pentagram and pentacle origins

[ianphanes]

Someone asked about the origins of the pentacle symbol in nonwiccanwitch.  This is what I wrote:

You will find more information if you look for "pentagram" than "pentacle". If I remember correctly, John Michael Greer has a decent entry on the pentagram in his The New Encyclopedia of the Occult.

The pentagram (not necessarily encircled) entered the Western esoteric

Comments

[ianphanes]

Nope. Though it appears that Crowley did, at least some of the time, use "pantacle" for the ritual tool of Earth. He used "discs" for the Tarot suit.

Of course, he's the egoist that thought that adding a "k" to the end of "magic" would avoid confusing his newly formed tradition from all other forms of magic. You see how well that worked, right?