I got an answer to my previous question!

[toodlesdoodles]

Hey, I couldn't find my old thread about this, but I previously asked for some opinions on something that was in an anime I had recently watched. If you didn't see my thread, this is basically what I said and asked:

Anime in question: Umineko

Basis of the story: There's this really wealthy man that lives on a private island and he has all of his kids and their families come for a family meeting. There are eighteen of them if you include the man and his servants in total. So to make it clear, there are only eighteen people on the island. The man has only three months left to live, so the meeting is basically about who will be in charge of the inheritance when he dies. He wanted to revive his lost lover, Beatrice, also known as the Golden Witch. She was the one who actually gave all of his wealth, and the deal was he could keep all of his gold, unless he broke off the deal (I can't quite remember what the actual deal was). So he did break off the deal, but still planned on reviving her, but there needed to be sacrifices, which is why he called for his kids and their families to come: so he could offer them as sacrifices. He had an epitaph made and placed in his home, and told his kids that whoever was able to solve the riddles on the epitaph and was able to remain alive, would be the one who would inherit all of his gold. Now, after three times some of the people had been killed, each of those times (one time each for only three murders done), there were symbols that were painted (I think it was with blood) on the doors. The first one was the Epitaph of the Sun. The second was the Epitaph of the Moon. The third one was the Epitaph of Mars. I didn't understand what these meant, so I did a little research on them and found that they are known as the Key of Solomon. Other than that, I couldn't figure anything else about them. So I sent a message to a woman I know whom is a Christian, yet also used to be very involved with the occult. This is the message I got back from her:

"Hi, Allie,
I am not sure if you know this or not, but a large part of anime is very occult based because of the culture from which it derives (Japanese folk mysticism and occultism, sometimes mixed in with Shinto and/or Buddhism). So this account you give here does not surprise me.

I researched a bit myself and found that these pentacles come from an occult book on the so-called Key of Solomon (an occult writing that has to do with ritual magic). So they apparently went to the West for these symbols. These pentacles are considered seals of Solomon and are occult symbols used in ritual/ceremonial magic.

I am assuming that the makers of this program are using the symbols for their own purposes in the story - why they are using them I don't know, but clearly they wanted occult symbols on the doors and chose those, maybe to show people they are familiar with them. Using these symbols also lures many young people into the occult because once they research and see what they are connected with, they get interested in going further (like into ritual magic).

I have known people who got into this area and it is very evil and dangerous. So I always warn people about shows that feature occult symbols like this.

Doesn't the violence and themes of these shows bother you? I would encourage you to consider whether you want to put these types of images and concepts into your head. I hope you don't mind me saying this.

I hope this helps and I hope you re-think watching these kinds of programs. "

Anyway, I just wanted to post what I found out about it in case anyone was curious about it. Thanks and sorry if I kinda repeated a thread, but it's not a complete repeat since I found the answer this time ^_^;

[ApologiaPhoenix]

Princess. Glad you got the answer, but you might want to change that bit that says "Soon to be Mrs. Phoenix" on your profile. The title is already yours.

[Jedidiah]

She forgot?