Now, all this is diabolical in the highest degree, and is not this intuition of the symbols of a lost science something truly marvellous, for it is transcendent magic which, basing the universe on the two pillars of Hermes and Solomon, has divided the metaphysical world into two intellectual zones, one white and luminous, comprising positive ideas, the other black and opaque, including those which are negative, and which has given to the synthetic notion of the first the name of God, and to the synthesis of the second the name of the devil, or Satan. – Éliphas Lévi

Not many people are aware that there are two main types of pentagrams in the occult world with two very different meanings. One is used by the right hand path and the other by the left hand path. Once you have the complete understanding of the pentagram, you will be able decipher the key of the two worlds that is the illusion we live in.

In its simplest form, the pentagram represents man or woman.

The upright pentagram such as the one above and to the right is the symbol that we can say is used for good by followers of the right hand path, the divine feminine and soul. The upright person who is in control of his passions whose divine reason through their intellect, soul and spirit have risen above his or her animal and lower natures which now dominates this being who is considered like a Christ or Buddha.

It is a type of an astrological magic and good luck charm. In ancient Roman times and medieval Christian churches, the Pentagram was painted or carved on their doors to ward off evil spirits. This was also done by the Babylonians and many other ancient cultures throughout history.  It is associated with the “Druid’s-foot,” 3 pentalpha, and the the fairy-cross. Amongst the Pythagoreans (signum Pythagoricum), in the time of and after Pythagoras, a signet ring bearing the pentagram was worn by members of the Pythagorean brotherhood.

The Pentagram below is used primarily by followers of the Left Hand Path and Satanists is the inverted or upside down pentagram.

What does the upright pentagram represent?

The upright pentagram is the Morning Star, Christ or the spirit of Lucifer which is represented by spirit over matter such as the image above and the one below which shows the various elements of the five points represented in spirit, air, fire, water, and earth. It represents the power of the true divine spirit by bringing the four elements of creation into perfect balance and beautiful harmony. The early Christians referred it to the five wounds of the Savior. It is the the sign of the Microcosm or what the Kabalists of the book Sohar call Microprosopoi. It consists of a continuous line that runs from point to point and can be referred to as the “endless knot.”

It is simply one of the most powerful symbols that an initiate, adept or an occultist can use in any rite.

When the one point of the pentagram is in its proper position with the spirit pointing up, it is a sign of  Christ or Christ like spirit, AKA illuminate or enlightened being is figurative of the human body, with four limbs and a single point, which should represent the head.. Five was considered the number of dominion by knowledge. The pentagram, or Solomon’s seal, was its symbol, and the Gnostic schools adopted it as their crest.

The star of the microcosm, or the magic Pentagram, that star wherein the human figure was sketched by Agrippa, with the head in the ascending point and the four members in the four other points – Eliphas Levi

The symbol of man, who has five senses, five members,—head and four limbs, —five fingers, etc.

Such as the symbol of the cross when upright is the sign of Christ or enlightened man as well.

 The Kabalists call it Pentaculnm Salomonis which is Latin for pentagram. An upright pentagram to the occultist in this position as indicated above can have powerful effects especially against evil spirits. Its efficacy undoubtedly sprang from the circumstance that it resolves itself into three triangles, and is thus a triple symbol of the Trinity. Paracelsus ascribes a similar, though a lesser, degree of virtue to the hexagram.

Pentagram. From the Greek pente, five, and gramma, a letter. ‘

In the science of magic the pentalpna is called the holy and mysterious pentagram. Eliphas Levi says (Dog. el Rilucl de la Haute Magie, ii., 55) that the pentagram is the star of the Magians; it is the sign of the word made flesh; and according to the direction of its rays, that is, as it points upward with one point or with two, it represents the good or the evil principle, order or disorder; the blessed lamb of Ormuzd and of St. John, or the accursed god of Mendes; initiation or profanation; Lucifer or Vesper; the morning or the evening star; Mary or Lilith; victory or death; light or darkness. (See Pentalpka.)

Pentalpna. The triple triangle, or the pentalpha of Pythagoras, is so called from the Greek Tots, pente, five, and a\Antiochus Epiphanes, and a writer in Notes and Queries (3 Ser., ix., 511) says that he has found it on the coins of Lysimmachus. On old British and Gaulish coins it is often seen beneath the feet of the sacred and mythical horse, which was the ensign of the ancient Saxons. The Druids wore it on their sandals as a symbol of Deity, and hence the Germans call the figure ” Druttenfuss,” a word originally signifying Druid’s foot, but which, in the gradual corruptions of language, is now made to mean Witche’s foot.

What does the inverted pentagram represent?

The Pentagram, with two horns in the ascendant, represents Satan, or the goat of the Sabbath, and with the single horn in the ascendant it is the sign of the Saviour. It is the figure of the human body with the four members and a point representing the head; a human figure head downward naturally represents the demon, that is, intellectual subversion, disorder, and folly. – Éliphas Lévi,

As I stated above, the  inverted or upside down pentagram is used primarily by followers of the Left Hand Path and Satanists. This is the pentagram with two points in the ascendant position, or pointed down which subjects the spirit to the governance of matter. This means that the desires of the flesh are put before that of the divine spirit and soul. It is the “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law,” that Aleister Crowley had taught.

The mysteries of magic by Éliphas Lévi, Arthur Edward Waite

the Burning Star which, when inverted, is the hieroglyphic sign of the goat of black magic whose head can then be sketched in the star with the two horns above, the ears on the right and left, and the beard below, sign of antagonism and blind fatality, the goat of lewdness assaulting heaven with its horns, a sign execrated even in the Sabbath by initiates of a superior order.

Fatality alone exists, God and spirit do not exist. Matter is the grand totality, spirit the dream of demented matter. The form is more than the idea, the woman more than the man, pleasure more than thought, vice more than virtue, the multitude greater than its chiefs, children above their fathers, and madness more than reason.'”

This “Magic Circle” was the precursor of the Church of Satan, a rationalist cult of self–gratification, personal power and success. The Church of Satan which is a rationalist cult of self-gratification, personal power and , founded in 1966 in America,by LaVeywho used an inverted pentagram on a circular field with a goat’s head superimposed over it as a symbol of the Church that he founded.

The Nine Satanic Statements outline what “Satan” represents in the Church of Satan:

1. Satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence.
2. Satan represents vital existence instead of spiritual pipe dreams.
3. Satan represents undefiled wisdom instead of hypocritical self-deceit.
4. Satan represents kindness to those who deserve it instead of love wasted on ingrates.
5. Satan represents vengeance instead of turning the other cheek.
6. Satan represents responsibility to the responsible instead of concern for psychic vampires.
7. Satan represents man as just another animal, sometimes better, more often worse than those that walk on all-fours, who, because of his “divine spiritual and intellectual development”, has become the most vicious animal of all.
8. Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification.
9. Satan has been the best friend the Church has ever had, as He has kept it in business all these years.

I simply do not follow or agree with the teachings of the Church of Satan, Crowley or that of the Left Hand Path.

My ancestors are that of the Pythagoras. My path is the Rite One which is that of Christ or the morning star.

What is your path or what star do you choose as your guide down your path in this incarnation?

This is not up to me to decide for you, but your free will choice. My goal is to just educate you on the differences between the two very different brotherhoods. My path is that of the the original brotherhood under Pythagoras who are followers of the Right Hand Path that use the upright pentagram which will increase your true life divine energy. The inverted pentagram reverses our true nature to drain the life energy from our souls. The upright pentagram represents the spirit, Lucifer or Christ and the light. The inverted pentagram signifies the material world, flesh, darkness, chaos and Satanism.

I AM just going to finish this article with some open source research materials by some great authors who have already explained the uses of the pentagram very well in the past.

Lucian of Samosata, Volume 2  By Lucian (of Samosata.), Christoph Martin Wieland

* This pentagram, likewise called pentalpha, is the famous figure which arises, when all the sides of a regular pentagon are prolonged till they intersect one another. As this figure unites in itself the mystery of the holy number, it was one of the principal symbols of the pythagoric order, of which the more modern secret societies did not fail to avail themselves. The pythagoreans (says the vossian scholiast of Lucian) put his mark, instead of the ordinary greeting, at the head of their epistles. This superstition was retained both among jews and Christians. In Upper Germany this pentagon is named den Drulden fuss, by corruption Dntdenfuss. Vid. Keysler, Antiquitt. Septemtr. p. 503. Quia nummus TlJotmlm, quern cl. Gesnerus ei Havercampo hucrefert, eandemjiguram habet, qua supra jam destripta est, idea minimum ipsum hie non exhibemus. Reitz.

The mysteries of magic: a digest of the writings of Eliphas Lévi;

The Pentagram, with two horns in the ascendant, represents Satan, or the goat of the Sabbath, and with the single horn in the ascendant it is the sign of the Saviour. It is the figure of the human body with the four members and a point representing the head; a human figure head downward naturally represents the demon, that is, intellectual subversion, disorder, and folly.

Now, if magic be a reality, if this secret science be the true law of the three worlds, this absolute sign, this sign as old as and older than history, should and must actually exercise . an incalculable influence on souls disengaged from their material envelope. Armed therewith and suitably disposed, we can behold infinity through the medium of that faculty which is as the Soul’s Eye, and can cause ourselves to be served by legions of angels and by demon hordes. The empire of the will over the Astral Light, which is the physical soul of the four elements, is represented in magic by the Pentagram. That which was used by the author in his evocation at London, scientifically perfected, is that which is engraved at the beginning of this chapter, and it is not to be found so complete either in the clavicles of Solomon or in the magic calendars of Tycho-Brahe and Duchenteau. If it be asked how a sign can exercise that immense power over spirits which is claimed for the Pentagram, we inquire in turn why the Christian world bows before the sign of the Cross. The sign by itself is nothing, it derives strength from the doctrine it resumes, and of which it is the Logos. Now, a sign which epitomizes by signification all the occult forces of Nature, and which has always manifested to elementary and other spirits a power superior to their own, naturally strikes them with fear and respect, and enforces their obedience by the empire of knowledge and will over ignorance and weakness.

The -sign of the Pentagram is called also the sign of the Microcosm, and it represents what the Kabbalists of the Sohar term the Microprosopus. Its complete comprehension is the key of the two worlds—it is absolute natural philosophy and natural science. Its use, however, is most dangerous to operators who do not completely and perfectly understand it. It should be composed of seven metals, or at any rate be graved in pure gold on white marble, but it may be also designed in vermilion on a lambskin free from every defect and stain, this being the symbol of integrity and light. The marble should be virgin, that is, should never have been previously used; the lambskin should be prepared under the auspices of the sun. The lamb should have been killed in Paschal time with a new knife, and the skin must have been salted with salt consecrated by magical ceremonies. Negligence in even one of these difficult and, at first sight, arbitrary observances completely stultifies the great operations of science. The Pentagram is consecrated with the four elements; the magic figure is breathed on five times, it is sprinkled with consecrated water, and dried by the smoke of five perfumes, namely, incense, myrrh, aloes, sulphur, and camphor, with which a little white resin and ambergris may be mixed; then we must breathe five times, pronouncing the names of the five genii, who are Gabriel, Raphael, Anael, Samael, and Oriphiel; the pantacle must be subsequently laid on the earth and turned towards the north, south, east, and west, and to the centre of the astronomical cross, pronouncing the letters of the sacred Tetragram one after another. Finally, we must repeat softly the blessed names Aleph and the mysterious Thau, united in the kabbalistic name of Azoth.

The Pentagram must be placed on the altar of perfumes and on’the tripod of evocations. The operator must also wear one about his person, with the figure of the Macrocosm, that is, the six-pointed star composed of two interlaced triangles. When a spirit of light is to be evoked, the head of the star, that is, one of its points, must be turned towards the tripod of evocation, and the two lower points towards the altar of perfumes. The reverse is to be done where a spirit of darkness is concerned, but, in this case, the operator must be careful to hold the end of the rod or the point of the sword towards the top of the Pentagram. We have said already that signs are the active voice of the will. Now the will must produce its voice perfectly in order to transform it into action; and a single negligence, representing a useless word or a doubt, stamps every operation with falsehood and inefficacy, and turns back all the vainly expended energies on the operator. Magical ceremonial must, therefore, be absolutely abstained from, or scrupulously and exactly accomplished in everything. The Pentagram graved in luminous lines on glass by means of the electrical machine also exercises a great influence on spirits and terrifies them. It was traced by the old magicians on the threshold of the door, to prevent evil spirits from entering and good ones from going out. This restraint resulted from the direction of the star’s points. Two points on the outside repelled the evil, two on the inside detained them captive, one point only on the inner side captivated the good spirits. All these magical theorems, based on the unique dogma of Hermes, and on the analogical inductions of science, have been invariably confirmed by the visions of ecstatics and by the convulsions of cataleptics under the supposed possession of spirits. The G which Freemasons place in the centre of the Burning Star signifies Gnosis and Generation, the two sacred words of the ancient Kabbalah. It also signifies Grand Architect, for the Pentagram, from whatever side it may be looked at, always represents an A. By placing it in such a manner that two of its points are above and only one below, we may see the horns, ears, and beard of the hieratic goat of Mendes, when it becomes the sign of infernal evocations.

The allegorical star of the Magi is nothing else, as we have said, than the mysterious Pentagram; and these three kings, children of Zoroaster, conducted by the Burning Star to the cradle of the microcosmic God, would”, be sufficient to prove the wholly kabbalistic and truly magical origines of Christian doctrine. One of these kings is black, another white, the third brown; the white king offers gold, symbol of life and light; the black myrrh, image of death and darkness; the brown presents incense, emblematic of the divinity of the conciliating dogma of the duadic cause; then they return into their own country by another road, to show that a new cultus is but a new path which leads humanity to the one and only religion, which is that of the sacred triad and the shining Pentagram, the sole eternal Catholicism. In the Apocalypse, St John beholds this same star fall from heaven to earth; it is then called absynth or bitterness, and all the waters of the sea become bitter—striking image of the materialisation of dogma, which produces the fanaticism and arid sourness of controversy. It is to Christianity itself that the words of Isaiah may be then addressed—” How art thou fallen from heaven, bright star, which wert so splendid in the morning?” But the Pentagram, profaned though it be by men, shines unclouded for ever in the right hand of the Word of truth, and the inspired voice promises to whomsoever shall conquer, that he will give him the morning star—a solemn restitution held out to the star of Lucifer.

As will be seen, all mysteries of magic, all symbols of the gnosis, all figures of occultism, all kabbalistic keys of prophecy, are resumed in the sign of the Pentagram, which Paracelsus proclaims to be the greatest and most potent of all. Must we be astonished after this at the real influence exercised by this sign on the intelligences of every hierarchy? Those who brave the sign of the Cross shudder at the aspect of the Star of the Microcosm. The Magus, on the contrary, when he feels his will grow weak, casts his eyes on that symbol, takes it in his right hand, and feels himself to be armed with intellectual omnipotence, provided that he is truly a king worthy to be conducted by the star to the cradle of divine realisation; provided he knows, dares, wills, and can hold his peace; provided he understands the uses of the pantacle, cup, wand, and sword; provided, lastly, that the intrepid glances of his soul correspond to those two eyes which the upper ray of the Pentagram always presents to him open.

The intelligence of the wise man gives value to his pantacle, as his knowledge gives weight to his will, and spirits comprehending this power are at once subject to the sign when intelligently used. Let us briefly explain this marvel. All created spirits communicate with each other by means of signs, and all adhere to a certain number of truths expressed by certain determined forms, whose perfection increases in proportion to the detachment of the spirits, those who are not weighted by the chains of matter recognising by the first intuition whether a sign is the expression of a true power or of an imprudent will. Thus by the Pentagram spirits may be forced to appear in dream, either during the waking state or in sleep, by bringing themselves before our Diaphane their own reflection which exists in the Astral Light, if they have lived, or a reflection analogous to their spiritual Logos if they have not lived on earth. This explains all visions, and, more than all, shows why the dead invariably appear to seers either as they were on earth, or as they still are in the tomb, but never as they exist in .the life which escapes the perceptions of our present envelope.

Women with child are more than others under the influence of the Astral Light, which concurs in the formation of the infant, and unceasingly presents to them the reminiscences of the forms with which it is replete. It is thus that the most virtuous women sometimes deceive the malice of observers by equivocal resemblances; they frequently impress on the fruit of their marriage an image which strikes them in a dream, and it is thus that the same physiognomies are perpetuated from generation to generation. The kabbalistic use of the Pentagram may then determine the appearance of the child to be born, and an initiated woman could give her son the features of Nero or Achilles, as much as those of Louis XIV. or of Napoleon.

Solomon’s Seal.

The double triangle of Solomon, forming the six-pointed star, is the sign of the Macrocosmos, but it is less powerful than the Pentagram, the microcosmic sign. It is represented in the following manner :—

The double triangle of Solomon is explained by St John in a remarkable way. He says, ” There are three who give testimony in Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost . . .; and there are three which give testimony on earth, the spirit, the water, and the blood.” St John is thus in accordance with the masters of Hermetic philosophy, who give to their sulphur the name of ether, to their mercury the name of philosophic water, and to their salt the qualification of the dragon’s blood, or menstruum of the earth. The blood or salt corresponds by opposition with the Father, the azotic or mercurial water with the Word or Logos, and the breath or spirit with the Holy Ghost—but the things of transcendental symbolism cannot be properly understood except by the true children of science.

Independently of these signs, the ancients made use, when evoking, of mystical combinations of the Divine names. The magic triangle of pagan theosophists is the celebrated Abracadabra, to which they attributed extraordinary virtues, and which they represented thus:—

ABRACADABRA

ABRACADABR

AB RACADA B

ABRACADA

A BRA CA D

A B R A C A

A B R A C

A B R A

A B R

AB

A

This combination of letters is a key of the Pentagram. The initial A is repeated five times and reproduced thirty times. The isolated A represents the unity of the first cause or of the intelligent, active agent. A united to B represents the fertilization of the duad by unity. R is the sign of the triad, because it hieroglyphically represents the effusion resulting from the union of the two principles. The number II of the letters of the word adds the unity of the initiate to the denary of Pythagoras, and the number 66, the total of the added letters, forms kabbalistically the number 12, which is the square of the triad,* and consequently the mystical quadrature of the circle. We may remark in passing that the author of the Apocalypse, that clavicle of the Christian Kabbala, has composed the numher of the beast, that is, of idolatry, by adding a 6 to the double senary of the ABRACADABRA, which gives kabbalistically the number 18, assigned in the Tarotto the hieroglyphic symbol of the night of the uninitiated, the moon with the towers, the dog, wolf, and crab (the sceptic, the blind believer, and the enemy of progress),—a mysterious and obscure number, whose kabbalistic Key is 9, that of initiation. On this subject the sacred Kabbalist expressly says: “He that hath understanding (that is, the key of the kabbalistic numbers), let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and the number of it is 666. It is, in fact, the decade of Pythagoras multiplied by itself and added to the sum of the triangular pantacle Abracadabra; it is therefore the epitome of all the magic of the ancient world, the entire programme of human genius, which the Divine Genius of the Gospel sought to absorb and supplant.

* Surely the square of the triad is 9! 12 is the triad multiplied by the tetrad.—Tr.

Science and key of life: planetary influences, Volume 5

The most perfect alembic which can elaborate the quintessence corresponds to this symbol, and the essence itself is symbolized by the sign of the pentagram. The athanar of nature is the body of man, while the pentagram is the microsmic sign or seal. The five points of the pentagram represent the five reciprocal points of projection in the human body, that is, the head, the hands and feet, and from these points, streams of vital force are constantly irradiating from four great centers of energy, that is, the heart, the brain, the spleen and the generative organs, while in addition, a receptive centre known as the solar plexus exists. Now the pentagram, sometimes termed the flaming star of Hijos, is one of the most perfect of pentacles. Its symbolism is extensive, but all such tends to the primordial idea of the quarternary joined with ninety. Thus the pentagram represents man, and it is frofn this point of view that we can best analyze it. We may consider that the upper point represents the head, the two points on the left and right, the arms, the two lower joints, the limbs and feet, all in correspondence with the head. At the same time the five points represent the five physical senses. Now the pentagram with the point above indicates the individual in whom the will commands the passions, in whom reason dominates the lower animal instincts, and in whom spirit dominates the body or matter. On the other hand the pentagram with the point turned downward is the same symbol with the cross turned upside down. It is the. individual in whom the passions thwart the will, the passive man without initiative, the man dominated by human and superhuman forces, the media, the materialization of spirit, the domination of reason by the senses, of ideas by instinct, etc.

Moe

Moe is the founder of GnosticWarrior.com. He is a father, husband, author, martial arts black belt, and an expert in Gnosticism, the occult, and esotericism.