History of the Pentacle

Woman shown with a Pentacle necklace.

© TPC - Emanuele Antonio Minerva with the Italian Minister of Culture (used under fair use provision). Online at: https://cultura.gov.it/comunicato/27006

Etruscan Pentacle Necklace 500 BCE

(November 20, 2024) This statue of a woman with a pentacle is part of an exceptional group of Etruscan art illegally excavated and recently seize by the Italian police. These had not yet been laundered into the international markets. These were taken from archaeologically unexcavated sections at the Pulfina hypogeum (underground tomb complex) discovered in Città della Pieve in Umbria, Italy 2015. 

Reference

Italian Ministry of Culture (November 19, 2024) Archeologia, TPC: recuperati due sarcofagi e otto urne etruschi provenienti da uno scavo clandestino a Città della Pieve. Online at: https://cultura.gov.it/comunicato/27006

Early Pentacle From Pagan Israel (Between 700 and 587 BCE)

Pentacle on Jug Handle From Jerusalem

(May 21, 2024)  The pottery jug handle was found by a collector sometime prior to 1927 when it was purchased by the British Museum. The collector claimed it came from the Ophel in Jerusalem. Consequently, its date is  uncertain.  The Ophel is the side of the hill leading up to the temple mount. The British Museum  Registration number is 1927,0530.83. 

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1927-0530-83

Close-Up of Pentacle From Jerusalem

(May 21, 2024) The British Museum claims it can read the letters and that they spell out y-r-sh-l-m. Since one can see that all the letters are rubbed out except for M and N in the lower left, this claim is just more fake history put out by the Bible propagandists. Significantly, these letter shapes date the text to the Kingdom of Judah which existed between 700 and 587 BCE. These letter styles are definitely not from the later Persian Period. See Levant Letter chart.

The British Museum  Registration number is 1927,0530.83. 

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1927-0530-83

Pentacles With Magical Context Are On Coins from Eastern Anatolia Dated to 400's BCE

(These can be considered as pentacles if the coin is considered to be the bounding circle. Their text involves astrology-magic.)

From Pitane on the East Coast of Turkiye

(September 27, 2024) Coin auction site claims this is from the 4th century BCE. (7mm, 0.39 g, 5h). Excavations in the necropolis of Pitane revealed ceramic finds from the Mycenaean, protogeometric, geometric, orientalizing, and the Archaic Greek periods. In the fifth century BCE, Pitane was a member of the Delian League and is recorded as paying a tribute of 1,000 drachmas.

Pitane is believed to be the northernmost point of Mycenaean influence in Anatolia.  Online auction at: https://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=218527

Another Pitane Coin

(September 27, 2024) Online auction at: https://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=162237

These coins have the Druid Akkadian Runes (read right to left): 

In English

Considerations are focused emotions used in emotion magic.

A Later Type of Star Coin From Pitane 300s BCE

(September 27, 2024) Bronze Coin (4,21g) in which the face now has horns.  It is dated to the 4th or 3rd centuries BCE. This coin has the Druid Akkadian Runes (read right to left): 

In English

Auction online at: https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=526&lot=211

A Slightly Different Die of the Same Coin Shown on the Left

(September 27, 2024) Photo from and more information on such star coins can be found here: https://antiksikkelernumizmatik.com/konu/pitane-antik-kenti-sikkeleri.57/

First Pentacle known to history is shown on the left. It is on a lintel on a synagogue in Galilee
The first Pentacle known to history is shown on the left. It is on a lintel on a synagogue in Galilee dating to 375 CE. Galilee was the center of mystic Judaism at this time because it was on the magic trail trade route between Egypt and Mesopotamia (below). (photo by Olmsted 2019)
Location of Caesarea Marittima at end of magic trail

Pentacles Became a Part of Jewish Mysticism And From There Entered Europe as An Occult Symbol 375 CE

(July 3, 2022) The first ever Pentacle was found on a synagogue lintel in Capernaum dating to 375 CE (Loffreda 1985). Capernaum was located along the Magic Trail (figure 5). This was a Roman era trade route established by Herod the Great (reigned 37–4 BCE) with his building of the port city of Caesarea Maritima for connecting Egypt with Mesopotamia. This is how Herod acquired most of his wealth for his building projects including the Jerusalem Temple.

 Its five points of this star represent the five points of the human body (two arms, two legs, one head) but as indicated in the Capernaum image the star is also associated with the five planets shown as dots between the points (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn). Thus the Pentacle represents the connection between humans and the astrological night sky.

This connection correspondence is reinforced by the use of an intertwining rope to make the star image. Notice that each arm of the star goes under or over the other arm.

 Capernaum was also home to the adult Jesus between 20 and 30 BCE when the trade route had just opened up and new deep magic ideas were coming into Galilee.

References

Loffreda, Stanislao (1985) Recovering Capharnaum . Edizioni Custodia Terra Santa, Gerusalemme (Jerusalem)

Witchcraft Pentacle

The Pentacle is a five pointed woven star within a circle. The circle represents the bounded infinity of eternity. One can go round and round forever yet it is spatially finite. The five pointed star within the circle represents the five appendages of humans with our two arms, two legs, and one head. Yet it is also a star so it links earth bound humanity with the spiritual realm. Finally the star is woven having its spokes cross above and below others in a cloth or network pattern. This represents the connectivity of all things. 

Triple Moon

This symbol originated in the imaginative writing of Robert Graves in his 1948 book "The White Goddess: a Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth." It was adopted by the Wiccan movement to represent the Goddess in her three forms of Maiden-Mother-Crone. The number three is a Pagan sacred number because it represents connection by having a connective middle number (1-2-3). Three is the number of layers in the Ancient Pagan Paradigm. From that came the triple deities existed in ancient times which includes the Christian Trinity of Father-Son-Holy Spirit and the earlier Roman triple Goddess of Hecate-Minerva-Persephone (referenced in the Roman book The Civil War by Lucan).

Triple Moon Pentacle

This combination sign of Wicca and Witchcraft is becoming more popular.