According to Éliphas Lévi.
The circle is formed from the skin of the victim, fastened to the ground by four nails taken from the coffin of an executed criminal. The skull is that of a parricide; the horns those of a goat; the male bat opposite the skull must have been drowned in blood; and the black cat, whose head forms the fourth object on the circumference of the circle, must have been fed on human flesh. There is no authority for any of these stipulations. The small circles within the triangle show the place of the operator and his assistants.