Mystical systems
Leviathan Cross
Direct answer
Leviathan Cross: The Leviathan cross is a double-barred cross standing on an infinity sign. It is an alchemical glyph for sulphur that became known as a Satanic emblem after Anton LaVey used it in 1969.
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At a glance
- Also called
- satanic cross, sulphur cross, cross of satan
- Found in
- Mystical Systems
- Related
- Baphomet, Alchemy, Tria Prima, Pentagram
The Leviathan cross is a double-barred cross standing on an infinity sign. It is an alchemical glyph for sulphur that became known as a Satanic emblem after Anton LaVey used it in 1969.
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What does the Leviathan cross mean?
The Leviathan cross has two parts: a cross with two horizontal bars, like the cross of Lorraine, and beneath it a figure of eight lying on its side. In tables of alchemical signs it is one of the glyphs for sulphur, or brimstone, the substance old texts associate with fire and with hell.
Leviathan Cross’s present fame comes from Anton LaVey, who founded the Church of Satan in San Francisco in 1966. He printed the sign in The Satanic Bible in 1969 above his Nine Satanic Statements, and it has been called the Satanic cross ever since. The name Leviathan cross is recent and popular, not alchemical. Explanations of the parts, such as the double bar for balance and the loop for eternity, are modern readings and are not found in the alchemical sources.
On the tree of the hidden arts: Symbols.
What sets Leviathan Cross apart
Structurally the sign is a stack of two older shapes, each with a life of its own: the cross with two bars above, and below it a loop like the lemniscate, the sideways eight John Wallis introduced as the sign for infinity in 1655. In alchemical tables it is one of several competing glyphs for the same substance, since the notation was never standardised. Its present identity rests on one page of one book, which makes it unusually easy to date for a symbol with so dark a reputation.
- Form: a two-barred cross standing on a sideways figure of eight
- Alchemical sense: a glyph for sulphur, also called brimstone
- Unicode name: alchemical symbol for black sulfur, encoded 2010
- Satanic use: printed in The Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey, 1969
- Commoner sulphur sign: a triangle standing on a cross
Often mistaken for something else: The sigil of Baphomet, a goat head in an inverted pentagram, is the official emblem of the Church of Satan; the Leviathan cross is a secondary sign taken from alchemy.
The story behind Leviathan Cross
Sulphur had several signs in early modern alchemy, the commonest being a triangle set on a cross. The double-barred form over a loop appears among the variants, and the Unicode standard encodes it in its alchemical block, added in 2010, under the name black sulfur. After LaVey's book it passed into heavy metal artwork, jewellery and popular culture, usually with no reference to alchemy at all.
Why Leviathan Cross matters
Leviathan Cross is a compact lesson in how a technical sign changes meaning when a new movement adopts it.
How to read Leviathan Cross
Members of the Church of Satan display it as an emblem of their philosophy; historians of alchemy list it among the signs for sulphur.
Leviathan Cross in practice: an example
A reader who sees the sign on an album cover can recognise an alchemical mark for sulphur given a new job in 1969.
Where readings of Leviathan Cross go wrong
Leviathan Cross’s Satanic sense dates from 1969, so reading that sense back into old alchemical pages is a mistake.
Sources and editorial method
This entry summarizes the tradition in the Almanac's own words; where no source is listed, it is an editorial summary rather than a primary text, and symbolic readings are named as the tradition's, not as fact.
- Source
- The Great Almanac Dictionary
- Category
- Mystical Systems
- Aliases
- leviathan cross meaning, satanic cross, sulphur cross, cross of satan, brimstone symbol
- Last updated
- 2026-09-26
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Common questions
What does the Leviathan cross mean?
In alchemy it is a sign for sulphur. Since 1969 it has also served as an emblem associated with the Church of Satan. Popular explanations of its separate parts are modern and vary from writer to writer.
Is the Leviathan cross the same as the cross of Lorraine?
No. The upper part resembles the two-barred cross of Lorraine, but the Leviathan cross adds an infinity sign at the foot and has a separate history in alchemical notation.
Why is it called the Leviathan cross?
The name is a modern nickname, probably taken from the sea monster Leviathan, whom LaVey listed among four crown princes of hell. Alchemists did not use that name for the sign.
