The essay below on The Five Pointed Star has been written and submitted by Bro. Jim Blumenthal, of Santa Monica - Palisades Lodge #307. Thanks Jim!

The pentagram or the star inside the circle has been used as a symbol in many esoteric traditions for several thousand years. One of the oldest of these usages has been the Taoist representation of the Five Elements, a central concept in Chinese medicine. In this usage, the five points of the star represent each of the five elements: Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood. The circle represents the generating or "sheng" relationship (Earth is nourished by Fire, Metal is created from Earth, Metal dissolves to feed Water, Water nourishes Wood, Wood feeds Fire), while the relationships represented by the legs of the star are the restraining or "ko" cycle (Water quenches Fire, Fire tempers Metal, Metal cuts wood, Wood restrains Earth, Earth holds back Water). In all things it is essential to maintain harmony between sheng and ko because unrestrained growth is cancer while restraint without growth is disappearance. Mercy without strength is weakness while strength without mercy is despotic and cruel. Justice is a measured balance between the two. This cosmology has developed to include highly sophisticated concepts in several fields including but not limited to medicine, statecraft, and spirituality.

In symbolism as old as and perhaps older than the Chinese usage, the star in the circle, like the swastika, has often been a solar symbol. Since many societies have revered solar deities as the bringers of Light and Life, it is not surprising to find the pentagram as a symbol of the Solar God. We recall Jesus saying quite clearly, "I am the Sun of God". This is also the role of Lugh, Helios, Ra, Apollo, Raphael, and Fu-Hsi, among others.

In the Celtic pantheism regarded today as Wicca, the pentagram has several meanings. It is at once a protective sigil or amulet, a representation of the four watch towers and Spirit, and a dance between the dualism of Feminine and Masculine. It also represents generation and restraint much as it did for the ancient Chinese. The circle is often represented by a snake holding its tail in its mouth. The snake has long been associated with the Goddess and the Moon. It is also symbolic of the wheel of the year and of the birth, death and rebirth process. The star, as discussed above, is also symbolic of the God and the Sun. It is traditional in Wiccan homes to place a pentagram over a doorway to ward off negativity and to invite in the essences of harmony. Travelers often wear the pentagram as an amulet of safe passage, much as some Christians wear an amulet of St. Christopher.

Aberrations and variations on the theme of the pentagram have been handed down to us over the past several centuries. As the Roman Church gained increasing secular and political power, symbols of the Old Religions were vilified much as the Taliban have desecrated Buddhist shrines and monuments today. The pentagram was not immune to this. Originally signifying the relationship of all of creation to the elements of Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit, it was reconstrued as an emblem of heresy. Eliphas Levy's Goat-in-the-Pentagram image has likewise been misunderstood. Although the Roman Church has ascribed the goat as an image of their Devil, it has long been associated with fertility and fecundity, two qualities which were highly revered by ancient people. In fact, their very survival was dependent on these two qualities and their leaders were chosen (and often sacrificed) for their ability to assure a plentiful harvest or a fertile herd.

Particularly misunderstood has been the 'inverted pentagram'. Since Satanism appears to be little more than a rebellious and inverted form of Christianity, it is perhaps not surprising that some Christians have wanted to believe that an inverted pentagram, i.e., point down, is a symbol of Satanism. While their spiritually ethnocentric world view may urge this sort of interpretation, very little could be less accurate. In fact, the inverted pentagram, as used in Eastern Star rites for instance, is an allegorical Star of Bethlehem, pointing from the heavens to Earth to signify the manifesting of Spirit in the Flesh. This, one could argue, is the very essence of Christianity. It is also the essence of several other traditions.