File:Pentagrams from La Clef de la Magie Noire.jpg

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Description

Two pentagrams taken from the 1897 book La Clef de la Magie Noire by Stanislas de Guaita representing Spirit over matter (holiness) and matter over Spirit (evil), respectively. Page 417.

The upper Pentacle includes the Pentagrammaton (
יהשוה
) at the vertices of the pentagram. The Pentagrammaton is an esoteric version of the Hebrew name of Jesus, Yeshua, (
ישוע
) by adding the letter shin (
ש
) in the middle of the Tetragrammaton divine name Yod-He-Vav-He, (
יהוה
). The lower four points represent the four elements of the material world, while the uppermost point represents spirit ruling over matter. The lower Pentacle has the Hebrew letters for Leviathan (
לויתתן
), the ancient serpent from the biblical Chaoskampf, at the vertices of the pentagram. With the pentagram inverted, matter is ruling over spirit, a condition associated with evil.

The concept of an inverted pentagram being a representation of evil and an upright pentagram symbolizing holiness originated with the 19th-century French occultist Eliphas Lévi.

Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan based his “Sigil of Baphomet” on this image: a goat face in a five-pointed star (one point down), with “Leviathan” written in Hebrew in two concentric circles surrounding the pentagram.
Date
Source 1897 book La Clef de la Magie Noire https://archive.org/details/LaClefDeLaMagieNoire/page/n417
Author Stanislas de Guaita (died 1897)
Other versions For an image with the top pentacle only, see Image:Pentagram with one point up (de Guaita).jpg or en:Image:Pentagrammaton.jpg ; for an image with the bottom pentacle only, see Image:Pentagram with one point down (de Guaita).jpg.


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Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current11:41, 25 September 2019Thumbnail for version as of 11:41, 25 September 20191,912 × 3,480 (398 KB)AnonMooslosslessly cropping margins
11:00, 25 September 2019Thumbnail for version as of 11:00, 25 September 20193,314 × 4,971 (555 KB)Bajor kiflinew
21:37, 8 August 2005Thumbnail for version as of 21:37, 8 August 2005250 × 494 (65 KB)KovacsUrTwo pentagrams taken from the 1897 book ''“La Clef de la Magie Noire”'' by Stanislas de Guaita. Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan based his “Sigil of Baphomet” on this image: a goat face in a five-pointed star (one point down), with
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