Misconceptions About the Pentacle

How Christianity Gave Birth to Wicca and Satanism

Many confused people identify the Pentacle with Satanism. The numerous Pagan faiths and Satanism do use the Pentacle as a symbol, however Satanism inverses the position of the symbol. This may not seem significant to a Christian; however, consider what the Nazi adoption of the Hindu Swastika did for the perception of that symbol.

More to the point, the Satanic adoption of the Pentacle is the fault of the Christians. You see, the Pentacle also was once a Christian symbol.

In the early era of Christianity, it was common practice for the Church to adopt (or 'baptize') Pagan symbols, so that new converts might be allowed to keep their totems, holidays, and practices as members of the new religion. For example, take the Christmas Tree (were there pines in Bethlehem?), May Day, and even Christmas Day itself (the Bible tells us that Jesus was born in the Spring, but late December celebrates the return of the Sun/Son). So too was it with the Pentacle. It was decreed by the Church that it should come to represent the five wounds of Christ.

Later, in the middle ages, many Popes began to break from the old ways, considering some certain items of Pagan origin to be unclean. The term Satanic comes from S'atan, Arabic for 'enemy of God'. Arabic itself was considered an 'unclean' language, so was used to describe items and practices affiliated with what the Popes believed to be artifacts of anti-Christian sentiment. Thus 'Satanic', in this sense, means 'banned from the Church'.

In this way, the Church literally handed the Pentacle off to the Satanists, who, through history, have generally held that the Church has a kernel of truth beneath the dogma of control and deciet, but have the concept of divinity backwards, and are worshiping the wrong entity. So, to put things in perspective, it is the Satanic use of the pentacle that has its roots in the ancient Pagan faiths, from which the Church adopted the symbol to begin with, not the other way around.