5/12- Star- The Super Symbol

Non-fiction.

A 'story' about stars (this is more of a tale/description). Hmmm.... what could this be about? I hear you asking. This is my non-official application for stars to be considered the #1 symbol. Not that some symbols are superior to others, but... hearts are definitely not number #1 in my book. Yes, I love a good heart, but it's curved and weird to draw. A star is super easy. You have that little trick you learn when you're little, and feel so proud of yourself that you can draw something so pretty.

That's just one of the many reasons I love stars. Especially at Christmas.

In Ancient cultures, the Pentagram (a fancy name for the five-pointed star I'm going to be using) was for some time a symbol of connection between the elements (fire, water, earth, air) and the spirit. The way the star faced would alter the symbolic meaning. For example, the spirit (as the essence of life) is above the natural elements. Or that fire, air, water, earth, and spirit had their own order.

The star has been found on Sumerian pottery as early as 3500BC, in Ancient Egypt, the Liangzhu culture of China, and the Ancient Greeks.

More recently, it was a symbol for Jerusalem from 300-150BC, and in the Serer religion, it's a symbol for the universe. I find that quite fitting, because it has been all over the world, throughout over 5000 years of history.

It's also fitting because the Pentagram is a symbol for the stars in the sky. You may not know this, but humans are often considered to be made of stardust. That's because stars and humans are made of the same elements (building blocks of life: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, sulfur). We just have different proportions of these elements.

But the Pentagram doesn't look like the stars? True, they aren't technically accurate representations (sorry-not-sorry to drag the heart down again, but it's also not accurate) because stars are giant balls of burning gas, and even from Earth, they look like circles most of the time. However, if you squint, or as you get older, your eyesight is more blurry, meaning the light beams from the star make the Pentagram shape. You might have seen something similar when you've been swimming without goggles, or in the car when you've squinted to see the headlights become really long.

Many, many years ago, the Near East culture believed in the goddess Ishtar, who was highly connected to the planet Venus. From the Earth's perspective, if you drew Venus' path for 8 years, it would return to the same place, and create a flower/pentagram shape. (I challenge you to Google the Venus Pentagram and see it for yourself). This would have been recorded by the people believing in Ishtar, but though the astronomically correct symbol would have been the Pentagram, they used the eight-pointed star. That's still a point to the stars in my opinion.

The Pentagram is also mathematically brilliant, but I'm not going to go too much into detail because it's hard to wrap your head around. If you're interested, there are a lot of angles involved. It also uses the golden ratio, which often appears in maths, art, and creates a sense of balance in life. Mathematicians go crazy over this type of stuff.

It was once a symbol for health, wisdom and divinity (higher power and being God-like). And it's just beautiful. You can draw one side inside another for infinity, and it's a fun notebook doodle, or a theme in books. If you haven't noticed already, there are probably a million reasons to love stars. But now is probably the most important, because this is where we link back to Christmas.

Stars are also parts of many religious symbols, features of flags, and generally are there more than you notice. In Christianity, the star of Bethlehem was the heavenly sign that led the wise men to find the baby Jesus. Who was later revealed to be the light of the world. He is like the star of our world, guiding us in the night and darkest points of life. The star of Bethlehem is often at the top of nativity scenes, because it was such a supernatural event.

Some believe that science can explain how it managed to shine exceptionally bright. Maybe it was a supernova, which apparently did happen around the time Jesus was born. Another suggestion is that it was a comet.

But I think it was God's power. I mean, His incarnate was born, so why not give him a beautiful and symbolic entrance?

Even in Greek mythology, those the Gods cared for, or the ones they thought deserved more than they received in life, were sent to live among the stars. If a loved one dies, we often believe they lie among the stars (as a fraction of heaven we can see). We wish upon stars, and sometimes have special 'relationships' towards particular ones.

The versions of the stars we see today are actually from millions of years ago, because it took so long for their light to reach us. But the light did reach us. Since the light's journey started, so much has changed. Humanity has evolved. The universe has expanded. Those same stars that we see today may not exist anymore, as we won't notice that a star is gone until many, many years later.

Who knows if they're there? Stars are so much larger than us; I believe we won't fully understand them for a long time. And yet we get to appreciate them.

It's incredible how much astronomy, religion, art, maths, history, science and symbolism the little pentagrams hold. But I challenge you to look for stars in everyday life, and remember all that they mean when you place them upon the Christmas tree.

Thank you for reading. I hope you got a little Christmas joy from this story. Here, for anyone who wants it, is the maintenance.

If you enjoyed this story, please, please, please (I can add a cherry if necessary) like, comment, rate and share. It really helps me out and allows others to see these (hopefully decent) stories. Thank you, and Merry Christmas.