Pagan object identification

Hello everyone!

First post on these forums, I think I'm in the right place though!

So a few years back I bought an object from the family of an old mysterious man who had died. (Some said mafiosi others just an eccentric collector).

At first I thought it was a wiccan wheel of the year, but upon closer examination I am not entirely sure. The tridecagram is what put douvts inmy mind as I have never seen or heard about it being used in any religion or such.

The "plate" has 364 small bumps in a circular motion around the tridecagram, and between each two of the 13 points of the tridecagram are 28 of those bumps. Which led me to believe that it was 364 days divided into 13 months of 28 days, being a pagan calendar of some sort. It is 2 feet wide.

I would appreciate if any of you couldgive me some input and maybe contribute to my understanding of what it is exactly.

It is very heavy and visibly forged by hand. Google search by image yields nothing alike.

image

Can't figure out how to put an image, doesn't work, so I put a link hoping it works now... I'm far from being an IT lol

Hallo Derick,

Before you starting posting please introduce yourself under

INTRODUCTIONS

Thanks,
Morgana

My bad. I am now introduced. [Smile]

I was so eager to have people's feedback hehe

I received a reply from Mr. Ronald Hutton, leading authority on medieval and contemporary paganism and magic, among other subjects, and this is what he had to say:

"Dear Mr Tardif,

Thank you for your letter. I can reply, but not I fear with anything useful to say, because I have never seen anything like your object. The mixture of the pentagram and the calendar suggests that it might be Masonic in origin, as both the pentagram and solar imagery were very important in Freemasonry from the eighteenth century onward... Certainly it does not correspond to any specifically Wiccan symbolism.

With every good wish,

Ronald Hutton"

I am not entirely convinced by his idea of it being of masonic origin(although the idea delights me), but this is certainly a new direction for me to look into. I am very excited by the fact that he has never seen anything like it before, even though I was writing to him to know what it was. Haha

I made a screen shot of it...

It doesn't seem to be on internet... in general.
It reminds me however of things I have seen in Tunisia, Morocco and Turkey.
Hammered brass trays used for serving tea... or even table tops... combining the pentagram and other islamic imagery.

Do you own the one you have featured?

Bright blessings,
Morgana

Yes I still own it!

I also saw these morroccan plates while searching by images, but I don't think they are related, as mine is clearly a pagan calendar of some sort.

I wrote to the Great Lodge of freemasonry of my area. Hoping to hear from them soon.

I have written to a wiccan shop, to get input from different sources, and they claimed that it was a circle of protection using the pentagram and flower of life, and would be called antakarana. But so far my research on this claim has not yielded any link whatsoever. So I am skeptical, but will still dig a little bit more before abandoning this track.

I own a similar one, and it's just a (Moroccan style) plate. I can't identify any particular that would suggest its use as a calendar. To me, it would make a beautiful offering late on the altar.