THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PENTAGRAM

Wiccans, magicians, Neo-pagans, and mystics of all divisions identify their customs with the structure of the pentagram. Still, there is a possibility there is no group that has added the pentagram into its ritual activities like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The pentagram plays an important part in the practical operations of our custom. Also, the pentagram is applied in categorizing all features of Golden Dawn Magic.

Also known as the five-pointed star, the pentagram is certainly the best ever symbol of magic. It is usually said to resemble the image of a human being with the upper part matching the head while the other four parts correspond to the out-stretched legs and arms.

Because the pentagram itself is based on the fifth component of Spirit ruling the lower elements of water, fire, earth, and Air, the pentagram exhibits the significance of the ethereal component crowning and making the lower bodily elements. In simple terms, it is about spirit over matter- rather than the other way round. Flipping the pentagram “on its head” would enable the matter to control the spirit and make the figure to lose its original stability and balance. From the human psyche perspective, Spirit expresses higher consciousness, which should always control our operations.

Spirit (also meaning breath) is the feature majorly closely linked to the magic activities since magic is usually put as a spiritual science. As it says in the Neophyte custom of the Golden Dawn, we understand that “Breath is the evidence of life”. The final Divinity and the source of all are as essential to the human experience as the oxygen we breathe. Deity penetrates every bit of our environment, from the greatest stars to the smallest atoms. It exceeds the four basic components and makes the entire pentagram bigger than the whole of its parts.

Even though the symbol of the pentagram can be traced from antiquity, the order of the five components is introduced by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn to the five parts of the figure in its prevailing form. Practitioners from different cultures of ceremonial spell generally use this pentagram form in their ritual practice. More so, the different pentagrams that the Golden Dawn formed to bid the separate and distinct powers of Air, Water, Fire, and Earth have been utilized by contemporary magicians as well. These four major components are not just physical matters, but instead archetypal forces and parts of nature. They describe the main levels of being and action and the basis of everything in the universe. In magic, elemental powers are employed to produce a change in the astral and physical realms.

Calling upon an element requires much more than just waving a wand in the space to outline the figure of a pentagram. It needs exercise to gain skills in the magical know-how of memorization of attributes, focused visualization and forecast of willpower, simplicity of intention, the flow of energy, efficient vibration of holy words and names of power, and other skills. When an accomplished magician outlines a pentagram in the air, a portal is formed between the invisible realm of the component in question and the physical world.

Notwithstanding, the mechanics of outlining an elemental pentagram are easy: to summon a component the magician outlines a line towards its respective limit on the pentagram. To dismiss or banish the element, the one will need to reverse the line, heading away from the elemental point.

Additionally, the Golden Dawn made pentagrams particularly for calling upon the ethereal component of Spirit. In respect to gender polarity, Spirit is generally androgynous. Nevertheless, the geometry of the pentagram allowed the Golden Dawn to designate two distinct pentagrams to Spirit, one of the angelic Masculine, as well as the other for the Devie Feminine (also called Spirit Active & Spirit Passive). The initial correlates the masculine details of Air and Fire on the pentagram, and the next joins the feminine forces of Earth and Water. One thing to note is that these two major features of Spirit exhibit the two significant divisions in nature compared to the Yang and Yin of Eastern mysticism, divided for union.

Read More: The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

If you are keen, you should realize that pentagram has a lot of relevance in the magic world. Simply put, pentagram cannot be ignored when it comes to magic practices.