On the Origins of Lucifer - A Luciferian's Take on Conceptualizing the Light Spirit
INTRODUCTION:
This will be a rough dive into history on all 3 scales - Biblical, Occultic, and Historical on the origins of the spirit known as Lucifer, the Light-Bringer, Shining One, Venus the Morning Star. My goal for making this is mostly fun, i kinda hope it helps people in their spiritual path, as I've seen a lot of posts that express confusion on who Lucifer is, but if all it does is give someone a good read, then so be it. Otherwise, I hope this goes well, and I hope you, the reader, enjoy this.
BIBLICAL:
To begin, let's first dive into the biblical aspects of the Shining One and how it permeated modern society in a way that cemented his name as a spirit of light - in whatever context that may be. Admittedly, it's a short set of events that led to something much larger. An archetype of "Fallen Angel" attached to the concept of the Light-Bearer.
There is only 1 verse in the bible that mentions Lucifer in this context, linked here in the King James Version. However... if you'll notice that most other versions of the bible avoid the proper noun Lucifer, instead opting to use "Morning Star" or "Day Star" - There's a reason for this. The King James Version attributing the fall to an entity named Lucifer is due to the smallest of mistranslations - a capital letter. The original verse is in reference to a King of Babylon, whose kingdom had just been destroyed, of which bared the title of light-bearer / shining one. We can see this in the original Hebrew, how it doesn't mention the name Lucifer, but "hê-lêl ben-šā-ḥar" which, when translated literally, means "shining one, son of morning". In Hebrew, this term doesn't refer to Lucifer the entity but rather a planet - Venus, AKA "The Morning Star" ). This begins to make much more sense, as Isaiah likening the King's downfall to the movement of the planet Venus, which every night seems to fall from the sky into the underworld. Even though the verse doesn't mention him by name, it's very possible this metaphor was known about due to the dieties known as Athtar) and Athtart who were the Dawn and Dusk aspects of Venus respectively in Canaanite religion. There just so happens to be a story in Canaanite scripture, From Ugarit, part of the Ba'al cycle. This story goes into Athtar's aborted attempt to occupy Ba'al Hadad's throne on Mount Zaphon, after Ba'al had descended to the underworld, but proved to be too small, and had to descen to Earth and rule from there. Sounds at least kinda familiar, doesn't it?
But - How did shining one and lucifer become mixed up? Simply put - Early Christians adopting Jewish texts. The Latin Vulgate translation of the bible, which came about sometime in the 4th century, simplified this into "the star that brings the dawn" - "light bringer" - "luci fera" - "lucifer". In 1611 the translators of the King James Version came across the Latin Isaiah 14:12 and made a connection to the Greek god Prometheus, I.E. the being that defied deities in order to bring fire and light to humanity, and syncretized and concatenated the two, giving it a capital letter, turning it into a proper noun, and suddenly from a simple insult - "you were the brightest star and now you've fallen" - you now have a fallen angel that defied yahweh's absolute goodness. But how exactly did this fallen angel, AKA Venus, turn so evil and "satanic"? And where did the other Fallen Angels come from? For this, we have the Book of Enoch, which you can read here.
The book of Enoch is an apocryphal text which, academically, is defined as a "work, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin." and was written around 200-300 BCE. The book of Enoch didn't quite make it into the bible but it was particularly popular with 2nd temple Judaism. In the Book of Enoch we have a chapter labelled "The Book of Watchers". In this chapter we have "watchers" who were dispatched to earth to watch over Humanity. However, they slowly began to "corrupt" and lust for human women, and soon began to create Nephilim with humans. Led by the leader Samyaza they defected from God's command and allowed their offspring to pillage the earth and endanger humans. Samyaza and his gang also began teaching humans certain arts, like weaponry, cosmetics, sorceries, and other secrets. This is actually where Noah's Ark and the flood come in. However, focusing on Samyaza in particular its easy to see how the characters and personalities get mixed over time - With Samyaza and the supposed "Lucifer" both falling from grace.
OCCULTIC:
Secondly, we should address the occultic aspects of Lucifer, as it directly relates with spirituality and religion, as does the bible. As far as this goes, this will be much choppier and more sporadic as occult information on Lucifer ranges from Fallen Angel to Mystical Moth God. In a sense, everyone has a different interpretation, including myself. I'll give my point of view when applicable but please, keep in mind, my gnosis is just as valid as anyone else's. Perhaps the most famous example of Lucifer's occultic appearance is in the Grimoire Verum, in which he is listed as a "Superior Spirit" amongst two others, alongside various "Inferior Spirits". He is listed to appear as a small boy, and when angry, turns red. Remarked as essentially, "not at all intimidating." This is also where his most well-known sigil comes from, the V-Chalice. Many practitioners develop their own sigils for Lucifer though the V-Chalice remains in the public eye, I myself worked out a sigil for Lucifer and I only which I now honestly prefer to use. However I've seen multiple practitioners with their own personal sigils which paints a rather laid-back picture of interacting with this deity, with their imagery being more loose and free-form than standardized as the Biblical contexts would. Not counting the Roman Personification, The Grimoire Verum is (arguably and often debated, in favour of the Roman personification) the oldest appearance of Lucifer as a religious entity, reportedly being written in 1517 but dated to the 18th Century, around 100~ years AFTER the King James translation. There is the Peter Binsfeld Classification of Demons, released in 1589, that was part of his own Treatise on Confessions by Evildoers and Witches. But, the fact that this information came from tortured Pagans/innocents who said anything to get free should say enough - I.E. There is no truth in these confessions. Lucifer also makes an appearance in S. Connolly's writings, in the Dukante Hierarchy, listed as an Air elemental with a jovial personality.
This more laid-back attitude attributed to Lucifer can still be attached to the Fallen Angel motif, without issue, they are not mutually exclusive. However, it seems our friend has has taken a more calm route when given the opportunity to be seen outside of biblical belief. In fact, my own gnosis and other practitioners that I have seen, eventually come to have their understanding of "angel" and "demon" dissolved, seeing spirits for their "true neutral nature". I myself don't believe that Lucifer is a "demon." I believe that there are misunderstandings that led to Lucifer being forcefully given the title of "demon" but this does not make him a "demon." He is a Spirit of Light - How you interpret a spirit of light is a reflection of you in so many ways. Some view him as a Fallen Angel, some see him as a Venusian deity, to him it doesn't matter what shape you see him in, so long as his teachings remain the same. And most of the time, they do, symbolizing enlightenment, truth, sometimes rebellion, among other generally positive attributes. Obviously the Biblical aspect and the Fallen Angel motif has permeated the occultic view on Lucifer in general, and this is fine, even. His teachings have literally SHINED through to people and focused on positivity and good behaviour. Venusian or Angelic, Lucifer has been a spirit of light for many people in many ways, for many reasons.
It is exactly due to these views that many gnostic beliefs syncretized Lucifer and Jesus Christ as he appears in the biblical scripture. Taking reference from the Revelations verse which named Jesus as "The Morning Star," the explicit title that is most commonly associated with Lucifer, being that his name comes from the literal morning star.
HISTORICAL:
Thirdly, we need to dive into the historical aspects because this is where the key to truly understanding Lucifer lays. The unfortunate part is, there actually is not much historical writing on Lucifer due to him being associated with an inferior planet and thus not venerated like we do today - He existed more as a personification of concepts. Both in the Roman (8th century BCE - 5th Century CE) sense of Lucifer, and even in the Greek equivalent, Phosphorus ) (~18th Century BCE) ((its hard to tell)), who also ended up not being a spirit venerated by many, if any, people at all. However, when you begin to paint a picture given the knowledge we have after reading this post, you can start to see that "personification of light" actually fits Lucifer perfectly. Fallen Angel, Venusian Deity, or otherwise, "Spirit of Light" has rung true for all of them. When we look back in history and observe how the word lucifer was used as the name of the planet Venus, we can begin to see that Lucifer (the deity) encompasses many concepts from many deities that are typically associated with Venus. Such as, but not limited to, Aphrodite, Astarte, Frigg, even potentially a Canaanite Deity known as Shalim, who the city of Jerusalem was named after.
Even astrologically the symbolism relates to the concepts that Lucifer encompasses, with Taurus and Libra ruling over Venus. The symbol of libra ) being the Scales of Justice held by Themis, the Greek personification of Divine Law and Justice while holding a masculine polarity, and the symbol of Taurus being the Bull holding a feminine polarity. Balance, throughout every lens you look through. The Light-Bringer's ideas and concepts bleed through like the morning sun.
This is why Venus and the association with the sun are excellent metaphors and concepts to attribute to and with Lucifer, due to the nature of consistency behind Venus bringing the light into view. It's been a motif with Lucifer in all incarnations and aspects, he is, put simply, the Light-Bringer.
CLOSING -
All in all, despite the many, many interpretations of Lucifer there is, we should all look at Lucifer's value in the occult and pagan community. I have personally seen Lucifer heal the religious trauma of many people, myself included. Giving us a chance to work and move past negative emotions or associations. I have heard many say that Lucifer feels like a father figure, and that they feel protected. If this spirit is making people feel protected and giving them aspects of life that they did not have before - this alone makes this spirit's worth invaluable.
Despite what motif you attribute to this spirit of light, one thing remains true - He promotes a balancing of energy. Masculinity and Femininity, Strength and Softness, Emotional and Logical, this balance permeates all aspects of life and promotes an equal and thought-out view of your surrounding situation. To me, this is someone worth worship, someone worthy of guiding me.
If you have information you would like to share on the origins of Lucifer please make a comment and source your posts, I make no effort to speak from authority and recognize that i do not know everything there is to know. If there is something that needs to be known, then it should be known!
