No, This Not the Star of David

Some people are familiar with religious symbolism while others tend to be a bit shallow in such areas. It may not offend you as much if someone else's religious symbol is confused with another, but when you are the one who has to explain over and over that the symbol you're sporting is not the symbol one thinks it is, it can get a little tiring and annoying.

So surfing around the web, I saw the folloing bumpersticker (which inspired me to write this):



Some of you are probably like, "What? It most certainly is, it's a star! See?". But it's not just any 'ole star. Take a look at the following picture:



Now look up at the first one. See the difference? One star has six sides, the other has five. The first star is the not the Star of David (or the Seal of Solomon), but a pentacle. There are many different associations with that symbol. Most commonly, it is a symbol used by many Pagans. Each point represents an element; air, water, fire, earth and the top one represents spirit. With those combined, they are the elements used to sustain life. Another interpretation of the pentacle is that it represents life that is united through Spirit. That's the definition I go by.


Inverted pentegrams, though such as in the following picture is the symbol of the Satanists (which are not to be confused with Pagans) have a totally different meaning.



One meaning that I know of is the Sigl of Baphomet. Baphomet has the head of a goat and the body of either a dog, bull or donkey. I've also read that the inverted pentegram can also mean the desires of the earth over spirit. (Remember what I said about the top point representing Spirit? Notice how the top point in this image is upside down. That's how you can tell which symbol is which.)

There is also the pentagram. That's simply the pentacle without the circle around it such as in the following picture:



Although people have used the two names interchangebly. Five has been considered a magical number. click here for an excellent and accurate article on the meaning of this symbol. This symbol has been said to be some sort of divine symbol as you can find it's components all over the place in nature. I can't say I've search all over myself.

If you're interested in learning more in depth with these symbols, a good place would be to go here where the info isn't biased or leaning one way or another.

Now for a little info on the Star of David. Like I said before, it has six points. Or an easier way to notice is there are two triangle present in the symbol; one pointing upwards and one pointing below. Some have said that this symbol represents the notion of "As Above, so below". For more info on this symbol click here.

It's always good to learn and be knowledgable than to be stupid and spread falsities.