From a msn group... Information on
the long mis-understood symbol 
The Pentagram
This particular symbolism has persisted for centuries, and greatly
influenced theologies of diverse traditions. One of the most
potent, powerful, and persistent symbols in human history.
The Pentagram was and remains important to almost every ancient
culture from ancient to modern from the Mayans of Latin America, in
India, China, and Egypt.
It has been found scratched on the walls of Neolithic caves, or in
Babylonian drawings, where it marks the pattern the planet Venus
makes on its travels. Scriptures, especially Hebrew, are abundant
with hidden references to them.
Pythagoras, the Greek mathematician and philosopher stated that
five is the number of man. Because of the fivefold division of the
body the ancient Greek division of the soul, the five points each
representing one of the five elements that make up man: fire,
water, air, and earth, and psyche.
The Pentagram is central to many doctrines of esoteric Medieval and
Renaissance traditions - alchemy, kabbalah, and Ceremonial
magick.
Ritual magicians used the Pentagramas a microcosm of the human
body. One of these, Giordano Bruno, warned of misuse by Black
magicians because of its great power. The pentagramis still central
to the practice of ritual magick, and is used in most foundation
rituals.
In the Jewish kabbalistic tradition, which borrows many Pythagorean
ideas, the pentagram represents the five upper sephiroth on the
tree of Life; five numbers, which being indivisible by any but in
themselves they represent pure archetypal forces: justice, mercy,
wisdom, understanding, & transcendent splendor.
Christian Kabbalists were especially enamored of the pentagram, to
them, it symbolized Christ, as the Holy Spirit, manifest in the
flesh. A favorite gematric feat was to add the Hebrew letter Shin,
(symbolizing fire and the holy spirit). To the Biblical four letter
name of God, (YHVH), yielding YHShH - Yehoshua, or Jesus. The name
of the Christian holiday Pentecost which is, The Day of The Holy
Spirit descended on the apostles of Jesus. This is not the only
connection of the pentagram to Christianity. Before the cross, the
Pentagram was the preferred symbol to adorn jewelry and amulets. It
was associated with the five wounds of Christ, and because it could
be drawn in one continuous movement of the pen, the Alpha and the
omega. The Pentagram was also an expression of a secret Gnostic
heresy, found hidden here and there throughout Christian
history.
The most notable instance of the symbolism of the Pentagram is in
the Arthurian Grail tales and mysteries which are Gnostic and
kabbalistic teachings told in the form of tales of knightly
quests.
Surprisingly, the Pentagram also plays an important part in the
symbology of the early United States government, (a fact not lost
on some Christian conspiracy theorists),man of the Founding Fathers
were masons, to whom the Pentagram is an important symbol- it
appears in much of our early conography- the flag, the Great Seal,
and on our money. It is even to be found in the Capitol, where the
White House sits at the apex of a giant Pentagram.
The Satanic pentagram is presented upside-down, or inverted, with a
single point facing downward. This glyph was a representation of
Black magick, symbolizing the triumph of matter and material
desires over the spirit. In modern satanic theology, it is far more
likely to represent the individual, or the choice to pursue
individual glory or immortality rather than union or absorption
where some traditions advocated the sublimation of the ego,
Satanism exalts it. The symbolmost commonly asociated with satanic
practices is the "Sabbatic goat" or Goat of Mendes, often
associated with Baphomet, a figure from Templar legend, and Pan,
the Greek goat God. It rarely has any deeper meaning
This is a great irony when one
considers the long history of the use of the pentagram, that it's
comparitively short association with Satanism has made the symbol a
feared one to so many.
Currently, the most common religious uses of the pentagram are by
those who follow varous Pagan paths such as the better known Wiccan
and Neopagan traditions. Their use of the Pentagram is in the
symbolic meaning as derived from Medieval Ceremonial magick. The
four elements ruled by the spirit although as these theologies
mature, they have added to its meaning. In many of these, it can
symbolize the unity of mankind with the earth or with the realm of
the spirit.
