Recently, a reader asked if I could explain the meaning of a religious symbol she had come across, the assumption being that there may be a connection between such symbolism and the paranormal. First, I have to offer a preamble to this topic; the ASUP simply is a research and educational corporation, not aligned to any religious organization. For the purposes of our work, we do not recognize any one religion over another.

Symbolism in religion is a highly charged area and admittedly some of the symbols we encounter seem to exhibit paranormal powers. Each religion lends significance to these symbols; the cross in Christianity, the Star of David in Judaism, the Crescent in Islam or the Pentagram in Wicca. This is not the full list, each religion has its own symbolism and if we were to limit the total number of religions to a text like Abingdon’s Religions of the World, we would find several thousand at least.

Now, for a moment let’s look at where these symbols come from in the first place, each one has its own history and you have to search back to the beginning of any symbol’s use to understand its true meaning. Let’s take a well known image, the Swastika. When you show that image to someone today, they will probably relate it to Germany in the mid-twentieth century, or possibly the “Skin Heads” who support “whites only” political beliefs. One might assume that the Swastika was the artistic handiwork of the Nazi war machine, but in fact, I could show you hundreds of examples of that same design from all over the world, throughout history.  The Swastika can be seen on Native American teepees and in Oriental art and has existed in one way or another in various cultures over the entire earth, but because it was “adopted” by the Nazi’s it is today considered representative of their ideology, which is totally counter to its previous meaning.

The Pentagram has an equally interesting history. It draws in name originally from the Ancient Greek, literally translated as “five lines,” which encompass the five pointed star and can be traced back to Greece and sometimes argued to have originally been Babylonian. In fact, the five pointed star with two points facing up might well be Sumerian but the Greek interpretation, with one point upward is believed to represent the heavenly bodies, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Saturn and Venus encompassing Ishtar, “Queen of the Heavens.”  The Greeks saw the Pentagram as the essence of mathematical perfection and related it to the five native elements, earth, wind, fire, water and the Deity in their later age of enlightenment.

It might be seen as ironic that in early Christianity the Pentagram was considered representative of the human five senses, and by extension, a sign of life and health.  In the early Christian Church it symbolized the five wounds suffered by Christ while on the cross. Over the years, the Pentagram was symbolic of many things in Christianity and later in groups as diverse as the Masons, Mormonism and Judaism, as the official seal of the City of David, Jerusalem, during the Crusades. Neopaganism or Wicca adopted the Pentagram as symbolic of drawing the five elements into a circle, which is how it is usually represented today, the outer circle being symbolic of encapsulating or binding all of the elements together in ritual harmony.

Much like the Swastika, the entry of Satanism as a religious belief has upset the traditional meanings of a Pentagram, much to the displeasure of neopagans and several social organizations who have used it for years to symbolize positive aspects in life. In fact the Pentagram can be found in Masonic culture and ritual, has been used in a plethora of building projects that had Masonic ties and was used in essence to establish a positive effect. Pentagrams can be found all over the United States from major government buildings to small country cross-roads, and can be traced back to either Masonic or Mormon design, all representing “good” in some form or another.

Aleister Crowley can probably be credited with the bastardization of the Pentagram in modern times.  Crowley was a very well educated graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge. He was heir to a family fortune earned in the brewing business and spent most of his life as an explorer, mountaineer, writer and occultist. As a member of the Golden Dawn at the turn of the 20^th Century, Crowley began to create his own occult beliefs and by the time in died in 1947, he was widely known as, “The Wickedest Man in the World!”  Crowley was responsible for the spread of pure Satanism in Western culture. The popular media of the day labeled him as a bisexual, drug experimenting hedonist, which was ironic given his family tree could be traced back to the religious zealots who spawned the Plymouth pilgrim movement in England.

Nevertheless, Crowley found his way to the heart of a counter culture that embraced his “anything goes” beliefs, as well as his social commentary. By the end of his life, he had managed to “turn off” most of his followers, but in the process, created a growing interest in Satanic ritual and confused the true meaning of the Pentagram forever.

With the establishment of Satanism and the popularity of the counter-culture mystique of people like Anton LaVey and his Church of Satan, the use of the inverted Pentagram became synonymous with Devil Worship. It should be noted however that the use of the symbol in this fashion is not the resurrection of some ancient practice, but the creativity of LaVey’s mind.  LaVey created his “Devil’s Bible,” in the late 1960s, while his name sounds as sinister as his activities, he was born to Jewish parents in Chicago as Howard Stanton Levey.  He later moved to San Francisco at the height of the counterculture revolution, started a rock band and shaved his head. He “borrowed” freely from Alistair Crowley, including the inclusion of the reverse pentagram, adding the head of a goat within two circles. LaVey once said he added two circles to distinguish it from the neopagan symbolism attached to the traditional Pentagram while his wife decided the goats head was, “a nice touch.” In public LaVey was a carnival showman, a kid who literally ran away to join the circus and knew how to take advantage of the public.  In private LaVey was a practical man, admittedly out to make a buck and have some fun among the hippies; he counted among his followers the infamous Charles Manson.  

Today, the inverted Pentagram is the symbol of Satanism and embraced by not only the fringe of Neopaganism, but racist counter-culturalists like the American Nazi Party and white supremacist groups large and small.  Nevertheless, the true meaning of the Pentagram stands for the polar opposite of these groups’ core beliefs and is still a symbol of Wicca, one of the fastest growing religions in the West.  As always the true meaning of the symbol is layered with history, myth, legend and almost always debased as time grinds on. Unfortunately, most others have fared even worse.

Of course, if you have an organized system to protect your symbols, much like the Christian churches, your message might seem to be safe, something like a corporation who is vigilant about its trademarks. Trade mark protection is an ongoing issue today.  If for instance an author uses the term “realtor” in an article, he can expect to receive a certified letter from the National Association of Realtors, explaining that “realtor” is a trademark and can’t be used without proper authentication. The same would be true if you inadvertently used the word, Xerox, etc.

But, one might ask, is the cross truly a Christian symbol?  On the face of it, the answer would be yes, but if you were to ask whether the cross was first a Christian symbol, the answer has to be no, it was adopted from one specific use, the instrument used by the Roman’s to torture and execute enemies of the state.  As such, it said to have been used to execute Jesus in Jerusalem and thus became the symbol of his church.  As such the “trademark” was adopted and protected over the next two thousand years, so realistically it is a Christian symbol.

That being said, we then have to look for the use of a cross as a symbol prior to 32 BCE, the supposed date of Jesus’ crucifixion.  Sorry to say, but a quick look at the textbooks will show that the cross was the number two symbol, only to the circle, in the Neolithic period, they are all over early cave drawings. Celts, Germans, Norse and societies of early central Europe all utilized the cross in their art and symbolism. The “Sun Cross” a circle around a simple cross is an early symbol of life in several cultures and the cross is also a common symbol in several oriental cultures.  The formation of the Swastika is also seen by many as an early cross design, which predates the Roman symbolism by thousands of years.

The lesson to be learned here is simple enough; current symbolism of any shape does not preclude the possibility of other meanings at some time in the past or for that matter, in the future. To that end, when a paranormal investigator comes upon a symbol, he or she must research all possible interpretations, not just the current or common knowledge of the present.   If you encounter a Pentagram for instance, you might be tempted to interpret it as a sign of the Demonic, which would be almost funny if your angle of view was limited to just one direction.  Likewise, when encountering a Swastika, you might be drawn to the mistaken conclusion that it is someone related to the Nazi era of World War II, when in fact; it might well be a Chinese artifact from several thousand years ago.  You just can’t jump to a conclusion! It is prudent to judge the nature of a symbol based in context.

Let’s look at one other ancient symbol, the Hexagram, otherwise known as the Star of David (Mogen or Magan David in Hebrew).  Again, based on the eye of the beholder, the six sided star can be a symbol or Judaism, Mormons, Hindus, Muslims, Freemasons and a long list of occult groups throughout the ages. The sadkona yantra can be found in Hindu Temples in India, back to a period roughly three thousand years ago and is believed to represent the perfect harmony between man and God, but to the Jew, it represents the crest of the House of David, a vague reference to the alignment of certain stars at the time of his birth. The Star of David, while best recognized as the insignia of the Jewish people, is not as old as some might think.  The earliest references to it exist in the Common Era, especially in the Middle Ages and the earliest representation of it can be found archeologically in a third century, post Christian era synagogue in the Galilee. The more ancient Jewish symbol is the Menorah, which can be found in the archeological record to at least the Second Temple period in Jerusalem at the time of Christ.

Symbolism however is not just mercurial in definition, depending on time and place, but equally changeable from one hand to another. As stated earlier, no symbol is so sacred that someone will not attempt to change its use and meaning, even under penalty of death as we can see in our history books. Defamation of religious iconography is the stock and trade of any and all pretenders to that particular throne of power. The symbolism of the Swastika by the Nazi’s is a perfect example of this, the sign of perfect peace in one culture, which can be found worldwide, hijacked for quite another purpose millennia later. The Nazi’s were looking for a perfect sign of endurance, proposing the formation of a Third Reich to last a thousand years, and in that effort, put the symbol of the opposite under foot which had ironically existed for longer than their own intended purpose.  If nothing, man is certainly the fountainhead of irony.

When looking for the true symbolism or the religious significance of an item you may encounter in your study of the paranormal, do not hesitate to beat the bushes for alternative definitions, not just the easiest one or the one in common favor at the moment.   I raise this point last for a good reason. Mankind has a history of turning last weeks’ gods into this week’s demons… literally.  Sometimes this is done in subtle ways, other times there is no finesse involved.  In modern history, Hitler attempted to demonize the Jews and might have succeeded if the World War had gone his way. This is not a new concept at all.  For centuries this turning of the ground has taken place, even to the point where the names of the gods themselves have been reinterpreted to signify the demonic.

The odd thing is that the language does not necessarily evolve with the times, at least not fully. The name Lucifer is a perfect example.  Lucifer translates to “Giver of Light” or “Light Bearer.” Yet he is acknowledged as one of the Hebrew God’s favorite angels who falls from grace because he sees himself as equal to God and is therefore cast forever into darkness.  An interesting play on words, the “Light Bearer thrown into the Eternal Darkness, but that raises the question of where such a place could exist?

Borrowing from another generation, we say that Lucifer was cast into Hades, but Hades was the name of a God, not a place, who ruled the underworld where every living thing must pass after death. So, in effect we say that Lucifer was cast into the land of Hades, a dark place, for his sins, the same place that all living souls must pass after death.   This by the way is a reoccurring theme in many religions, worldwide and leads to some interesting theories.

Space, the Universe, is darkness personified, but punctuated by dots of light, we know are actually suns, around which there are countless planets.  Casting Lucifer from Heaven into the Darkness could be a nice metaphor for slinging the Light Bearer into the infinity of space, not an underworld but an expanse so great it defies definition. If every man is destined to travel this space, the concept of alternative universes is far less frightening, in fact there are many philosophers who think that Hades is life on Earth and Heaven is the place that travels parallel to this one, where all of the problems have already been addressed.

But that is the world of the Philosopher, not the Paranormal Investigator. Our job is to make sense of our place in time, to explain that which has puzzled mankind forever and perhaps define the true meaning of infinity and the survival of the human consciousness in that plan.  Perhaps there are clues along the way, ancient wisdoms, symbols that can help us unlock such secrets. It is our job to find them, interpret them and follow their direction to the inevitable truth.  That is fine with me.  I had nothing better to do for the moment.

© 2009 Rick Moran and the ASUP, Inc. All rights reserved.  Republication with permission.