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away with the candles. It is your life.
It is what you live. You may not feel like, standing out there in the cold and doing ritual
again but that is irrelevant, you do it anyway because it is yours to do. Being a High
Priestess or Priest is dedication and hard work and those who do this work deserve the
respect that they have earned. They aren't looking for groupies or someone to do menial
tasks for them, rather a few minutes of solitude would probably be nice occasionally. *
*This is article is intended to provoke some thought as to what it takes to be a High
Priestess. It is not a slam against anyone, rather a recognition that each person has their
role in life. For those of you who are doing your first circle, May the Goddess Bless you
& Guide Always. - StarrWalker
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General information: The Pentagram - History
Posted by: Nyxks on Saturday, March 27, 2004 - 02:09 PM
Any look at the meaning of the pentagram would be incomplete without
first looking at the meaning of the 5 elements. In western thought these
elements consist of Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit (Ether). The typical
four elements (of the West) are well enough known that they can be
skipped for the intents and purposes of this discussion. Ether is probably
the most obscure of the elements.
The idea of Ether comes originally from early Alchemy. Einstien provides a very
eloquent discription of the principal of Ether and it's connection to relativity, but actually
Newton was not the originator of the theory, as Einstein suggests. In fact Pythagoras was
the first Western figure credited with the specific mention of a fifth element which he
titled 'Aether' (or'Aither'). Pythagoras also borrowed from the teachings of the
philosopher Empedocles who had first posited the existence of 4 basic elements which he
corresponded with 4 of the Greek Gods (book 1.33). Earlier (~600bce) the philosopher
Anaximander (Pythagorus' teacher) had theorised the existence of 4 basic qualities (Hot,
Dry, Cold, Wet) which eventually were combined with Empedocles' elements by
Aristotle1, thus forming what is now known as the "elemental humours".
In addition the Eastern philosophers of the Indus river valley had a fifth element which
they referred to in the Sanskrit language as 'Akasha'(meaning void). To be thorough, the
elements also existed in a different fashion on the opposite side of the Himalayan
mountains in the form of the Chinese elements, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. To
properly describe the complete characteristics of this ancient and distinct system of
elements is beyond the scope of this essay, but I have made a brief discription of the
basic history and properties of the Chinese elements at the bottom for those who are
sufficiently interested. The 4 elements did and still do have an important place in the
various African Traditional Religions amounst the Bantu, Fon, and others of the Kongo
delta region including their contemporary diasporia, aswell as amoungst the Celtic tribes,
and Amerindians.
Having briefly considered the origin of the 5th element, lets now look at the antiquity
and various meanings ascribed to the pentagram (5 pointed star) and pentacle (5 pointed
star within a circle). The earliest physical evidence of the existence of the pentagram
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