First I should state that the pentagram is just a five pointed star. Penta meaning five points. A pentacle is a pentagram with a circle around it. The funny thing about pentacles is that many see them as a Devil worshiping symbol but many Christians use them as symbols of protection over live stock, homes, and families to ward off evil. If you look at society you will find it still unconsciously used as a symbol of public protection. What symbol comes to mind when I ask you what a sheriff's badge looks like? How about the Lone Star State? Cut an apple in half across the midsection instead of top to bottom and tell me what you find? Maybe that's why the apple became viewed as a forbidden fruit!
The pentacle is the symbol of the goddess and a symbol of protection. There is no evil behind it. Perhaps it's viewed as evil because it is a symbol of the competition or just a feminine symbol. Early Christians saw the five points of the star as the five wounds of Christ. Pagans see the star as representing the five senses, sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing, and the five elements, earth, air, fire, water, and spirit/soul. In the night sky when Venus is at her brightest there appears to be a halo around her. The circle around the pentagram represents unity of all of those. Inverted pentagrams and pentacles are also not bad. the Order of the Eastern Star uses an inverted pentagram as their symbol and in some traditions of Wicca the inverted pentacle represents a second degree initiate. The inverted pentacle represents the other half of the wheel of the year, or winter.
Do devil worshipers use them? Well yes followers of Satanism use the symbol of Baphomet which is a pentacle with a horned goat inside the star. This also gives some people a miss association in that Witches also worship a horned god of the forest. It is not the same thing. It should not be associated with Wicca. If one looks at things in that light they will also see that the inverted cross also has misunderstanding. In early Christian faiths when Saint Peter, or the apostle Peter, was crucified he demanded that they crucify him upside down because he did not consider him self worthy of the same suffering as Christ. The inverted cross became a symbol of St. Peter.
Many things can be assumed of witchcraft but that doesn't mean they are true. I too can bare false witness against my neighbors if I so wished, that doesn't make it true just because I say it.
Blessed be,
Lady Alice
