The pentagram

Closely related to the golden section, the pentagram, is a regular, five-pointed star formed by the diagonals of a regular pentagon and in antiquity was considered to be a magic sign.

In a pentagram there is a partner for every line and partial line which with it is in proportion to the golden section.

The pentagram can also be imagined as a composition of five golden triangles. If the five intersections are connected inside it another pentagram is created there. Even when a pentagram is again drawn in its inner pentagon and so on, all the triangles contained in this drawing are golden triangles.

If an apple is cut through the middle it is found to contain a natural depiction of the pentagram in its core. Like all members of the rose family, the apple is assigned to the female, the life-giving principle. It is thus not surprising that the pentagram is the symbol of Venus, both of the planet and the goddess. As the symbol can be drawn in an unbroken line and at the end comes back to the beginning, it was also a sign for the cycle of life. In the Middle Ages the pentagram was used as a figure to ward off demons.

And even today it is omnipresent: the stars of numerous flags, for example those of the USA or the EU, are all pentagrams. The Soviet Star and the symbol of Islam are also pentagrams.