Sunday, January 16, 2011

The circle the pentagram and the hexagram

Ingrid Hehmeyer wrote in her research titled “Water and Sign Magic in al-Jabin, Yemen” that analysys of manuscripts proves that the pentagram replaced the circle (“seal”) in a thirteenth century and very soon after that it was replaced or used side by side with the hexagram.
“The six-pointed star is shown in a thirteenth century and a fifteenth-century manuscript of [Ali d. 1225] al-Buni’s work [Kitab Shams al-Ma`arif wa-Lata’if al-`Awarif]…



From:  H. A. WinklerSiegel und Charaktere in der Muhammedanischen Zauberei. Berlin and Leipzig, 1930.
J. MoG. DAWKINS wrote in his article The Seal of Solomon that the name Seal of Solomon refers to all the 7 emblems seen above, not only to the six pointed star that appears first from right.  DAWKINS  adds that researchers commonly agree that the meaning of this seal is the ineffable name of God.

Lloyd D. Graham shows in his article The Seven Seals of Revelation and the Seven Classical Planets (2010) That the idea of the seven seals is shared by Islam Christianity and Judaism, and that each seal is correlated to a certain planet and to a certain color.

Ingrid Hehmeyer adds that aside from their protective role  “In the ancient and in the Islamic worlds, five- and/or six pointed stars are found on weights, stamps, coins, and seals, where they attest to the item’s validity and legitimacy”... "In Islamic Yemen, five- and six-pointed stars as geometric shapes are widespread in domestic architecture, on house facades, interior walls, doors, and windows; as part of inscriptions having a religious nature and on such religious architectural works as mosques and minarets, tombs and cenotaphs; as designs on amuletic jewellery; as graffiti on walls and rocks...and on so-called magic-medicinal bowls."

six-pointed star on magic-medicinal bowl
CC picture by Tupinambah/Flickr


Paolo Da Visso 1450

Painter Paolo Da Visso painted the Madona and on her robe printed in gold a few stars of David
Exhibited at Avignon, Musée du Petit Palais

Six pointed stars on a Byzantine Coin

Anastasius I, 491 - 518 C.E.
Bronze follis (coin) minted in Constantinople, 512  C.E. The M marks 40 nummi
Along with a cross above the M

The Fleur de Lys symbol in England

From: The Handbook to English Heraldry by Charles Boutell, 1914, 

The fleur de lys entered France by LOUIS VII. (A.D. 1137-1180) as his royal emblem …his lily shapes were scattered and his emblem is named as “France Ancient”: 

France Ancient



About A.D. 1365, CHARLES V. of France changed the number of the lily shapes  to three; and this emblem is named as “France Modern”: 
                   
France Modern

Angel of France Modern
CC picture by Lawrence OP/Flickr



In 1299 EDWARD I married Margaret of France, and she introduced the Fleur to two of her seals  

 Margaret, Queen of Edward I 


Margaret, Queen of Edward I -  Royal Tudor arms
Cambridge Chapel, England
CC picture by Lawrence OP/Flickr

             Margaret, Queen of Edward I


In 1340, EDWARD III. claimed the crown of france, and added the France Ancient to his lions of england.

Perhaps in 1405, HENRY IV added the France Modern to his shield.


The position of the three fleurs de lys was more than once changed in the Royal Shield of England, and they were finally removed in 1801 because after the French Revolution, the Kingdom of France had ceased to exist.

More about the Fleur de Lys and its connection to the Star of David on