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In 1854, the French occultist Alphonse Louis Constant — writing as Eliphas Levi — published a drawing that redefined the Western understanding of the five-pointed star. His version was not a decorative motif but a diagram of spiritual anatomy, the central instrument of the Great Work. Eliphas Levi’s pentagram is a five-pointed star inscribed in a circle, with the single point upward, representing the triumph of spirit over matter, and each point assigned a Hebrew letter from the divine name Yeheshuah (Jesus). It appears in his book Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (1854–1856), and it remains the most influential pentagram in Western ceremonial magic.
Levi did not invent the pentagram. The five-pointed star appears on Mesopotamian cylinder seals from 3000 BCE, in the geometry of Pythagoras, and in medieval grimoires such as the Key of Solomon. But before Levi, no single author had given it a complete theological and magical system. He drew on two main sources: the Kabbalistic Tetragrammaton (YHVH) and the Christian esotericism of the Renaissance.
In Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, Levi presents the pentagram as the “sign of the microcosm” — the human figure standing with arms and legs spread, the five points corresponding to head, hands, and feet. He writes: “The pentagram is the figure of the human body, of which the head is the top point and the four limbs the others.” This image had appeared earlier in Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa’s De Occulta Philosophia (1533), where a human figure is superimposed on a pentagram. Levi took Agrippa’s diagram and gave it a new layer: the Hebrew letters.
He assigned the top point the letter Shin (ש), representing spirit. The remaining four points received the letters Yod (י), He (ה), Vav (ו), and He (ה), the Tetragrammaton, placed clockwise or counterclockwise depending on the edition. Together, Shin plus YHVH spell Yeheshuah, the Hebrew name of Jesus. For Levi, the pentagram was therefore a Christian symbol, a diagram of the incarnation of spirit in matter.
Levi published the drawing in the first volume of Dogme et Rituel, alongside his famous image of Baphomet. The two images are paired: Baphomet wears an upright pentagram on its forehead, and the pentagram itself is the means to understanding the Baphomet figure. Levi intended the book as a manual for practical magic, and the pentagram was its central tool.
Levi’s pentagram is not a generic star. Each point carries a specific name and element, and the arrangement matters.
The top point holds Shin, the letter of spirit. In Levi’s cosmology, spirit is the active, divine principle that descends into matter. The upper left point (from the viewer’s perspective) holds He, the first He of the Tetragrammaton, associated with water. The upper right point holds Vav, associated with fire. The lower left point holds Yod, associated with earth. The lower right point holds the second He, associated with air.
This assignment differs from later Golden Dawn attributions, which place spirit at top, then water, fire, earth, air in a different order. Levi’s own diagram in the original French edition shows the letters arranged so that the name Yeheshuah reads clockwise starting from the top. But he also writes that the pentagram can be traced in either direction depending on the operation: from the top to the lower left for invoking, from the lower left to the top for banishing.
The circle that encloses the star represents unity, the divine sphere that contains the five elements. Without the circle, Levi warns, the pentagram is merely a geometric figure. With it, the star becomes a “concentrated form of the divine name.”
Levi also associates the five points with the five senses, the five wounds of Christ, and the five books of the Torah. But his primary emphasis is the name Yeheshuah. The pentagram is, in his words, “the absolute sign of the microcosm, the sign of the human word made flesh.”
Levi describes three main uses for the pentagram: as a talisman, as a tool for evocation, and as a meditation aid.
For talismanic use, he instructs the magician to draw the pentagram on parchment or virgin paper using ink made from lampblack and gum arabic. The drawing should be done at the astrological hour of Mercury or Jupiter, depending on the purpose. The pentagram is then worn on the chest or forehead during ritual. Levi writes that the pentagram “preserves the magician from all danger and commands the spirits.”
For evocation, the pentagram is traced in the air with the wand or the right hand. The magician visualizes the star as a line of blue fire. Levi gives specific instructions for the direction of tracing: for invoking a spirit, begin at the top point and trace to the lower left, then across to the upper right, then down to the lower right, then across to the upper left, and back to the top. For banishing, reverse the direction. This is the origin of the “Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram” later formalized by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
Levi also uses the pentagram in the “Conjuration of the Four,” a ritual for calling the four elemental kings. The magician draws a pentagram in each cardinal direction, assigning each to an element. The top point of each pentagram faces the direction of the element: fire in the south, water in the west, air in the east, earth in the north.
For meditation, Levi recommends contemplating the pentagram while reciting the name Yeheshuah. The practitioner visualizes the star glowing with the colors of the elements: white for spirit, blue for water, red for fire, green for earth, yellow for air. This practice, he claims, aligns the microcosm (the human soul) with the macrocosm (the divine order).
Levi’s Pentagram vs. the Inverted Star
One of Levi’s most lasting contributions is his condemnation of the inverted pentagram. In Dogme et Rituel, he writes: “The pentagram with two points upward represents Satan, the goat of Mendes, the triumph of matter over spirit.” This is the first clear association of the inverted star with evil in Western occultism.
Levi’s own Baphomet image, however, shows an upright pentagram on the figure’s forehead. The inverted pentagram appears only as a warning. He explains that the upright star is the sign of the Logos, the divine word made flesh. The inverted star is its corruption: spirit dragged down into matter, the human figure with its head below its feet.
This distinction became the foundation for later Satanist and occultist use of the inverted pentagram. Levi’s student Stanislas de Guaita and later Aleister Crowley both adopted the inverted star for specific purposes, but Levi himself never used it in practice. For him, the upright pentagram was the only valid form.
Modern readers often assume the pentagram is a pagan or Wiccan symbol. Levi would have rejected that association. He was a Catholic esotericist who saw the pentagram as a Christian talisman. The pentagram’s later adoption by Wicca (through Gerald Gardner’s borrowing from the Golden Dawn) is a separate development.
Misconception: Levi invented the pentagram. He did not. The pentagram appears in ancient Greece, in medieval grimoires like the Key of Solomon, and in Renaissance magic. Levi systematized it and gave it a Christian Kabbalistic meaning.
Misconception: The pentagram is a satanic symbol. Levi explicitly calls it the sign of Christ and the microcosm. The inverted pentagram he associates with evil, but the upright star is a protective, divine symbol.
Misconception: Levi’s pentagram is the same as the Golden Dawn’s. The Golden Dawn adapted Levi’s system but changed the elemental attributions and added the “banishing” and “invoking” rituals. Levi’s original pentagram uses the name Yeheshuah, not the Tetragrammaton alone.
Misconception: The pentagram must always be drawn with one point up. Levi allows for variations depending on the operation. The upright star is for invoking spirit; the inverted star is for invoking matter. But he never recommends the inverted form for practical magic.
FAQ
What is the difference between Levi’s pentagram and a regular pentagram?
Levi’s pentagram is inscribed with the Hebrew letters of Yeheshuah (Shin, Yod, He, Vav, He) and enclosed in a circle. A regular pentagram is a geometric star without these additions.
Why did Levi use the name Yeheshuah?
Yeheshuah is the Hebrew name of Jesus, formed by inserting the letter Shin into the Tetragrammaton. For Levi, this name represents the incarnation of spirit in matter, the central mystery of the pentagram.
Is the inverted pentagram always evil?
Levi was the first to call it evil, associating it with the Goat of Mendes. Later occultists like Crowley used it for different purposes. In modern practice, its meaning depends on the tradition.
Levi’s pentagram is not a relic of nineteenth-century occultism. It is a working diagram that continues to shape how we trace the star in ritual. For a deeper look at the grimoire that contains it, see our guide to Eliphas Levi’s Dogme et Rituel. To explore how the pentagram connects to other symbols, visit our glossary of magical symbols. And for the broader tradition of Western ceremonial magic, start at our grimoires hub.