The pentagram
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From a msn group... Information on the long mis-understood symbol
The Pentagram
This particular symbolism has persisted for centuries, and greatly influenced theologies of diverse traditions. One of the most potent, powerful, and persistent symbols in human history.
The Pentagram was and remains important to almost every ancient culture from ancient to modern from the Mayans of Latin America, in India, China, and Egypt.
It has been found scratched on the walls of Neolithic caves, or in Babylonian drawings, where it marks the pattern the planet Venus makes on its travels. Scriptures, especially Hebrew, are abundant with hidden references to them.
Pythagoras, the Greek mathematician and philosopher stated that five is the number of man. Because of the fivefold division of the body the ancient Greek division of the soul, the five points each representing one of the five elements that make up man: fire, water, air, and earth, and psyche.
The Pentagram is central to many doctrines of esoteric Medieval and Renaissance traditions - alchemy, kabbalah, and Ceremonial magick.
Ritual magicians used the Pentagramas a microcosm of the human body. One of these, Giordano Bruno, warned of misuse by Black magicians because of its great power. The pentagramis still central to the practice of ritual magick, and is used in most foundation rituals.
In the Jewish kabbalistic tradition, which borrows many Pythagorean ideas, the pentagram represents the five upper sephiroth on the tree of Life; five numbers, which being indivisible by any but in themselves they represent pure archetypal forces: justice, mercy, wisdom, understanding, & transcendent splendor.
Christian Kabbalists were especially enamored of the pentagram, to them, it symbolized Christ, as the Holy Spirit, manifest in the flesh. A favorite gematric feat was to add the Hebrew letter Shin, (symbolizing fire and the holy spirit). To the Biblical four letter name of God, (YHVH), yielding YHShH - Yehoshua, or Jesus. The name of the Christian holiday Pentecost which is, The Day of The Holy Spirit descended on the apostles of Jesus. This is not the only connection of the pentagram to Christianity. Before the cross, the Pentagram was the preferred symbol to adorn jewelry and amulets. It was associated with the five wounds of Christ, and because it could be drawn in one continuous movement of the pen, the Alpha and the omega. The Pentagram was also an expression of a secret Gnostic heresy, found hidden here and there throughout Christian history.
The most notable instance of the symbolism of the Pentagram is in the Arthurian Grail tales and mysteries which are Gnostic and kabbalistic teachings told in the form of tales of knightly quests.
Surprisingly, the Pentagram also plays an important part in the symbology of the early United States government, (a fact not lost on some Christian conspiracy theorists),man of the Founding Fathers were masons, to whom the Pentagram is an important symbol- it appears in much of our early conography- the flag, the Great Seal, and on our money. It is even to be found in the Capitol, where the White House sits at the apex of a giant Pentagram.
The Satanic pentagram is presented upside-down, or inverted, with a single point facing downward. This glyph was a representation of Black magick, symbolizing the triumph of matter and material desires over the spirit. In modern satanic theology, it is far more likely to represent the individual, or the choice to pursue individual glory or immortality rather than union or absorption where some traditions advocated the sublimation of the ego, Satanism exalts it. The symbolmost commonly asociated with satanic practices is the "Sabbatic goat" or Goat of Mendes, often associated with Baphomet, a figure from Templar legend, and Pan, the Greek goat God. It rarely has any deeper meaning
This is a great irony when one considers the long history of the use of the pentagram, that it's comparitively short association with Satanism has made the symbol a feared one to so many.
Currently, the most common religious uses of the pentagram are by those who follow varous Pagan paths such as the better known Wiccan and Neopagan traditions. Their use of the Pentagram is in the symbolic meaning as derived from Medieval Ceremonial magick. The four elements ruled by the spirit although as these theologies mature, they have added to its meaning. In many of these, it can symbolize the unity of mankind with the earth or with the realm of the spirit. -
Ritual Veve ~ This Veve is termed a Milokan or one that is for multiple Spirits.
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The ARRA Star or Soul Star that link the Spirit & Soul...Even in Voodoo tradition there is a Voodoo Pentacle..."Veve" that is used in all voodoo workings... I am a firm believer of the Pentagram...
Blessed be,
Oceanos -
Pentagram balance you Body element... right and ???? -
Merry Meet MeOwSuSan,
The pentagram symbolise the Spirit & it will link with your Soul, the upright five-pointed Star is very protective can be found in churches too. It can of coz balance ones energy...A powerful symbol...of the Ancient Ones...
Blessed Be,
Oceanos -
Originally posted by OCEANOS:
somebody called me??
[b]Merry Meet MeOwSuSan,
The pentagram symbolise the Spirit & it will link with your Soul, the upright five-pointed Star is very protective can be found in churches too. It can of coz balance ones energy...A powerful symbol...of the [color=red]Ancient Ones...
Blessed Be,
Oceanos[/color][/b]
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Yeah its the calling of the Divine...Believe in its Power & you will grow...to be stronger....hahahaOriginally posted by ratinacage:somebody called me?? -
More power ... so can think better and control ...
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Power corrupt Man... So Faith must be strong...Mind must be strong... then there will be control...Ones will not deviate from the "Light"...Originally posted by MeOwSuSan:More power ... so can think better and control ...
Blessed be,
Oceanos -
The Pentagram
The pentagram has long been associated with mystery and magic. It is the simplest form of star shape that can be drawn unicursally, with a single line, hence it is sometimes called the Endless Knot. Other names are the Goblin Cross, the Pentalpha, the Witch Foot, the Devils Star and the Seal of Solomon (more correctly attributed to the hexagram).
It has long been believed to be a potent protection against evil and demons, hence a symbol of safety, and was sometimes worn as an amulet for happy homecoming. The old folk-song : Green Grow the Rushes, O! refers to the use of the pentagram above doors and windows in the line: Five is the symbol at your door.
The potency and associations of the pentagram have evolved throughout history. Today it is an ubiquitous symbol of Neo-Pagans with much depth of magickal and symbolic meaning. -
The pentagram symbol today is ascribed many meanings and deep significance, though much of this is very recent. However, it has been used throughout history and in many contexts.
The earliest known use of the pentagram dates back to around the Uruk period around 3500BC at Ur of the Chaldees in Ancient Mesopotamia where it was found on potsherds together with other signs of the period associated with the earliest known developments of written language. In later periods of Mesopotamian art, the pentagram was used in royal inscriptions and was symbolic of imperial power extending out to the four corners of the world. Amongst the Hebrews, the symbol was ascribed to Truth and to the five books of the Pentateuch. It is sometimes, incorrectly, called the Seal of Solomon (see Hexagram) though its usage was in parallel with the hexagram. In Ancient Greece, it was called the Pentalpha, being geometrically composed of five A's. Unlike earlier civilizations, the Greeks did not generally attribute other symbolic meanings to the letters of their alphabet, but certain symbols became connected with Greek letter shapes or positions (eg Gammadion, Alpha-Omega). The geometry of the pentagram and its metaphysical associations were explored by the Pythagoreans (after Pythagoras 586-506BC) who considered it an emblem of perfection. Together with other discovered knowledge of geometric figures and proportion, it passed down into post-Hellenic art where the golden proportion may be seen in the designs of some temples.
Early Christians attributed the pentagram to the Five Wounds of Christ and from then until medieval times, it was a lesser-used Christian symbol. Prior to the time of the Inquisition, there were no evil associations to the pentagram. Rather its form implied Truth, Religious Mysticism and the work of The Creator. The Emperor Constantine I who, after gaining the help of the Christian church in his military and religious takeover of the Roman Empire in 312 AD, used the pentagram, together with the chi-rho symbol (a symbolic form of cross) in his seal and amulet.
However, it was the cross (a symbol of suffering) rather than the pentagram (a symble of truth) that was used as a symbol by the Church which subsequently came to power and whos manifest destiny was to usurp the supreme power of the Roman Empire. -
The annual church feast of Epiphany, celebrating the visit of the three Magi to the infant Jesus as well as the Church's mission to bring truth to the Gentiles had as its symbol the pentagram, (although in present times the symbol has been changed to a five-pointed star in reaction to the Neo-Pagan use of the pentagram).
In the legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the pentagram was Sir Gawain's glyph, inscribed in gold on his shield, symbolizing the five knightly virtues - generosity, courtesy, chastity, chivalry and piety.
In Medieval times, the Endless Knot was a symbol of Truth and was a protection against demons. It was used as an amulet of personal protection and to guard windows and doors. The pentagram with one point upwards symbolized summer; with two points upwards, it was a sign for winter. During the long period of the Inquisition, there was much promulgation of lies and accusations in the interests of orthodoxy and elimination of heresy. The Church lapsed into a long period of the very diabolism it sought to oppose. The pentagram was seen to symbolize a Goats Head or the Devil in the form of Baphomet and it was Baphomet whom the Inquisition accused the Templars of worshipping. The Dominicans of the Inquisition moved their attention from the Christian heretics to the Pagan Witches, to those who only paid lip-service to Christianity but still followed an Old Religion and to the wise-ones amongst them. In the purge on Witches, other horned Gods such as Pan became equated with the Devil (a Christian concept) and the pentagram, the folk symbol of security, for the first time in history, was equated with evil and was called the Witches Foot.
The Old Religion and its symbols went underground, in fear of the Church's persecution, and there it stayed, gradually withering, for centuries. -
In the foundation of Hermeticism, in hidden societies of craftsmen and scholarly men, away from the eyes of the Church and its paranoia, the proto-science of alchemy developed along with its occult philosophy and cryptical symbolism. Graphical and geometric symbolism became very important and the period of the Renaissance emerged.
The concept of the microcosmic world of Man as analogous to the macrocosm, the greater universe of spirit and elemental matter became a part of traditional western occult teaching, as it had long been in eastern philosophies, As Above, So Below. The pentagram, the Star of the Microcosm, symbolized Man within the microcosm, representing in analogy the Macrocosmic universe.
The upright pentagram bears some resemblance to the shape of man with his legs and arms outstretched. In Tycho Brahe's Calendarium Naturale Magicum Perpetuum (1582) occurs a pentagram with human body imposed and the Hebrew for YHSVH associated with the elements. An illustration attributed to Brae's contemporary Agrippa (Henry Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim) is of similar proportion and shows the five planets and the moon, at the center point, the genitalia. Other illustrations of the period by Robert Fludd and Leonardo da Vinci show 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 (or the spirit) to the four traditional elements of matter, earth, water, air and fire - spirit is The Quintessence.