Origin of Pentagram Worship (Phi)

I would like to show how the pentagram, and more specifically the Golden Ratio (golden mean, phi etc) were both revered in ancient times. I believe that the original spiritual meaning behind the pentagram and phi has been repressed, probably by warring religious groups (Christianity comes to mind).

The Pentagram

This shape is based on the pentagon. The equalateral pentagon is constructed from 5 equal lengths. It can be made by dividing the circle into 5, which gives you 5 triangles, each with the center angle of 72 degrees. The two outer angles of one of these triangles is 54.

These three angles give you 72, 54 and 54 (108).

Now for some reason, as well as the Pentagram being immortalised in occult circles like druidry and wicca and for protection in ritual magick, it was originally revered by Pythagoras. He began a cult-like spiritual group which focussed on the Universe and nature being numerical. To enter his group, you'd have to draw a perfect pentagon containing a pentagram... The Pentagram was a powerful spiritual symbol to Pythagoras.

Now anyone whose studied ancient cultures, will know they had spirituality based around the 'As Above, so Below' which boils down to a massive interest in Astronomy. The knowledgable people were priests, who were in turn mathematicians who could wow their peers with their knowledge of solar eclipses. I've simplified I know, but the point is ancient religion and mathematics were almost one and the same.

The Golden Ratio, Phi

Now this ratio came from the Eastern mystics/mathematicians. The famous Fibonacci sequence was taught to Fibonacci after he was taken to the East by his father. He learned directly from them, and on his return to Europe wrote his famous work Liber Abaci, which included this famous sequence:

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89 etc. Divide one number by the previous and you get a closer and closer approximation of Phi (approx 1.618).

Liber Abaci was not mass published until 200 years later when the printing press was invented. By then, the story of the sequence coming from the East was becoming lost.

Anyone who studies the Golden Ratio, will inevitably come across the Golden Spiral.

Nature, tending towards efficiency, often displays sequential Fibonacci numbers. The most striking example I've seen is in the head of a sunflower. The diamond shaped divisions are created by two opposing spirals, and in the case of a sunflower these spirals have 55 arms and 89 arms. Its highly unlikely that these two numbers side by side would appear in nature unless the Golden Ratio itself has efficiency at its root. There are many more examples of spiral growth, which is the most balanced and efficient method of growth, which I wont detail here.

Interestingly the Hindus revere a ammonite fossil from the sacred river Ganges as the very first form Vishnu took. Vishnu is the sustaining life aspect of the Hindu Holy Trinity, akin to the Earth. This fossil is called shaligram. This suggests to me that the original worship of Phi comes from the East.

TBC...

Excellent post...thank you for that. I hope you don't mind me adding that the symbolism of the pentagram in the pagan world is inspired by the notion of the 5 elements...earth, air, fire, water and ether or spirit, and the shape the dignified or upright pentagram also reflects the shape of man with this head towards the heavens. Incidentally, it had nothing to do with Satanism, as a lot of people mistakenly believe.

A little numerical synchronicity I noticed....the angles of 72 degrees....7 and 2 make 9, which is a sacred number to pagans, being 3 x 3...hadn't noticed that before.


Very informative post! A star for you.

Cait

The Pentagram as the symbol for Phi

If you take a pentagon and join every point up to every other, you end up creating a pentagram. Now if you take every line in the inscribed pentagram, and order them from smallest to largest. Every line will be in a golden ratio to the next in size. No other shape has this complete phi relationship!

Additionally: If you plot the derived ratio from the Fib. sequence (1/1, 1/2, 2/3, 3/5, 5/8 etc.) you will see that the numbers oscillate (are above, then below, then above etc) around the actual Golden Ratio of 1.618 (approx). Interestingly, the pentagon you drew with the pentragram in the centre, now contains an inverted copy of the original pentagon, ready for the same process to continue. Its effectively oscillating visually within the geometry, much like the Fib. sequence oscillates around the Golden Ratio.

Now hopefully the link between the Golden Ratio and the Pentagram is clear. The Pentagram was a symbol of life itself, as seen by the Eastern Mystics when they discovered sacred geometry and its relationship with the Universe.


The Dual Serpents

In Mythology, serpents have been revered (East) and feared (West). The serpent as a symbol can be many things, but often speaks of the natural order, love and life, the earth and water, but first and foremost it is a symbol of Energy. Energy requires polarising, otherwise it is unable to manifest. This is why almost all animals are male/female. This is why our technologies are based on a circuit of + and -. Our conciousness requires polarising before we can attach values to ideas. We must know beauty before we can identify ugliness, and pain before we can appreciate pleasure. This is basically the concept of Heaven and Hell defined psychologically.

Even our DNA shows this pattern, two opposite serpentine forms creating a ladder, which then forms the rungs from opposing letters of AT and CG. Two pairs of two pairs of two pairs.

For another example of ancient symbol with the same meaning, see the YinYang.

This is a topic in itself, but the nature of duality and the serpent image are, in my view, identical to the message behind Phi and the Pentagram.

My original point is: the Pentagrams message has been lost and suppressed by patriarchal religions bent on achieving 100% power.


Angkor Wat - Churning the Milky Ocean

This beautiful complex is the largest religious sculpture/building in the world. It has a fusion of Buddhist and Hindu iconography. It was built around the time that Fibonacci was taught by the Hindu mathematicians, and has a story carved into the walls that seems to point to the same understanding of Universal Harmony and revering the geometry of the Pentagram/Pentagon.

There is a story about the Churning the Milky Ocean. In it the Angels (Devas) and Demons (Asuras) have to work together, pulling the world serpent around the sacred mountain. The purpose of this is to create favourable conditions for life! The story is about the positive and negative working together to create life by turning the sky (or spinning the Earth).

Now this isn't remarkable in itself, but the fact there are 54 angels and 54 demons should raise an eyebrow. The whole complex of Angkor is surrounded by massive entrance paths/bridges, and on each side of each bridge is 54 devas and 54 asuras. The whole complex is a monument to this knowledge! At the centre of the momument is five huge towers.

Another monument called the Bayon features a number of Buddhist faces, at the centre the number is 54.

Borobudur is a ninth-century Mahayana Buddhist monument in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia. The monument comprises six square platforms topped by three circular platforms, and is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues. A main dome, located at the center of the top platform, is surrounded by 72 Buddha statues seated inside perforated stupa.

en.wikipedia.org...

[edit on 5-12-2008 by Trojan_libido]

In Hinduism the number 108 is revered so much that you'd assume there'd be a good reason for it.

108 - www.salagram.net...
The website above doesn't even scratch the surface, and includes lots of numerology which I don't feel is important.

Now I've asked the question many many times on many forums, and not one person can tell me why 108 is revered. 108 = 1 + 0 + 8 = 9 which is an important number etc. or 1 (god) 0 (nothingness) 8 (infinity). Its just not a good explanation for the number of occurences and importance its given.

Judaism - There are said to be 72 names of God. This is important because to name something so many times is dividing it. I'll come to what the division means in a moment.

Islam - When a martyr dies he goes to Heaven and is presented with 72 virgins. If the virgin tag denotes purity, then it may be another mention of the division of God.

An ancient symbol for God was a circle (all encompassing). If you take a circle as the source of purity (God is pure), then the 72 divisions of this purity may be a pointer to an original belief that the Pentagram and Phi somehow mapped the secret workings of the Universe.

I will talk about my own conclusions later, but I feel the Pentagram and Phi should have a lot bigger part to play in our spirituality than any patriarchal religion!

Pictures to come!

[edit on 5-12-2008 by Trojan_libido]

Thanks caitlinfae! I'm not into numerology much, but I understand the spirtuality behind it.

What I'm speaking of, is a global ancient belief system based around phi and the math behind the pentagram. Its amazing that the yin-yang imagery was imagined from this same area, from meditation, philosophy and mathematical understanding. Then thousands of years later the imagery of the Yin-Yang seems to show the movement of the famous double helix which is within all lifeforms defining their characteristics!

[edit on 5-12-2008 by Trojan_libido]

The double helix is also representative of the two channels for Chi that move upwards round the spine, and through the chakras....literally lifeforce, if you like, on the move.

The sybolism of three is also very interesting and complex. I've always taken it to mean earth, sky and me. Or divine mother, divine father and child. Or triple goddess. So many different ways to look at it...

Sorry...have babbled enough!

Cait x

I think this goes way deeper than this.

Are you familiar with sacred geometry and the flower of life? From which all geometric shapes can be seen in, including the shadows of 4d objects. This also includes the pentagram. The Fibonacci sequence is also sacred geometry.

This is sacred geometry, look familar?



This is metatrons cube. You might recognize it as the star of david when solid.



This is the flower of life, from which all these things can come from. I like to call it the fabric of the universe.



I recommend doing a google image search for "Sacred Geometry" and looking at all the different things. It is quite amazing.

Here's a youtube video explaining it.



And here is a 1 hour+ long google video about it, I've never seen it, but i'm watching it now. Edit: Recommend this movie very much, it touches on all the things it would take me hours and hours to explain.

Google Video Link

[edit on 5-12-2008 by badmedia]

I'm aware of the whole topic of sacred geometry, and that the flower of life was found on the ceiling of an Egyptian temple, Abydos I think.

Heres a representation of the ratios on the pentagram:

The geometry of a 5 sided perfect pentagon, is somehow the embodiment of Phi.

Here is the angles I mentioned in the first post:

Below is a visualisation of whats happening within the Fibonacci sequences derived ratio, along with a visual of the pentagon repeating inverted whenever the points of the pentagon are drawn. Hopefully its clear that as well as being the embodiment of Phi, it also has a visual correlation as well.



I believe the Universe is a fractal entity, and that the Phi is a rule of nature used with Galaxy formations as well as plant growth. I'm sure this knowledge was known and was then made illegal and people forgot for fear of death.



Lucifer and Venus

Venus was the Greek god of Love. This position within our pscyhology basically made Venus the original Mother Goddess. Strangely, if you plot a course for Venus in the night sky, it will draw a pentagram in the sky(rounded, flowerlike)! This happens because while we go around the Sun 8 times in 8 years, Venus goes round 13 times. These numbers being sequential in the Fibonacci sequence gives rise to the pentagram!

See wiki-Venus for orbital information.

This property of Venus was not lost on the Astronomers of the time, no doubt inspiring the Goddess Venus to be revered. This can't have been good for the Church of England. Here is a Goddess visually drawing a potent spiritual symbol in the sky, with mathematical properties in the here and now, not dusty scripture.

Because of the threat of this new mathematical Goddess worship, Venus - The "Light Bringer" or "Lucifer" was equated to the devil and the knowledge along with the pentagram symbol was lost to arrogance and power hungry clergy.

If the largest most powerful nation doesn't also know these stifled secrets, I'll eat my hat:




[edit on 7-12-2008 by Trojan_libido]

[edit on 7-12-2008 by Trojan_libido]

[edit on 7-12-2008 by Trojan_libido]

Awesome post Cait

Lets open up some narrow minded fanatics eyes on this subject.
Im getting pretty sick of these people spewing ignorance on this subject based on there own unfounded, uneducated, blind and biased arrogance.

Again great info Cait.

And good thread

I love this stuff.



[edit on 7/12/2008 by Omega85]

Thank you Omega....I really am loving this too, and feel that I have learned a lot. Trojan is definitely the real source of knowledge here. So much great information, and really well explained for those of us who are not so intellectual!

Just up and still sleepy, so I will read and digest and post more later....

Blessed be

Cait x

reply to post by caitlinfae




You should give yourself more credit
Again , Nice one


[edit on 7/12/2008 by Omega85]

I'm enjoying what you've put down, I wish more people paid attention to this kind of stuff. If you can get a grasp on these things, then you can start understanding higher things by following the existing patterns. Like with the fib. sequence, you can always keep adding new numbers off the existing number and discover the next unknown number simply on the data which exists.

I also agree the church has suppressed much knowledge, but don't forget that in the "end" of those beliefs all truth is supposed to be revealed(and it's not bad when it does).

But are you just focusing on the pentagram here specifically and not all sacred geometry? What I mean is - as a way of showing what people believed, not that this is the main focus of sacred geometry? I like the detailed information on this part, but I of course also think this is part of much more than just the pentagram. The pentagram is just 1 tiny piece of it, would you agree?

I've a particular interest in the Pentagram as I have this shape on my Astrology chart (I am an Astrologer). So too did Aleister Crowley, Leonardo Da Vinci and Yeung.

As has already been mentioned, the Pentagram is associated with the golden ratio. It is also associated with something called "The Platonic Year" :

72 x 5 = 360
72 x 5 = 25,920 = the platonic year, or one complete circuit of the precession of the equinoxes.

As many will be aware, the complete circuit of the precession of the equinoxes occurs on 21-12-2012.
Therefore, the Pentagram has a connection to this much talked about date, amongst all it's other correlations

The Pentagram / Platonic Year - link to Diagram
(scroll down the above page to view the diagram)

Very Indepth Look at The Pentagram and all its Associations

[edit on 7/12/08 by cosmicpixie]

[edit on 7/12/08 by cosmicpixie]

I had a spiritual experience, and from that I received a huge boost in passion for the topic of religion. This made me research and try and find the commonalities in religion. This research went on for almost a year, and I found this information within all that research.

Things I want to discuss here:

Pentagram - Its fall from grace, and its real meaning

Hexagram - Its equally important, possibly the opposing opposite of the Pentagram

Phi - Its relationship to the Pentagram and its use within Nature

Serpent worship - There are two polarities involved within any reaction. The serpents are an ancient symbol, meaning anything from earth, life and luck, to power, energy and the Tao.

Cymatics (Vibrational Frequencies) - I've seen sound create 3D forms from inert material. I'm sure that the same process has occurred everywhere since the beginning of time, in resonance with the Big Bang.

Ancient beliefs that may have more to do with the understanding that the Universe is Fractal, than they at first appear.

But ultimately what I'm talking about is an ancient realisation that the Universe is made of number. This knowledge has crystalised in me as a belief in a Fractal Universe.

Hexagon and the Hexagram

This geometric shape is very interesting too:

Insect eyes seem to favour hexagonal arrays of eyes.
Bees build hexagonal honeycombs.
The "Giants Causeway" is a huge area full of volcanic rock that has split into columns of varying heights, with a statistical significant trend towards the hexagonal shape.
Snowflakes seem to trend towards hexagonal symmetry too.
But all of this can be considered circumstancial, if it wasn't for this:

27 years ago an anomaly was seen as a probe passed Saturn. This anomaly was a geometrically perfect Hexagon formed from a circulatory system in the atmosphere at one of Saturns poles. Recently another probe made a more detailed pass and the information was released to the press.

www.nasa.gov...

This hexagon is extremely large, more than 100 Earths can fit in its diameter.

What came out of this were experiments that were basically water in a big bucket. That bucket was span at ridiculous speeds, and once a predefined speed was reached, geometrically perfect shapes began to appear in the whirlpools edges. This information is available online, but I can't find the search term to get a link.

This anomaly has been probed again at different radio frequencies, and it seems there is even more stangeness here. The earthly Norther Lights (the electromagnetic storm Aurora Borealis) is mirrored at this hexagon on Saturn.


news.nationalgeographic.com...

Ancient philosophers and mystics using the Star of David in their rituals/inscriptions/scripture is now more potent than ever. Within the topic of alchemy, the Star of David is comprised of two opposing triangles. The triangle pointing down is water, the triangle pointing up is fire. This one symbol therefore represents the duality and polarising of energy, which I pointed at earlier as being a representation of the Dual Serpent.

Numerical perfection is therefore not some abstract human idea, it seems the Universe is built with numerical order.

This information has further solidified my belief in a Fractal Universe.

To come: Cymatics and the Garden of Eden.

[edit on 9-12-2008 by Trojan_libido]

Just to add on about the Star of David, people should look up Merkabah, which is considered a vehicle of ascension.

en.wikipedia.org...

It's something that is talked about among many religions.

Thank you for this, it is great research. I am very tired of people on both sides of the religious spectrum either fearing or revering the pentagram without actually understanding it.

reply to post by cosmicpixie


I know about precession and it being remarkably close to 1 degree of movement every 72 years, taking 25920 years to make a full circuit. I believe the ancient Hindu mystics and other ancient cultures around the world had knowledge of precession, because of star-gazing and star-mapping for so long. Therefore the number 72 may well have been given extra meaning.

Its funny how precession may actually be what is being hinted at within statues in the causeway at Angkor. The 54 Devas and 54 Asuras pulling a giant Serpent to churn (turn) then milk ocean (star filled sky). If this is the case, then the angles 54, 54 and 72 would define a triangular section of a pentagon. Then the number 108 is absolutely revered in Hinduism and Buddhism. Not to mention the fact our numbers 1 to 10 are Arabic numbers and originated from the clever mathematicians in the East.

Conclusions:
54 (polarised), 72, and 108 are all present in this one Monument.
Fibonacci was taught about the Fib. Sequence at this area and at the same time the ideas involved in Angkor were intact.
The Indians knew the spirituality behind Phi and the Pentagram and how to integrate it into their religion.
Our decimal system was created in this area, the decimals 1 to 10 are called Arabic numerals.
The Pentagram became widespread, (India/Fibonacci, Greece/Pythagoras).
The only real conclusion I can make based on facts and evidence is that the mystics of the East had a belief system was mathematical, and held the Pentagram in very high regard. This belief system was then either destroyed by force and/or transformed by the Church into an evil symbol and/or hidden with sacred geometry.

Does anyone not feel it weird that the Christian nation of the USA should have a military base in the shape of a pentagon? It has five layers, five floors (upstairs, 2 basement), and is a 5 sided shaped? It seems the USA is using the pentagon as a protective symbol, which may be highlighting that the elite mystics still hold this information tightly, despite being the very people who hid the real interpretation.

If this is true, then the only reason I can come up with is the knowledge of a Fractal Universe, or that the Universe is mathematical, removes the power from any organised Church. But enough conspiracy theories, its not important to the information in this thread.

I'd really appreciate some comments, questions, or thumbs up

[edit on 9-12-2008 by Trojan_libido]

Originally posted by asmeone2
Thank you for this, it is great research. I am very tired of people on both sides of the religious spectrum either fearing or revering the pentagram without actually understanding it.

Thanks a lot! I know theres a lot of strange beliefs in the symbol, and the history of its use is littered with inconsistencies. The Phi ratio and its relationship with Nature is surely the only real answer to why this symbol is spiritually revered.