Reclaiming the Witch's Pentagram

The so called 'inverted' pentagram will be familiar to everyone as the ubiquitous symbol of evil, common to Hollywood movies and satanic societies alike. The ‘upright’ pentagram is also a common and well known occult symbol, which can be found in many diverse spiritual traditions. One religion in which this symbol is particularly prominent is the modern Pagan practice of Wicca.

The association between witchcraft and the five pointed star is a long one, reaching back towards the obscure origins of the craft itself. In the past it is known that the inverted version of the pentagram was used as a symbol of witchcraft. Most witches today, however, seem to prefer using the symbol in what is generally called the upright position. Whether this switch happened due to a feeling that the inverse symbol was just a Christian slur and an attempt to condemn the practice of witchcraft with what is, in truth, a symbol of evil, or whether the strong association of the symbol with evil in the public imagination simply made it too distasteful to use is not at all clear to me. But what does seem clear to me is that this change was a mistake...read more>>>...