Posted by:
Jim Huston
(
)
Date: November 08, 2010 09:41AM
The Church of Satan was formed in 1966. It is unlikely that Mormonism copied the Church of Satan on anything. The inverted pentagram dates back to the Greeks, and was used in a number of ways. Eliphas Levi is credited with being the first to link it with the occult around 1840. It had been in use by the Freemasons for years, taking on two connotations. The inverted pentagram is a symbol for the "Eastern Star" - the ladies aid society. It is also the symbol for the "Five Points of Fellowship." The "All Seeing Eye" is also a Masonic symbol. Here is some research I did on the inverted pentagram several years ago.
This is a review of early Christian art featuring inverted pentagrams and hexagrams.
http://www.thevesselofgod.com/sacredgeometry.htmlThe US Medal of Honour is an inverted pentagram.
The inverted pentagram being evil is derived from a claim made by Éliphas Lévi that the direction of the rays of the pentagram determine if it represents the good or evil principle: one point up representing order and light, two points up representing disorder and darkness. Lévi gives no justification or citation for this arbitrary distinction and goes on to arbitrarily equate the pentagram as a symbol for the Baphomet or goat headed god. This ignores, or distorts, the pentagram’s inclusion, one point down, in Constantine’s seal, the later mediaeval depiction of it as a medical symbol of health, and its Christian representation as a symbol of the Transfiguration of Christ.
No known graphical illustration associating the pentagram with evil appears until Lévi in the nineteenth century. The Inquisition of the early 1300s does not appear to have made a connection between the pentagram and the Knights Templar’s alleged worship of the Baphomet. Neither the Rule of the Order, the eleven charges against the Knights Templar, nor the eight Papal Bulls promulgated against them make any mention of the pentagram or its association with the Baphomet. Claims that the pentagram was significant to the Templars appear to be unfounded.
http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/anti-masonry/pentagram.htmlThe ancient Pythagorean pentagram was drawn with two points up and represented the doctrine of Pentemychos. Pentemychos means "five recesses" or "five chambers", also known as the pentagonas — the five-angle, and was the title of a work written by Pythagoras' teacher and friend Pherecydes of Syros.[1] It was also the "place" where the first pre-cosmic offspring had to be put in order for the ordered cosmos to appear. The pentemychos is in Tartaros.
http://www.answers.com/topic/pentagram-2The pentagram, when inverted (single point down, double points up), has been used as a symbolic depiction of the Horned God. In occult symbolism, this is akin to the Spirit of God taking on physical form in the world of matter. Interestingly, this corresponds in basic symbolism to the Christian cross, which is made up of the vertical line of Spirit descending into the horizontal line of the material world. The longer length of the vertical line below the horizontal one indicates the Spirit's entrapment in matter-Christ on the cross.
http://www.starcraftsob.com/craft/pentagram.shtmlIn the 19th century, Eliphas Levi, a magician and magical philosopher, created an inverted pentagram to signify the god Baphomet, a goat-headed god of Evil. In the Middle Ages the upright pentagram represented summer, while the inverted was a representation of Winter. Levi formed two illustrations of the pentagram - the first, orientated to God, featured the five points of a man within the points of the Pentagram. This is called the microcosmic man and represents the four elements (earth, wind, fire, water) as the mans limbs with his head representing the spirit. Next to the Microcosmic Man, he drew the inverted pentagram as the goats head or Baphomet. In so doing, he formed for the first time a differentiation between good and evil symbolised by the pentagram. The Baphomet sign or simply Baphomet has become the official symbol of The Church Of Satan, which was started by Anton Szabdor La in 1966. By the way, this symbol isn’t used only by Satanists. For example, Order of Eastern Star, international humanitarian organisation, formed by wives of advanced masons, use an inverted pentagram as their symbol. Movement of rosincrucianists, which unifies Christian mystics, in their rituals use magic stick, sword, cup and pentagram – here pentagram symbolises “earth, material and stability”. Order of masons relates five points of pentagram to five points of fellowship. Some bands of heavy metal use pentagram as their symbol.
http://www.sociumas.lt/Eng/Nr15/simboliai.aspThe association of the Pentagram
with non-Christian belief,
and its modern "elemental" analysis,
was introduced during
the revival of occultism
in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The distinction between the point-upwards
and point-downwards Pentagram
forms became accentuated in the minds of Pagans
During this same time frame.
http://paganandproud.bravepages.com/The%20Pentagram%20its%20real%20history.htmlInverted Pentagram marks the grave of a civil war soldier.
http://www.mtoliveweekly.com/NC/0/288.htmlThe Rosicrucian movement consists of groups of Christian mystics. They frequently use
The Rosicrucian movement consists of groups of Christian mystics. They frequently use a wand, sword, cup and pentagram as tools during their rituals. The pentagram represents "earth, matter and stability."
Some religious and spiritual groups have used the inverted pentacle.
During the 20th century, Satanists inverted the upright pentacle and adopted it as their own symbol
http://spiritsofthelight.tripod.com/id14.html