The Atbash Cipher is a type of ancient Kabbalistic alphabet cipher, where the first letter of the alphabet is substituted for the last, the second for the second last, and so forth. Many names of people and places are believed to have been deliberately obscured in the Hebrew bible using this cipher.

The name Baphomet, the supposed idol of the Templars, is believed by Dead Sea Scroll scholar Dr. Hugh Schonfield to be a Cipher for the Gnostic Goddess Sophia, believed by Gnostics to be the consort of God.*

The Hebrew Atbash cipher

In English, the Atbash would look like this:

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
Z|Y|X|W|V|U|T|S|R|Q|P|O|N

*Gnostics held a decidedly non-literal view of things

Related Resources:

• An introduction to the study of the Kabala
• Gnosticism
  With roots in ancient paganism, Gnosticism has survived in many forms to modern times.
• Esoteric Kabbalah
  The Western, or Esoteric Kabbalah was created and utilized by Western magicians and Hermetic students for hundreds of years, and is a spiritual tradition in its own right.