Things of which I was unaware:

Mention Venus transit, and I’m there. The skeptic in me never adopted the pentacle as a personal religious symbol until I learned its origin: it’s a two-dimensional plot of the eight-year Venus cycle. OK, I said those many years ago, now I can begin to understand why this symbol is sacred, and to source it to antiquity and not some made-up-recently, cool-and-groovy, let’s-call-it-ours creative moment.

Wow. I knew it had been used by several religions (including early Christianity, where it represented the five wounds of Christ), but I never knew the Venus connection.

(Found via Goddessing. Her original source can be found here.)