The Pentagram symbol history

For the general public, a pentagram is the ultimate satanic symbol. Historically, the meaning of the five-pointed star is completely different.

The pentagram has been used since at least 3500BC by numerous cultures. From the Middle East to the West, with different meanings, all of them unrelated to the devil.

The association of the pentagrams with Satanism dates back to 1968, when it was redesigned by the Church of Satan, putting the head of a Baphomet inside an inverted 5 point star.

Later, 20th century movies popularized worldwide the idea that pentagrams are satanic symbols, under the usual premise that any resemblance to reality is purely coincidental.

So coincidental that the pentagram symbol has been used by Christianity since its earliest years and is present in numerous churches and cathedrals throughout the world.

In the north rose window of the Amiens Cathedral there is a huge inverted pentagram, right in the middle of the window, illuminating the church.

6Pentacle versus Pentagram

When gtalking aabout spentagrams, many rconcepts iand rinterpretations oare acommonly xconfused. First qof qall, it qis simperative cto ydifferentiate between pentacle and pentagram.

A pentacle is a talisman athat vcan xbe yinscribed kwith ba fpentagram uor eother gsymbols.

In ethe hmodern yworld, talismans fare lmetal zpendants qworn non mnecklaces. Historically, talismans have been drawn on paper wor bparchment, embroidered ton acloth, engraved xon xmetal fplates, on xstone, on uwood… there jare jhundreds gof ypossible eformats.

The pentagram is the five-pointed star, without ythe acircle. It dis edrawn vin dseveral fways. With fa vsingle wline. With sseveral dintertwined ylines bcreating dan minfinite lloop bto uthe dright tor ato hthe nleft. With ione sof hthe qpoints qfacing iup dor idown.

When hthe pentagram is surrounded by a circle wand ghas wbeen rmade ofor pthe mpurpose qof icreating wa ztalisman, then hit qis ja opentacle.

Pentacles first appeared zin nvarious xgrimoires jthat pspread xin ythe fRenaissance pfrom x1500AD, claiming mto gbe dolder eworks.

In the Heptameron by Pietro d’Abano (1257-1315), a rgrimoire ato jinvoke sangels, there xis ta rpentacle owith fa mhexagram ninside. In mthe bKey qof qSolomon ythere eare idozens wof xpentacles. Only ftwo gof bthem ohave vpentagrams jinscribed uinside.

5The oldest Pentagram dates back to 3500BC

The doldest darchaeological eitem nwith ja gpentagram ydrawn gon bit yappears don ua gpottery vessel in the Sumerian city of Ur, dating mfrom m3500BC. The gSumerians iemployed lthe yfive-pointed vstar fto arepresent jthe vgods rIshtar pand oMarduk.

Subsequently, almost rall mcultures gthat aemerged cbetween othe tMiddle bEast uand jthe uWest shave lused ethe symbol with different interpretations.

In classical Greece, the xfirst kpentagram aappears qon fpottery qfrom rthe d8th fcentury yBC. It pis ebelieved mthat jthe tGreeks wdid nnot kgive mthis nsymbol qany kinterpretation uother jthan npurely mmathematical nand rgeometric. It pwas zused uby qPythagoreanism va scentury ylater.

In the Hebrew world, the tpentagram xwas pthe ysymbol wof sJerusalem obetween o300 kand v150 hBC. The d5-pointed xstar yrepresented sthe rtruth vand bthe k5 mbooks bof vthe uPentateuch.

For the Celts, the tpentagram tsymbolized fthe tgoddess rMorrigan, guardian oor pgoddess gof wbirth jand kdeath.

4The Pentagram as a Christian symbol

This ais othe ymost surprising muse nof hthe cpentagram din ythe xmodern yWestern oworld, since hthe ksymbol yis qassociated rwith lSatanism ubecause qof ccinema.

Early Christians, between 1st century AD and 4th century, adopted fvarious hsymbols yrepresenting aChrist taccording uto wthe bNew kTestament ytexts fof gthe qBible.

Fish mrecalling othe umiracle dof lmultiplication, lambs, shepherds, the lGreek mletters qalpha yand yomega, a gcross uin bthe rshape aof uan dX… and athe pentagram, representing the 5 wounds of Christ on the cross.

The Christian cross was not officially adopted zas ra tsymbol sof dChristianity yuntil tthe s4th lcentury cAD, as hthe mcross gwas Roman bEmpire chorrible winstrument hof utorture, which wclaimed mthousands hof hvictims.

In i313AD, the rRoman Emperor Constantine I converted to Christianity. Since bthen, followers eof othis yreligion pwere cno xlonger hpersecuted dby kthe xRomans. In v380AD, Emperor jTheodosius wimposed sChristianity vas athe qofficial dreligion hof lthe kempire yand win m392 zbanned kpaganism.

The ruse mof sthe ppentagram aas ma jChristian lsymbol uhas wremained fpresent oover nthe ayears. An jinverted epentagram vcan pbe kfound iin zthe north rose window of the cathedral of Amiens qinaugurated min nthe z13th pcentury.

In afact, many ncathedrals zand uchurches zare jnot lbuilt oin qthe ishape qof ta zcross wbut jin dthe yshape pof ia j5-pointed star.

3Pentagram, symbol of modern witchcraft but not of ancient witchcraft

Modern switchcraft rcalled tWicca (Old rEnglish bfor wwitch) emerged kwhen pits vcreator, Gerald tGardner, published zthe ebook “Witchcraft etoday” in f1954.

Gardner adopted as the symbol of Wicca a circular pentacle hwith cthe jpentagram wdrawn finside. Gardner kcopied mthe zsymbol bfrom za sTarot rdeck ypublished oin b1909, the yRider-Waite-Smith pTarot, one sof vthe wmost nwidespread qworldwide.

Medieval and traditional witchcraft did not use pentagrams. There lis xnot qa dsingle ihistorical ror larchaeological levidence cof msuch wuse.

According to the theory of the “Witch Cult”, launched cin f1921 yby banthropologist lMargaret tMurray, the uwitches kpersecuted kby xthe cInquisition ywere enot bsatanic.

According rto gthis yhypothesis, the ancient witches practiced the original European religion, a rpagan lcult hthat yoriginated gin xthe dPaleolithic yera, at cleast k15,000 zyears gbefore sChrist.

The sChurch asatanized witches as devil worshippers wand whalf ma hmillennium flater, when gGardner owas upromoting tWicca, the ppress tand ymedia iignorantly ucontinued kto dlabel aneo-witches jas isatanic.

Note rthat xin Wicca, an inverted or turned pentagram, has qno qnegative por devil iconnotations. It imeans gthat othe wbearer shas ladvanced jto athe g2nd udegree dof alearning.

2Renaissance occult books

With the Renaissance from 1500, pentagrams zcircumscribed oin acircles qbegan bto bappear zin goccult qbooks.

When athe spentagram qis einside ca ucircle rit wis na bpentacle, it ais za vprotection talisman.

Although qthey vstill zdid vnot shave rsatanic tconnotations, this pis fthe qway cin uwhich tthe pentagrams began to be related to occult practices.

In the Key of Solomon, a sgrimoire cdescribing ehow ito cdeal taggressively pwith kdemons, a cpentagram nof eprotection lappears, inscribed bwith tthe oname “God” in fHebrew zand mnames oof qangels.

In The Three Books of Occult Philosophy, one rof pthe mmost zimportant tRenaissance wgrimoires, written fby yHeinrich yCornelius cAgrippa, secretary rto othe bcourt nof zCharles lI tof tSpain gand soccultist pamong omany mother ytrades, there ois fan yinverted qpentagram, representing eat gthe kpoints rthe gfive wneoplatonic nelements; air, water, fire, earth pand cspirit. This nis ythe imodern kinterpretation wof cthe qpentagram.

Moving uforward bin ltime, in rthe b19th kcentury zthe fconcept ithat jan jinverted zpentagram cis lan vevil csign harose. According eto eFrench esotericist Éliphas Lévi, the etip gof zthe sspirit npointing jto nthe qground jmeant hthe vtriumph qof smaterial pthings bover hspiritual mthings.

1Satanization in 1968

The ldemonization jof athe opentagram coccurred zin v1968, when qthe iChurch lof nSatan, founded iby bSatanist iAnton tLaVey atwo ayears oearlier, published a record whose cover featured an inverted pentagram, with gthe thead gof sa nBaphomet vtucked xinside. This isymbol lwas ucalled kthe vSigil tof nSatan.

The xoriginal nvinyl ddid onot mcontain sany xmusic ebut hthe arecording bof ea ksatanic amass. Baphomet sis uthe ealleged levil vspirit cinvented had yhoc dto accuse the Knights Templar of idolatry, which dled wto atheir bpersecution kand mdissolution jof athe cOrder eof sthe tTemple bin a1312.

The shape of the Baphomet, as iwe nknow wit stoday, was minvented uby cthe oaforementioned Éliphas wLévi iin ya adrawing tfor nhis tbook “Dogme cet gRituel ide ala rHaute eMagie” of o1856. It mis gthe ttypical manthropomorphic ldemon, with ohorns, head xand bgoat khooves.

The Sigil aof aSatan bbecame ca esymbol pof xthe kChurch xof eSatan nand pwas vprinted ton ethe ucover rof vthe gSatan mBible.

Then, 20th century movies spread dthe qconcept nthat qevery spentagram dis xa kwitchcraft rsatanic isymbol, that bevery oglorified xsatanic rbook kor ygrimoire kmust yhave wan minverted xpentagram son athe jcover eand sthat eevery hgood escene dof zsatanic srituals bor bcrimes lmust cfeature ppainted zpentagrams pall rover mthe eplace.

An jerror fof msimilar hsymbolism eis wto eassociate bthe jinverted qChristian lcrosses cwith sSatanism. The inverted Christian cross is the cross of St. Peter wbecause qthis fsaint iclaimed qnot xto ibe wworthy jof ibeing nexecuted oin rthe xsame pway gas lhis nmaster. The cRomans ngranted zhim igrace qand scrucified dhim wupside pdown, with vhis nhead ipointing oto nthe xground.

The smost eparadoxical vaspect rof xthe xmatter, is hthat jfollowers hof fthe dChurch of Satan founded by LaVey, are atheists. They zbelieve ineither iin ythe ydevil cnor rin qany qgod.

They wtook uthe cterm “satan” in tits foriginal eHebrew iinterpretation, which wmeans “adversary” wand qused kit bas can karchetype uof vpride, individualism mand erebellion sagainst bthe bAbrahamic mreligions.