What is a pentagram/pentacle? Derived from the Latin pentaculum. A five-pointed star enclosed within a circle. The history of the five-pointed star springs from a deep seeded origination in the past. Once the symbol of a Goddess, known as Kore, she was worshiped over an area so large it extended from England to Egypt and beyond. Apples were sacred to her, and if sliced though their equator would produce star shaped pentagrams on each half. "Kore was worshiped within the Coptic Gnostic Christian religion in Alexandria, Egypt, during the 4th century CE. Her festival, the Koreion, was held yearly on January 6th. This was adopted by the Christian church as Feast of Epiphany (a.k.a. Twelfth Night). This date is still celebrated as Jesus' birthday in Armenian churches, and is observed with more pomp than is Christmas by the Greek Orthodox church.*" Pythagoras (586 - 506 BCE) was the founder of a group in ancient Greece that persued studies in mathmatics, music, religion and other similar specialities. Driven underground they developed the pentagram as a sign by which to identify one another. Celtics believed the pentagram was the sign of the Goddess, often referred to as Morgan or The Morrigan. Five was a sacred number and considered symbolic in many ways. For Christians it was adopted in number of ways; representing the five wounds of Christ, the star of Bethlehem, the warrior Gawain's sign on his sheild, and as the Roman Constantine's seal and amulet. It wasn't until the burning times when hundreds of innocents were killed by the Christian church that the meaning of the pentagram began to change- to be seen as a symbol of a goat's head(Baphomet), or satan. "The folk-symbol of security - for the first time in history - was equated with evil and was called the Witch's Foot.**" It wasn't until the 20th century Satanists actually adopted the pentagram by inverting the symbol and associating it with Baphomet(satan). Pagans use the upright symbol to this day to represent the elements of earth, air, fire, water, and spirit. It also symbolizes protection, spirituality, and the four corners of the world along with spirit. Wiccans often use it as a sign of the Celtic goddess, much as it was in the past. It has never been associated with evil or black magick to the Pagans. Often worn as jewelry or seen on an alter it is merely a way of invoking the energies around us and channeling our spirituality. What is now widely misinterpeted as a bad, evil, corrupt sign full of hatred- has been for hundreds of years nothing more than a symbol of peace, protection, and faith. One can only hope someday more people will make an effort to understand where it came from and what it means, rather than sticking to what movies and superstition tell them. |