Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and the Pentagram

I recently learnt that the first mention of the pentangle - or pentagram - in English literature is in the Yuletide tale Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The 14th-century chivalric romance was originally written in Middle English, but the author is unknown. 

Although Sir Gawain is depicted as a Christian knight in King Arthur's service, the tale itself has themes about nature and seasonal cycles that resonate with pagans. The tale is also full of magical symbolism. Sir Gawain is described as having a pentangle on his shield. Here's a translation of the relevant passage:

"Then they brought him his shield, which was of bright red, with the pentangle painted thereon in gleaming gold. 

"And why that noble prince bare the pentangle I am minded to tell you, though my tale tarry thereby. It is a sign that Solomon set ere-while, as betokening truth; for it is a figure with five points and each line overlaps the other, and nowhere hath it beginning or end, so that in English it is called “the endless knot.” And therefore was it well suiting to this knight and to his arms, since Gawain was faithful in five and five-fold, for pure was he as gold, void of all villainy and endowed with all virtues. Therefore he bare the pentangle on shield and surcoat as truest of heroes and gentlest of knights."

The pentagram symbolises various things in different traditions. For witches it represents the elements of air, fire, water, earth, and spirit, while in some Christian traditions it is a sign for the five wounds inflicted on Jesus at the crucifixion. In this text it means "truth". Knights were supposed to obey the three principles of Truth, Love and Courage. 

You can find both the Middle English version of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the translation I quoted above for free on Project Gutenberg  The picture is from a 14th century edition of the book. 

Witchy Shopping: Pentagram Star Candle Holder

I'm rather tempted to get this pentagram candle holder. I spotted it on the clearance shelf in Sainsbury's when I was buying some groceries yesterday. Okay, it's listed as a star tealight holder and I guess it was part of the supermarket's Christmas range, but it would look brilliant in pride of place on an altar. It'd be just the thing for some candle magic too.

The reason it didn't go straight into my trolley is that I'm trying to declutter my witchy room a bit. I've already got a lot of candle holders - far more than I really need and as many as I have sensible space for. What I should do is go through them and find a few to pass on to someone else or take to the charity shop. 

In the meantime I'm sharing this picture, so if it appeals to you, pop down to your local Sainsbury's and see if they've still got them. As they're sale items I suspect they won't be there for long.

Previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2022/08/witchy-shopping-halloween-tray-and.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2022/10/samhain-shopping-whimsigothic-for.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2022/08/shopping-soap-delivery-from-bewitched.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2022/03/witchy-shopping-cardboard-coffins-for.html

Halloween Shopping & Crafting: Broomstick Pentagram

I made the witchy pentagram wreath on my wall (pictured left) out of five small Halloween-costume witches' broomsticks that cost me 25p each. Admittedly, I bought them last year just after Halloween in a sale, but even before October 31 you can pick up broomsticks just like that for about £1. 

The wreath is really easy to make too. Just place five broomsticks in a pentagram shape like I did, then tie them together at the tips and where they cross over. Tie a loop from the top to hang it from a hook on the wall. I used green gardening twine as that felt in keeping with the regular use of besoms - to sweep up autumn leaves in the garden.

The picture at the bottom shows my cat Tommy helping me place the mini-besoms before tying them together. I blogged about that last autumn. 

If you don't want to buy mass-produced stuff from the high street, you can make your own mini-besoms from scratch using foraged sticks and bundles of twigs.

Throughout the month of October I'm posting pictures of Halloween treats I've seen in shops and online as well as sharing photos of other people's wonderful finds. I'm also blogging about tricks for turning high-street stuff into real witches' tools.

Previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2019/11/familiars-my-cat-helping-me-craft.html http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2020/10/halloween-shopping-pictures-of-tricks.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2016/02/i-treated-myself-to-this-lovely.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2020/08/lammas-lament-it-is-okay-when-things-go.html

News: Kazakhstan Pentagram, Hill Forts and Temples

"Star Secret: What Does Giant Pentagram Mean?": Livescience looks at a huge pentagram in the Earth's surface in Kazakhstan that can be seen on Google Earth: http://www.livescience.com/38623-giant-pentagram-in-kazakhstan.html

"Neolithic discovery: why Orkney is the centre of ancient Britain": The Guardian's science page looks at the Ness of Brodgar temple complex: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/oct/06/orkney-temple-centre-ancient-britain?cat=science&type=article&view=mobile

"Shropshire Council: Withdraw proposals to build houses alongside Old Oswestry Iron Age Hillfort": Change.org asks people to sign a petition to protect an ancient site from developers: http://www.change.org/petitions/shropshire-council-withdraw-proposals-to-build-houses-alongside-old-oswestry-iron-age-hillfort?utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition

Craft: Making a Yule Tree Star

I didn't have a star to go on the top of my Yule tree, so I decided to make one myself - and you can see it in the photo.

To make it, I used five thin wands of wood I had trimmed from a forsythia hedge in my front garden earlier in the year.

I cut them to length, laid them out in the shape of a five-pointed star, tied thread tightly at the joining points, then painted the star gold before fixing it to the tree with a little bit of wire.

If you made one, you could decorate it further with ribbons or wrap tinsel around it. I quite like mine plain.

A five-pointed star formed of five straight lines is called a pentagram (a pentacle is a five-pointed star surrounded by a circle). Both are sometimes used as symbols of faith by Wiccans, because the five points represent the four elements of earth, air, fire and water plus the fifth element of spirit.

As Dan Brown famously pointed out in his novel The Da Vinci Code,the pentagram also represents Venus and is a symbol of the goddess, because the planet appears to move in the form of a five-pointed star in the night sky.

Links and previous related posts:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagram

http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2009/12/deck-halls-with-pagan-symbols.html
Da Vinci Code

http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2010/12/make-lucky-charms-with-leftover-corks.html

http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2007/12/bad-witchs-guide-to-fortune-telling.html

http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2011/09/crafty-recycling-earth-light.html

Vultures and Crows: A Pentagram Game

Games are traditional pastimes over the twelve days of yule.

Vultures and Crows is an old game that I feel seems particularly witchy because it is played on a board drawn as a pentagram.

One player has one counter as the 'vulture' and the other player has seven counters as 'crows'. The object is for the vulture to kill four crows, or for the crows to capture the vulture.

The first player places a crow on any of the ten points on the board. The second player then places the vulture on another point. A second crow is placed on a third point and then the vulture moves to an adjacent point.

The vulture kills by a short leap over crow, but cannot take more than one each turn. The crows cannot move until all seven are placed, then a crow can move to an adjacent point each turn.

If three or more crows immobilise the vulture they win. The vulture is trapped if it cannot move, but if the vulture kills four crows they are considered too weak to win.

This game appears in Pentagames, a collection of classic games designed by pentagram, published by Books UK Ltd.