by Bruce Johnson —
Bruce Johnson has over 30 years of study in the fields of Ancient Wisdom and occultism. He has taught classes on a wide range of topics, from Atlantis to mediums to Zoroaster. He is also a spiritualist minister, with a background in spiritual astrology. He lives in Colorado with his wife and their cat.
The pentagram or five-pointed star is based on the number five, the union of the odd number three and the even number two. Pentagrams are blended symbols that unify solar spirit and lunar matter in harmony. Among its many meanings, the pentagram is symbolic of the individual human, who is also a microcosm of the universe. The five-pointed “star of illumination” signifies persons who are evolving into perfection out of the animal nature through the unfoldment of the mind, and the higher octaves of the five physical senses.
Five-pointed stars, also called “flaming stars” and ”blazing stars”, were integral to the Mysteries, and could be combined with numbers, letters or symbols. The ancients recognized an esoteric link between the positive pentagram and the planet Venus. Regular pentagrams, known as Golden Pentagrams, are positive pentagrams. Solitary positive pentagrams always have the apex pointing upward, indicating unity dominating duality, the greater ruling the lesser, and alignment with the forces of good. Multiple five-pointed stars can be combined into symbols that display varied patterns of beauty, symmetry, light and order.
The negative five-pointed star is the inverse or negative reflection of the positive five-pointed star. Here the star’s apex is pointing downwards, with the two triangle points opposite to it being uppermost. Materialism, disorder and evil are emphasized over spirituality, light and goodness with the inverted five-pointed star. Irregular, distorted or imbalanced pentagrams with the apex pointed upward are also considered negative.
The first design of The Great Seal of the United States in 1782 had 13 six-pointed stars patterned as a six-pointed star, placed over the head of an eagle. In the 1841 version of The Great Seal of the United States, the 13 six-pointed stars were changed to five-pointed stars that all pointed upward, still shaped as a larger six-pointed star. Our Great Seal saw its final evolution in 1904 when the radiants around the positive pentagrams were changed in the artwork to 25 radiants and 55 dots. The Great Seal of the United States is an enlightened example of positive pentagram symbolism.
One example of a positive pentagram is the following. Viewing an upward-pointing pentagram, see the highest point or apex as point 1 of the star. This point corresponds to the ether element, the soul plane, the sense of sound, the dodecahedron and is dual in polarity. The upper left-hand point is point 2 of the pentagram and denotes the fire element, the intuitional plane, the sense of touch, the tetrahedron and is positively charged. The lower left-hand point is point 3 and correlates to the air element, the mental plane, the sense of sight, the octahedron and is positively charged.
The upper right-hand point is the number 4 point of our positive pentagram. It represents the water element, the astral plane, the sense of taste, the icosahedron and is negatively charged. The lower right-hand point is point 5 of the positive five-pointed star. It describes the earth element, the physical plane, the sense of smell, the cube and is negatively charged.
The polarity of the above-mentioned positive pentagram shows the left-hand side to be positive, the right-hand side negative, with the central apex point both positive and negative. Like the energy-based triangle, the left side of the figure is positively charged in relation to the right side.
