Happy Memorial Day

Today in the US is Memorial Day.  While the holiday has become overly commercialized with sales, sales, SALES, it is still a day to remember those who have fallen in service to the country, no matter what their position.  It is a day to thank those who currently serve for the sacrifices they have made and the duties they have taken on so that we do not have to.

How many of us have held a gun?  How many of us have shot at another human being?  How many of us have been in or near a war zone and heard the terrifying sounds of battle?  We are privileged in this country in that we no longer have a draft and there is no mandatory service for all citizens.  It is a choice to join the armed forces.  For many of us, we choose not to join.  But there are those who do choose to fight and serve, to protect, to try and make the world safer for those they leave behind at home, and some make the sacrifice of their lives.

I, for one, and grateful that there is no mandatory service and no draft.  I could not live the life of a soldier, physically or emotionally.  And I can’t imagine what it would be like to have to watch my younger brothers go off to war if there were a draft or, again, mandatory service.  These thoughts make me appreciate all the more the sacrifices that soldiers and their families make every day.

In the past decade, Pagans serving in the military has gained more prominence as the questions of Pagan military chaplains and Pagan symbols on headstones have arisen.  We did win the right to display Pagan symbols for fallen Pagan soldiers on their headstones if they so wished, and Pagans are gaining more permissions within the military to further their spiritual practices.

For more reading about Paganism in the military, here are some links to good articles and websites:

• “Honoring Our Pagan Fallen on Memorial Day,” Jason Pitzl-Waters at The Wild Hunt.
• The Pagan Institute Report–a bit outdated, but holds some good information from previous years.
• “The Pentagon and the Pentacle,” Carl McColman, Beliefnet 2010.
• “An It Harm None: Pagans, the Military, and the C.O. Question,” Stefani E. Barner, Llewellyn articles.
• Warriors and Kin, a website devoted specifically to Pagans serving in the military.

The Meaning of the Pentagram: Part Three

This post is the third post in a three-post series about the meaning of the pentagram.

A pentagram is a five-pointed star, while a pentacle is the same star enclosed in a circle.  Often the two terms are used interchangeably, though many also treat them as distinct.

PART THREE: CURRENT TIMES

Today, the pentagram and pentacle are largely symbols of pagan beliefs, whether Wiccan, general pagan, or other.  However, because of misunderstandings and misrepresentations, there is often a negative meaning assigned to the pentagram by people outside of the wide umbrella of Paganism.  For some, the pentagram is an object of fear because they think it represents the devil or black magic.  In large part this is because an inverted pentacle is the symbol associated with Satanism, which is often assigned the label of Pagan although the majority of Pagans and Satanists would not consider Satanism to be a part of Paganism.

For some people, the pentagram is one of the symbols of life.  This is because of its association with the apple, often considered the fruit of life, which has a star-shaped core when cut horizontally rather than vertically.

In Morocco, the pentagram is the only symbol on the national flag.  Although the symbol used to be the Star of David, it was changed around WWI to a pentagram.  The reasons for this are historically murky, but most people accept that the pentagram adorns the flag as a representation of the five pillars of Islam.

The most common meaning given to the pentacle among Pagans is that of the five elements.  The points represent fire, water, earth, air, and ether/spirit, and the circle represents the unification of those elements as well as the universe, the goddess, infinity, and other connotations.  As a whole, the pentacle is a symbol of the integration of body and spirit.  However, there is disagreement among various orders of Paganism about where the elements fall on the pentacle.  It is pretty much universally agreed that spirit is the top point, but the other four points are often debated.

Part One: Ancient Times
Part Two: Medieval/Renaissance Times and Christianity

The Meaning of the Pentagram: Part Two

This is the second post in a three-post series about the meaning of the pentagram.

A pentagram is a five-pointed star, while a pentacle is the same star enclosed in a circle.  Often the two terms are used interchangeably, though many also treat them as distinct.

PART TWO: MEDIEVAL/RENAISSANCE TIMES AND CHRISTIANITY

Just as the pentagram is at its most basic meaning that of a star, it has sometimes been called the Star of Bethlehem, referring to the star that led the wise men to the baby Jesus.

In the 1400s, Agrippa of Nettesheim created a pentagram aligned with the shape of a man inside of a circle.  Here the pentagram represented the Universe, and the five points aligned with the figure of the man represented jointly the parts of the body and the planets.  Unlike previous ancient lore from Sumer, the planets changed alignment on the pentagram: Mars was at the head and top point, Venus to the left, Jupiter to the right, and Mercury and Saturn at the bottom.

The circle commonly represented infinity, the universe, and sometimes heaven or the spiritual world.  In the Renaissance, humanists attributed the circle to the perfection of God.

With the single point upward, the pentacle came at this time to symbolize the universal human, with the points aligning with the head, legs, and arms.  Due largely to Agrippa and da Vinci, the pentacle represented not only the human aspect but the creative spirit that lifts people away from the physical world to the spiritual world.

Also during this broad period, the pentagram became a symbol for the five senses in Christianity, though it isn’t unreasonable to think other cultures and religions would have come up with this association as well.

Although most Christians would probably not admit to this piece of lore today for fear of being associated with paganism, the pentagram used to be considered by Christians as representative of the five wounds of Christ and an amulet of sorts that protected against witches and demons.  In early medieval England—a time when Christianity and old Christian values were very popular and at their height—the pentagram was a symbol of the five knightly virtues and adorned the shield of Sir Gawain, who was a great hero in stories and an exemplar of knighthood.  Today, however, many Christians remember only the associations that cropped up during the Dark Ages and the burning times: the goat’s head and the devil.

Agrippa was also one of the first recorded authors to include the inverted pentagram as a negative symbol.  By the 1800s this negative connotation was more obvious via the very influential occult writer Eliphas Levi.  In his writings, he often named the inverted pentagram as a symbol of Baphomet, a sign of Black Magic, a symbol of evil, and an attractor of sinister forces because this inverted sign is a symbol of the disruption of the natural order and a triumph of matter over spirit rather than the other way around.

Part One: Ancient Times
Part Three: Current Times COMING SOON!

The Meaning of the Pentagram: Part One

This is the first post in a three-post series about the meaning of the pentagram.

PART ONE: ANCIENT TIMES

A pentagram is a five-pointed star, while a pentacle is the same star enclosed in a circle.  Often the two terms are used interchangeably, though many also treat them as distinct.

Ancient Times

Since very ancient times, the most basic meaning of a pentagram was that of a star.  This meaning continues today, and has permeated much of culture throughout history.  Even today when people draw a star they draw a pentagram, with little to no thought for any religious connotations.

Although the following meanings of the pentagram have largely been lost in popular lore, the ancient meanings are still applicable in some situations.  I also believe that knowing the history and previous lore of an object can never be harmful, and can only help further the understanding of an object’s meaning.  Ancient connotations can even be added to modern meanings to supplement the current meanings or add historical value.

In ancient Sumer, the pentagram was religious as well as mundane.  The symbol once was a word meaning a nook or corner.  In the Babylonian region, astrological meanings of five planets were assigned to the points of the star: Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Saturn, and Venus (which was the top point and represented the goddess Ishtar).

Hugieia pentagram (wikipedia)

Ancient Greeks, and specifically Pythagoreans, called the pentagram “hugieia”, or “health”, and thus it was technically assigned to the goddess Hygieia, the goddess of health.  To them, the pentagram represented mathematical perfection.

ReligiousTolerance.org goes on at length to say that the pentagram is representative of Kore, yet they have their deities wrong when they list the goddesses associated with the name.  “Kore” is an ancient Greek word meaning “young girl” or “girl”, and referred to the goddess Persephone as one of her epithets.  Yet ReligiousTolerance assigns the name Kore to harvest goddesses such as Ceres, so I hesitate to add this representation of the pentagram to the list.  They also say that Kore’s sacred fruit was the apple, but I am not sure of that either.  I thought Persephone/Kore’s sacred fruit was the pomegranate, though I could be missing the information about her association with the apple.  Still, while I mention this disparity, I hesitate to add this information definitively to the lore of the pentagram.

In old Judaism, the pentagram at times referred to the five books of the Torah, also known as the Pentateuch.

Part Two: Medieval/Renaissance Times and Christianity
Part Three: Current Times COMING SOON!

Sources

• Signs and Symbols by DK Publishing
• Religious Tolerance: http://www.religioustolerance.org/wic_pent.htm
• Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagram
• Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentacle

Question of the Week: Display of Pentacles

This is an issue that’s come up in some of my previous posts and in recent discussions I’ve had with others.  At work, often people feel the need to not wear their pentacle openly, for a variety of reasons, ranging from personal to political.  My question this week is:

Do you wear your pentacle at work?  Why?  Why not?
(why/why not is optional)

Post your answer in the comments below!

Remember, no flaming or disrespecting other peoples’ opinions or beliefs.  Friendly debate is encouraged, but blatant disrespect is not.  Those who do will be banned.