Which 5 pointed star has magical associations?
5 pointed stars are presented to us all the time, to determine which 5 point star has magical associations we need to begin to unpick exactly what is the meaning of 5 pointed stars.
This meaning varies between cultures and throughout history and will differ depending on your values and beliefs. So we begin with the 5 pointed star symbolism.
What does a 5 pointed star symbolise?
The 5 pointed star is the most well recognised symbol of the Pentad. The Pentad has come to be known as the signature of five.
If we can think back a little to understand.
- Monad is the point
- Dyad is the line, composed of two points
- Triad is 3 points and encloses space as the plane
- Tetrad introduces the 4th point and takes us from 2 dimensions to 3 dimensions
- Pentad. It then follows in number philosophy that with the addition of the 5th point the Pentad takes us into the cosmic realm of life itself
In the great mystery of number which we trace back to the Ancient Greeks, the Pentad signifies to us the next level of cosmic design and the 5 pointed star is the most well known signature of the Pentad.
The 5 pointed star indicates to us the the Pentad’s presence and its regeneration qualities and associations.
5 point star in Nature
The 5 point star in Nature. Throughout the natural world, in seed and flower forms, we see this signature of the Pentad presented to us as a five pointed star. The order of the fivefold symmetry is available for us to see.
The five pointed star is the signature of five. This signature, or archetype, can be found in other forms of five too. When we see a 5 pointed star in nature we will also see the pentagon. They are one in the same, where one is present the other is implied or vice versa. Both are the archetype of the Pentad.
Where did the 5 pointed star come from?
Where did the 5 pointed star come from? This is a difficult question to answer. We see evidence of the five pointed star being used throughout history. There are examples of it on Babylonian pottery and as a recognised glyph in Egyptian hieroglyphics. It has also appeared on Greek coins.
Despite many Egyptian glyphs being images of nature (think Owl, leaf, cow) Hieroglyphics wasn’t a pictorial language like emojis. Each glyph or group of glyphs represented spoken sounds that made up sentences.
The five pointed star in hieroglyphics is a vocal sound that appears as part of a group of glyphs that signify ‘monthly festival’. Ancient Egypt was a time when an awareness of moon cycles and growing phases was paramount so a language of symbols that kept track of these likely emerged.
What is the star with the circle around it?
In Egyptian hieroglyphics the star with the circle around it represents ‘another world’ or spirit place. And a quarter circle around a star is a ‘half monthly festival’
But there is something interesting I’d like to point out here. History has produced evidence of the Egyptians being advanced in their concept of maths and geometry. The symbol of the five pointed star appeared in their written language but NOT as a numeric value. It wasn’t a numeral.
Ancient Egyptian spiritual understanding of number would have been tightly connected to their philosophy and religion, likely because of the dependence on cyclical rhythms.
Fast forward from the Egyptians to the Renaissance and the star with a circle around it was referred to as a Pentacle and held correspondences with neopaganism and the occult. Agrippa was a scholar in 1400’s who combined traditional greek philosophy, divine order of the planets with that of current Christianity into his own type of magic mysticism which still influences today.
Which five pointed star has magical associations and spiritual meanings?
As I’ve noted, the Babylonians and Egyptians used the five pointed star symbol in communications and everyday life, it touched on a spiritual otherworld meaning in its relation to cycles of the month/moon. Yet maybe it was the later Greeks that elevated the five pointed star and started it on its journey of being the Pentagram that has magical associations.
Numbers are the tools by which we count, but they have also been used by people through all the ages to grasp the unexplainable.
Ancient Greece was a time that set numbers into the abstract thinking realm. An ancient greek philosopher wrote about Pentemychos as being the 5 ‘pentagona’ chambers where the cosmic offspring were placed in order for the cosmos to appear. This Pentemychos is said to have been represented by the five pointed star with 2 points upwards.
The rise of the prominence of the 5 point star can likely be attributed to the Pythagoreans and their society. This is where it gained its secret significance. The mystery of number originates here, or at least here is where we have the evidence to associate to it. They are quoted as keeping the five pointed star construction geometry secret, maybe because of the associations with otherworldly power and the cosmos which they understood from the Egyptians before them.
Scribes and scholars in Ancient Greece were the aristocracy. Knowledge was a commodity. Pythagorus and his scholars used the five pointed star as their secret recognition sign. The greek letters representing water, earth, divine idea, heat and air were placed at the star tips as seen in the image above.
What are the star symbols:
Five pointed star or Pentagram?
For it to be a true Pentagram it must be composed of five lines that intersect creating the pentagon at the centre (remember how the pentagram and pentagon are connected when we see them in nature?) If just the outline then its a five pointed star.
It is this intersecting quality that produces the inner Pentagon that was of so much interest to the ancients
The Pentagram and the Golden Ratio
Something the Greeks knew was that the intersection points in the Pentagram represent exactly an important ratio. The point at which the lines cross is the what is known as the Golden Mean, or Golden Ratio. Now without digressing too much away from the five pointed star (because golden ratio or what is often called ‘divine proportion’ deserves its own blog post). It is however important to note here this special quality that the pentagram has and how these correspondences echo throughout art, architecture and nature.
In drawing the Pentagram as the ‘endless knot’ of one continuos stroke of five lines, the golden ratio is inscribed into the diagram. This is the quality the Greeks revered, that launched the five point star’s spiritual and symbolic reputation. From here you can journey into the five pointed star in all its fractal glory by making patterns of infinite stars and pentagons. And it is in this understanding that we fully grasp the concept of the Pentad and its life giving qualities.
This golden ratio, which has also been called Divine proportion, features in the architecture of the great buildings of Greece; compositional elements of paintings through all ages; chord harmonies in music; and in growth patterns in nature. As I said, this post is about the five pointed star but the associations it has echo through many other areas which we can delve into in much detail if we desire.
Yet, not wanting to get to sidetracked by all that, it is this quality that underpins the relationship between its constructing lines that has informed the many forms of symbolism that we associate to the five pointed star.
The arrival of Christianity brought its own symbolism to bear on the five pointed star. Being the five wounds of Christ. Roman emperors of this time also used it as a seal or amulet.
Into medieval times the Pentagram offered spiritual protection. Most famously in the 14th century middle english romantic poem of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight which includes a description of a pentangle (another name for the Pentagram) in great detail. It details the ‘endless knot’ of the pentangle and its five points being the elements of the chivalric code.
Today the Five pointed star and the Pentagram have associations in so many areas. From school excellence reports to trip advisor reviews; in corporate logos and branding. The five pointed star affords a certain level of quality to that which it bestows. Be it celebrities or charities, we all want a 5 star rating.
For the Smart Happy Project seeing the five pointed star in nature assists us in understanding the growth patterns that make up our world. The five pointed star can be seen in seed patterns, petal formations and the spiralling leaves around a stem.
Nature expresses its preference for this golden ratio through its varied forms of the five signature. Once we have learnt see it, we can see how the whole is expressed through nature and how we fit into that.
Sources include:
- The Secret Code – Priya Hemenway
- Beginners guide to constructing the Universe – Micheal Scheider
- Egyptian Hieroglyphs for complete beginners – Bill Manley
- Quadrivium – wooden books
Through The Smart Happy Project Lisa communicates to her followers a voice of natural connection in a fast paced world. Following in the footsteps of philosophers and geometers of all ages Lisa embarks on highlighting our journey as humans in a natural world governed by patterns we can see and understand.
