24/08/2026
A story recently came to my ears and sadly it was not the first of its kind. A client had been warned that attending psychics, or entering a store displaying a pentagram, meant entering a place of “demonic energy.” I’m here to dispel that notion.
The pentagram is not a symbol belonging to one religion, movement or period. Its history stretches back thousands of years, long before modern witchcraft and long before the creation of modern Satanism. In the ancient Greek world, the Pythagoreans used the pentagram as an emblem associated with health, harmony and mathematical proportion. Its geometry contains the golden ratio, which repeats throughout the figure.
In medieval Christianity, the pentagram could carry explicitly Christian meaning. In the fourteenth century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the pentangle appears on Gawain’s shield as an “endless knot.” Its fivefold symbolism includes the five wounds of Christ, the five joys of Mary and five knightly virtues. It was presented as a sign of faith, integrity and protection, not evil.
In later Western esoteric traditions, the upright pentagram came to represent spirit in harmony with the four classical elements earth, air, fire and water. Many modern witches and Pagans continue to use it as a symbol of balance, protection and the relationship between the material and spiritual worlds.
Yes, an inverted pentagram containing a goat’s head became associated with the modern Sigil of Baphomet. However, that specific design developed through nineteenth century occult imagery and was formally adopted by the Church of Satan in the twentieth century. That is one particular symbol and one comparatively recent use. It does not rewrite thousands of years of history, nor does it make every five pointed star “demonic.”
A symbol must be read within its historical, cultural and personal context. A cross may represent faith, sacrifice or institutional power. Fire may warm a home or destroy it. A knife may prepare food or cause harm. The object itself does not contain a moral character independent of the person using it.
Intent, action and ethics belong to people. 💜
