hexagram

hexagram

1. a star-shaped figure formed by extending the sides of a regular hexagon to meet at six points

2. a group of six broken or unbroken lines which may be combined into 64 different patterns, as used in the I Ching

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

Fourteenth-century invocation circle, featuring an encircled magical hexagram. Courtesy Fortean Picture Library.

Hexagram

(religion, spiritualism, and occult)

The hexagram comprises two triangles, one reversed and superimposed on the other, and is found in many areas of magic. As a decoration (possibly for magical purposes), it has been found as early as the Bronze Age. The two triangles represent male and female energies, and they are also the symbols for fire and water. Additionally, they represent the ideas of "above" and "below" (see Hermetica).

The hexagram is part of the Seal of Solomon, a magical symbol of great power employed in Ceremonial Magic and used to banish spirits. Also known as the Star of David (in Hebrew, Magen David, or "David's Shield"), the symbol was actually not identified with the Jewish faith until the seventeenth century. However, strictly as a magic symbol, it was found on Jewish amulets as early as the twelfth century.

H I G H M AG I C see CEREMONIAL MAGIC

The Witch Book: The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft, Wicca, and Neo-paganism © 2002 Visible Ink Press®. All rights reserved.