Pentagram

this might be disturbing for some.

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My eldest brother who saw my tattoo for the first time freaked out.

He then gave me a LONG lecture on christianity. On faith. On religion. He was afraid I’m involved in cult activities. Well, he have all the rights to question my beliefs since he’s my brother.

well… the pentagram, IS, a symbol of satanism, if it’s displayed with two points up. I have been getting stares from Christian friends, and people who ask if the tattoo can be removed, because i am technically a Christian also. But because the symbol is disturbing as it’s the complete opposite to Christianity.

But then again. I guess you gotta have your facts RIGHT. first.

Read WIKIPEDIA

 

A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha or pentangle or, more formally, as a star pentagon) is the shape of a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes. The word pentagram comes from theGreek 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 Neopagan faiths wear jewelry incorporating the symbol.Christians once more 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 word lucifer, which was a term used for Venus as the Morning Star, associated with the bringer of light and knowledge. It is most likely to have originated from the observations of prehistoric astronomers. When viewed from Earth, successive inferior conjunctions of Venus plot a nearly perfect pentagram shape around the zodiac every eight years.

The word “pentacle” is sometimes used synonymously with “pentagram”, although their technical usages are different, and their etymologies may be unrelated.

Basically, ”A reversed pentagram, with two points projecting upwards, is a symbol of evil and attracts sinister forces because it overturns the proper order of things and demonstrates the triumph of matter over spirit. It is the goat of lust attacking the heavens with its horns, a sign execrated by initiates. Let us keep the figure of the Five-pointed Star always upright, with the topmost triangle pointing to heaven, for it is the seat of wisdom, and if the figure is reversed, perversion and evil will be the result.”

Christianity

  

Christ as a Pentagram, fromValeriano Bolzani’s Hieroglyphica(Basel, 1556)

The pentagram is used as a Christian symbol for the five senses, and if the letters S, A, L, V, and S are inscribed in the points, it can be taken as a symbol of health (from Latin salus).

Medieval Christians believed it to symbolise the five wounds of Christ. The pentagram was believed to protect against witches and demons.

The pentagram figured in a heavily symbolic Arthurian romance: it appears on the shield of Sir Gawain in the 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. As the poet explains, the five points of the star each have five meanings: they represent the five senses, the five fingers, the five wounds of Christ, the five joys that Mary had of Jesus (the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Resurrection, theAscension, and the Assumption), and the five virtues of knighthood which Gawain hopes to embody: noble generosity, fellowship, purity, courtesy, and compassion.

Probably due to misinterpretation of symbols used by ceremonial magicians, it later became associated with Satanism and subsequently rejected by most of Christianity sometime in the twentieth century.

 

Mormonism

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has traditionally used pentagrams and five-pointed stars in Temple architecture, particularly the Nauvoo Illinois Temple and the Salt Lake Temple. These symbols derived from traditional morning star pentagrams that are no longer commonly used in mainstream Christianity.

 

Judaism

The pentagram was the official seal of the city of Jerusalem for a time. Due to the similarity of the star shapes, it is occasionally confused with the Star of David by those unfamiliar with the symbols.

 

Satanism

  

A goat’s head inscribed in a pentagram, from La Clef de la Magie Noire by the Rosicrucian Stanislas de Guaita (1897).

Satanists use a pentagram with two points up, often inscribed in a double circle, with the head of a goat inside the pentagram. This is referred to as the Sigil of Baphomet. They use it much the same way as the Pythagoreans, as Tartaros literally translates from Greek as a “Pit” or “Void” 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.

 

Neopaganism

  

A typical Neopagan pentagram (circumscribed).

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 with each other. The Neopagan pentagram is generally displayed with one point up, partly because of the “inverted” goat’s head 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.

 

Bahá’í Faith

The pentagram is the official symbol of the Bahá’í Faith. In the Bahá’í Faith, the pentagram is known as the Haykal (Arabic: “temple”), and it was initiated and established by the Báb. Both Báb andBahá’u'lláh wrote various works in the form of a pentagram.

 

Anyway… the gist of it is..

The pentagram was considered by the ancient Greeks and medieval astrologers to have supernatural properties and to be a protective symbol. Often in the past people would mark their doors with pentagrams to ward off evil witchcraft and spirits. 

In good magic today (with the top pointed upwards) it is often used as a symbol to support transmission and communication with the spirit world. Its five points are often seen to represent the four classic elements of earth, water, air and fire joining with the fifth element of spirit to create life. A five-pointed star (pentagram) with a circle around it is referred to as a pentacle. This circle represents sacred space in which the fifth element of spirit controls the four earthly elements.

Also in the legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight a pentacle adorns his shield representing the five knightly virtues of generosity, courtesy, chastity, brotherly love and piety. 

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Anyway of other, the Pentagram i placed for life on my neck have no religious meaning AT ALL.

so please. stop the judgement already.

-J