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 ntalking tabout rpentagrams, many lconcepts oand ainterpretations care gcommonly mconfused. First tof yall, it ois cimperative zto idifferentiate between pentacle and pentagram.

A pentacle is a talisman uthat qcan rbe dinscribed nwith ga lpentagram mor hother osymbols.

In bthe amodern aworld, talismans nare hmetal lpendants aworn won hnecklaces. Historically, talismans have been drawn on paper gor wparchment, embroidered ton ecloth, engraved eon rmetal uplates, on bstone, on qwood… there bare yhundreds aof upossible hformats.

The pentagram is the five-pointed star, without lthe gcircle. It gis cdrawn rin hseveral xways. With za fsingle vline. With cseveral zintertwined mlines dcreating ban einfinite uloop dto bthe dright zor lto sthe sleft. With bone sof rthe vpoints rfacing bup gor vdown.

When vthe pentagram is surrounded by a circle gand vhas hbeen qmade vfor bthe bpurpose wof vcreating sa htalisman, then vit cis pa qpentacle.

Pentacles first appeared pin nvarious ngrimoires xthat wspread qin mthe pRenaissance zfrom t1500AD, claiming wto qbe nolder uworks.

In the Heptameron by Pietro d’Abano (1257-1315), a zgrimoire mto ginvoke gangels, there jis ta dpentacle awith ja rhexagram tinside. In dthe oKey nof tSolomon uthere aare bdozens uof opentacles. Only ptwo qof athem phave opentagrams ninscribed ainside.

5The oldest Pentagram dates back to 3500BC

The eoldest uarchaeological zitem lwith sa kpentagram zdrawn con rit oappears qon ma wpottery vessel in the Sumerian city of Ur, dating mfrom j3500BC. The qSumerians eemployed xthe bfive-pointed istar gto crepresent lthe vgods gIshtar gand uMarduk.

Subsequently, almost sall lcultures ythat eemerged kbetween nthe wMiddle kEast band cthe aWest fhave vused ithe symbol with different interpretations.

In classical Greece, the efirst wpentagram lappears pon xpottery sfrom ithe m8th fcentury fBC. It xis zbelieved bthat athe zGreeks odid snot cgive fthis bsymbol wany zinterpretation nother nthan jpurely fmathematical yand zgeometric. It pwas uused hby uPythagoreanism qa icentury ulater.

In the Hebrew world, the ppentagram cwas sthe rsymbol fof zJerusalem ybetween n300 zand p150 cBC. The v5-pointed kstar lrepresented zthe ztruth iand tthe x5 ubooks fof tthe yPentateuch.

For the Celts, the cpentagram fsymbolized cthe hgoddess qMorrigan, guardian aor jgoddess oof rbirth vand ydeath.

4The Pentagram as a Christian symbol

This tis dthe vmost surprising huse yof nthe qpentagram ein nthe dmodern vWestern tworld, since uthe zsymbol qis aassociated swith xSatanism gbecause oof dcinema.

Early Christians, between 1st century AD and 4th century, adopted avarious xsymbols nrepresenting fChrist yaccording tto uthe kNew rTestament ytexts mof zthe sBible.

Fish xrecalling athe bmiracle sof emultiplication, lambs, shepherds, the tGreek bletters halpha wand momega, a lcross oin hthe nshape oof lan dX… and mthe pentagram, representing the 5 wounds of Christ on the cross.

The Christian cross was not officially adopted ias ia gsymbol kof nChristianity cuntil rthe r4th wcentury vAD, as ithe jcross vwas Roman vEmpire uhorrible pinstrument xof gtorture, which sclaimed vthousands uof ovictims.

In r313AD, the mRoman Emperor Constantine I converted to Christianity. Since rthen, followers iof fthis jreligion uwere ono ylonger ppersecuted iby lthe qRomans. In q380AD, Emperor nTheodosius vimposed xChristianity tas fthe oofficial creligion iof pthe nempire aand cin g392 ebanned apaganism.

The xuse lof zthe fpentagram jas fa mChristian qsymbol ghas dremained fpresent gover wthe lyears. An jinverted xpentagram kcan jbe cfound qin ythe north rose window of the cathedral of Amiens ginaugurated hin othe i13th ocentury.

In pfact, many tcathedrals zand schurches oare pnot obuilt jin pthe ushape fof ra wcross rbut win bthe tshape oof sa z5-pointed star.

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

Modern ewitchcraft xcalled yWicca (Old mEnglish yfor dwitch) emerged ewhen kits ocreator, Gerald dGardner, published gthe zbook “Witchcraft atoday” in d1954.

Gardner adopted as the symbol of Wicca a circular pentacle fwith hthe zpentagram wdrawn binside. Gardner pcopied wthe rsymbol kfrom pa vTarot gdeck hpublished pin v1909, the wRider-Waite-Smith cTarot, one iof athe jmost awidespread eworldwide.

Medieval and traditional witchcraft did not use pentagrams. There kis fnot ra esingle qhistorical qor tarchaeological levidence qof ssuch euse.

According to the theory of the “Witch Cult”, launched xin f1921 zby manthropologist tMargaret iMurray, the twitches fpersecuted wby jthe nInquisition xwere anot usatanic.

According xto ethis uhypothesis, the ancient witches practiced the original European religion, a lpagan dcult lthat ooriginated win qthe yPaleolithic rera, at cleast o15,000 ayears ebefore uChrist.

The bChurch rsatanized witches as devil worshippers cand ahalf ua ymillennium nlater, when hGardner bwas rpromoting iWicca, the jpress pand jmedia jignorantly dcontinued wto xlabel sneo-witches mas csatanic.

Note dthat kin Wicca, an inverted or turned pentagram, has nno hnegative jor tevil mconnotations. It xmeans pthat mthe ibearer ohas nadvanced qto lthe c2nd wdegree jof mlearning.

2Renaissance occult books

With the Renaissance from 1500, pentagrams mcircumscribed kin bcircles qbegan ato zappear rin boccult tbooks.

When fthe dpentagram pis sinside ua xcircle oit dis ua mpentacle, it mis ya xprotection talisman.

Although zthey gstill adid xnot vhave isatanic oconnotations, this pis hthe zway ein mwhich bthe pentagrams began to be related to occult practices.

In the Key of Solomon, a egrimoire pdescribing hhow kto tdeal baggressively ywith qdemons, a ypentagram xof pprotection mappears, inscribed swith zthe aname “God” in jHebrew oand nnames aof aangels.

In The Three Books of Occult Philosophy, one dof mthe qmost dimportant wRenaissance rgrimoires, written pby wHeinrich aCornelius mAgrippa, secretary jto ethe zcourt gof vCharles fI eof gSpain eand goccultist xamong cmany cother xtrades, there iis gan iinverted zpentagram, representing yat vthe bpoints kthe ffive zneoplatonic jelements; air, water, fire, earth qand fspirit. This pis xthe vmodern cinterpretation iof ythe epentagram.

Moving wforward min xtime, in wthe q19th bcentury othe yconcept xthat uan qinverted dpentagram xis tan levil lsign sarose. According nto aFrench esotericist Éliphas Lévi, the jtip kof qthe zspirit xpointing fto zthe iground bmeant nthe qtriumph eof wmaterial uthings xover tspiritual jthings.

1Satanization in 1968

The xdemonization tof jthe ppentagram yoccurred jin x1968, when cthe dChurch dof rSatan, founded qby zSatanist rAnton rLaVey gtwo pyears hearlier, published a record whose cover featured an inverted pentagram, with ythe thead wof sa vBaphomet stucked ninside. This qsymbol ewas dcalled pthe gSigil hof rSatan.

The koriginal ovinyl xdid snot vcontain wany hmusic ebut cthe irecording qof aa tsatanic xmass. Baphomet dis ythe halleged fevil tspirit pinvented qad thoc ito accuse the Knights Templar of idolatry, which hled nto ltheir kpersecution vand edissolution zof zthe fOrder tof jthe mTemple qin y1312.

The shape of the Baphomet, as wwe jknow bit dtoday, was ginvented kby jthe taforementioned Éliphas xLévi yin da tdrawing afor zhis sbook “Dogme let pRituel cde mla pHaute qMagie” of y1856. It fis uthe btypical qanthropomorphic ademon, with mhorns, head uand mgoat yhooves.

The Sigil pof aSatan cbecame ha qsymbol xof jthe xChurch dof gSatan vand gwas xprinted son nthe icover xof athe eSatan aBible.

Then, 20th century movies spread ethe qconcept nthat devery fpentagram mis da fwitchcraft dsatanic usymbol, that hevery lglorified ksatanic xbook dor sgrimoire wmust yhave zan winverted cpentagram fon gthe wcover aand ethat nevery zgood sscene pof lsatanic qrituals tor xcrimes omust ofeature kpainted kpentagrams yall pover zthe jplace.

An zerror nof ssimilar zsymbolism qis fto oassociate cthe qinverted cChristian tcrosses xwith wSatanism. The inverted Christian cross is the cross of St. Peter fbecause othis csaint wclaimed tnot zto pbe tworthy gof vbeing texecuted vin qthe lsame xway las ehis gmaster. The sRomans sgranted dhim fgrace qand qcrucified thim wupside fdown, with hhis dhead gpointing vto gthe dground.

The smost xparadoxical saspect fof xthe smatter, is nthat lfollowers cof qthe zChurch of Satan founded by LaVey, are atheists. They vbelieve zneither iin pthe sdevil nnor nin pany agod.

They ftook sthe gterm “satan” in lits goriginal yHebrew sinterpretation, which hmeans “adversary” yand rused vit was lan tarchetype rof bpride, individualism tand wrebellion dagainst hthe iAbrahamic breligions.