Pensieve

All societies started off being pagan. There's no argument here (even if some Catholic politicians try to make you forget about it - for example in Poland we have some fucked up people who believe Jesus is the king of the country and his mother Mary is the Queen - I am not going into the Oedipus complex theory here, but yes, it is very tempting at the moment ).

Many symbols we know these days were in use centuries ago as protective elements.
I will go through couple of the ones that these days seem to carry a negative connotation, and one that had its meaning the improperly sanctified.



Swastika

"It is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing (卐) form or its mirrored left-facing (卍) form." Its name comes from Sanscrit and it means a "lucky object". When displayed it was supposed to provide good energy, wealth and happiness. Its origin can be traced back to 4000 b.c.
Today - if one decides wear swastika on their neck, or embroider it it their clothes they would be perceived as Nazis.
Auntie Wikipedia even says:
"The German (and Austrian) postwar criminal code makes the public showing of the Hakenkreuz (the swastika) and other Nazi symbols illegal and punishable, except for scholarly reasons."
This symbol was simply "borrowed" by Hitler, as he was hoping it will bring him luck and will show others that somehow he is worthy "inheriting" the power of gods...



Pentagram

Pentagram is in the shape of a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes.
Its origin can be dated up to 3000 b.c. It was used (and still is by Pagans) as a symbol of five main forces - fire, water, earth, wood, and metal.

But what is the first thing that comes into your mind when you see it? How does society perceive people wearing it their neck?
First thing that comes in mind is Satanism (and yes, we should thank the Catholic Church for this, because they make sure everything in the world is about them...).

I wear a Pentacle on my neck - and to be frank British people do not seem to notice this too much, which is great. But as soon as I head home - some devout Catho-granny will make sure she points out to me that I will be burning in hell



Cross

The cross symbol has been used in many cultures for various different purposes (it is even linked to Swastika), it can be used as a symbol of life or fertility, a "medicine wheel of life", a house protection from fire etc. etc.
For the past 1500 years (and under various shapes and names) it has mostly been used in Christian religions. Even the Inverted Cross (another pseudo-satanist link here) originated from a Christian - Saint Peter, who was crucified upside down.






It is important to remember when looking at symbols that whatever we associate to them may not be right. So many symbols are perceived as evil (or "unlucky") and they have even been prohibited in some parts of the world, but we forget about the heritage they carry with them, we forget that their original meaning is different to what we perceive it to be.
And sometimes, we give sanctified meaning to symbols that were simply protect us from bad luck (like the cross) because we fail to dig deeper and see that they haven't in fact originated in the current era.

It worries me that although now we've got access to all the knowledge in the world we choose to pick up only the messages fed to us by the mainstream groups and fail to look for the correct information ourselves.
We are becoming lazy and we turn to stereotypes for instant information...