Pentacles, Pentagrams, and The Church of Satan
Pentagrams and Pentacles in modern society have been associated with the Devil. This has happened to such a degree that, during a recent trip to a grocery store, I was given virtually the silent treatment by the cashier then, in front of me, she was incredibly warm to another person. It was the polar opposite Pentacles, Pentagrams, and The Church of Satanof how I’ve been treated by this same person in the past (it’s a small town – you tend to get to know your local grocery store people), and I chalked it up to her having a bad day until she was warm and inviting to another person directly in front of me (I posted a storytime about this on my Tik-Tok, if you’re interested). It wasn’t until I got to my car that I realized I had a prominently displayed Pentacle necklace Of course, I don’t know for sure that she didn’t like my necklace, but – given the small town I live in, the number of churches, and the misinformation and fear surrounding pentacles and pentagrams, I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what happened.
So, thank you to the grocery store check-out person for inspiring this post!
Pentagram vs Pentacle – What’s the difference?
To put it simply, pentagrams are stars without a circle around them. They are what happens when you extend the sides of a pentagon out so that they touch. Mathematically, they are (apparently) a good depiction of the Golden Ratio. Now, I can’t properly explain this because it’s a bit over my head in the math world, but if you’re interested, here’s a good article about it: Math EDU. Near as I can tell, there is very little difference between the two – they stand for similar ideas throughout history. The Pentacle has gained prominence in Tarot, Wicca,
The Pentagram and Pentacle both can be traced back to Sumerian culture, where they represented the four corners of the earth plus the sky, or, the night sky and the five planets they could see at the time: Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Saturn, and Venus. There isn’t a ton of writing around the Pentagram, or the Pentacle, though according to the New World Encyclopedia, it has been found in astronomical research in the Tigris and Euphrates as far back as 6000 BCE (Search Results for Pentagram New World Encyclopedia). What’s interesting to me about this, is that these ancient symbols, in their deepest roots, have nothing to do with evil or the devil. Instead, they represent astronomy and math.
Speaking of math, the Pythagoreans had a significant role in the use of the Pentagram as a symbol: “The significance of the pentagram was explored by the Pythagoreans. This symbol is geometrically significant because it represents a mathematical concept of ‘The Golden Ratio (also known as the Fibonacci sequence).” (D’Avalon) Pythagorean mysticism came about around 400 BCE, and they wrote much more extensively about the pentagram and what, for them, it stood for. For the Pythagoreans, the pentagram stood for the goddess of health, and (as mentioned above) The Golden Ratio. Pythagoras encouraged his followers to seek truth and knowledge, and they used the pentagram to identify each other and would sign various communications with it.
Around 300-150 BCE, the pentagram was used in Jerusalem’s official seal of the city. I bring this up, and feel it’s important, because…
…Christians used the Pentagram and Pentacle.
Yep. The same people who get weird about seeing Pentacles/Pentagrams, and insist that witches work with the devil himself, used the pentagram and the pentacle to signify the five wounds sustained by Jesus during his crucifixion (mythologian.net).
The Pentacle and Pentagram have roots in math, astronomy, the official seal of the City of Jerusalem, and, Christianity-which, if I’m being honest, feels like the church rebranding a symbol that was never meant to be theirs, like they did with Samhain (Halloween), Yule (Christmas), Ostara (Easter), and the concept of a savior dying for humanity (several early paganistic religions had mythologies with a demi-god who would be sacrificed in winter and resurrected in spring…sound familiar?). But I could go on and on about that…maybe in another post, I will.
But I digress. How did such a simple symbol go from math and science to the devil?
We have several historical figures to thank for this association:
Aleister Crowley – I’m not going to get too much into Crowley, but if you’re interested, there are a lot of podcasts, sites, and, probably, books about him. Cliffnotes version: he tried to open portals to commune with entities (and demons), his magic involved a lot of sex, and he was seen as a very evil man at the time. Was he evil? I don’t know. To me, everything I’ve heard and read about him makes him come across like an entitled child who never had to grow up. Instead, he chased attention his entire life. As you can probably tell, I’m not a big fan. Apparently, he used the pentagram in some of his ceremonies.
Gerald Gardner – Gardner founded Wicca and used the pentagram and pentacle to “Indicate the level of initiation” (D’Avalon) I don’t know a lot about Wicca specifically, but I am planning on doing a post in the future talking about Wicca, its roots, its ideas, and, how it’s different from witchcraft.
Anton LaVey – The Big Cheese himself – the author of the Satanic Bible. In the 1960s, LaVey used an upside-down pentagram to symbolize the Church of Satan (something still done today) and that is where the association was probably most forged.
What’s hilarious to me about LaVey and The Satanic Church, is that people who belong to The Church of Satan follow “The Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth” by Anton Szandor LaVey (Rev. Campbell):
1) “Do not give opinions or advise unless you are asked” – To be honest, this is very good advice, societally speaking.
2) “Do not tell your troubles to others unless you are sure they want to hear them.” – Also good advice. Friends are good sounding boards to vent and complain to, but random people when you’re out and about? Probably not. You need to have a relationship with them.
3) “When in another’s lair, show him respect or else do not go there.” – Firstly, I love the idea of my home being my “lair”. Secondly, this is 100% what you do when you’re in someone’s home – you are respectful of them and their space.
4) “If a guest in your lair annoys you, treat him cruelly and without mercy.” – I’m more of a “Please leave” type, but, hey, do what works for you.
5) “Do not make sexual advances unless you are given the mating signal.” – Boom. This is exactly the right thing when we’re talking about sex: CONSENT. The Church of Satan is anti-rape, something that Jesus’s Church needs to work on (if you don’t believe me, google the number of rape cases associated with various churches).
6) “Do not take that which does not belong to you unless it is a burden to the other person and he cries out to be relieved.” – This is such a good reminder: On the surface, don’t steal. But even deeper, don’t take on other peoples’ problems, unless they need help.
7) “Acknowledge the power of magic if you have employed it successfully to obtain your desires. If you deny the power of magic after having called upon it with success, you will lose all you have obtained.” – I think this is a good reminder for those of us who work with magic or energy; belief in ourselves and our power is an integral part of what we do. Not only because belief is part of the power, but because belief is the respect paid to the energies we work with.
8) “Do not complain about anything to which you need not subject yourself.” – Don’t borrow trouble. If you’re anxious, then you probably do this – I do. This is a good reminder to try not to, and to instead focus on other things.
9) “Do not harm little children.” – Plain and simple: don’t hurt kids. Again, google (if you want to be depressed) various allegations involving children and churches.
10) “Do not kill non-human animals unless you are attacked or for your food.” – I’m an animal lover, my dog is napping on the couch next to me while I write this. I totally agree with this sentiment.
11) “When walking in open territory, bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask him to stop. If he does not stop, destroy him.” – The “destroy him” part makes me laugh. It seems that the Church of Satan is about putting up boundaries; giving and demanding respect.
Notice that none of the above mention any worship of any entity. Not even Satan. That’s because The Church of Satan doesn’t worship any deity, not even Satan. In fact, “Satanists are atheists. We see the universe as being indifferent to us, and so all morals and values are subjective human constructions.” (The Church of Satan FAQs). Why be associated with Satan? Well, according to the Church of Satan, it’s because, “Satan to us is a symbol of pride, liberty, and individualism, and it serves as an external metaphorical projection of our highest personal potential. We do not believe in Satan as a being or person.” (The Church of Satan FAQs).
Okay, so, the Pentagram and the Pentacle don’t have anything to do with Satan, and The Church of Satan doesn’t have anything to do with Satan, so where is all of the panic coming from?
1980’s Satanic Panic
It was almost a fad in the eighties – it sold papers, it caught peoples’ eyes, and, let’s be honest, the sound “Satanic Panic” is a rhyme with Satan in it – it stuck with people, and people ate it up. With movies like Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist having left an impact on the American psyche, people were vigilantly looking for something scary to jump out of the shadows. Crimes like those of Charles Manson, and a book called Michelle Remembers in which a psychiatrist claims to use hypnosis to help a patient recall memories of being involved in a Satanic Cult as a child (Rossen), the public felt that Satanists were everywhere. With Anton LaVey using the upside-down Pentagram as his Church’s symbol, people forged the mental connection, and voila! You get Pentagram = Satan.
This is all my long-winded way of saying a couple of things: Firstly, neither the pentagram nor the pentacle has anything to do with Satan. Secondly, even the Church of Satan doesn’t have anything to do with Satan. The only people who are obsessed with Satan seem to be Christians. Christians believe in Satan and are often told to be diligent in looking for him. He is their boogeyman, their incentive to follow God, their reason for being moral, and the thing waiting in the dark to destroy them (according to their doctrine).
And honestly, if Christians want to believe in Satan, that’s fine. They can. Lots of people believe in Satan. I think it’s fair to ask that people who believe in Satan and Satan’s influence, not put that belief on others, or automatically assume that they are spotting a Satan-Worshipper in the wild when in fact, it might just be a pagan, Wiccan, or, their local chaotic witchy writer.
Citations:
Khan, Tuba, et al. Pentagrams and the Golden Ratio – Mathematics Education. 18 Sept. 2014, mathedu.hbcse.tifr.res.in/pentagrams-and-the-golden-ratio.
Search Results for “Pentagram).” - New World Encyclopedia. www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Special:Search?search=Pentagram%29.&fulltext=
D’Avalon, Alicia Charles. Symbolic Analysis of The Pentagram Concordia University April 2, 2020 https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/63186034/Symbolic_Analysis_of_The_Pentagram20200503-61143-1c7dp57-libre.pdf?1588551250=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DSymbolic_Analysis_of_The_Pentagram.pdf&Expires=1670890597&Signature=TjWdocWuLGHGhgWvP1DBqV0Wy8bmDJq96icRZ2UZxpjiZX8NJH1rg2bTSwgdKBxXX8cmWdV~~f~MFTtqfro-PRCpZU-G6uqepa1oR9APYBmS7MthpUVxLerYAUA58X0eoMW1rldk9POXHsPO3QEhroDp5aQ~JB7vza8zCGfn6tcBNP4aq0mBXiqKbNA7a5MWl2SVYTY0qKK9VHrRb9kr1P4HebAzAR2Qy63DsL0eeqUFUTeSh1aJlw~Hl~dDf20B2FgQiPCNkWF91qA5BFgsjUqKBZCdEtgVSrO11V1R2IRM8-Tj4gEz2e2SuZw4oe1ubDj4eNgz4E3KgJx6rZUa0Q__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA
Mythologian.net [Mythologian.net]. “Pentacle Symbol, Its Meaning, History and Origins.” Mythologian.net, 2022, mythologian.net/pentacle-symbol-meaning-history-origins-pentacle-vs-pentagram. Accessed 12 Dec. 2022.
Campbell, Reverend. “The Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth.” Church of Satan, 23 Apr. 2018, www.churchofsatan.com/eleven-rules-of-earth.
Rossen, Jake. “A Brief History of Satanic Panic.” Mental Floss, Mental Floss, 14 May 2021, https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/642372/satanic-panic-history-1980s.
“F.A.Q. Fundamental Beliefs.” Church of Satan, 31 July 2019, https://www.churchofsatan.com/faq-fundamental-beliefs/.
