Question: The Temple in Salt Lake has several inverted pentagrams as decorations. *(To see a few, just google "lds temple salt lake inverted pentagrams" and click on images. Or click [here](http://isearch.avg.com/images?s=sideNav&q=lds%20temple%20inverted%20pentagrams%20salt%20lake&sap=dsp&lang=en&mid=8e2de528dcdc47d0ba0fd1681c2200fd-f6cabc1589393c29baf97c23cc761ebfd42eb1c0&cid=%7B6020D23B-7EC3-422C-BE07-73F67E74C58D%7D&v=12.2.0.5&ds=gl011&d=8/20/2012%207:48:41%20AM&pr=sa&snd=hdr))*

According to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagram), the inverted pentagram symbol is used in Neo-Paganism, Satanism, and magick, as well as Freemasonry. 

How exactly did it become a symbol of the LDS church? *(It seems like an odd symbol to use, given how it's used by others.)* What does it represent according to LDS teaching?

Answer: 
The symbol has no specific meaning within LDS theology, and there are no teachings regarding it. According to [an article found among the Wikipedia page's sources](http://web.archive.org/web/20080229073604/http://www.fairlds.org/pubs/Stars.pdf), the pentagram symbol actually has a long history in Christian and Jewish art and architecture, and only first began to be associated with Satanism and the occult in the 1850s. By this point, the design for the Salt Lake temple had already been drafted.

The star symbolism in the temple was included, along with carved depictions of other celestial bodies, as symbolic of heavenly glory, which is described in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 76, as being similar to the brightness of the sun, the moon and the stars.
Joseph Smith was a [freemason](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormonism_and_Freemasonry) and many of the [symbols](http://www.utlm.org/onlineresources/masonicsymbolsandtheldstemple.htm) on the temple are also used in freemasonry. As Mason noted, this doesn't give any meaning to the symbol (unless you have conspiracy theories regarding freemasonry,) but simply seems to be one possibility for the architectural influence. 

Some have also suggested that there are also some influences between some of the garments used in the LDS temple and the robes of the Freemasons and also having members-only ceremonies, though these may be more coincidental.