Pondering the Pentacle

Look at that for a minute. Feel it. There's just something about a pentacle, something about the tension of that star encased by that circle that speaks to something inside me, as well as a whole lot of other people. I think it's really that very tension that creates the space for something magical to happen. Without it, it's just a star, and, while anything done with magical intent and focus can be magical, not anything inherently magical. There's something inherently magical about a pentacle.

Here's what I don't like; the usual assignment of five elements to it. I think that's a bit of matchy-matching going on; as a symbol, it's an easy one to use as a primary symbol, and so we want to match it to something else quintessentially pagan, namely the elemental association. My problem is this; in ritual, it's the four elements in the four directions and spirit at the center and with the pentacle, suddenly spirit is a point and the center doesn't have an assignment, except perhaps sexual energy, which isn't really on a par with the others and is commonly considered part of earth energy. I think by forcing this association, we undo some of the magic inherent in the symbol.

So what IS inherently magical about it? There's all that symmetry; the golden proportion or ratio. When something naturally does that, in a universe that features a LOT more assymetry, it's going to catch your attention. When that symmetry involves a natural tension, well, we have a catching point, a sort of junction box for the magical energy streaming all around and through us all the time. This is a way to make it stop for a minute, to hold it in our hands. It is for this reason that it works to create a sacred space.

After considering all the options, I think the sybolism that makes the most sense to me is that of the star representing the human being. There's nothing else in magic that really does this, aside from literal representations like dolls, and human beings really are pretty critical to the whole process. In my rituals, this is what the star will always represent, because, in the end, I come back often to that line from the Desiderata about how "we are children of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars."