I recently had the ill-advised urge to dedicate my pentagram ring to a magickal but platonic friendship in my life. Not only was this a case of stereotypical male stupidity—in the repurposing of an item of jewelry—but it was a spiritual error as well as I was confusing an interpersonal situation with something sacramental or incarnational. My adoration of the Goddess, who can sometimes shine through archetype or synchronicity, sometimes even channel through priestess or medium, was misplaced as a liminal space devolved into idolatry, quite an embarrassing error to admit.
Some years ago, I had felt called by the Morrigan through a series of signs: a five-pointed star on a truck, a pentagram on some chimes, the pentacle in a tarot reading, and so forth. My self-initiation culminated in wearing the aforementioned ring. Additionally, after joining the coven, one of two tattoos included the pentagram with the ouroboros replacing the usual circle. In rededicating my tattoo and ring recently and doing some self-searching, I have been reflecting on the power of the pentagram. One of my first leads to the power of the pentagram comes from its appearance in various systems, including tarot. In ceremonial magic and the Magician’s tools of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, the elements are revealed through the wand of fire, staff of air, and cup of water; however, the pentacle (like Earth) reflect all the elements in its five points: sun and moon, sky and land, all beneath the 5th-point of Spirit. In the familiar inversion on the Devil card, the material elements take the lead in Dionysian ecstasy or primal creativity. In the Thoth system, the Princess of Disks—the earthy part of Earth, lowest of the court cards—carries all the energy of the tarot, completes the Tree of Life and starts the cycle afresh. Like the pentagram, Earth is said to contain all of the other elements as a portal to Spirit. The disk carried by the Thoth Princess has the yin and yang symbol at center, a balance also suggestive of the power of the pentagram in certain magickal systems. When the pentagram points upwards, an inverted pentagon is seen at center; however, when the pentagram is reversed as on the Devil card, the central pentagon points upwards. This harmony of reversals might support the notion that every person and aspect of life—like every tarot card—contains both sun and shadow, that no one is true angel or demon, that nothing is purely light or dark. Spirit effectively descends into the material as well as arising from it in this cosmology. The pentagram will be familiar for its symbolic power. In ceremonial magic, the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram can be used for daily protection, and even in witchcraft and altar work the pentagram may be invoked. Like the Christian cross, the pentagram is a universally recognized symbol with a variety of interpretations, in fact, once used by Christians to represent the five wounds of Christ. With magickal associations it is used in Celtic practice, Wicca, and even heavy-metal and goth rock album covers. As a sigil, the pentagram evokes energy as certainly as a QR code. Although the terms are often used interchangeably, some will note that “pentagram” refers to the five-pointed star proper and that “pentacle” refers to the star within a circle. The alchemy of the Renaissance would see the neo-platonic elements represented as transcendental romantics might find supernatural power displayed by the pentagram. Many modern pagans find the pentagram to be a satisfying symbol of earth-based spirituality, nature religion, or animism. The pentagram is a symbol and sigil of vibrant energy. Applying various perspectives from classic Greek and Roman, through the medieval and the modern, might lead us to fit the pentagram into a personal paradigm in powerful ways. However, I will close with a reminder from Neuro-linguistic Programing (NLP): “The map is not the territory.” These models and systems are merely ways of accessing a living, breathing magick, a fragile communion, or a sacred connection that can wax or wane like phases of the moon.
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Alan>Performing magician, >English teacher, Archives
March 2021
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