A Roman soldier standing guard in Judea during the first century would not have recognized the Star of David. The symbol we now call the Magen David did not appear on Jewish synagogues, tombs, or texts until the late Middle Ages. By contrast, the inverted pentagram known as the Devil Star has a shorter, more deliberate history: it entered the occult mainstream in 1966 through Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan. The Star of David is a six-pointed hexagram representing divine order and the union of opposites. The Devil Star is an inverted five-pointed pentagram associated with Satanism, materiality, and the rejection of spiritual hierarchy. One emerged from Jewish mysticism and became a national emblem. The other was designed as a deliberate inversion of Christian and occult symbols.
Where Did the Six-Pointed Star Come From?
The hexagram appears in Jewish contexts as early as the third century CE, but not as a specifically Jewish symbol. Archaeologists have found the six-pointed star on a stone lintel from the Capernaum synagogue (dated to the late second or third century CE) alongside a five-pointed star and a swastika. At that time, it was decorative geometry, not doctrine.
The first clear association with King David comes from a medieval Hebrew manuscript, the Leningrad Codex (1008 CE), where a hexagram decorates the masoretic notes for the Book of Psalms. The term “Magen David” (Shield of David) appears in Jewish mystical texts from the 12th century, notably in the Eshkol ha-Kofer by the Karaite scholar Judah Hadassi (1148 CE). Hadassi described the hexagram as a symbol placed on amulets, not yet on flags or synagogues.
The symbol gained prominence in Prague during the 16th century. The Jewish community of Prague received permission from Emperor Ferdinand II in 1527 to fly a flag bearing a gold hexagram on a red field. This flag, known as the Flag of King David, became a model for later Jewish banners. By the 17th century, the hexagram appeared on the exterior of the Altneuschul synagogue in Prague, making it the first Jewish house of worship to display the symbol publicly.
The Zionist movement adopted the hexagram at the First Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897. Theodor Herzl’s proposal for a Jewish flag included seven gold stars, but the simpler six-pointed star won out. The State of Israel made it the central element of its national flag in 1948.
Where Did the Inverted Pentagram Come From?
The five-pointed star itself is ancient. Sumerian cuneiform tablets from 3000 BCE use a pentagram to represent the goddess Ishtar and the planet Venus. Greek mathematicians, particularly the Pythagoreans in the sixth century BCE, revered the pentagram for its geometric properties: the golden ratio appears in every intersection of its lines. They called it hygieia (health) and used it as a symbol of perfection.
The inversion of the pentagram has a different lineage. Medieval grimoires such as the Key of Solomon (14th-15th century) prescribed the pentagram for summoning spirits, but they specified that the single point must face upward to contain the spirit’s power. An inverted pentagram, with two points up, was considered a sign of the spirit breaking through the circle.
The modern “Devil Star” is the creation of Anton LaVey. In 1966, LaVey founded the Church of Satan in San Francisco and needed a symbol. He designed the Sigil of Baphomet: an inverted pentagram inscribed within a double circle, with the Hebrew letters for “Leviathan” written at each point of the star. A goat’s head fills the pentagram’s interior. LaVey published the symbol in The Satanic Bible (1969), where he explained that the inverted pentagram represents the triumph of material reality over spiritual authority.
What Does Each Symbol Actually Mean?
The Star of David represents the integration of opposites. The hexagram consists of two interlocking triangles: one pointing upward (fire, masculine, heaven) and one pointing downward (water, feminine, earth). In Kabbalistic thought, the six points correspond to the six directions of physical space (north, south, east, west, up, down), with the center representing the divine presence. The symbol also maps onto the seven lower Sefirot of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, with the central hexagon representing Tiferet (beauty and harmony).
The hexagram appears in alchemical texts as the union of fire and water, sulfur and mercury, the fixed and the volatile. The 17th-century alchemist Robert Fludd used the hexagram to represent the macrocosm-microcosm relationship: the human being as a reflection of the universe.
The Devil Star inverts this logic. The inverted pentagram with two points up represents the primacy of the physical over the spiritual, the individual over the collective, the material over the abstract. Each point of the star corresponds to a classical element: earth, air, fire, water, and spirit. In the upright pentagram, spirit sits at the top, ruling the four lower elements. In the inverted pentagram, spirit sits at the bottom, subservient to matter.
LaVey’s Sigil of Baphomet adds the goat’s head, drawing on the 19th-century imagery of the Sabbatic Goat from Eliphas Lévi’s Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (1856). Lévi’s drawing of Baphomet was not Satanic; it was a symbol of the “absolute” in hermetic philosophy, combining male and female, human and animal, light and dark. LaVey extracted the goat’s head and placed it inside the inverted pentagram, creating a symbol that explicitly rejected the Christian framework from which it borrowed.
How Are They Used in Practice?
The Star of David appears in Jewish ritual objects: the Torah scroll covers, the ark curtains, the menorah bases. It is not a sacred symbol in the way the menorah or the shofar are sacred. Jewish law does not require the Star of David for any religious observance. It functions more as an identifier than a tool.
In Kabbalistic practice, the hexagram appears in amuletic magic. The 13th-century Sefer ha-Gematria describes the hexagram as a protective seal against demons. Jewish mystics inscribed the hexagram on mezuzot and wedding contracts. The symbol’s six points and twelve outer triangles correspond to the twelve tribes of Israel, making it a microcosm of the Jewish people.
The Devil Star is used in Satanic ritual as a focal point. In LaVeyan Satanism, the Sigil of Baphomet is placed on the altar during ceremonies. The Church of Satan describes the symbol as a representation of the “primal force of the universe” and the “carnal nature of humanity.” The inverted pentagram without the goat’s head appears in modern witchcraft, particularly in traditions that reject the Wiccan Rede’s emphasis on harmlessness. Some practitioners of left-hand path magic use the inverted pentagram to signal their alignment with materiality and personal will over spiritual submission.
What Are the Most Common Confusions?
The hexagram and the pentagram are not the same shape. This is the most frequent error. The hexagram has six points and is formed by two overlapping triangles. The pentagram has five points and is drawn as a continuous line. They share no geometric relationship beyond both being star polygons.
The Star of David is not inherently occult. While the hexagram appears in alchemical and Kabbalistic texts, its primary modern meaning is Jewish identity and the State of Israel. Calling it an “occult symbol” without context misrepresents its history.
The inverted pentagram is not always Satanic. In some neo-pagan traditions, the inverted pentagram represents the second degree of initiation or the descent of spirit into matter. The Church of Satan’s specific design, with the goat’s head and Hebrew letters, is the definitive Satanic version. A plain inverted pentagram may mean something else entirely.
The Devil Star is not the “Star of Remphan” mentioned in the Bible. Some Christian polemicists claim that the Star of David derives from the “star of your god Remphan” in Amos 5:26 and Acts 7:43. This is a mistranslation. The Hebrew text refers to Kiyyun, a Babylonian deity associated with Saturn, not a star symbol. The connection is speculative at best.
FAQ
Is the Star of David the same as the Seal of Solomon? No. The Seal of Solomon is a hexagram with additional esoteric elements: dots, lines, or letters inscribed within the triangles. The Star of David is the plain hexagram. Medieval grimoires distinguish between the two.
Can the Devil Star be used for protection? Some practitioners of folk magic use the inverted pentagram to repel unwanted spirits, arguing that its aggressive symbolism creates a psychic barrier. This is not standard in Satanic practice, where the symbol represents invitation rather than defense.
Why does the inverted pentagram have a goat’s head? LaVey borrowed the goat’s head from Eliphas Lévi’s 1856 drawing of Baphomet, which itself drew on the Templar idol described during the 14th-century trials. The goat represents the carnal, the fertile, and the material.
Are there any symbols that combine both stars? Yes. Some ceremonial magic traditions use a hexagram with a pentagram inscribed inside it, representing the union of macrocosm and microcosm. This appears in the Greater Key of Solomon manuscripts from the 16th century.
The Difference Is Intent
The Star of David and the Devil Star share a common ancestor: the geometric star polygon. Their meanings diverged through centuries of use, persecution, and reinvention. The hexagram became a shield for a people. The inverted pentagram became a banner for a philosophy. Both are what their users make of them.
For a deeper look at how symbols evolve across traditions, see our guide to esoteric symbols. To understand the Kabbalistic framework that shaped the hexagram’s meaning, read our glossary entry on the Sefirot. And for the full history of the pentagram from Sumer to Satanism, visit our vertical hub on occult geometry.