what does the pentagram mean?

Question

cheese

Answer 1

pen‧ta‧gram  /ˈpɛntəˌgræm/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[pen-tuh-gram] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun a five-pointed, star-shaped figure made by extending the sides of a regular pentagon until they meet, used as an occult symbol by the Pythagoreans and later philosophers, by magicians, etc.

Answer 2

Do you mean the pentacle or the pentagram?

The pentacle is the symbol that Wiccans wear. A five pointed star inside a circle. It means two things.

The top point is the spirit. The other four points are on the elements (earth, air, fire, water clockwise). The circle is the all encompassing world.

It also means, the head (the thinking intelligent mind) ruling over the body (the baser instincts) encircled by the world around us.

The circle is always outside the star but joined to it because the world is greater than we are. We are a part of the world, no separate from it.

If you mean the pentagram....

Satanists use the symbol. Its an upside down five pointed star with no circle.

It means the body ruling over the mind.

Answer 3

It's an old old pagan sign. Today it's commonly interpreted as representing the four elements plus spirit.

Inverted pentagrams are not Satanic; in some Wiccan orders, higher-level priests and priestesses wear inverted pentagrams. The only "demonic" form of the pentagram is the sigil of Baphomet, an inverted pentagram with a goat's head; this is much like an upside down cross--making a mockery of a sacred symbol.

ETA: Pagan Rebirth makes a good point about its use on shields. Google around for a translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight--medieval text which describes the pentagram on Sir Gawain's shield in great detail.

Answer 4

The Pentagram is a common misconception. In many religions and throughout history, it has been seen as a sign for the Five Wounds of Christ, The Five Joys of Mary, the Five Elements, it has been seen as a sign for protection and the banishment of evil. The open pentagram is usually used, the pentagram encircled is a sign of protection, etc. It is a sign of good, only, however, when it is upright.

When upside down, with two legs pointing upward (the inverse pentagram) it is a sign of darkness and evil. Many perceive it as forgetting higher power in turn for man going after carnal desires. It is used in many Satanist groups, especially with the goat head inside and sealed within a double circle.

Answer 5

In Wiccan and other Pagan beliefs, the pentagram is a symbol representing the 5 elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit.

This symbol was once used by Christians to represent the 5 wounds of Christ.

Answer 6

You have gotten good answers. I would just like to add that in some European Traditions of the Craft and inverted pentagram is used to signify a 2nd degree Witch.

Answer 7

Its meaning varies widely. In many contexts, it is a protection symbol that represents the 5 common elements: earth, fire, air, water, and spirit. It has been around for a very long time. Interesting to note is its use by medieval Christians--it was often painted on the shields of knights and represented the five wounds of Christ.

Answer 8

A pentagram (sometimes known as pentalpha or pentangle) is a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes. The word pentagram comes from the Greek word πεντάγραμμον (pentagrammon), a noun form of πεντάγραμμος (pentagrammos) or πεντέγραμμος (pentegrammos), a word meaning roughly "five-lined" or "five lines".

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, and it also has associations within Freemasonry.

The pentagram has long been associated with the planet Venus, and the worship of the goddess Venus, or her equivalent. It is also associated with the Roman Lucifer, who was Venus as the Morning Star, the bringer of light and knowledge. It is most likely to have originated from the observations of prehistoric astronomers.[citation needed] When viewed from Earth, successive inferior conjunctions of Venus plot a nearly perfect pentagram shape around the zodiac every eight years


Christianity

A goat's head inscribed in a pentagram, from La Clef de la Magie Noire by the Rosicrucian Stanislas de Guaita (1897). The epigraph reads "Leviathan" (outer circle) and "Samael" and "Lilith" (inner circle).According to Heather Child's Christian Symbols, Ancient and Modern[4], the pentagram is a symbol of the five senses. Also, when the letters S, A, L, V, and S are inscribed in the points, the pentagram is a symbol of health (Latin salūs).

The pentagram appears on the shield of Sir Gawain in the 14th Century poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In the poem the five lines of the star are given multiple meanings: they represent the five senses, five fingers, the five wounds of Christ[5], the five joys that Mary had of Jesus (the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Resurrection, the Ascension and the Assumption), and the five virtues of knighthood which Gawain hopes to embody: frankness, fellowship, purity, courtesy and compassion.


Satanism

Satanists use a pentagram with two points up, often inscribed in a double circle, with the head of Baphomet inside the pentagram. They use it much the same way as the Pythagoreans, as Tartaros means Hell in Christian terminology (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 often replaced by the Hebrew letters לויתן forming the name Leviathan. Less esoteric LaVeyan Satanists use it as a sign of rebellion or religious identification, the three downward points symbolising rejection of the holy Trinity.




A typical Neopagan pentagram (circumscribed): a symbol used in many Neopagan traditions to represent earth, air, fire and water, plus the fifth element of quintessence or Spirit.Many Neopagans, especially Wiccans, use the pentagram as a symbol of faith similar to the Christian cross or the Jewish Star of David. (It is not, however, a universal symbol for Neopaganism, and is rarely used by Reconstructionists.) Its religious symbolism is commonly explained by reference to the neo-Pythagorean understanding that the five vertices of the pentagram represent the four elements with the addition of Spirit as the uppermost point. As a representation of the elements, the pentagram is involved in the Wiccan practice of summoning the elemental spirits of the four directions at the beginning of a ritual.

The outer circle of the circumscribed pentagram is sometimes interpreted as binding the elements together or bringing them into harmony. The Neopagan pentagram is generally displayed with one point up, partly because of the "inverted" pentagram's association with Satanism, however within traditional forms of Wicca a pentagram with two points up is associated with the Second Degree Initiation and in this context has no relation to Satanism.

Because of a perceived association with Satanism and also because of negative societal attitudes towards Neopagan religions and the "occult", many United States schools have sought to prevent students from displaying the pentagram on clothing or jewelry. In public schools, such actions by administrators have been determined to be in violation of students' First Amendment right to free exercise of religion.

Answer 9

the pentagram is one of two (popular) five-pointed stars, with the two points being at the top. this is commonly a representation of satan, satanism, and sometimes paganism, though it is most often misconstrued and associated with devil worshipping.

the pentacle, a five pointed star with one point pointing up, is often used and associated with paganism and witchcraft.

have fun.

Answer 10

It means many different things depending on where you see it. It is the symbol for the Shields in Tarot, and for the earth, and for the north. It is also a common symbol for Pagan believers.

AND IF I HEAR ONE MORE "EVIL" THING I'M GONNA BLOW!!!! JUST CUZ WE DON'T BELIEVE IN WHAT U DO DOESN'T MEAN WE'RE EVIL!!!!!!!!

Grrrr......