Does it matter what meaning was behind (the symbol), or does it only matter how we interpret it now?

In my opinion the meaning that the symbol had is very important because of how symbols usually represent complex concepts and larger ideas. For example the star symbol that the Wiccan religion uses can get confused with the satanic star leading people to often confuse the two. Now the Wiccan religion is still practiced by small groups of people today but let’s just say for the sake of argument that the religion died out. Years from that point people would start to get the two symbols mixed up and if we believed that the past meaning of the symbols didn’t matter then they would eventually become synonymous and eventually the religions could, in theory, blend together in the public mind making what they represent meaningless. In conclusion symbols are complex things and deserved to be treated as such.