I am Facebook friends with a well-know neopagan witch from Australia. And a humorous post I just saw by her brought up a question that I have had for some time now.
In the humorous post (it was meant as a joke, as I said ) she says, ‘Sanitize the house? I thought you said “Satanize” the house!’ Whatever.
But in the post she has a picture of a pentagram, in a circle, with a candle at each point. There is also an inverted cross in the center.
Anyway, we all know what an inverted cross represents. But when does a pentagram become ‘evil’? Specifically what does it mean when there is a candle at each point?
In case you don’t know, Wiccans (as they call themselves) argue pentagrams are white magic symbols. Some further claim only when the pentagram is inverted, does it become evil.
But I have seen pentagrams with candles at the five points (mostly in movies, FWIW). And I have always wondered what that means. In one movie, I saw some time back, they were doing a voodoo ritual with the above-mentioned symbol. Some woman was dancing all around the symbol on the floor (don’t ask me how she didn’t get burnt ).
But of course you can’t trust anything you see in movies. Which is why I submit the question here, which is much more reliable .
I think that the original connection was just with the occult in general, and it only became associated with Satan due to the occult in general becoming associated with Satan.
I’ve read (I can’t remember where but it seemed a credible source) that in certain times and places, the pentagram was actually a Christian symbol signifying the five wounds of Christ
I agree with Chronos. One suit of the Tarot is generally either coins or pentacles. It seems to be a very modern invention that an inverted pentacle is evil.
First and foremost, it sounds like there is some confusion between Satanism (Christianity), Wicca (neo-pagan), and Voodoo.
Voodoo has symbols called “vèvè”, which do not resemble pentagrams.
Now the “Key of Solomon” does mention various “pentacles” (some of which appear to be decorated with pentagrams, among a plethora of other magical symbols) and candlesticks and blood and things like that, which brings us to Jewish and Christian magicians. In any case, it is a well-known symbol which can represent whatever you happen to have five of (five elements, five senses, or whatever). If you read something like Faust, it can ward off evil spirits.
I am not really familiar with branches of neo-paganism, but by the time you get into modern occultism such geometric figures were already well-known as occult/magical symbols, so plenty of pentagrams in Crowley, for instance; some of the words to that ritual refer to a “flaming” pentagram (eg The Vibratory Formula and its Use in Daily Ritual Work - Samuel Scarborough), which may be the origin of your Hollywood pentagram with candles.
Yeah, I forgot to address that. Voodoun is a syncretist religion- various African faiths mixed with Catholocism. I’ve seen various Voudoun symbols with crosses. I haven’t seen any with pentacles/prentagrams. While we’re on the subject, the idea of a doll you stick pins in etc is actually from European folklore. They were called poppets.
That’s one of several things it represents in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (c. 1375-1400), along with the five senses, five fingers, five joys of Mary, and Gawain’s five virtues (generosity, fellowship, purity, courtesy, and piety / pity [the same word is used for both concepts in Middle English]). If the poet saw it as an occult symbol, it’s not particularly evident in the poem, although the King Solomon association is there.
I think the idea is that an inverted pentagram becomes the face of the devil. The two riangles pointing upward are his horns, the one pointing downward is his beard, and the other two are his ears or maybe sideburns.
Interestingly, the Seal of Solomon on the flag of Morocco is five-pointed, while the one on the flag of Israel (Star of David) has six points.
Do Wiccans generally even believe in the existence of Satan? Can you find a reference where they explain something about the orientation of a pentagram?
I feel, though not a Wiccan, I can answer that. In general, they believe neither in the Abramic G-d nor the Devil. If you look at the witchy crowd, you can find Lavey Satanists (who are just Ayn Rand fans with a lot of props), demonolators, the Temple Of Set etc. Those groups aren’t Wccan. Wiccans aren’t Jews, Muslims or Christians. So they don’t believe in, let alone worship, the Devil.
I believe the pentagram is associated with witches, and witches are people who worship not-christ, (and shall not be suffered to live, Exodus 22:18), and are therefore evil.
I have always seen the candles as a metaphor for powering the circuit of the pentagram.
Early Christians had a long and very successful run of turning pagan ideas and symbology satanic. Oh, your “nature god” Pan, the one who likes to party, with the horns and the cloven hooves? That’s actually…
Not the devil so much as Baphomet as imagined by Éliphas Lévi. Baphomet was allegedly worshipped by the Knights Templar, which supposedly explains the connection to the pentagram via a link between Gnosticism and Pythagoreanism:
What properly was the sign of the Baffomet, “figura Baffometi”, which was depicted on the breast of the bust representing the Creator, cannot be exactly determined … I believe it to have been the Pythagorean pentagon ( Fünfeck ) of health and prosperity: … It is well known how holy this figure was considered, and that the Gnostics had much in common with the Pythagoreans.
The thing on the Israel flag is not a Seal of Solomon, it’s a Magen David or Shield of David. There is a relationship there, but they aren’t the same thing.
) she says, ‘Sanitize the house? I thought you said “Satanize” the house!’ Whatever.
).
