pentagram - The Skeptic's Dictionary

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<div class="logo"> <img src="_images/logo_01.png" alt="The Skeptic's Dictionary" width="270" height="60" border="0" />           <br /> by <a href="http://skepdic.com/refuge/bio.html">Robert Todd Carroll</a> * est. 1994 </div> <div class="slogan"> <img src="_images/slogan_01.gif" alt="A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions" width="362" height="30" /> </div> </div> <div class="menu"> <ul> <li></li><li><a href="http://skepdic.com/">Home</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/news/">Newsletter</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/feedback.html">Feedback</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/faq.html">FAQ & Interviews</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/tour.html">Site Map</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="middle"> <div class="left"> <h2>Topical Indexes</h2> <ul class="nav_1"> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/tialtmed.html">Alternatives to Medicine</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/ticriticalthinking.html">Critical Thinking</a></li> 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href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#H">h</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#I">i</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#J">j</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#K">k</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#L">l</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#M">m</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#N">n</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#O">o</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#P">p</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#Q">q</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#R">r</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#S">s</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#T">t</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#U">u</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#V">v</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#W">w</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#X">x</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#Y">y</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#Z">z</a></li> </ul> <webContent><h1>pentagram</h1> <p style="text-align: left"> <font face="Arial" size="3">A pentagram is a five-pointed figure used as a magical or occult symbol by the <a href="http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/p/pythagor.htm">Pythagoreans</a>, <a href="http://freemasonry.bc.ca/anti-masonry/anti-masonry_faq.html">Masons</a>, <a href="http://www.webcom.com/~gnosis/gnintro.htm">Gnostics</a>, <a href="cabala.html">Cabalists</a>, <a href="magick.html">magicians</a>, <a href="wicca.html">Wiccans</a>, <a href="satan.html">Satanists</a>, etc. There is apparently something attractive about the figure's geometry and proportions. In many symbolizations, the top point represents either the human head or a non-human Spirit. To invert the figure is considered by some as a sign of relegating Spirit to the bottom of the metaphysical heap. Others take inversion to be Satanic and on par with alleged mockeries such as inverting the cross or saying the Mass backwards. Still others find nothing particularly diabolical about inversion and use the inverted pentagram without fear of accidentally invoking the forces of evil.</font></p> <p style="text-align: left"><img src="graphics/penta.jpg" alt="pentagram" width="173" height="167" border="0" align="center" style="float: right" /></p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3">Some say the pentagram is mystical because <em>5</em> is mystical. It's a prime number, the sum of 2 and 3, as well as of 1 and 4. Jesus had five wounds, they say, if you don't count those inflicted by the crown of thorns; and he distributed five loaves of bread to five thousand people. Most importantly, we have five fingers, toes and senses.</font></p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3">Some Christian watchdogs apparently think the pentagram is the devil's hoof print. They are especially on the lookout for inverted pentagrams as proof of Satanism, but any pentagram will suit most of these caretakers of decent symbology in their never-ending quest to identify evil. Of course, it can be bad for business if rumors are spread that one's company uses the pentagram or any other symbol deemed to be diabolical. <a href="http://www.rickross.com/reference/amway/amway45.html">Proctor and Gamble was once accused </a>by <a href="amway.html"> Amway</a> competitors of being run by devil worshippers who flaunted their satanic religion with a diabolical logo. The logo consisted of an old man's bearded face in the crescent moon, facing thirteen stars, all set within a circle. Some saw 666, the number of the Beast in Revelation (usually identified with Satan by the Christian watchdogs), lurking in the old man's beard and in the arrangement of the stars. Others saw a goat, surely a sign of the devil. A suit was filed against Amway but it was eventually thrown out of court.<a href="http://www.rickross.com/reference/amway/amway27.html">*</a></font></p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3">To the Wiccan, the five points of the pentagram represent Air, Fire, Water, Earth and Spirit. Wiccans usually put the symbol in a circle, which has traditionally represented the endless or eternity. The ancient Chinese believed there were <em>five</em> elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water), <em>five</em> planets, <em>five</em> seasons, <em>five</em> senses, as well as <em>five</em> basic colors, sounds and tastes. However, the number six seems to have been more enchanting to them than five, for the <a href="iching.html">I Ching</a> uses <em>six</em> as its base number. So does the <a href="http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Judaism/star.html">Star of David</a>, which has six points and is made by overlapping two equilateral triangles. The Star of David is a hexagram but is not used to cast a hex on you.  That kind of hex comes from the German word for witch,<em> Hexen</em>, which is related to the Old High German word <em>hagzissa</em>, a hag. <img src="graphics/hexagram.gif" width="57" height="66" alt="hexagram.gif (1003 bytes)" align="left" border="0" hspace="5" vspace="5"></font></p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"> Occultists of all sorts wear pentagram <a href="talisman.html">talismans</a> to protect them from evil or to help them get occult knowledge and power. They even draw pentagrams on the ground and stand within them to better call upon occult powers. If the point is aimed north, they are <em>not</em> worshippers of Satan. However, if the point is aimed south, they are. So say the Christian watchdogs.</font></p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3">For some reason, the pentagram has become the symbol for a star, though no star in the sky looks like a pentagram, unless perhaps it is seen from inside the five corners of the earth when one is five sheets to the wind. Furthermore, some mystics claim that if one stares at a small pentangle long enough one will see that all triangles end in a circle with five sides.</font></p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><strong>further reading</strong></font><p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><a href="http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/anti-masonry/pentagram.html"> Pentagram illustrations from the Freemasons of British Columbia & Yukon</a></font><p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><a href="http://journey1.org/freedom/pentagram.htm">The Pentagram</a></font><p></webContent> Last updated 01-Dec-2013 </p> </div> </div> <div class="right"> <div class="right_it"> <div class="search"> <form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/custom" target="_top"> <input type="hidden" name="domains" value="skepdic.com" /> <input type="text" name="q" maxlength="255" value="" size="20" /> <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" /> <br /> <div class="search_2"> <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value="" /> Web     <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value="skepdic.com" checked="checked" /> Skepdic.com <br /> <img src="_images/logo_google.gif" alt="Google" width="48" height="19" /> </div> <input type="hidden" name="client" value="pub-3542920166946725" /> <input type="hidden" name="forid" value="1" /> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1" /> <input type="hidden" name="oe" value="ISO-8859-1" /> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="GALT:#008000;GL:1;DIV:#336699;VLC:663399;AH:center;BGC:FFFFFF;LBGC:336699;ALC:0000FF;LC:0000FF;T:000000;GFNT:0000FF;GIMP:0000FF;FORID:1;" /> <input type="hidden" name="hl" value="en" /> </form> </div> <div class="center"> <p align="right"><a href="http://skepdic.com/authorpage.html"><strong>Books by R. 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