[/caption]Central to this post is a symbol. A five pointed star, frequently referred to as a pentacle.
No symbol has been the subject of more misinformation, disinformation and superstitious conjecture than the pentacle. Some Christians claim it is a symbol of the devil. Others associate it with diabolism and black magic. The truth is much less sensational.
The five pointed star isn't a symbol exclusive to pagans. It has a long history.
The pentacle or pentagram symbolizes the elements of nature and the spirit that animates creation.The upper point symbolizes spirit, and the four other points - the elements of earth, water, fire and air respectively. That's as sinister as it gets. No devil or other horned denizen of the deep involved.
The five pointed star can of course be adapted and used in religious and magical rites for all sorts of different purposes. But the adaptation of the symbol by a given group introduces a secondary meaning peculiar to that group's purpose. The truth is, religious symbols are often used in ways for which they weren't originally intended. For example the KKK makes use of the symbol of the fiery cross. Obviously a Grand Wizard's understanding of the efficacy of the symbol will differ significantly from that of Pope Benedict XVI.
The pentacle is an ancient symbol. The Pythagoreans associated it with "life" and "health". It was sometimes named Pentalpha, a reference to the interlacing of the birth letters. The pentacle is also associated with the Egyptian goddess Isis and sometimes called "the star of Isis". Again the meaning is entirely positive and in no way associated with "the dark side" - unless you happen to be Pat Robertson on a particularly paranoid day.
The pentacle also happens to be the central religious symbol of the Church of Wicca - a Church with over 400,000 members in the USA alone. In addition, there are roughly 1,800 active-duty Wiccans serving in the US military.
These are proud Americans with constitutional rights like any other citizen ... and yet, when Wiccan service people fall in action their Church is denied the right to place the pentacle on their gravestone as a religious marker. Since service people of every other religion are entitled to the religious marker of their choice in the case of their passing, it appears on the surface that the banning of the pentacle is outright discrimination.
In a cemetery aptly named Circle Sanctuary, lie the remains of a Vietnam veteran and a Korean war veteran named Jerome Birnbaum. A memorial to Sgt Patrick Stewart, a Wiccan who served in the Nevada National Guard, is also in the cemetery. Stewart lost his life while on active duty in Afghanistan.
In November 2006, Americans United for Separation of Church and State sued the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs on behalf of Circle Sanctuary, arguing that the constitutional rights of Wiccans are being violated by the refusal of the military to allow the Wiccan pentacle as a religious gravestone marker.
Actively involved in this lawsuit is a Wiccan priestess, Selena Fox, and the widows of Stewart and Birnbaum.
I think it is demeaning that the families of men who died in the service of their country have to plead their case to the authorities. The pentacle has long been a symbol sacred to the Wiccan community. The refusal to place the symbol as a grave marker clearly relates to some of the outdated perceptions I mentioned at the top of this post.
Time to move on.
Aidan Maconachy is a freelance writer and artist based in Ontario
Author: Aidan Maconachy
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Anti-Cancer
[box title="Editor's Note:" color="#333333"]This article was written prior to the VA deciding to allow the Pentacle to be used on military grave markers.
From the StarTribune, 23 April 2007
For Jim Mosser, a Marine Corps veteran and practitioner of the Wiccan faith, Monday's legal settlement allowing the pentacle on military tombstones "has been a long time coming."
Mosser, 45, a computer technician from St. Louis Park who served in the Marines in the United States and Japan from 1981 to 1985, said the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' longstanding exclusion of the Wiccan emblem "was disheartening and hurtful."The armed forces recognize us [on dogtags and in military chaplains' handbooks, for instance]," Mosser said. "But if a Wiccan soldier made the ultimate sacrifice, the VA wouldn't allow it on the tombstone. So this is a great step forward."
The settlement, which heads off a June trial in federal court in Madison, Wis., calls for the pentacle, a circled five-pointed upright star, to be placed on military gravestones within 14 days for 11 families who had requested it. That's well in time for Memorial Day. The symbol, the 39th to have agency approval, has been added to the agency's list at www.cem.va.gov/cem/hm/hmemb.asp.[/box]
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Nice interpretation. Never thought of it in the way you have explained. Many have misinterpreted this symbol and I was not sure of who to depend on for the correct meaning.
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