# The US Medal of Valor a Satanic pentagram? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 15, 2012, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-medal-of-valor-a-satanic-pentagram/609618 "2012-01-15T17:44:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Theophane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@Theophane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theophane)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-medal-of-valor-a-satanic-pentagram/609618/41 "2012-01-16T03:32:21Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Teh gays? No, it’s much bigger than the gays. It’s bigger than religion, too. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-medal-of-valor-a-satanic-pentagram/609618/42 "2012-01-16T03:47:03Z")
> [@Theophane](#): > > No, it’s much bigger than the gays. It’s bigger than religion, too. So it’s the [Beatles fault](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/More_popular_than_Jesus)? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-medal-of-valor-a-satanic-pentagram/609618/43 "2012-01-16T04:44:14Z")
> [@Theophane](#): > > No, it’s much bigger than the gays. It’s bigger than religion, too. Would you mind cutting out all this mysterious guru crap and straight out tell us what you are talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-medal-of-valor-a-satanic-pentagram/609618/44 "2012-01-16T04:45:59Z")
> [@Terraplane](#): > > That’s not your Michelin’s hugging the road, it’s the Fallen One guiding you to a life of sin after tricking you into performing his summoning ritual. “Hey, why’d the pavement get so bumpy?” “That’s not pavement–_ **that’s good intentions!!!** _” ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-medal-of-valor-a-satanic-pentagram/609618/45 "2012-01-16T04:58:14Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I’m no expert in occult symbology, but I’ve heard it claimed that two-points-up represents the Devil’s horns and black magic, while one point up represents white magic. Pretty close. The way pentacles are used to today in neopaganism is that each point represents an Element (Earth, Air, Fire, Water) and the final point represents Spirit. So we generally wear our pentacles one point up, and that point is the Spirit point. Because, generally speaking, our religion has us venerate the Spiritual on a daily or near daily basis, and we’re reminded to do so by our “upright” pentacle. Some people consider magick done in pursuit of the Spiritual or evolution of one’s Spirit to be “white” magick. But there are times when I might want to place emphasis on the material world, and put the Spiritual on hold for a bit. Say I’m trying to get a job, manifest money, or heal from an illness. I might invert my pentacle, temporarily putting Spirit “beneath” the Earthly Elements in importance. My focus is on the material realm, and my “inverted” pentacle reflects that. Some people consider magick done in pursuit of tangible things to be “black” magic - not necessarily a bad thing, but different than “white magick”. Anton LeVey very probably knew of this practice when he adopted the inverted pentacle as one of the more common symbols for the Church of Satan. It makes sense, really, since the teachings of the Church of Satan emphasize the now over the afterlife (if there even is one) and getting ahead in the mundane “real” world over spiritual (if there is a such thing). It’s also, y’know, really easy to trace a pentacle on the head of a goat. > [@](#): > > But I _rather doubt_ that was a consideration in the design of the Medal, even if that system isn’t a more recent invention than the Medal. Oh, totally, I agree. But it’s sometimes fun to find synchronicity, even if it doesn’t actually mean anything. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-medal-of-valor-a-satanic-pentagram/609618/46 "2012-01-16T04:59:18Z")
> [@Theophane](#): > > Nope. Why do you think there’s so much evil and darkness in the world? **Theophane** , did you just become a Christian? Is that why everything has hidden meaning and every discussion you participate in has to be derailed with talk about it? And to actually address the topic at hand, it’s just a star and a particularly non-evil one at that. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-medal-of-valor-a-satanic-pentagram/609618/47 "2012-01-16T05:05:46Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > I don’t see any more evil and darkness in the world than there has ever been… same as it ever was… forever and ever amen. > > Maybe a little thing like man with a binary, bipolar, programmed and hardwired brain, with big egos, culture, religion, financial concerns, and a categorizing view of reality, lineating and prejudicing people, places, and things as strictly bad and good, wrong and right, are to blame? I forgot the hardwired, diurnal, comparitive nature of the brain- binary and bipolar. the 24 hour temporal Diurnalism of the planet earth and its evolutionary influence on her lifeforms defines dark and light. In other realities these are much different… consider a multiple star/solar system. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-medal-of-valor-a-satanic-pentagram/609618/48 "2012-01-16T05:34:11Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > It’s also, y’know, really easy to trace a pentacle on the head of a goat. How do you get the goat to stand still while you’re tracing? ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-medal-of-valor-a-satanic-pentagram/609618/49 "2012-01-16T06:50:18Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > How do you get the goat to stand still while you’re tracing? You get real good at drawing upside down. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-medal-of-valor-a-satanic-pentagram/609618/50 "2012-01-16T07:19:24Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > How do you get the goat to stand still while you’re tracing? Pentacle porn. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-medal-of-valor-a-satanic-pentagram/609618/51 "2012-01-16T12:02:51Z")
I checked out Theophane’s statistics. He joined the SDMB less than a month ago and he already has 550 posts. They are all over the forums, but mostly, as best I could tell, in threads relating to religion or other “moral” issues. If he’s 32 as stated, and not a tweener who just got his first computer, I think someone just went off of his meds. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-medal-of-valor-a-satanic-pentagram/609618/52 "2012-01-16T15:00:33Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > How do you get the goat to stand still while you’re tracing? You feed him pages from the Bible, of course! I’m so joking. I’m not actually a member of the Church of Satan (not that there’s anything wrong with that), and such antics fell out of favor even within that church sometime in the '80s. [This is actually what I meant.](http://www.religionfacts.com/satanism/church_of_satan.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-medal-of-valor-a-satanic-pentagram/609618/53 "2012-01-16T21:31:48Z")
How do you know if it is inverted or if it was just tilted a few degrees to the left or right? Which point \*has \*to be the ‘top’ point? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-medal-of-valor-a-satanic-pentagram/609618/54 "2012-01-17T00:06:37Z")
> [@Theophane](#): > > If it is just a star, that’s okay by me. It is just a star. Happy? (There’s so much evil in this world because people are stupid, greedy assholes.) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-medal-of-valor-a-satanic-pentagram/609618/55 "2012-01-17T00:48:56Z")
> [@Theophane](#): > > The inversion of a five-pointed star does have meaning, and the US, like the rest of the world, is owned by Satan (KVJ Mat. 4:8-10). It doesn’t have any particular meaning _in American iconography_. It has a meaning (both good and bad) in several other iconographic traditions, but those meanings are not universal. Just because someone inverts a star, it doesn’t mean he’s making a pentagram. He’s probably just making an inverted star. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-medal-of-valor-a-satanic-pentagram/609618/56 "2012-01-17T05:45:23Z")
> [@Theophane](#): > > The inversion of a five-pointed star does have meaning, and the US, like the rest of the world, is owned by Satan And we’re never getting that damage deposit back. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2012, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-medal-of-valor-a-satanic-pentagram/609618/57 "2012-01-17T08:48:22Z")
How do we know it’s inverted and not rotated 36 or 108 degrees? ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-medal-of-valor-a-satanic-pentagram/609618/58 "2012-01-18T02:50:22Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > That would be from the King Vern Jamesion? 🙂 Did you just make this up? It’s hilarious, and I’m gonna steal it, and I want to know from whom I’m plagiarizing… Thx ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-medal-of-valor-a-satanic-pentagram/609618/59 "2012-01-18T02:52:03Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > How do we know it’s inverted and not rotated 36 or 108 degrees? That’s what I was going to say; 2 pts up and 1 down, make, what, a triangle? A Trianything? If it is only 3 pts and is supposed to have 5, well, we have an entirely different issue… hh ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-medal-of-valor-a-satanic-pentagram/609618/60 "2012-01-18T20:44:14Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I couldn’t even get a SMALL demon to appear, and there have been no offers for my soul, either. Heh, I’ll give you half a Mars bar for it if you’re still selling that ratty old thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-medal-of-valor-a-satanic-pentagram/609618.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-medal-of-valor-a-satanic-pentagram/609618.md?page=4)