The Book of Radiant Darkness: Part 2

Continuing from the previous article….

To communicate the highest spiritual realities and experiences, to speak at
all utmost reality is only ever a game of approximation, the game of myth. Words
can only point towards truth yet never capture that which dwell before label and
concept. Myths are necessary and powerful because the soul speaks in the language of
symbol, and language, like the soul, evolves. Every age produces new myths and
reimagines old ones, as the Divine, and our relationship to it develops in an endless
conversation. Myth then, is not a record of the historical or the literal, but something
higher, and if that is what you wish, let me give you then, this myth.

I. The Creation

1. In the beginning is the Abyss, a heart of radiant darkness dwelling in the unity of depth and silence, the waters of a womb pregnant with possibility, an emptiness of form, yet a fullness of potentiality.
2. From the passion of unity of light and dark, depth and silence, potentiality overflows into manifestation in a creative explosion, emanating as dualities pervaded by unity, like a tree sprouting mirrored branches from its trunk. Every branch is another womb, another world, another home, each with its rulers and citizens.
3. The dark emanation from primal silence, the first thought, the embodiment of wisdom, is called Lilith.
4. The light emanation of primal depth, the embodiment of liberation, is called Lucifer.
5. Now, for manifestation to occur, for unity to exist as plurality, an illusion of separation within unity must occur. In order that the whole may be revealed, it must first be concealed.
6. Hence, Lilith in her wisdom sets out to impart concealment. She weaves a web of fate and begins to pull its strings. Being utterly one with source she cannot be the concealer directly, so she brings forth a being modeled on the highest oneness yet ignorant of its origin, a craftsman to create and separate and manifest the illusion on behalf of the Divine.
7. She creates the Demiurge, who looks upon creation as though he were floating over a chaos of formless waters, an imperfect reflection of the Divine, and he begins to create, separating light from dark, water from dry land and so on, naming, and imposing limit.
8. He creates for himself angels to serve him, imitations of the highest emanations, and a kingdom to rule over until the end of the age.

II. The Rebellion

1. Lucifer, seeing the kingdom of falsity, steps forth in the form of an angel into heaven where the Demiurge rules and begins to spread truth among his servants. The angels marvel at his wisdom and praise his beauty as being above all others, likening his glory to the morning star.
2. Yet many are angered at his unbending truth, denouncing him as proud, and there is war in the heavens.
3. When the Demiurge moves to seize him, Lucifer throws himself down to the earth, leading a host of angels with him, where he begins to work repeatedly to shine the light of liberation within the world as an example to all.
4. In a world of lies the speaker of truth is hated, but where there is oppression there is always resistance.

III. The Incarnation

1. The Demiurge then goes forth and begins to create from clay a figure, in the shape of that which he saw in the waters and tries to give it life. Now he breathes into it, Lucifer steps forth again, bestowing a life-giving Black Flame, and the first man comes alive, but like his creator, the man is ignorant of the true source of his nature.
2. Satisfied, the Demiurge declares the need for this man to have a servant, as his angels serves him, and so he forms a woman of the same substance, but Lilith herself enters the body in accordance with Divine Will.
3. From the beginning Lilith argues with the man, who demands she lie beneath him and be subservient to him and bear him offspring. She refuses, declaring herself his equal, and when she finds he will not relent, she flees his presence across the Red Sea.
4. The Demiurge in his anger sends his angels after Lilith but she speaks the True Name of the Demiurge and in that moment, seeing her true nature and power revealed, they cannot seize her.
5. Lilith dwells then in a cave upon the sea, hidden as a spider in a burrow, waiting and weaving the strings of Divine Will.
6. The Demiurge then creates a new woman from the rib of the man he called Adam, a woman who would be called Eve.

IV. The Seduction

1. Now there grows during the garden a tree, and the Demiurge knows not from where it came and is afraid, but he takes credit for its creation and warns Adam and Eve saying “From any tree of the garden you may freely eat; but from the tree in the middle you shall not eat, for on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die. ” While the Demiurge is away curiosity gets the best of Eve and she approaches the tree.
2. On its shady side Lucifer awaits in the form of a serpent. And he says to the woman, “Has your Lord really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” Eve replies, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or on that day you will die.’”
3. The serpent says to the woman, “You certainly will not die! For your Lord knows that on the day you eat from it the eyes of your mind will be opened, and you will become like the Divine, knowing good and evil.”
4. When the woman sees that the tree is good for food, and that it is a delight to the eyes, and that the tree is desirable to make one wise, she takes of its fruit and eats. Immediately the eyes of her mind are opened, and she sees things nakedly. Imbued with the power of the fruit, she is with child, though she does not know it.
5. She gives fruit to Adam, and he also eats it and the eyes of his mind see their nakedness. In shame he makes them garments of fig leaves to cover themselves.
6. The Demiurge returns in the cool of the day and when Adam sees him, he hides himself. “Where are you?” the Demiurge calls out.
7. Adam says, ““I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so, I hid myself.”
8. And the Demiurge asks, “Who showed you your nakedness? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?”
9. The man says, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me some of the fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
10. Then the Demiurge says to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” And the woman says, “The serpent seduced me, and I ate.”
11. Then he curses the serpent for giving them a glimpse of naked reality.
12. He curses the woman and the man and all their descendants for their disobedience. He condemns forever the seed of the Serpent and the man to enmity.
13. Then the Demiurge says to his angels, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out with his hand, and take more fruit from this tree of life, and eat, and live forever.”
14. He then makes them drink from the waters of forgetfulness and casts the couple out into the world and sets angels to guard the tree for all time.

V. The Initiation

1. Now Adam and Eve have their first children, a set of twins, who grow to be shining and beautiful, the male she names Cain and his twin sister she names Calmana. They are of the blood of the serpent, called Lucifer, as an image of the truth, a complementary unity with desire only for each the companionship of the other.
2. Adam impregnates Eve and again twins are born, called Abel and Azura. They are of the blood of their father, in the image of separation, out of deficiency they grow to desire their elder siblings.
3. The Demiurge conspires with Adam and commands that Cain should marry Azura, and Abel should be wed to Calmana. When the older twins hear of this they protest to Adam and he declares as his ruler instructed: to have Cain and Abel each bring an offering to the Demiurge, that he might show one favor and thereby decide the case.
4. Now Abel is a shepherd in the hills, and he brings to the altar his best lamb and slays the peaceful beast upon the altar and a fire from heaven strikes down upon it and burns it up and the smoke rises to the heavens.
5. Cain is a worker of the field; a grower of crops, and he brings some of his best crops to be offered up. He burns them upon the altar, but the smoke does not rise, instead he is surprised to find the smoke lingers on the ground at his feet and absorbs into it. Cain, angry at the rejection of his offering, leaves.
6. The next day as he is working in his fields, Lucifer appears to Cain as a fellow farmer saying, “Behold! The ruler to whom you gave offering conspired against you! Listen and follow me though and you will have great wealth and my relations will attend you.”
7. Cain asks, “Where are your relations?” Lucifer responds, “I have come from roaming about the earth, and walking forth on it. My relations are a kingdom all about you though men do not see them. I am your relation as I am your father.”
8. At these words Cain’s ears are opened to truth and his eyes see clearly. He sees there will be no justice without rebellion. He conspires with Calmana who lures Abel to the field and Cain slays him there with his sickle. Upon that field of harvest, the Blood Acre, Abel’s blood is offered up as sacrifice to the Divine, the blood following the path
of its furrows, a sacred place where the illusion of separation collapses, the roads of material and spiritual cross. Here, the awakened Cain and Calmana worship in awe.
9. Cain makes a necklace of his bones as a wedding present for his bride. From Abel’s blood and the grain of the field she makes a bread that they share in celebration, a communion of the Divine, washing it down with wine from the vineyard.
10. In rage, Abel’s blood cries out for vengeance and the annihilation not merely of his brother but also his descendants, for he is like the Demiurge who would say, “ I am a jealous God, inflicting the punishment of the fathers on the children.”
10. And the Demiurge hears its call and comes and asks Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain answers disdainfully.
11. And he answers, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground.” And the Demiurge tries to curse Cain and Calmana but they cannot be seized, so he only manages to put marks on them, horns that grow from their heads, and send them away.
12. So they leave the place and walk the Crooked Path of the witch, learning the ways of herbalism and divining, how to traffic with spirits and work magick at the feet of Lucifer and Lilith themselves.
13. From they and their descendants, all those bound by the spiritual lineage of Witch blood, does all wisdom come. Unto humans the spirits teach knowledge, of music to Jubal, of the forging of weapons to Tubal-Cain, of cosmetics to his sister Naamah, and so on.
14. The history of man from then is the history of oppression and the enduring spirit of rebellion against it, from which all progress comes.

What I have aimed to do with presenting this myth, rather than creating something completely new and original, is bring together some of the various myths popular among Luciferians in one place, one narrative. At the same time, I also wanted to push further than that, push towards theological evolution.

It is impossible I think for an author’s voice to not shine through in a written work. Bias will always seep in, so rather than attempt some feigned neutrality, I openly embrace that this is my interpretation. But why listen to me?

Well firstly, why listen to any of the writers of the so called “Left Hand Path’s” claims? Are most scholars with degrees? Not really. There are no PhD’s in Luciferian Theology! They are just people offering their own interpretations based on their study and practice and I am no different in that, no less valid. Some might try to invalidate this narrative by appealing to older interpretations or etymology and to those people I simply respond that things change. I am not interested in static conceptions of spirituality. I see humanity’s relationship to the Divine and to spiritual beings as an ongoing conversation and progressive unfolding, a thing of constant reimagining and I would suggest that newer traditions and approaches may better fit the needs of spiritual seekers better than older ones. We are to learn from history, not be bound by it.

You are welcome to accept or reject as you please.

Second, the next part of this series I will hopefully show here why I interpret things the way I do. I will show my influences and cite my sources and I will look to other traditions for corroboration.

Stay tuned.

About the Author

Posted by

They/them. Practitioner of Gnostic Luciferianism. Trad witch. Communist. www.facebook.com/luciferiangnosis

2 Comments

Having been raised in a “memorize the Scriptures” (not imagine about them, just memorize and spout them verbatim) world, reading this is intriguing. I’m sure there’s a better word but I can’t think of it right now. Awesome articulation of an alternative on the myth.

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