Ariadne's Web: Foundational Pentagrams

Greetings and salutations!

As promised, here is a piece to explore pentagrams and pentacles, what the difference between them is, and why I used them for a Pentology. They are also then, by extension, the foundation for my whole creative world.

This post will contain some mild spoilers, not enough to betray the detail of my stories, but maybe enough to suggest how certain things may happen. But, regardless, I'd love it if you read on!

A Pentagram is a five pointed star and each point represents an element. If the pentagram is enclosed in a circle, then it becomes a pentacle. I use both symbols within the Pentology, and both symbols have been seen throughout the world for millennia.

I've always been drawn to the pentagram and pentacle - for many reasons. At the core, the pentagram is the purest expression of the quintessence, of what makes humans human. Even if the symbol has been perverted and misused in many ways (flip the pentagram upside down and it's Satanic... right? Right?! Wrong... so wrong.) there is beauty in how such a simple, unicursal, star can hold such power.

The upward point of the pentagram represents Spirit, and it is with this element that the Pentology begins, with Katya, the Goddess of Spirit. The other points represent the other elements in turn, with the denser elements at the base. Earth and Fire are fixed, basal, at the lower points. Water and Air are free and flowing, and are the upper points. When placed with Spirit upward, the pentagram signifies Spirit ruling matter (so mind over body). If the pentagram is inverted, then this signifies the carnal nature forcing spirit to be subservient (body over mind).

Nothing wicked about that.

Unless, as centuries of puritanical teaching and enforcement of patriarchal will would have us believe, following carnality and desire is wicked.

Ultimately, for us to survive, we need both. For us to thrive, we need all parts of the pentagram to act in harmony and unity. And that is where the pentacle shines - for adding a circle around the pentagram joins the five points of the star. And joining them contains, protects, and represents eternity and infinity. It is the cyle of life, of death, of rebirth. It is how every single part is connected.

A pentagram showing the five elements

In order to explore this, I used each element to build on the other, working my way around the pentagram through the series, adding one more element each time until they were united and working together - to overcome the corruption and cruelty which had damaged the world in their absence. Katya in Alabaster (Goddess of Spirit), Talya in Lacrymosa (Goddess of Water), Levka in Torrefy (Goddess of Fire), Calina in Sempiternal (Goddess of Earth), and Zoya in And Let Time Stand, Still (Goddess of Air). And while each book is focused on the specific element referenced by the choice of each book's title, like a matryoshka the number of elements increases (so Alabaster is Spirit alone; Lacrymosa is Water and Spirit; Torrefy is Fire, Water, and Spirit; Sempiternal is Earth, Fire, Water, and Spirit; and Air has all five.

Of course, there's more to the series - and to pentagrams - than just that. And because pentagrams are such a pivotal representation of what it means to be human, the world I've created within the Elemental Pentology will echo through the other books I write; the spirit moving through my creative world.

A pentagram is a five-pointed star for a reason. The number five (which is absolutely the best number, and I will not be taking questions on that fact) has always been assosciated with the mystical, but is also seen as human. It is prime. It is the simplest, unicursal, star drawn in a loop. It is associated with Mars, and conflict, severity, and harmony. It sounds contradictory, which I love - and which suits the series where there's so much opposition.

Because in conflict, we find resolution, we find ourselves.

For wiccans, the pentagram also represents the wiccan kiss - the fivefold movement over feet, knees, womb, breasts, and lips. Indeed, every human is a star (not only made of them). Place an outstretched human on a star, and the head and four limbs meet the points, with the gentials exactly central. It represents how small we are amongst the whole, and how we can encompass the magnitude of eternity. The pentagram's centre can be seen as a womb, as the protective and nurturing home, the place of creation, that the five spikes defend - this lends it a protective element (no pun intended) which is used to ward off evil. Many pagans and witches use a pentagram, and pentacle, for this purpose.

So, pentagrams are powerful. They're divine and ancient, unifying and protective. They represent the elements and convey the importance of connectivity. They symbolise the human place amongst the cosmos. The ideal foundation to build on. The perfect way to tell a story of matriarchal, natural, strength.

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Next time...

I have choices, so many choices, now... do I continue with further analysis of The Elemental Pentology, or do I explore more of the motivation around The Menagerie, or Path To The Dark Moon? Or... perhaps, I reveal a little more about Vore?

Time will tell...

Thank you for reading.

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