Glossary

Pentacle

The five-pointed star in a circle, worn as a sign of the craft and laid on the altar for the element of earth.

In modern witchcraft a pentacle is a pentagram, the five-pointed star, set inside a circle. The star stands for the four elements and spirit, the circle for what holds them together.

The word names two things:

• The altar tool: a flat disc of wood, clay or metal with the star drawn or carved on it. It stands for the element of earth and for the north. Things that are to be blessed or charged are laid on it.
• The sign: worn as a pendant or a ring, it is for witches and Wiccans what the cross is for Christians: a sign of their path and, for many, of protection.

In the old books of magick "pentacle" had a wider meaning. There it was any drawn figure that protects the magician, and most of the pentacles in the Key of Solomon contain no five-pointed star at all. In the tarot the suit of pentacles, also called coins, belongs to earth as well.

A saucer with a star drawn on a slip of paper is a pentacle too.

Related: the four elements, tools of the craft.