Significance of pentograms

[Belle]

When I was in my adolescence, I spent all lessons and spare hours drawing pentograms, very very carefully. I would decorate them with lines, to make more pentograms inside, and inside. I would extend them to make five pointed stars. They were more often, than not, irregular.

Quite why I did this, I really don't know but from the moment I saw my first 5 -pointed star drawn without taking your pen off the paper, I was fascinated. I wanted to draw that all the time.

I've just remembered this now, for some reason, and I wondered if anyone could shed some light as to what pentograms are all about.

I will probably never know why I did that which doesn't really matter. I'm just curious.

Pentagrams were important to Pythagoras and his followers, since it represents the golden ratio. Through Neopythagoreanism, the mathematical qualities of the pentagram were widely recognized in the Medieval world. During the occult movements of the Renaissance, esotericists used it as a symbol for the world, for them, the points represented the 5 elements of Classical science and philosophy, namely fire, air, water, earth and aether (which was later usually identified with spirit, but the words have different meanings); the 5 elements are what everything else is made up out of in varying quantities. So it was an appropriate magical symbol.

In Medieval Europe Christians sometimes wore pentagrams because they symbolized the 5 wounds of Christ and were thought to protect against demons.

For latvians it is a sign of protection, especially against nightmares and other night creatures.
Now I feel is a symbol of my faith - Wicca :)

Originally Posted by Belle

When I was in my adolescence, I spent all lessons and spare hours drawing pentograms, very very carefully. I would decorate them with lines, to make more pentograms inside, and inside. I would extend them to make five pointed stars. They were more often, than not, irregular.

Quite why I did this, I really don't know but from the moment I saw my first 5 -pointed star drawn without taking your pen off the paper, I was fascinated. I wanted to draw that all the time.

I've just remembered this now, for some reason, and I wondered if anyone could shed some light as to what pentograms are all about.

I will probably never know why I did that which doesn't really matter. I'm just curious.

Yes--I agree with everyone on this topic.

I did the same thing--as a child--then (as an adult) I learned that when you enclose the Pentagram in a Circle it becomes a Pentacle--a symbol of protection by the Elements as ruled by Spirit.

However--which Spirit depends upon whether the upper most point is pointing up--or down.

[Jenny Crow]

The point-down pentagram (or the inverted pentagram as some people call it) is the symbol of the second degree initiation in Gardnerian tradition of Witchcraft.

Some Satanists use the point-down pentagram too. However, if you take note, the Congressional Medal of Honour incorporates the point-down pentagram in its design.

Jenny Crow

[norseman]

Two more interpretations

The pentagram is associated with Venus. When Venus is rising in the east, it becomes the morning star. The morning star used to be named Lucifer. It is probable that ritual was practiced when Venus became a morning star, since at this time, the planet would turn retrograde. Retrograde lasts for 40 days. The retrograde of Venus creates a perfect pentagram from the perspective of Earth. Every seven years it completes the pentagram between five retrograde periods.

If this seems significant, then maybe it applies to you.

[in progress]

I believe it also is symbolic of the divine nature of humans or integration of one's divine nature. I was seeing pentagrams being drawn in my mind's eye after kundalini.

is sometimes symbolic of the descent of the divinity of Christ into the world of matter, a remnant of Masonry’s ties with medieval Christian Kabbalah and hermetic tradition.

http://symboldictionary.net/?p=1893

[desert rat]

If you were drawing pentograms as a child and your parents were not in to any thing occult , it could be from some thing you knew from a past life .

[hannah]

If you split an apple in half cross ways, the pips form a pentagram. This is why the apple is the sacred symbol of wisdom in so many cultures