Image: Mezamero, DeviantArt
“Lest we forget at least an over the shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins – or which is which), the very first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom – Lucifer.”
Saul D. Alinsky
This is an extremely important blog because so many folks demonize this figure I have come to respect. The irony is, people generally have never really attempted to look outside what they were told in the Bible, or other religious texts.
They drank the kool aid without question.
Blind faith is dangerous.
Since I seem to be the target lately for those wishing to challenge, question or ridicule me, I am going to talk about the deity whose name my Philosophy bears, but I also want to dissect different texts.
I hope that you take the time to read this, and it grants some enlightenment.
First thing first, I don’t believe in the Devil, I believe in a collective energy that is Satan and think of it as title not an actual being.
The name Satan comes from the Hebrew word HaSatan, which appears in the books Zecaria and Job.
The name Satan is only mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) twice.
Satan appears as a central character in the Holy Bible, and Jewish Mysticism such as Kaballah, and the Talmud (academic and scholarly notes on the Torah that form Jewish Law).
I have found that there is some degree of truth in all belief systems, and I have always thought that if you were to take pieces from each, and put them together into one story, that is where you will find the truth of all truths.
Let’s side track for two seconds.
Have you ever thought about that?
What if the actual story, the real names, and the truth were scattered piece by intricate piece into different fables, fairy tales, and religious text?
Is it so farfetched to ask this question?
I don’t think so.
I believe that Lucifer is three things: an Archetype, an actual deity, and the most brilliant metaphor.
The Archetype is that of rebellion, free thinking, enlightenment, knowledge, shadow self, non-conformity, illumination. If we follow (not worship) His path we find freedom, peace, and become one with our true selves; thus the individual is born.
The metaphor is the tale of how God’s most perfect and most favored Angel fell from grace, and was damned to Hell.
I think the moral of the story is He chose to fall from grace in order to help humanity.
Being raised Roman Catholic for some of my childhood, I admired Him; I thought, “wow, He was damned but managed to create His own Kingdom without God. Without fear.”
Jewish mythology states that He is the morning star, bringer of light; the Greeks refer to him in a similar story with the Grigori but using the names Samyaza, Azazel (Azayzel) and/or Samael as the leader of the rebellion.
In any regard, He is a bringer of light (knowledge).
Associations/correspondences can be drawn to the story of Prometheus, as well. Or, the Roman Goddess Venus.
The stories of Lucifer are many and each intricate like a web.
It’s through these stories that Lucifer became synonymous with being “the Adversary”.
The Adversary, like Satan, is a collection of energy not one deity or Spirit, in my opinion.
Judeo-Christian mythology is full of brilliant metaphors; all religions are.
So, besides being trolled today in the comment section due to my recently published WITCH Article, this blog was inspired by a comment left on my ‘The Way of the Daemon’ blog (yes, from a few years ago).
Here is the comment:
“Lucifer isn’t a demon nor a fallen angel. He’s the Latin version of the Greek god pantheon, named Phospherous (modern english spelling). St Jerome stuck the Latin “Lucifer” into hebrew scripture in the Vulgate via translatIng from the Greek LXX, i.e. the Alexandrian Septuagent. In their ignorance, Christians distort Isa 14:12, the only verse with “lucifer” in it in the entire Judeo-Christian bible. The “bearer of light” is not the “prince of darkness”, nor dark in any manner. While Satan is a title rather than a name, the name of Shaitan (Islam) was Iblis, and said to have been Azayzel before that. Likewise, it’s thought by some that, in Judeo-christianity, Azayzel or Samael was the name of Satan before he aquired that (in my opinion, ‘honorific’) title. In any event, the name of a Judeo-Christian angel before falling from grace would necessarily be something ending in -el, meaning a servant of the semetic head god. Names of angels include Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, Uriel, Samael, Azayzel, etc. “Lucifer” simply does not fit the “-el” pattern.
Hail Satan.”
This is partially true, for me.
I do not believe Lucifer to be a Daemon, or an Angel but a God.
He is the Father of Man.
He is Phosphoros.
Lucifer is only mentioned in one verse in the Bible (yes, that is correct) and in that ONE verse He was referred to as son of the morning, or the morning star.
But, many scholars believe when taken in context this refers to a Babylonian King:
‘How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!’
Isaiah 14:12
The name Lucifer does not appear again in the bible, but the term morning star and other references do appear throughout the Old Testament:
‘O that I could be as I was in the months now gone, in the days when God watched over me, when he caused his lamp TO SHINE upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness.’
Job 29:2-3
‘Its snorting THROWS OUT FLASHES of light; its eyes are like the red glow of dawn.’
Job 41:18
‘So we labored in the work, with half holding spears, from the rising of THE MORNING till the stars appeared.’
Nehemiah 4:21
Here is an excerpt from another writer, I will link at the bottom:
“The Hebrew phrase in Isaiah 14:12 means the shining/brightness born of the morning/dawn. What is that shining brightness? It could be the rays of the sun but it could also be the day star or morning star, Venus, which is how some translations render it. Notice that there is nothing like the word Lucifer in Hebrew. In the Greek translation known as the Septuagint, heilel is rendered eosphorus. So even in the Greek, there’s nothing like the word.”
“How then did Lucifer get into the Bible? The word is actually Latin. It comes from the words lux (light/fire) and ferre (to bear/to bring) and when put together means bearer of light or bringer of fire. Lucifer is also one of the Latin names for the morning star, Venus. As it turns out, so is the Greek word Eosphorus.”
‘At length as the Morning Star (Eosphorus) was beginning to herald the light which saffron-mantled Dawn was soon to suffuse over the sea, the flames fell and the fire began to die.’
Homer, The Iliad, Book 23
‘And after these Erigenia bare the star Eosphorus, and the gleaming stars with which heaven is crowned.’
Hesiod, Theogony
“When Jerome translated the biblical manuscripts in his Latin Vulgate, he believed the shining born of the dawn in Isaiah spoke of the morning star and so replaced the Hebrew and Greek meaning with the Latin name of the planet. If we were to do the same with our modern day translations, we would write how you have fallen from heaven, O Venus, son of the morning. Jerome actually used the word lucifer in several places in his translation. The following are a few examples of its occurrence as taken from the Clementine Vulgate. Lucifer appears in parentheses.”
Et quasi meridianus fulgor consurget tibi ad vesperam; et cum te consumptum putaveris, orieris ut (lucifer).
Job 11:17
Quomodo cecidisti de cælo, (Lucifer), qui mane oriebaris ? corruisti in terram, qui vulnerabas gentes?
Isaiah 14:12
Et habemus firmiorem propheticum sermonem : cui benefacitis attendentes quasi lucernæ lucenti in caliginoso donec dies elucescat, et (lucifer) oriatur in cordibus vestries
2 Peter 1:19
“Notice that Lucifer is used in 2 Peter 1:19 in Jerome’s Vulgate just as it is used in Isaiah 14:12 to replace the Hebrew heilel.” Here is the English:
Moreover, we possess the prophetic word as an altogether reliable thing. You do well if you pay attention to this as you would to a light shining in a murky place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
2 Peter 1:19
“The morning star rising in the hearts of Yahweh’s people is a direct reference to Numbers 24:172 and describes the coming of Christ. The Greek word for morning star in 2 Peter 1:19 is eosphoros. If you recall, this is the same word used by the writers of the Septuagint to translate heilel in Isaiah 14:12 and is the name of the planet Venus in Greek. If Lucifer is a correct rendering in Isaiah 14:12, then it is correct in 2 Peter 1:19 also (just as Jerome translates it). And so we have the first place where scripture calls Yeshua Lucifer. But that is not the only place.”
And to the one who conquers and who continues in my deeds until the end I will give him the morning star.
Revelation 2:26a, 28b
I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star!
Revelation 22:16
“A word for the morning star in Latin, as we have seen, is Lucifer. So according to Yeshua’s own words, not only will those who follow him receive Lucifer, but Lucifer is a name for Yeshua himself. There is even more reason to believe that Lucifer is an appropriate translation in Revelation 22:16 because the Greek in that verse is orthrinos aster, which is a Greek epithet for Venus.”
“So in conclusion, Lucifer is another name for Venus, Eosphorus, and Heilel. It describes the second planet, the morning star. While Yeshua is metaphorically likened to it in 2 Peter and Revelation, King Nebuchadnezzar receives this honor in Isaiah 14. Unfortunately, Satan is never given such distinction.”
Interesting, right? There’s more, here is another perspective and translation breakdown:
“One of the most slanderous, ignorant, and utterly false accusations that has been repeatedly directed at H.P. Blavatsky and against Theosophists in general over the years is the claim that Theosophy is a form of Satanism and that Madame Blavatsky was a devil worshipper.”
“Those accusations and condemnations originate primarily from the realm of Christianity and from those of its adherents who believe in a personal anthropomorphic God and a personal anthropomorphic devil, the supposed enemy of that God.”
“Considering the fact that Lucifer and Satan have come to be viewed as synonymous terms and names for the same entity, it is not too hard to see why our Christian friends have jumped to such a conclusion, seeing as the Theosophical magazine started in England in the late 1880s by HPB was titled “Lucifer” and that in her masterpiece work “The Secret Doctrine” she speaks of Lucifer in positive and glowing terms.”
Blavatsky breaks down the Lucifer metaphor brilliantly (duh), so I am going to quote her, but first I am going to drop in some fun facts about Lucifer and the origins of the name:
“The word “Lucifer” occurs only once in the entire Bible. This is in Isaiah 14:12, which says: “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!” Those who read this verse in its actual context will clearly see that the sentence is applied specifically to a certain Babylonian king who was an enemy in war of the Israelites. The original Hebrew text uses the word הֵילֵל which literally means “bright star” or “shining one,” a term applied sarcastically or mockingly by the Israelites to this particular enemy of theirs. The translators of the King James Version of the Bible – one of the chief of whom was the well-known Rosicrucian initiate Dr. Robert Fludd, a fact which will no doubt shock and horrify many Christians – chose to translate this word with the Latin word “Lucifer.”
In this translation, and from this Author’s point of view they believe that the term “bright star” or the reference of the morning star is a negative term, and used as a sign of disrespect. This proves there is no right or wrong in anything, merely opinion, and perspective.
“Lucifer literally means Lightbringer, Lightbearer, Bringer of Dawn, Shining One, or Morning Star. The word has no other meaning. Historically and astronomically, the term “Morning Star” has always been applied to the planet Venus.”
“Since the only occurrence of the word “Lucifer” in the Bible is that one verse in Isaiah, there is absolutely nothing in the Bible which says that Lucifer is Satan or the devil. It was Pope Gregory the Great (540-604 AD) who was the first person to apply that passage of scripture to Satan and thus to equate Lucifer with Satan. But even then this notion didn’t catch on in a big way until the much more recent popularization of John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” in which Lucifer is used as another name for Satan, the evil adversary of God. Also, such luminaries of the Christian world as Martin Luther and John Calvin considered it “a gross error” to apply Isaiah 14:12 to the devil, “for the context plainly shows these statements must be understood in reference to the king of the Babylonians.”
“Thus the Christians who claim that Lucifer is the devil actually have no Biblical basis or authority for such a belief. Though they may claim to be “Bible believing Christians” whose faith is built solely on “the Word of God” they are actually followers – in this and many other respects – of Christian religious tradition and not of the Christian Bible. Or have they quietly conferred divine infallibility upon the Pope and Milton without informing the rest of the world?”
Blavatsky’s Lucifer metaphor:
“Esoteric philosophy admits neither good nor evil per se, as existing independently in nature. The cause for both is found, as regards the Kosmos [Cosmos], in the necessity of contraries or contrasts, and with respect to man, in his human nature, his ignorance and passions. There is no devil or the utterly depraved, as there are no Angels absolutely perfect, though there may be spirits of Light and of Darkness; thus LUCIFER – the spirit of Intellectual Enlightenment and Freedom of Thought – is metaphorically the guiding beacon, which helps man to find his way through the rocks and sandbanks of Life, for Lucifer is the LOGOS in his highest, and the “Adversary” in his lowest aspect – both of which are reflected in our Ego.” (Vol. 2, p. 162)
“In antiquity and reality, Lucifer, or Luciferus, is the name of the angelic Entity presiding over the light of truth as over the light of the day. In the great Valentinian gospel Pistis Sophia it is taught that of the three Powers emanating from the Holy names of the Three Tριδυνάμεις, that of Sophia (the Holy Ghost according to these Gnostics – the most cultured of all) resides in the planet Venus or Lucifer.” (Vol. 2, p. 512)
“It is but natural – even from the dead letter standpoint – to view Satan, the Serpent of Genesis, as the real creator and benefactor, the Father of Spiritual mankind. For it is he who was the “Harbinger of Light,” bright radiant Lucifer, who opened the eyes of the automaton created by Jehovah, as alleged; and he who was the first to whisper: “in the day ye eat thereof ye shall be as Elohim, knowing good and evil” – can only be regarded in the light of a Savior. An “adversary” to Jehovah the “personating spirit,” he still remains in esoteric truth the ever-loving “Messenger” (the angel), the Seraphim and Cherubim who both knew well, and loved still more, and who conferred on us spiritual, instead of physical immortality – the latter a kind of static immortality that would have transformed man into an undying “Wandering Jew”.” (Vol. 2, p. 243)
“The Fall was the result of man’s knowledge, for his “eyes were opened.” Indeed, he was taught Wisdom and the hidden knowledge by the “Fallen Angel,” for the latter had become from that day his Manas, Mind and Self-consciousness. In each of us that golden thread of continuous life – periodically broken into active and passive cycles of sensuous existence on Earth, and super-sensuous in Devachan – is from the beginning of our appearance upon this earth. It is the Sutratma, the luminous thread of immortal impersonal monadship, on which our earthly lives or evanescent Egos are strung as so many beads – according to the beautiful expression of Vedantic philosophy.”
“And now it stands proven that Satan, or the Red Fiery Dragon, the “Lord of Phosphorus” (brimstone was a theological improvement), and Lucifer, or “Light-Bearer,” is in us: it is our Mind – our tempter and Redeemer, our intelligent liberator and Savior from pure animalism. Without this principle – the emanation of the very essence of the pure divine principle Mahat (Intelligence), which radiates direct from the Divine mind – we would be surely no better than animals.” (Vol. 2, p. 513)
May the Black Flame illuminate your path.
Sources:
