Luciferian Gnosis

Asenath Mason

“The mind is its own place, and in itself.

Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.”
(Paradise Lost, John Milton)

The story of Lucifer and the legend of his fall seems to be plain and commonly known.
However, is it really so obvious? Perhaps an answer to this question will be found in this essay,
which will guide you step by step through numerous forms of this fascinating archetype that
has inspired philosophers, artists and poets throughout many centuries. We will take a closer
look at his mythological origins and the mystical interpretation on such spiritual paths as
alchemy or the Qabalah. We will also discuss his meaning on the Left Hand Path, in which his
symbolism has an enormously significant role. Perhaps this analysis will shed more light on
Lucifer as a character, and also on the type of the esoteric gnosis that he represents.

The Christian Legend

We will start the discussion of Lucifer’s myth with the legend spread by the Christian sources,
as it is the most known version of the story and at the same time the most erroneous and full
of ambiguities. It is based on incorrectly interpreted short quotations from the Bible, the key
fragment being a quote from the Book of Isaiah:
“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!
For thou hast said in thine heart,
I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God:
I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation,
in the sides of the north:
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will be like the most High.
Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell,
to the sides of the pit.” (Isaiah 14:12-15)

In the Christian tradition, this fragment served as a basis for the legend of a proud angel who
sought to be equal to God, and for his conceit he was cast down to the infernal abyss. The story
of Lucifer illustrates the archetypal sin of Superbia, one of the seven deadly sins. As the legend
shows, for this sin, one can be punished with the worst of all punishments – condemned to
eternal separation from God and plunged in darkness devoid of heavenly light.
Ezekiel presents the same story of sin as the cause of fall and rebellion against God: “Thou
sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden, the garden
of God… and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked
up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day
that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” (Ezekiel 28:12-15) According to this
quotation, Lucifer fell and lost his original perfection because he forgot about his roots, about
the fact that he was God’s creation and could not be equal to his creator. He was blinded by
pride, insolence and conceit, which made him feel divine and for that he was punished with
exile from heaven.

Other fragments from the Bible, describing the fall of angels, were also ascribed to Lucifer (“He
was thrown down, that ancient serpent.” Revelation 12:5), who was also identified with Satan,
the Adversary, the first angel who rebelled against God and was cast down to Sheol, the dark
abyss, where he established his own infernal kingdom.

This is the outline of the Christian legend of Lucifer. However, if we take a closer look at these
biblical fragments, which supposedly are its source, we will find that they have not much to
do with the mythological figure of this name. It is essential to notice that before the original
writings, which now constitute the Bible, were translated into Latin, Lucifer’s name did not
appear in any of them. The quotation from the Book of Isaiah, which is regarded as the source
of the legend, might be interpreted in a completely different way. The term “son of the
morning” (in original: “heleyl ben-shahar”) probably refers to the Babylonian king
Nebuchadnezzar or the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pilneser. The fragment from Ezekiel is
sometimes said to refer to the same person, and sometimes it is regarded as the description of
the fall of Adam, the first man, and the exile of the first humans from the Garden of Eden. The
king of Babylon has a similar legend metaphorically told in the Bible. The term “morning star,”
“son of the morning,” refers to his boastful pride, which evoked his desire to conquer the
whole world and rule it in the same way as God rules the universe. His symbol is the planet
Venus, sometimes called Helel, “the bright one.”

But when the Old Testament was translated into Latin (the Vulgate), the term “heleyl ben-
shahar” appeared in the new version as “Lucifer,” from the Latin word “lux” (light) and
“ferre” (to bring). In the Vulgate, the word appears in many different contexts, not always
referring to the fallen angels, and sometimes quite the opposite. It means “the Morning Star”
(the planet Venus), “light of the morning” (in the Book of Job), “the aurora” (Psalms), “signs
of the zodiac” (also in Job). And it refers to such figures as “Simon son of Onias” (Ecclesiastes),
or even “Jesus Christ” (Revelation).

Nevertheless, in the following centuries, Lucifer came to be identified with Satan and
considered a symbol of evil. His legend intertwined with the story of the biblical Tempter, who
in his serpent form seduced the first humans and led them away from God. Then he became
the leader of the fallen angels. They were the ones that rebelled against God and descended to
earth to unite in the flesh with the daughters of man. This is the myth about the rebellion of
angels presented in the apocryphal Book of Enoch. The leader of the rebels was Shemyaza,
sometimes identified with Lucifer. In the doctrine of certain Christian sects, Lucifer became
the Demiurge, the evil creator of the material world who imprisoned souls in human bodies.
In writings of the Cathars (a Christian/Gnostic movement which flourished in western Europe
and Asia Minor in the 5th -15th centuries), we read that he was the son of Satan, who created
the world consisting of the earth and seven heavens. It was him who broke into the Heavenly
Kingdom and tempted the spirits with visions of things they had not known before, after
which one-third of them followed him and left heaven (“And his tail drew the third part of the
stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth.” Revelation 12:4):

“They descended from heaven when Lucifer took them out of there with a deceitful claim that
God has promised them only the good; while the devil, as he was cunning, promised them
good and evil, and told them that he would give them women whom they will adore, and that
he would give some the authority over the others… and that all who would follow him and
descent with him, would have the power to do evil and good, just like God, and that it would
be better for them to be gods who may do good and evil than to stay in heaven where God has
given them only good.”1

Lucifer is “the God” who creates the world in six days as it is described in the Old Testament.
It was he who divided the prime matter into elements and shaped the world from them. Then
he created humans from clay and breathed the soul into them: the soul of man was the angel
from the second heaven, the soul of woman – the angel from the first one. After that, he
seduced the woman in his serpent form and taught her how to obtain carnal pleasures, thus
revealing to humans the fruits from the Tree of Knowledge. According to some theories,
Lucifer is the second God. The first one is he who created things spiritual and invisible. Lucifer
is the creator of things material and visible. He imprisoned in human bodies the souls of angels
who followed him and left heaven. For this reason, human souls are demons who fell from the
heights and atone for their sin on the earth, awaiting the return to the Light. There were also
certain Gnostic sects which regarded Lucifer as the firstborn son of God, the one who left
heaven when his father decided to give supremacy to his second son, Jezual.

According to Christian legends, Lucifer was one of the Cherubim, those angels who stay
closest to God. He was the most perfect and the most beautiful of all angels, and he was God’s
favorite. His name then was Lucibel and referred to his beauty. But he fell because of his free
will when he realized his divinity and desired to become equal to God in all respects. His
desire was judged as a sin and rebellion, and he was exiled from heaven to become the lord of
hell – the realm completely separated from God. In the Christian tradition, hell is the symbol
of eternal torments, the darkness of the soul which has been deprived of God’s presence. But
from the other perspective, it is also the symbol of freedom, independence, the potential
allowing for an individual deification and aspiration to become one’s own creator. In this way
hell is interpreted by the Left-Hand Path, where Lucifer is the emblem of the ultimate
liberation.

The Origin of the Archetype

Among the sources of the word “Lucifer,” the one mentioned most often is the ancient Roman
poetry. There it means “the morning star” and is related to the Greek term “eosphoros”
(“bringer of the Dawn”). It appears in Homer’s The Odyssey, Hesiod’s Theogony, Virgil’s
Georgics, and Ovid’s Metamorphoses. And even though “the morning star” is most often
identified with Venus, there are also theories that this term refers to the ancient god of light,
also related to this planet. In ancient Greece, this concept was symbolized by two deities:
Eosphoro (Phosphoros) and Hespero (Vesper, Nocturnus, Noctifer), which corresponded to
two distinct aspects of Venus: the Morning Star which appeared at dawn, and to its light in
the darkness of the night. The description of these two divine brothers is found in The Iliad
when Phosphoros emerges from the ocean to proclaim the coming of the divine light, while

1
Catharism, the History of the Cathars, J. Duvernoy
Hespero is seen as the most splendid star in the night sky. Phosphoros, the god of the dawn,
was the son of the goddess Eos. He was depicted as a nude winged boy with a torch, in front
of his mother or the sun god Helios. The Roman translation of the name “Phosphoros” is
“Lucifer.”

This myth might be the earliest source of the legend about this bright angel. But we cannot
forget about another Greek tale which is associated with this figure in modern interpretations.
This myth is, of course, the famous story of Prometheus. Let us briefly recall this mythical
legend: Prometheus was one of the Titans and the creator of humanity whom he shaped from
clay mixed with tears, and whose soul was the spark of divine fire which the Titan stole from
the sun’s chariot. Then, seeing that man is weak, he stole the fire of gods again and brought it
to the earth. He taught humans how to use fire to create arts and crafts. In this way he
awakened the human spirit and gave humanity the potential to rule the world. For his love of
humans he was severely punished by the gods: they chained him to a rock, and each day his
liver was eaten by an eagle (or a vulture) and grew again so that his pain could last forever.
This legend was identified with Lucifer because of his role as the initiator of humans: the one
who endows man with the soul, the divine fire, and shows him how to become equal to gods.
The esoteric interpretation of the myth explains the gift of fire as the awakening of the inner
spark in man, the source of the spiritual power which corresponds to the Tantric concept of
the Kundalini serpent. The Promethean fire is the spark of divinity, which, when awakened,
can become the torch of infinite spiritual potential. Just as Prometheus teaches humanity how
to become like gods, so Lucifer shows man the path of independence and the way to one’s
own divinity.

Another mythical figure often identified with both Prometheus and Lucifer is the
Scandinavian Loki. Like the two characters mentioned above, he represents forces that
threaten the divine and cosmic order. He is the bringer of light/fire, and at the same time, he
is the destroyer with a vast destructive potential. His name refers to “logi” (“flame,” “fire”) or
to the verbs “lúka,” or “lukijan,” meaning “to lock,” which points at his role in the end of the
existing world (Ragnarök), the final fire in which the world and its gods will burn. He is the
father to mythological monsters: the Fenrir wolf who will devour Odin in the time of
Ragnarök, the corpse goddess Hel and the cosmic serpent Jormungandr. He is the trickster
who constantly challenges gods and their firm order and laws. He is also the father of dispute
and lies. But he is also the initiator of humanity to whom he brings the gift of the divine fire –
just like Prometheus. Finally, he also suffers a similar kind of torment. He is punished by being
chained to rocks. Above his head, there is a venomous snake whose poison drips on Loki’s
face. When the god shivers with pain, his convulsions cause earthquakes and other disasters.

Also, a similar character is found in the Spanish/Mexican lore, where he bears the name
Luzbel. Luzbel is mentioned in sixteenth-century Spanish texts written in Mexico or grimoires
such as El Libro de San Cipriano (El Tesoro del Hechicero) and El Libro Infernal. He seems to be a
dark form of Lucifer, a challenger to the divine order, and the bringer of light as a fire of
individual divinity.

The Qabalistic Interpretation

In Qabalistic theories, Lucifer corresponds to the hidden Sephira Daath. However, to
understand this attribution, we must first go back to the moment when the Tree of Life was an
ideal cosmic harmony, and its dark counterpart did not exist. The perfect Cosmic Tree, like
now, consisted of ten levels and twenty-two paths, but there was no material plane then.
Instead, the Tree of Life contained Daath as an integral part of the cosmic harmony. Daath was
closest to the highest triad: Kether, Chokmah and Binah, above the central Sephira Tiphereth.
It was the second sun that shone upon the neighboring Sephiroth. While Tiphereth was the
lower sun that cast its rays upon the lower regions, Daath illuminated the upper part of the
tree as the second, mystical sun. Their lights marked two “worlds” represented by the
Sephiroth: the lower (below Tiphereth) and the upper (surrounding Daath). Both were
harmoniously bound to each other. The lower sun was ruled by the archangel Michael, the
upper by Lucifer: the Bringer of Light. Lucifer was then the angel who resided closest to the
divine trinity. He was the guardian and mediator between the divine light and the lower
spheres, which is reflected in an ancient legend that he was God’s messenger on earth who
observed all earthly events and reported them to the creator.

On the original Tree of Life, Yesod, the lowest Sephira, was an ideal reflection of Kether, the
highest one. Because it was the astral world of man, he was regarded as the ideal image of
God. Yesod, however, is also the sphere of sexuality, existing on the Tree of Life in a subtle
and dormant form. The reasons for Lucifer’s and other angels’ fall are not clear from this
perspective. Perhaps they started to lust for man because of his perfection (“The sons of God
saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they
chose” Genesis 6:2).
Lucifer-Daath fell/descended to the level of man and awakened in humanity the power of
creation and sexual energy, which is represented by the gift of the fruits of Knowledge, offered
by the biblical Serpent. In this way man gained access to knowledge which was reserved for
God and the higher entities. The fall of angels and their sexual union with man was the
forbidden union of worlds. Man gained the potential of creation (of giving birth to a new life),
and the ideal cosmic harmony was lost. Where once Daath existed, an abyss opened and
separated the divine triad from the lower levels. Man was cast down from his astral Eden and
inhabited the new Sephira Malkuth, the material plane, while the gates to the divine garden
were closed for him. “So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden
Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life”
(Genesis 3:24). The Daath Sephira, together with Lucifer, lost its place near the throne of God
(Kether) and became the abyss, the gate to Qlipothic anti-worlds in which Lucifer established
his Pandemonium.

The adept of the path of Light seeks to reconstruct the original cosmic order and reunion with
the divine perfection. The death of Christ on the cross is a metaphor for creating a bridge over
the abyss and uniting man with God. The adept of the Left-Hand Path seeks to deepen the Fall
and bring the process of destruction to an end in order to light one’s spark of divinity in the
absolute darkness of the abyss. By fulfilling the work started with the tasting of the fruits of
Knowledge, man can reach for the fruits from the Tree of Life.

The Jewel of the Abyss

When Lucifer was falling from heaven into the abyss of darkness, a jewel fell off his forehead.
This was the emblem of his beauty and perfection. It was an emerald, the gemstone regarded
by alchemists as the stone of Mercury, the character who belongs to the middle sphere, both
in an alchemical and mythological sense. Mercury is the heavenly messenger, the intermediary
between the worlds, and the guide of dead souls (psychopompos) onto the Other Side. In
alchemy, he is the emblem of the flow and transformation. This is the transmutation of matter
and spirit from the lower into the higher, from ephemeral into solid. He is therefore the link
between heaven (spirit) and earth (matter). In the biblical vision of St. John it is written: “And
he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round
about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald” (Revelation 4:3). The rainbow is a popular
symbol of a bridge between worlds (e.g. the Norse Bifröst). The emerald which fell off Lucifer’s
forehead is also the link between heaven and earth. It represents the loss of the monopoly of
immortality, which until that moment, had been reserved only for the divine trinity. According
to the legend, from this jewel the angels carved the Grail, and when it was filled with the blood
of Christ, the gates of heaven which were locked after Lucifer’s fall opened again. The emerald
also resembles the pearl from the forehead of Shiva, which in the Hindu symbolism represents
the third eye and is related to the concept of infinity.

The emerald is also the jewel which the ancient Romans associated with the planet Venus. As
we have already said, Venus is related to Lucifer in many mythological aspects. It was
regarded as the planet representing both life and light as well as darkness and death. It was
called the Morning Star and the Evening Star. The ancient Romans believed that it heralded
both death and rebirth. In Mexico, it was feared as a star of doom. Jacob Boehme, the famous
mystic, identified it with the Divine Light of the Creator.

The search for the Grail signifies the wandering on diverse spiritual paths to find the inner
light and hidden power that underlies the whole existence. It is illustrated by the alchemical
principle V.I.T.R.I.O.L. (Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem), and
the jewel which represents the crowning of the spiritual path is the emerald or diamond – the
emblem of perfection and light that shines even in the utmost recesses of the abyss.

The Guiding Star on the Way to Divinity

On the Draconian Path, Lucifer makes appearances several times. For the first time, the
Luciferian energies can be experienced in full on the level of A’arab Zaraq, the fourth (counting
from Malkuth/Lilith) qlipha on the Qabalistic Tree of Night. It is the level connected with the
planetary energies of Venus, and one of its significant symbols is the goddess known in
mythologies as Aphrodite or Venus. On the bright Tree of Life, the counterpart of A’arab Zaraq
is the Sephira Netzach which bears correspondence to the bright form of the goddess. Her dark
image is Venus Illegitima, the goddess of perversion. She represents barren love on the
material plane, which, however, bears fruits on higher levels. Through her the adept is reborn
as one’s child and becomes one with the Daimon - one’s higher self. The Black Venus is the
mother to Daimon, the principle that belongs to the next level of the cosmic Tree – the
Thagirion Qlipha.

A’arab Zaraq is the sphere of the dark side of feelings and emotions which arise to the light of
consciousness and manifest in the form of creative expression - hence this Qlipha is associated
with art and music. Here we experience the Luciferian freedom, which is the liberation from
structures and boundaries that bind consciousness. It is the rebellion against the surrounding
reality – full of passion and creative energy. In Rudolph Steiner’s demonosophy, Lucifer is
Christ’s brother, the one who rejected God’s plan of the world’s salvation and dared to propose
his own. He embodies the eternal dream of self-deification, the path of the individual spiritual
progress and the pursuit of perfection. He is the patron of arts, especially ecstatic ones,
emotions, imagination, and creativity:

“Luciferic Outlook is based on idealism, spirituality is incomparably more important than the
existence in the material world… The goal of Luciferic initiation is limitless Freedom, which is
possible to achieve only when one transcends his human nature and becomes a god. Liberation
from limits imposed by material world and dogmas binding the ego gives us an unlimited
possibility of creating. Luciferic initiation is close to the magical Left Hand Path.”2

While setting on a quest in search of the Luciferian jewel, we gradually pass through
successive levels of consciousness awakening, until on the level of Satariel (Binah), we
experience the opening of “The Eye of Lucifer.” The Kundalini serpent unfolds its wings and
becomes the Dragon. Then opens the eye which sees the unseen. This process begins on the
first step of the Draconian Path when the adept enters the gate through the “Womb of Lilith”
– the first Qlipha on the Qabalistic Tree of Night. It includes eleven Qlipothic levels and nine
stages. They represent nine nights and nine worlds in the mythological initiation of Odin. That
is why the Eye of Lucifer is also called the Eye of Odin, and it is the symbol of the completion
of a particular stage in the initiatory process. The Draconian initiation is based on the nine
phases of awakening of “the clear vision” (from Greek word “drakon” – to see), and also
includes the starting point and the goal to which the whole process leads. Together this makes
eleven levels. The starting point is the world of illusion in which we live. When we become
aware of the world existing beyond the perceived reality, our consciousness turns to the
“Other Side,” or “the Left Side.” A crack in the veil of illusion opens, and through it we can

2 Rudolph Steiner’s Demonosophy – a little bit Different View, Przemysław Sieradzan

enter the alternative reality. Thus we pass through the gate of Lilith and begin the initiatory
journey in the world of darkness. Gradually the Eye of Lucifer opens in our consciousness and
its light shines like a torch in the darkness of the abyss until it is fully opened on the level of
Satariel (8.0.) and burns with the light of Divinity on the level of Ghagiel (9.0.)

Satanic Gnosis
In the discussion of Lucifer’s role, we cannot forget about his function in the Western tradition
of black magic and Satanism. Grimoires, which have appeared over the last few centuries,
associate him with many attributes and qualities. In Grimoirium Verum, Lucifer is one of the
three chief rulers of the world, the other two being Beelzebub and Astaroth. He rules Europe
and Asia, together with two servant demons: Satanachia and Agalierap. In this grimoire, he is
described as a beautiful youth who turns red when angry or furious.

According to Dictionnaire Infernal by Collin de Plancy, Lucifer is the king of hell. He has the
face of a beautiful young child, which changes to monstrous and inflamed when he is angry.
In the Grimoire of Honorius from the 16th century, he is also the Infernal Emperor. The text
contains the advice to summon him on Mondays, between three and four o’clock or between
eleven and twelve. The operator has to sacrifice a mouse in a ritual - otherwise the operation
will fail.
In other texts, he is sometimes identified with Satan or superior to him in the infernal
hierarchy. He is also identified with Lucifuge Rofocale, which, however, is an incorrect
attribution because “Lucifer” means “the Light Bearer.” At the same time, “Lucifuge” is “the
one who shuns the light,” and these two figures are entirely different characters in
demonology. In texts on witchcraft, we may find accounts that Lucifer often accompanies
witches in their flight to the Sabbat. Sometimes he pulls them off their brooms and gives them
a ride on his shoulders. There, Lucifer is described as a gray figure with blue arms and red
culottes decorated with ribbons.

In traditional demonology, Lucifer rules the element of air and the direction of east, together
with three other infernal kings who preside over the other elements and directions: Leviathan
(water, west), Belial (earth, north), and Satan (fire, south). In the Faustian Tradition, he is the
chief ruler of hell. It is him that Faust enters the pact with, while Mephistopheles is the
mediator and executor of his orders.

A Word of Conclusion
It is believed that Lucifer is the main character in Milton’s epic poem “Paradise Lost,” even
though in the text he is called Satan. But the word “Satan” means “Adversary,” “the Accuser,”
“the Opponent,” and Milton’s Satan is God’s opponent indeed. However, his image is far from
the stereotype of a gloomy and cunning demon, as the contemporary Christian tradition
describes him. Instead, he is the angel who brings light, who dares to challenge God and leaves
heaven to create his own kingdom in the abyss of darkness. At the same time, however, he
does not lose his beauty, splendor, or pride. He is the Adversary, the rebel who rejects
obedience to God, the proud ruler, and the prince of darkness. He represents the principles of
“questioning” and “denial,” so essential in the continuity of the world’s existence and cosmic
harmony.
On the Left-Hand Path, he embodies the pursuit of one’s own divinity – he is not satisfied with
the limited space and function which God assigned to him. Through his fall, he becomes the
emblem of the free and robust will which proves that one can exist without God and divine
light, and that one may become one’s own creator and shape one’s own world in the depth of
the abyss, where lies the infinite potential of creation. Lucifer inspires those whose will is
strong enough to follow his steps and walk the Left-Hand Path; those who like him believe
that “It is better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.”

Bibliography:
John Milton: Paradise Lost
Alfonso Di Nola: Diabeł
www.wikipedia.org
Grimoirium Verum
J.E. Cirlot: A Dictionary of Symbols
The Bible: All quotations from King James Version
Jean Duvernoy: Catharism, the History of the Cathars
Lodge Magan: Glimpses of the Left Hand Path
Thomas Karlsson: Kabbalah, Qliphoth and Goetic Magic