Mediterranean and Near East · Croton, southern Italy
Pentacle
Also known as Pentagram, Pentangle, Pentalpha, Drudenfuß
Drawn in one unbroken line, the five-pointed star was a badge of the Pythagoreans, a knight’s emblem in medieval poetry and a doorway guardian in folk custom, long before it became a modern Pagan symbol.
The pentacle is a five-pointed star, the , usually set within a circle. Drawn in a single unbroken line, it has stood for health and harmony to ancient philosophers, for devotion to medieval Christians and for protection to generations of householders, and today it is also a sacred symbol of modern Paganism.
Where it comes from
Five-pointed stars appear in very early writing and art, including signs from ancient Mesopotamia, but the pentagram’s story as a symbol of meaning begins in earnest with the Pythagoreans. In the late sixth century BCE the philosopher Pythagoras and his followers formed a community at Croton, today Crotone in Calabria, devoted to mathematics, music and a disciplined way of life.
Later Greek writers report that the Pythagoreans used the pentagram as a sign of recognition among themselves and called it hygieia, health or well-being, an early link between the star and vitality. Its points were sometimes labelled with the letters of that word. The star’s proportions, built on what we now call the golden ratio, made it a natural emblem for a school that saw number in everything.
Pentagram and pentacle
The two words are often used as if they were the same, but they began differently. A pentagram is the star itself. In Renaissance books of ritual, a pentacle meant a protective seal or disc inscribed with sacred names and figures, which might or might not include a five-pointed star.
Renaissance thinkers also found new meanings in the star itself. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, in his sixteenth century books on occult philosophy, drew a human figure within a pentagram, head, hands and feet touching its five points, as an image of harmony between a person and the cosmos.
The grimoire known as the Key of Solomon, copied in many versions from the Renaissance onwards, is full of such pentacles, each drawn as a circle crowded with signs and letters. Over time the meanings merged, and today pentacle usually means a pentagram enclosed in a circle.
What it means
In medieval Christian thought the five points could stand for the five wounds of Christ. The English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, written in the late fourteenth century, gives its hero a gold pentangle on his shield and explains it as an endless knot of virtues: his five senses, his five fingers, his faith in the five wounds, the five joys of Mary and five knightly qualities.
Drawn without lifting the pen, the star has no gap through which anything unwelcome can slip.
That unbroken line also explains its role in folk custom. In German-speaking lands the pentagram, called the , was drawn on doors, cradles and stable beams to keep troublesome night spirits away. Goethe used the belief in Faust, where a pentagram on the threshold, drawn with one small gap, lets Mephistopheles into the scholar’s study but will not let him leave.
In modern Paganism and Wicca the pentacle is a sacred symbol of faith. Its five points are commonly linked to earth, air, fire, water and spirit, held together by the circle, and it is usually shown with a single point upwards.
How it is worn and kept
- As a silver pendant or ring, the most common form today.
- Drawn or carved above doors and windows as a guardian of the home.
- As a disc or plate on a home altar, in Pagan and Wiccan practice.
- As a small engraved plaque or tile kept among other protective charms.
Silver tarnishes in time, which some wearers welcome as a sign of age and use. A soft cloth is enough to brighten it; see caring for your talisman for gentle methods.
Wearing it with respect
Because the star has carried so many meanings, it is worth knowing which one you have in mind. A Pythagorean wearer might think of harmony and number, a lover of medieval poetry of Gawain’s virtues, a Pagan of the elements in balance. All of these are honest readings with long histories.
Variations and relatives
The pentacle sits among other geometric charms: the Roman Sator Square, built from words instead of lines, the Icelandic Vegvísir and the Chinese Bagua Mirror. Each turns a precise pattern into a hope of order and safety, a wish rather than a guarantee.
If you are drawn to its shape, explore more talismans for protection, and read our thoughts on wearing sacred symbols with respect. A small silver star, worn with understanding, can carry two and a half thousand years of meaning very lightly.
taliaris describes beliefs and customs; it makes no claim that a talisman has an effect.