| The
number '5' has always been regarded as mystical and magical,
yet essentially 'human'. We have five fingers/toes on each limb
extremity. We commonly note five senses - sight, hearing, smell,
touch
and taste. We perceive five stages or initiations in our lives - eg.
birth, adolescence, coitus, parenthood and death. (There are
other numbers/ initiations/ stages/ attributions).
The number 5 is associated
with Mars. It signifies severity, conflict and harmony through conflict.
In Christianity, five were the wounds of Christ on the cross.
There are five pillars of the Muslim faith and five daily times of prayer.
Five were the virtues of the medieval knight - generosity,
courtesy, chastity, chivalry and piety as symbolised in the
pentagram device of Sir Gawain.
The Wiccan Kiss is Fivefold - feet, knees, womb, breasts, lips -
Blessed be.
The number 5 is prime. The simplest star - the pentagram- requires
five lines to draw and it is unicursal; it is a continuous loop.
Expressing the saying "Every man and every woman is a star",
we can juxtapose Man on a pentagram with head and four limbs at the
points and the genitalia exactly central. This is Man in microcosm,
symbolising our place in the Macrocosm or universe and the
Hermetic/Tantric philosophy of associativity - "As above, so below".
The geometric proportions of the regular pentagram are those of the
Golden Section. The Golden Proportion is one beloved of artists since Renaissance
times, being those of a rectangle considered most pleasing in
proportion. Here, the ratio of the lengths of the two sides is
equal to the ratio of the longer side to the sum of the two sides.
Or :
a/b = b/a+b = a+b/a+2b = a+2b/2a+3b = 2a+3b/3a+5b ....etc.
If a square is added to the long side of a golden rectangle, a
larger golden rectangle is formed. Continuing this progression
forms the basis for a nautilus spiral.
The ratio of the distance between two points of a pentagram to its
total width is in the golden proportion, as is the ratio of the
height above the horizontal bar to that below, as is the ratio of
a central part of a line to the outer part.
This ratio forms the foundation of the Fibonacci series of numbers
1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89,144, etc where each number is formed by
adding the previous two numbers. The Fibonacci series is much found in nature
in the pattern
arrangement of flower heads and leaves and many flower heads and
fruits themselves exhibit a fivefold symmetry.
The pentagram has long been believed to be a potent protection
against evil, a symbol of conflict that shields the wearer and the
home.
The pentagram has five spiked wards and a womb shaped defensive,
protective pentagon at the centre.
There are five elements, four of matter (earth, air, fire and
water) and THE quintessential - spirit. These may be arrayed
around the pentagrams points.
The word 'quintessential' derives from this fifth element -
the spirit.
Single point upwards signifies the spirit ruling matter (mind
ruling limbs); is a symbol of rightness. With two points up and
one (spirit) downwards, subservient, the emphasis is on the carnal
nature of Man.
Tracing a path around the pentagram, the elements are placed in
order of density - spirit (or aether). fire, air, water, earth.
Earth and fire are basal, fixed; air and water are free, flowing.
These point attributions are used in ritually inscribing, as a
flourish of the hands or the athame, different forms of pentagram
for invoking or banishing (grounding) each of the elementals
according to the nature of the ritual. The line traces as
illustrated for earth (the last stroke is optional).
Another way of seeing this path is as Man's spiritual journey through
evolution. The spark of Life descending from God, the divine source of
life to the simplest embryonic form (earth), rising to flow (water -
air) on our plane of existence (compare with the intonation of the AUM
mantra), then again descending to the fire of purification before
again rising as a divine spark to find again his spiritual source.
The pentagram may be shown as an interlaced line symbolic of the
web-weaving power of magick. The descending spirit-earth line may
pass under (male) or over (female) the water-air line to give two
slightly differing forms.
A pentagram may be open, without a surrounding circle. This is the
active form symbolising an outgoing of oneself, prepared for
conflict, aware, active. (One wearing an open pentagram must be
physically aware of the danger of sharp points sticking in their
skin from time to time !)
A circle around a pentagram contains and protects. It is the
passive form implying spiritual containment of the magic circle.
The circle also represents eternity and infinity.
Inverted Pentagram
The pentagram may be inverted with one point down. The implication
is of spirit subservient to matter, of man subservient to his
carnal desires.
The inverted pentagram has come to be seen by many pagans as
representing the dark side and it is abhored as an evil symbol.
Fundamental christians, indeed, see any form of pentagram as such.
However, these are recent developments and the inverted pentagram
is the symbol of Gardnerian second degree initiation, representing
the need of the witch to learn to face the darkness within so that
it may not later rise up to take control.
The centre of a pentagram implies a sixth formative element -
love/will which controls from within, ruling matter and spirit by
Will and the controlled magickal direction of sexual energies.
This is another lesson of initiation.
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