Octagrams - Eight-Pointed Stars

Octagrams – eight pointed stars – show up in a variety of different cultures, and modern users of the symbol borrow liberally from these sources.

Babylonian:

In Babylonian symbolism, the goddess Ishtar is represented by an eight-pointed starburst, and she is associated with the planet of Venus. Today, some people equate the Greek Aphrodite, whom the Romans equated with their Venus, with Ishtar. Both goddesses represent lust and sexuality, although Ishtar also represents fertility and war.

Judeo-Christian:

The number eight frequently represents beginnings, resurrection, salvation and super-abundance. This has to do, in part, with the fact that the number seven is a number of completion. The eighth day, for example, is the first day of a new seven-day week, and a Jewish child enters into God's Covenant on the eighth day of life via circumcision.

Egyptian:

Old Kingdom Egyptians recognized a group of eight deities, four male and four female, with the female bearing feminine forms of the male names: Nu, Nanet, Amun, Amunet, Kuk, Kauket, Huh, and Hauhet. Each pair represents a primal force, water, air, darkness, and infinity, and together they create the world and the sun god Ra from the primordial waters.

Together, these eight are known as the Ogdoad, and this context is borrowed by other cultures which may represent it with an octagram.

Star of Lakshmi:

In Hinduism, Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, has eight emanations known as Ashtalakshmi, which are represented by two entwined squares forming an octagram. These emanations represent eight forms of wealth: monetary, ability to transport, endless prosperity, victory, patience, health and nourishment, knowledge, and family.

Overlapping Squares:

Octagrams formed from overlapping squares often emphasize duality: yin and yang, male and female, spiritual and material. Squares are often connected with the physical world: four elements, four cardinal directions, etc.

Together, the they can mean both positive and negative aspects of the four elements, for example, and balancing them.

Judeo-Christian Esoterica:

Esoteric thinkers working with Hebrew and the names of God might place the Hebrew letters for YHWH and ADNI (Yahweh and Adonai) within the points of an Octagram.

Buddhism

Buddhists use an eight-spoked wheel to represent the Eightfold Path taught by the Buddha as a means to escape suffering through the breaking of attachments. These paths are right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

The Wheel of the Year

The Wiccan Wheel of the Year is commonly represented as a circle containing eight spokes or an eight-pointed star. Each point is a major holiday known as a Sabbat. Wiccans emphasize the system of holidays as a whole: each holiday is influenced by what has come before and prepares for the one approaching next.

Rub el Hizb

Rub el Hizb is an important figure that has come to be associated with the Islam religion. It is a symbol made of two overlapping squares where one square is turned at 90 degrees and thus creates an 8-pointed star. There is also a circle in the center of both the squares. In Arabic, 'Rub' stands for quarter or one-fourth, while the meaning of 'Hizb' is a party or a group. It is used in Arabic calligraphy to mark a chapter's end and appears in the Quran at the end of passages. The Quran is divided into sixty 'hizb' which are 60 equal-length portions and these are further divided into 'rub' or quarters.

The Rub el Hizb symbol can be seen on several flags, emblems and coat of arms such as those of Morocco, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.