The number 5 has always been regarded as mystical and magical, yet in essence "human". We have five fingers and five toes on each extremity. The five common senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste. Humans perceive five major stages in our lives; birth, adolescence, union of male and female, parenthood, and death. The number 5 is associated with Mars. It signifies severity, conflict and harmony through conflict. In Christianity, Christ had five wounds on the cross. There are five pillars of the Muslim faith and five daily times of prayer. The medieval knight had five virtues - generosity, courtesy, chastity, chivalry and piety as symbolized in the pentagram device on the shield of Sir Gawain. The number five is prime. The upright pentagram bears resemblence to the shape of a human with outstretched arms and legs. We can juxtapose a human figure on a pentagram with head and four limbs at the points. This is man in microcosm, symbolizing our place in the Macrocosm or universe. The concept of the microcosmic world of man corresponding to the macrocosm, the greater universe of spirit and elemental matter, became part of traditional western occult teaching, as it had long been in Eastern philosophies. This is a Da Vinci drawing of this concept. The pentagram later became symbolic of the relationship of the head to the four limbs, and so from this, of the concentrated essence of anything (or the spirit) to the traditional elements of matter - Earth, Water, Air and Fire. The pentagram has long been believed to be a potent protection against evil, a symbol that shields the wearer and the home. It has five spiked wards and a womb-shaped defensive, protective pentagon at the center. There are five elements in the pagan world, four that are matter (Earth, Air, Fire, Water), and Spirit. These are arranged around the points. The elements are placed in order of density - Spirit, Fire, Air, Water, Earth. Earth and Fire are basal, fixed.