammaton is the Name of Deity in four letters, Pentagrammaton is the Name expressed in five. Y.H.V.H. plus Shin is written Y.H.Sh.V.H as shown on the 1 point up pentacle Eliphas Levi drew with those letters around the figure of a man shown alone (Adam is alone - Eve is merely a serf created from a mere rib) is no longer the four lettered Name of the Creator, Yod-He-Vau-He, but the five lettered Name of the Preserver, Yod-He-Shin-Vau-He.

As we learn from the Kabala, the Shin has descended to earth and by combining with the other four letters has made the Divine Name masculine instead of feminine, for Shin is masculine. Behold patriarchy. Now they emphasize the masculine aspect of the Deity. Likewise the Name by which God is spoken of emphasizes His Preservative character, in contra-distinction to the original where SHE is spoken of in HER Creative aspect and the feminine side is stressed: Binah IS Sophia. Binah is also the upper Shekina; the lower Shekina is the Bahu or Sophia Achamoth. Furthermore, linguistically since in Hebrew (as in many other languages) words have "genders" - Sephira is singular female; Sephiroth is plural female; Eloha is sigular female, but Elohim is plural male.
To quote again from the Book of the Black Flame, "The Kabala teaches us that Messiah is made flesh, and this implies more than that on a certain historic occasion, as Christians (but not Jews) maintain, Deity became manifest in a particular human body. It indicates rather that the Divine is always being made manifest in every human being, and though he/she knows it not, is a manifestation of Deity on earth, Deity within each being. Thus in a sense a person him/herself represents the missing letter Shin - Shin being a representation NOT of the Sun or Solar Deities, but of the Living Flame that burns in Boundless Darkness."
For Further Information: