The
Pentagram - it's history...
by Tansy Firedragon (Rachel Patterson)
Probably the
most recognisable symbol from paganism and when I started on this pathway many
years ago it was one of the first items I purchased to put on my altar and the
symbol I chose to wear as a necklace, one that I used in my dedication to the
Craft all that time ago.
Many of us
wear the pentagram in the form of jewellery or on clothing, accessories and
even tattoos. To pagans it is an
incredibly important symbol with a whole heap of power and meaning behind it,
but where did it come from?
The
pentagram is a five pointed star, encased by an outer circle. Its apex points
upwards. The five pointed star shape
without the circle is called a pentacle.
Yep I know… like many I used to get terribly confused trying to remember
which one was which…
Here I have
given some information that I have discovered in my research, it is by no means
comprehensive but I hope you find it interesting.
The
pentagram was first used around 3500BC at Ur of the Chaldees in Ancient
Mesopotamia. Pieces of broken pottery were found, some of them with the
earliest findings of the written language on. In later Mesopotamian art the
pentagram was used as a symbol of imperial power in royal inscriptions. It
symbolised the imperial power extending out to the four corners of the world.
The Hebrews also used the pentagram as a symbol of truth and for the five books
of the Pentateuch (the first give books of the Hebrew scriptures).
The geometry
of the pentagram and its metaphysical associations were explored by
Pythagoreans who saw it as a symbol of perfection. It was called the Pentalpha,
composed of five geometrical ‘A’s. Pythagoras travelled all over the ancient
world, so he may be the explanation of the presence of the pentagram in Tantrik
art. Early Hindu and Buddist writings that seem to share Pythagoras’ view of
the star.
The Gnostics
saw the pentagram as a Blazing Star, symbolising the crescent moon which
related to magick and mysteries of the night time sky and the dark.
Celtic
Druids believed the pentagram to be a symbol of the Godhead. Celtic pagans saw
the number five as sacred in many things. Examples of this are Ireland having
had five great roads, five provinces and five paths of law, the Fae counted by
fives and mythological figures wore five fold cloaks.
It was also
a symbol of the underground womb and bears a symbolic relationship to the
pyramid forms to the Egyptians.
Even early
Christians used the pentagram, it symbolised the five wounds of Christ and up
until medieval times it was used as a Christian symbol on occasion. It implied
truth, religious mysticism and the work of the creator. It was only after the
Inquisition that the ‘evil’ associations were assigned to the pentagram. Over time
the Christians dropped the use of the circle and just used the five pointed
star, I would assume in response to the neo pagan use of the pentagram with the
circle.
In Medieval
times the pentagram with one point upwards symbolised summer and with two points
upwards signified winter. In the legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the
pentagram was his signature glyph and was used on his shield. We are told that
this symbolised the five knightly virtues – generosity, courtesy, chastity,
chivalry and piety.
The Knights
Templar formed during the Crusades used the symbol of the pentagon in their
architecture and designs.
During the
Inquisition the pentagram was seen as a Goat’s head or the Devil. In the purge
on witches, horned gods such as Pan became equated with the Christian’s idea of
the Devil and the pentagram, for the first time in history was equated with
evil and labelled the Witch’s Foot.
During the
Renaissance period Hermeticism (the proto science of alchemy) developed along
with occult philosophy and symbolism. Graphical and geometric symbols became
very important. Western occult teachings began to emphasize the philiosophies
of Man being the small part of the larger universal spirit – “as above, so
below”. The pentagram returned as the Star of the Microcosm, symbolising man
within the macrocosm. In 1582 Tycho Brahe’s Calendarium Naturale Magicum
Perpetuum shows a pentagram with a body imposed and the Hebrew YHSVH associated
with the elements. And we are all familiar with Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing of
the geometric relationships of man to the universe. Later the pentagram came to
be symbolic of the relationship of the head to the four limbs and hence of the
pure concentrated essence of anything, such as the spirit, to the four
traditional elements.
Masonry uses
the pentagram to show man as the smaller aspect of the universe. The pentagram
then being incorporated into American symbols. The five pointed stars on the
flag and the eye/pyramid on money.
In the 19th
Century metaphysical societies sprang up all around the world. Many of them
based on the ancient Holy Kabbalah. Eliphas Levi was instrumental in opening of
the Victorian lodges such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. He is
accredited with renaming the tarot card coins as pentacles. It is during this
time we also see the first modern association of the pentagram with evil –
Eliphaz Levi Zahed illustrated the upright pentagram beside an inverted
pentagram with the goat’s head of Baphomet. This has led to the concept of the
different orientations being good and evil.
In the
1940’s Gerald Gardner adopted the pentagram with two points upward as the sigil
of a second degree initiation. The one point upward pentagram together with the
upright triangle symbolising third degree initiation. A point downward triangle
being the symbol of first degree initiates. The pentagram was also inscribed on
the altar with its points symbolising the three aspects of the goddess plus the
two aspects of the God in a special form of Gardnerian pentacle.
The
pentagram became a negative symbol in
modern society so it probably wasn’t until the 1960’s that the pentagram was
used and worn again in public.
The Church
of Satan was an organisation that started out as a practice of following the
Set, an Egyptian deity. For its emblem they used the inverted pentagram after
the Baphomet image of Levi. The reaction of the Christian church was to condemn
Satanism as evil and of course this lumped all pagan societies together as
Devil worship. The stigma of Witchcraft and its use of the pentagram sadly
still continues today.
Despite the
use and the different meaning of the inverted pentagram as a symbol of
Gardnerian initiation, modern witchcraft traditions tend to use the upright
pentagram.
Taoism also
uses the pentacle, each point signifying wood, fire, earth, metal and water.
The pentacle
is the simplest form of star shape that can be drawn unicursally, with a single
line, hence it has been called the endless knot. In the old folk song – Green
Grow the Rushes O, the line ‘five is the symbol at your door’ refers to the use
of the pentagram above doors and windows as protection against evil and demons.
The
pentagram is a symbol of Wiccan and some neo pagan spiritual beliefs. The
pentagram symbolises the five elements of earth, air, water, fire and spirit,
with the top point representing spirit triumphing over matter. It is used in
jewellery, on clothing and altars. It is also used in some blessings and healings.
The circle around the star represents protection, eternity and infinity. The
circle touching all five points indicates that spirit, earth, air, water and
fire are all connected.
Tansy
Originally published in the Mystik Way magazine
I chanced upon your article while researching for the various connotations associated with the pentagram as I wanted to use it for a developmental model. Thanks to your researched view it has given me a good idea. It is interesting to see that a geometrically perfect and yet so simple a shape has so many interpretations. My take - it's a mind game. You choose what your minds eye wants it to see it as.
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