Contrary to what you may have heard, the pentagram symbol is not a sign of “the devil” but is used by a large number of people who share a common belief in the sanctity of life. They don’t sacrifice living things for any reason. They do not worship the Christian Satan, nor do they revere any similar figure; most do not even recognize the existence of Satan. They do not cast spells to cause evil or to befall others. They believe that causing evil will bring evil back to the one who causes it. Their religion is based on nature, and is founded on the belief that the whole world is interrelated, that everyone is responsible for their own actions, and that peace, love, and tolerance for everyone should be encouraged everywhere. Pentagrams are used today as a symbol of faith by many Wiccans and neopagans, akin to the use of the cross by Christians and the Star of David by Jews. Christians once more commonly used the pentagram to represent the five wounds of Jesus. The pentagram has associations with Freemasonry and is also utilized by other belief systems.
The pentagram has been misunderstood for years, just as the swastika has been misunderstood. The swastika dates back to the Bronze Age civilization (3300–1300 BCE) and was used by ancient Chinese, Hindus, Buddhists, Jainists as a holy symbol. It was later adopted by the Nazi party of Germany and is now stigmatized by association with facism and white supremacy, just as many uneducated churches tell their congregation the pentagram is a symbol of the devil.
When the pentagram is used upside down, the implication is that the practitioner is subservient to his carnal desires. The inverted pentagram has come to be seen by many pagans as representing the dark side and it is abhored as an evil symbol, however, these are recent developments. The inverted pentagram is the symbol of Gardnerian second degree initiation, representing the need of the practitioner to learn to face the darkness within so that it may not later rise up to take control. Knowledge is power.
Pentagram and pentacle are the same thing.
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