Pentagram

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Revision as of 09:44, 19 Oct 2004

A pentagram or pentacle is a five-pointed star. Pentagrams were used symbolically in ancient Greece and Babylonia. The Pentagram has magical associations, and many people who practice pagan faiths wear them. Christians once commonly used the pentagram to represent the five wounds of Jesus Christ, but nowadays some Christians associate the symbol with Satanism.

Some sources refer to the pentagram as the Star of Solomon.

The word pentagram comes from the Greek word πεντάγραμμον (pentagrammon), a noun form of πεντάγραμμος (pentagrammos), πεντέγραμμος (pentegrammos) a word meaning roughly "five-lined" or "five lines".

Table of contents

1 History of the pentagram

1.1 The Pythagorean use of the pentagram

2 The Pentagram and Thelema

3 Satanic use of the pentagram

4 See also

5 References

6 External links

History of the pentagram

Pentagram image from Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's "Libri Tres de Occulta Philosophia" illustrating the golden symmetry of the human body. The signs on the perimeter are astrological.

The first uses of the pentagram we know of is in Mesopotamian writings dating to about 3000 B.C. The Sumerian pentagrams served as pictograms for the word UB; meaning "corner, angle, nook; a small room, cavity, hole; pitfall," suggesting something very similar to the pentemychos (see below on the Pythagorean use for what pentemychos means). In the Labat (dictionary of Sumerian hieroglyphs/pictograms) it is the number 306, and it is shown as being two points up. In the Babylonian context, the edges of the pentagram were probably orientations: forward, backward, left, right, and "above". These directions also had an astrological meaning, representing the five planets Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Saturn, and Venus as the "Queen of Heaven" (Ishtar) above.

The Pythagorean use of the pentagram

The Pythagoreans called the pentagram ύγιεια Hygieia ("health" also the Greek goddess of health, Hygieia), and saw in the pentagram a mathematical perfection: among other things, the pentagram hides the golden mean, φ = (1+√5)/2 = 1.618…. When drawn with perfect angles each line is divided into several smaller segments, and if you divide the length of the longer segment with the shorter segment of any pair of segments you will get φ.

The five vertices were also used by the medieval neo-pythagoreans (whom one could argue were not pythagoreans at all) to represent the five Classical elements:

ύδωρ, Hydor, water
Γαια, Gaia earth
ίδέα, Idea or ίερόν, Hieron "a divine thing"
έιλή, Heile, heat (fire)
άήρ, Aer, air

The vertices were labeled in the letters of υ-γ-ι-ει-α though the ordering (clockwise or counter-clockwise) used, and starting vertex, could vary.

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, and others, recognized the letters as being the five beginning letters of the words: udor (water, often transliterated as hydor), ge (earth, Agrippa used gaia), idea (idea as in The Platonic Idea), eile (sometimes written as heile, heat, it meant that in the Greek known to Agrippa), and aer (air). However, note that even if one uses the "elemental" scheme that Agrippa used, it's a definite stretch because it uses heat (heile), which is not an element but a quality OF the element fire. Had Agrippa used the Attic Greek, which is the language Pythagoreans back then actually spoke and wrote, he could have used (phonetic) "empreesis" for fire or conflagration.

The ancient, and one could argue real, Pythagorean pentagram was two points up and represented the doctrine of Pentemychos. Pentemychos was the title of a work written by Pythagoras' teacher and friend Pherecydes of Syros. Pentemychos means five "recesses" or "chambers" also known as the pentagonas—the five-angle. (This is actually a lost book whose contents are preserved in Damascius de principiis (quoted in Kirk and Raven, The Pre-Socratic Philosophers, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1956, page 55). It was also the "place" where the first pre-cosmic offspring had to be put in order for the ordered cosmos to appear. The pentemychos is in Tartaros.

In very early Greek thought, Tartaros was the first existing Darkness from which the cosmos is born. While it was locked away after the emergence and ordering of the cosmos, it still continued to have an influence. In fact, it was known as "the subduer of both gods and men" (Homer), and it was from this that the world got its "psyche" (soul) and its "daimon". The Boundless Darkness held influence through Mychos or Krater. Apart from being the gateway from "there" to "here" it was also a way in the opposite direction, from "here" to "there", as is evident in the many tales about how Greek heroes, philosophers and mystics descended through Mychos/Krater to Tartaros/Hades (the distinction between the two was very optional back then) in quest for Wisdom. The Underworld as the source of wisdom was the rule.

The notion of Health that is within and inside a living being, is "bounded between the rings". According to myth, Tartaros was locked away by iron (fashioned by Zeus) and bronze (fashioned by Zeus' brother Poseidon. The iron of Zeus is the aither spoken of earlier ("space") and the bronze is demiurgos, or the waterforce which binds things into matter (Poseidon was often referred to as "he who shakens the earth" and the god Proteus, who carries the seals of Poseidon has ever since Antiquity been seen as a representation of matter.) To sum it up; even if seen as the medieval elements, Living Things are the things traveling the Wheel of Life, and not directly connected to or part of the Pythagorean pentagram itself, which is at their core in the center, a Core of Inner Being (the "soul" of "the stuff"). When one had Health, they were considered Zoös and in their hearts there was Eros (the word did not mean "erotic" in the sense we mean it today at all). To not have Health was to be Thanatos - a word that does not exactly mean dead as in "dead and buried," but means dead inside but alive, like a shell.

This is an esoteric connection, but note that the Core is the Greek Goddess Kore (another name for Persephone, alongside Hecate queen of the underworld), whose symbol was the apple. If you cut an apple transversally through its core, it reveals a pentagram. The apple is also still, despite Christian ideas over the years, a symbol of health. (An apple a day keeps the doctor away.)

The Pentagram and Thelema

...need this...

Satanic use of the pentagram

Satanists use the Pythagorean pentagram (one point down) inscribed in a double circle, with the head of Baphomet inside the pentagram. They use it much the same way as the Pythagorenas—after all, Tartaros does mean Hell in Christian teminology (the word is used as such in the Bible, referring to the place where the fallen angels are fettered). The pythagorean Greek letters are most oftenly replaced by the Hebrew letters לויתן forming the name Leviathan. Less esoteric Satanists (LaVeyan types; the ones that exist in abundance) merely use it as a sign of rebellion.

References

Libri tres de occulta philosophia (book III, chapter xxxi) by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
Le Imagini degli Dei degli Antichi by Vincenzo Cartari

External links

The Pythagorean Pentacle (http://www.geocities.com/go_darkness/god-pythagorean-pentacle.html)
The pentagram as geometry (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Pentagram.html)
The Pentagram by DMGould Ireland's Own Mytyhs & Magic: (http://irelandsown.net/penta2.html)
The Pentagram and Freemasonry (http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/anti-masonry/pentagram.html)
Pythagoreanism Web Site (http://users.ucom.net/~vegan/)

Retrieved from "http://thelemapedia.org/index.php/Pentagram"

-[[Image:Pentagram.png|right|thumb|Pentagram with enclosing pentagon]]
+[[Image:Pentagram.gif||right]]
-A '''pentagram''' or '''pentacle''' is a five-pointed star. Pentagrams were used symbolically in [[ancient Greece]] and [[Babylonia]]. The Pentagram has [[magick]]al associations, and many people who practice [[paganism|pagan]] faiths wear them. [[Christianity|Christians]] once commonly used the pentagram to represent the five wounds of [[Jesus Christ]], but nowadays some Christians associate the symbol with [[Satanism]].  However, most who use it are not Satanists.
+A '''pentagram''' or '''pentacle''' is a five-pointed star. Pentagrams were used symbolically in ancient Greece and Babylonia. The Pentagram has [[Magick|magical]] associations, and many people who practice [[paganism|pagan]] faiths wear them. [[Christianity|Christians]] once commonly used the pentagram to represent the five wounds of [[Jesus Christ]], but nowadays some Christians associate the symbol with [[Satanism]].
-Some sources refer to the pentagram as the '''star of [[Solomon]]'''.
+Some sources refer to the pentagram as the '''Star of [[Solomon]]'''.
-A perfect pentagram is most easily drawn by drawing a perfect [[pentagon]], joining the corners with lines and erasing the original pentagon. You may also extend the sides of the pentagon until they meet, obtaining a bigger pentagram.
 The word ''pentagram'' comes from the [[greek language|Greek]] word &#960;&#949;&#957;&#964;&#940;&#947;&#961;&#945;&#956;&#956;&#959;&#957; (''pentagrammon''), a [[noun]] form of &#960;&#949;&#957;&#964;&#940;&#947;&#961;&#945;&#956;&#956;&#959;&#962; (''pentagrammos''), &#960;&#949;&#957;&#964;&#941;&#947;&#961;&#945;&#956;&#956;&#959;&#962; (''pentegrammos'') a word meaning roughly "five-lined" or "five lines".
 ==History of the pentagram==
-[[Image:Pentagram3.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Pentagram image from Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's "Libri Tres de Occulta Philosophia" illustrating the golden symmetry of the human body. The signs on the perimeter are astrological.]]
+[[Image:Pentagram_agrippa.jpg|right|frame|Pentagram image from Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's "Libri Tres de Occulta Philosophia" illustrating the golden symmetry of the human body. The signs on the perimeter are astrological.]]
-The first uses of the pentagram we know of is in [[Mesopotamia]]n writings dating to about 3000 B.C.
+The first uses of the pentagram we know of is in Mesopotamian writings dating to about 3000 B.C. The Sumerian pentagrams served as pictograms for the word UB; meaning "corner, angle, nook; a small room, cavity, hole; pitfall," suggesting something very similar to the pentemychos (see below on the Pythagorean use for what pentemychos means). In the [[Labat]] (dictionary of Sumerian hieroglyphs/pictograms) it is the number 306, and it is shown as being two points up. In the [[Babylonia]]n context, the edges of the pentagram were probably orientations: forward, backward, left, right, and "above". These directions also had an [[Astrology|astrological]] meaning, representing the five planets [[The Planets:Jupiter|Jupiter]], [[The Planets:Mercury|Mercury]], [[The Planets:Mars|Mars]] and [[The Planets:Saturn|Saturn]], and [[The Planets:Venus|Venus]] as the "Queen of Heaven" ([[Ishtar]]) above.
-The [[Sumer]]ian pentagrams served as pictograms for the word UB; meaning "corner, angle, nook; a small room, cavity, hole; pitfall," suggesting something very similar to the pentemychos (see below on the Pythagorean use for what pentemychos means). In the [[Labat]] (dictionary of Sumerian hieroglyphs/pictograms) it is the number 306, and it is shown as being two points up.
-In the [[Babylonia]]n context, the edges of the pentagram were probably orientations: forward, backward, left, right, and "above". These directions also had an [[astrology|astrological]] meaning, representing the five planets [[Jupiter (planet)|Jupiter]], [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]], [[Mars (planet)|Mars]] and [[Saturn (planet)|Saturn]], and [[Venus (planet)|Venus]] as the "Queen of Heaven" ([[Ishtar]]) above.
-<br clear="all">
 ===The Pythagorean use of the pentagram===
-[[Image:Pentagram2.png|left|thumb|Pentagram illustrating the golden mean hidden in it]]
 The [[Pythagoras|Pythagoreans]] called the pentagram &#973;&#947;&#953;&#949;&#953;&#945; ''Hygieia'' ("health" also the Greek goddess of health, [[Hygieia]]), and saw in the pentagram a mathematical perfection: among other things, the pentagram hides the [[golden mean]], &phi; = (1+&radic;5)/2 = 1.618&hellip;. When drawn with perfect angles each line is divided into several smaller segments, and if you divide the length of the longer segment with the shorter segment of any pair of segments you will get &phi;.
-:<math>\varphi = \frac{\mathrm{red}}{\mathrm{blue}} = \frac{\mathrm{blue}}{\mathrm{green}} = \frac{\mathrm{green}}{\mathrm{purple}}</math>
+The five vertices were also used by the medieval neo-pythagoreans (whom one could argue were not pythagoreans at all) to represent the five [[Elements|Classical elements]]:
-<br clear="all">The five vertices were also used by the medieval neo-pythagoreans (whom one could argue were not pythagoreans at all) to represent the five [[Classical element]]s:
 *&#973;&#948;&#969;&#961;, ''Hydor'', [[water]]
 The vertices were labeled in the letters of &#965;-&#947;-&#953;-&#949;&#953;-&#945; though the ordering (clockwise or counter-clockwise) used, and starting vertex, could vary.
-[[Image:Pentagram4.png|right|thumb|300px|Another pentagram from Agrippas book, this one has the Pythagorean letters inscribed around the circle.]]
+[[Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa]], and others, recognized the letters as being the five beginning letters of the words: ''udor'' (water, often transliterated as hydor), ''ge'' (earth, Agrippa used gaia), ''idea'' (idea as in The [[Platonism|Platonic]] Idea), ''eile'' (sometimes written as heile, heat, it meant that in the Greek known to Agrippa), and ''aer'' (air). However, note that even if one uses the "elemental" scheme that Agrippa used, it's a definite stretch because it uses heat (heile), which is not an element but a quality OF the element fire. Had Agrippa used the Attic Greek, which is the language Pythagoreans back then actually spoke and wrote, he could have used (phonetic) "empreesis" for fire or conflagration.
-[[Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa]], and others, recognized the letters as being the five beginning letters of the words: udor (water, often transliterated as hydor), ge (earth, Agrippa used gaia), idea (idea as in The [[Platonism|Platonic]] Idea), eile (sometimes written as heile, heat, it meant that in the Greek known to Agrippa), and aer (air). However, note that even if one uses the "elemental" scheme that Agrippa used, it's a definite stretch because it uses heat (heile), which is not an element but a quality OF the element fire. Had Agrippa used the Attic Greek, which is the language Pythagoreans back then actually spoke and wrote, he could have used (phonetic) "empreesis" for fire or conflagration.
-The ancient, and one could argue real, Pythagorean pentagram was two points up and represented the doctrine of ''[[Pentemychos]]''. Pentemychos was the title of a work written by Pythagoras' teacher and friend [[Pherecydes of Syros]]. Pentemychos means five "recesses" or "chambers" also known as the pentagonas - the five-angle. (This is actually a lost book whose contents are preserved in ''[[Damascius de principiis]]'' (quoted in Kirk and Raven, The Pre-Socratic Philosophers, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1956, page 55). It was also the "place" where the first pre-cosmic offspring had to be put in order for the ordered cosmos to appear. The pentemychos is in [[Tartaros]].
+The ancient, and one could argue real, Pythagorean pentagram was two points up and represented the doctrine of ''Pentemychos''. Pentemychos was the title of a work written by Pythagoras' teacher and friend Pherecydes of Syros. Pentemychos means five "recesses" or "chambers" also known as the pentagonas—the five-angle. (This is actually a lost book whose contents are preserved in ''Damascius de principiis'' (quoted in Kirk and Raven, The Pre-Socratic Philosophers, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1956, page 55). It was also the "place" where the first pre-cosmic offspring had to be put in order for the ordered cosmos to appear. The pentemychos is in Tartaros.
-In very early Greek thought, Tartaros was the first existing Darkness from which the cosmos is born. While it was locked away after the emergence and ordering of the cosmos, it still continued to have an influence. In fact, it was known as "the subduer of both gods and men" ([[Homer]]), and it was from this that the world got its "psyche" (soul) and its "daimon". The Boundless Darkness held influence through [[Mychos]] or [[Krater]]. Apart from being the gateway from "there" to "here" it was also a way in the opposite direction, from "here" to "there", as is evident in the many tales about how Greek heroes, philosophers and mystics descended through [[Mychos]]/[[Krater]] to [[Tartaros]]/[[Hades]] (the distinction between the two was very optional back then) in quest for Wisdom. The Underworld as the source of wisdom was the rule.
+In very early Greek thought, Tartaros was the first existing Darkness from which the cosmos is born. While it was locked away after the emergence and ordering of the cosmos, it still continued to have an influence. In fact, it was known as "the subduer of both gods and men" ([[Homer]]), and it was from this that the world got its "psyche" (soul) and its "daimon". The Boundless Darkness held influence through Mychos or Krater. Apart from being the gateway from "there" to "here" it was also a way in the opposite direction, from "here" to "there", as is evident in the many tales about how Greek heroes, philosophers and mystics descended through Mychos/Krater to Tartaros/[[Hades]] (the distinction between the two was very optional back then) in quest for Wisdom. The Underworld as the source of wisdom was the rule.
-Tartaros was also later seen as the "chthonic realm" where all the enemies of the cosmic order were locked away, also called the "prison-house" of Zeus. It was said to lay outside of the aither over which Zeus had lordship; what we today would call space, back then called "Zeus' defense-wall," yet it was also beneath the earth. Plato (in Cratylus) said that the aither had a penetrating power that permeats the whole world, and he found it both inside and outside of our bodys. Plato was a Pythagorean. The pentemychos is outside, or in-side, of the aither.
+The notion of Health that is within and inside a living being, is "bounded between the rings". According to myth, Tartaros was locked away by iron (fashioned by [[Zeus]]) and bronze (fashioned by Zeus' brother [[Poseidon]]. The iron of Zeus is the aither spoken of earlier ("space") and the bronze is demiurgos, or the waterforce which binds things into matter (Poseidon was often referred to as "he who shakens the earth" and the god Proteus, who carries the seals of Poseidon has ever since Antiquity been seen as a representation of matter.) To sum it up; even if seen as the medieval elements, Living Things are the things traveling the Wheel of Life, and ''not'' directly connected to or part of the Pythagorean pentagram itself, which is at their core in the center, a Core of Inner Being (the "soul" of "the stuff"). When one had Health, they were considered [[Zoös]] and in their hearts there was [[Eros (love)|Eros]] (the word did not mean "erotic" in the sense we mean it today at all). To not have Health was to be [[Thanatos]] - a word that does not exactly mean dead as in "dead and buried," but means dead inside but alive, like a shell.
-In the play [[Medea]] by [[Euripides]], the sorceress Medea calls upon [[Hecate]] with the words, "By that dread queen whom I revere before all others and have chosen to share my task, by Hecate who dwells within my inmost chamber, not one of them shall wound my heart and rue it not." Note that she speaks of the Heart. The inmost chamber is the Mychos. Normally, Hecate and Persephone are portrayed as just being the rulers of the Underworld, however, Hecate is called the Lady of Tartaros, Phulada (Guardian), Propulaia (Before the Gates), Kleidophoros (Key-bearer) and Kleidoukhos (Key-holder, Priestess) - but this Underworld of the Greeks and Pythagoreans is also the "inmost chamber" and the Core of Inner Being.
+This is an [[esoteric]] connection, but note that the Core is the Greek Goddess Kore (another name for [[Persephone]], alongside [[Hecate]] queen of the underworld), whose symbol was the apple. If you cut an apple transversally through its core, it reveals a pentagram. The apple is also still, despite Christian ideas over the years, a symbol of health. (An apple a day keeps the doctor away.)
-In the image above of the two points up pentagram from Agrippa's book, the notion of Health that is within and inside a living being, is "bounded between the rings". According to myth, Tartaros was locked away by iron (fashioned by [[Zeus]]) and bronze (fashioned by Zeus' brother [[Poseidon]]. The iron of Zeus is the aither spoken of earlier ("space") and the bronze is demiurgos, or the waterforce which binds things into matter (Poseidon was often referred to as "he who shakens the earth" and the god Proteus, who carries the seals of Poseidon has ever since Antiquity been seen as a representation of matter.) To sum it up; even if seen as the medieval elements, Living Things are the things traveling the Wheel of Life, and ''not'' directly connected to or part of the Pythagorean pentagram itself, which is at their core in the center, a Core of Inner Being (the "soul" of "the stuff"). When one had Health, they were considered [[Zoös]] and in their hearts there was [[Eros (love)|Eros]] (the word did not mean "erotic" in the sense we mean it today at all). To not have Health was to be [[Thanatos]] - a word that does not exactly mean dead as in "dead and buried," but means dead inside but alive, like a shell.
+==The Pentagram and Thelema==
-This is an [[esoteric]] connection, but note that the Core is the Greek Goddess Kore (another name for [[Persephone]], alongside [[Hecate]] queen of the underworld), whose symbol was the apple. If you cut an apple transversally through its core, it reveals a pentagram. The apple is also still, despite Christian ideas over the years, a symbol of health. (An apple a day keeps the doctor away.)
+...need this...
 ==Satanic use of the pentagram==
-[[Satanists]] use the Pythagorean pentagram (one point down) inscribed in a double circle, with the head of [[Baphomet]] inside the pentagram. They use it much the same way as the Pythagorenas - after all, Tartaros does mean Hell in Christian teminology (the word is used as such in the Bible, referring to the place where the fallen angels are fettered). The pythagorean Greek letters are most oftenly replaced by the [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]] letters &#1500;&#1493;&#1497;&#1514;&#1503; forming the name [[Leviathan]]. Less esoteric Satanists ([[Anton Szandor LaVey|LaVeyan types]]; the ones that exist in abundance) merely use it as a sign of rebellion.
+[[Satanism|Satanists]] use the Pythagorean pentagram (one point down) inscribed in a double circle, with the head of [[Baphomet]] inside the pentagram. They use it much the same way as the Pythagorenas—after all, Tartaros does mean [[Hell]] in Christian teminology (the word is used as such in the Bible, referring to the place where the fallen angels are fettered). The pythagorean Greek letters are most oftenly replaced by the [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]] letters &#1500;&#1493;&#1497;&#1514;&#1503; forming the name [[Leviathan]]. Less esoteric Satanists ([[Anton Szandor LaVey|LaVeyan types]]; the ones that exist in abundance) merely use it as a sign of rebellion.
-==Flags==
-[[Image:Morocco_flag_large.png|thumb|250px|right|The [[flag of Morocco]].]]
-The pentagram appears on the [[North Africa]]n [[flag of Morocco]], the [[Coat of Arms of Morocco]] and the [[flag of Ethiopia]].
-==Pentagram symbols in Unicode==
-{| border="1"
-!name!!character!!codepoint
-|- align="center"
-|black star||<font size="6">&#x2605;</font>||U+2605
-|- align="center"
-|white star||<font size="6">&#x2606;</font>||U+2606
-|- align="center"
-|stress outlined white star||<font size="6">&#x2729;</font>||U+2729
-|- align="center"
-|circled white star||<font size="6">&#x272A;</font>||U+272A
-|- align="center"
-|open center black star||<font size="6">&#x272B;</font>||U+272B
-|- align="center"
-|black center white star||<font size="6">&#x272C;</font>||U+272C
-|- align="center"
-|outlined black star||<font size="6">&#x272D;</font>||U+272D
-|- align="center"
-|heavy outlined black star||<font size="6">&#x272E;</font>||U+272E
-|- align="center"
-|pinwheel star||<font size="6">&#x272F;</font>||U+272F
-|- align="center"
-|shadowed white star||<font size="6">&#x2730;</font>||U+2730
-|}
 ==See also==
 *[[Pentagon]]
 *[[Hexagram]]
-*[[Pythagoras]]
+*[[Symbols|List of symbols]]
-*[[Morning Star]]
-*[[Pentangle]]
-*[[Red star]]
-*[[Magic (paranormal)|Magic]] and [[magick]]
-*[[complete graph]]; the complete graph on five vertices can be drawn as a pentagram
-*[[List of symbols]]
 ==References==