Even though the terms pagan and paganism have shifted in meaning to the general public over the years, even though there has never truly been a consensus accepted definition of these terms, we do know that there are many traditional pagan symbols that resonate throughout all forms of paganism, from ancient polytheism to modern neopaganism. Thus it is ironically easier to define their meaning than the meaning of paganism itself!There are thousands of symbols and one would not be able to list them all in a book let alone one short essay. That said, there are some which stand above the rest in terms of importance and frequency of use and it is those I have come to write about here.
The most well known of the pagan symbols is the pentagram. Unfortunately it is also the most misunderstood. It is the symbol people who are against pagan concepts use to distort paganism into glorified Devil Worship. The horror movies do not help matters. Seeing as how pagan concepts predate all forms of Catholicism and Christianity this view is patently false.
That is not to say this symbol is not used in Black Mass and other forms of Satanism. It is. But it is turned upside down and for those people symbolizes something entirely different than the pagans they stole it from!
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