On Wednesday April 27th, NBC ran a show called 'Dealing with the Devil' as a run-up to their end-times Christian-centric mini-series ‘Revelations’. This show was a documentary on exorcism. For the first part of the show we saw an exorcism of a middle-aged white american male by several Baptist exorcism specialists.

The reason why he was being exorcised was never explained, beyond ‘Demon Posession’. How this possession had been manifesting itself is anyone’s guess. Perhaps he voted Democrat in the last election, or suggested to his family that gay marriage might not really affect him. Whatever the symptoms of this possession, the man clearly underwent some kind of psychic trauma during the exorcism, and I am happy for him and his family that he emerged from it intact and apparently none the worse for wear.

Possession (and it’s causes) is a much discussed subject, which is why I am not going to discuss it here, beyond recommending that you buy the new book ’People who Don’t Know They’re Dead’ by Gary Leon Hill (Red Wheel, June 2005)

What concerned me about the NBC show, what I found particularly annoying and disheartening, was that during the program, for some reason the producers felt it necessary to show a spinning pentacle every now and then as a segue from one scene to another, usually with a voice over such as 'They say the Devil never sleeps..', thus perpetuating the myth that Wicca=Satanism.

If they did the same voiceover while spinning the Star of David (the symbol of the Jewish faith. The Jews if you recall, are supposed to have killed Christ.), there would be an outcry. But since it was the Pentagram, I predict the incident will pass unnoticed by the country at large because pagans and wiccans don't vehemently object to our faith being distorted and maligned in this way. We're used to it, and it seems that every time some progress is made in enlightening people to the difference between Wicca and Devil-worship, it is swept away by some ill-thought out mass-market brain-destroying hyperbole.

I don't expect any apology from NBC. I think any attempt to obtain one would be met with blank stares. TV Producers are not known for their moral fortitude, and before explaining to them what they did wrong, one would have to start by explaining the word ‘wrong’. I would like to offer some information on the pentagram however. Perhaps if it were better understood, it might not be so maligned.

What is a Pentagram?

A Pentagram is a “unicursal figure”. This means it can be drawn with a single stroke of a pen, without ever leaving the paper. A Pentacle is simply a Pentagram with a circle around it.

What does it mean?

The Pentagram has had many meanings over the millennia.

In Wicca and Ceremonial Magic the points represent (starting from the left hand point, and going clockwise) the elements of Air, Earth, Fire & Water with Spirit at the top. Many assume this is just a modern usage, but in fact, Pythagoreans were the first we know of to assign the elements to the points of the Pentacle, or as they called it Hugieia ("health" also the Greek god of health, Hygieia).

But the pentagram is even older than that. The first known use of the pentagram was in Mesopotamia about 3000 B.C. To the Baylonians the points had an astrological meaning, representing the five planets Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Saturn, and Venus as Ishtar, "Queen of Heaven".

For a thousand years, from the birth of Christianity up until medieval times, the five points of the pentagram represented the five wounds of Christ on the Cross. It was a symbol of Christ the Saviour. The church eventually chose the cross as a more significant symbol for Christianity, and the use of the pentagram as a Christian symbol gradually ceased.

The inverted pentacle with a goat's head is called the sign of Baphomet, which is believed to have come from two Greek words, baphe and metis, meaning "absorption of knowledge." The Baphomet is widely used by religious Satanists. The Church of Satan also uses a second symbol which is an infinity sign (a figure 8 on its side). A Roman cross is placed on top with a second, longer cross piece added beneath the top cross piece.

It is partly due to this usage that so many people associate Wicca with Satanism, since the Pentagram and the Baphomet are same symbol – the latter is simply inverted. This is hardly an excuse, however. Ask any fervent Christian if an inverted cross means the same thing as one the right way up. You may be surprised by the vitriolic response. Or perhaps not...

Wicca is a growing religious force in America. From 1990, when it didn't even show as a blip on the spiritual radar, it's numbers have grown to over 340,000 as reported in the last national census. Probably it is much higher than that - many people simply deny their faith for all kinds of reasons.

Still, the truth is that it has not yet reached the level where the opinions of its practitioners can impact television ratings, and is not likely to do so for another decade at least. But if you wish to try and make a difference, please contact NBC at nbcshows@nbcuni.com. Be polite, respectful and assertive. You will get a better response.

For now, when faced with the kind of ignorant, sensalionalist behavior as was exhibited in this NBC special, all one can do is gently explain to those who will listen that Wicca is not Devil-worship. And hope that one day, it will sink in.