Sign In
Register
Help
Board Index
Lucifer is not the Great Architect of the Universe (G.A.O.T.U.) so Freemasons must not worship Lucifer as God. But what of all those quotes from Albert Pike, Madame Blavatsky and Eliphas Levi?
"Lucifer, the Light-bearer! Strange and mysterious name to give to the Spirit of Darkness! Lucifer, the Son of the Morning! Is it he who bears the Light, and with its splendors intolerable, blinds feeble, sensual, or selfish souls? Doubt it not!" -- Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry
"Lucifer represents.. Life.. Thought.. Progress.. Civilization.. Liberty.. Independance.. Lucifer is the Logos.. the Serpent, the Savior." -- Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, 'The Secret Doctrine'
"What is more absurd and more impious than to attribute the name of Lucifer to the devil, that is, to personified evil. The intellectual Lucifer is the spirit of intelligence and love; it is the paraclete, it is the Holy Spirit, while the physical Lucifer is the great agent of universal magnetism." -- Eliphas Levi, 'The Mysteries Of Magic'
So who is this Lucifer? And why does the occult hold him in such high regard?
I will explain it as best I can using sources to back it up. Why am I doing this? I believe there are many misconceptions regarding Freemasonry and they should be cleared up. The Lucifer issue being the main one, IMO, which leads to accusations of devil worship.
And I am aware of the other thread here, which got off topic as most threads involving Freemasonry do, that touched on the "Devil worshiping" Freemasons.
Am I a Freemason? No.
But I am very interested in the occult. So I may have some answers that some here might appreciate but I have no oath or obligation to withold any information.
So who is this Lucifer fellow?
For starters Lucifer is not the Devil, Satan or whichever name you wish to use. But first let's look at the Devil...
Satan
In the Hebrew Bible
In the Hebrew Bible, Satan is to be better understood as an "accuser" or "adversary" than as an embodiment of "evil." The term is applied both to divine and human beings.
In Rabbinic literature
Early rabbinic Jewish statements in the Mishnah and Talmud show that Satan played little or no role in Jewish theology. In the course of time, however, Judaism absorbed the popular concepts of Satan, most likely inherited from Zoroastrianism. The later a rabbinic work can be dated the more frequent is the mention therein of Satan and his hosts.
In the New Testament
Satan figures much more prominently in the New Testament and in Christian theology generally. In the New Testament, Satan appears as a tempter for Jesus, for example. In John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost, the theme is further developed—Satan is believed to have been an archangel who turned against God before the creation of man.
The belief that Satan is in Hell has its roots in Christian literature rather than in the Bible. The Bible states that he still roams heaven and earth. Job 1:6 states that Satan appeared with other angels "before the Lord," presumably in heaven. When God asked Satan where he had been, Satan replied, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it." Satan has not been and is not in Hell.
**
So the whole concept of the Devil or Satan ruling Hell has more to do with Zoroastrianism duality and Christian literature than the Bible.
But what of Lucifer the fallen angel?
Lucifer
Lucifer is a Latin word made up of two words, lux (light; genitive lucis) and ferre (to bear, to bring), meaning light-bearer. Lucifer appears in Greek mythology as heosphoros, the "Dawn-bringer"; it is used by poets to represent the Morning Star at moments when "Venus" would introduce distracting imagery of the goddess. "Lucifer" is Jerome's direct translation in his Vulgate (4th century) of the Septuagint's Greek translation, as heosphoros, "morning star" or "Day Star," literally "bringer of the Dawn", of a phrase from Isaiah 14:12.
Modern astrologers identify the planet Venus as having been known by the name Lucifer in Roman astrology before being given its current name.
Lucifer in the Christian tradition
In the fully-developed Christian interpretation, Jerome's Vulgate translation of Isaiah 14:12 has made Lucifer the name of the principal fallen angel, who must lament the loss of his original glory as the morning star. This image at last defines the character of Satan; where the Church Fathers had maintained that lucifer was not the proper name of the Devil, and that it referred rather to the state from which he had fallen; St. Jerome transformed it into Satan's proper name.
It is noteworthy that the Old Testament itself does not at any point actually mention the rebellion and fall of Satan directly. This non-Scriptural belief assembled from interpretations of different passages, would fall under the heading Christian mythology, except that the very idea of a Christian mythology is widely attacked as offensive.
**
So the connection between Lucifer and Satan, the Devil, is a questionable one. Let's look at Isaiah 14:12...
New King James Version - Isaiah 14:12
"How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!"
New American Standard Bible - Isaiah 14:12
"How you have fallen from heaven,
O star of the morning, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the earth,
You who have weakened the nations!"
**
Let's compare some passages that contain the term lucifer...
Isaiah 14:12
KJV "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!"
Vulgate "quomodo cecidisti de caelo lucifer qui mane oriebaris corruisti in terram qui vulnerabas gentes"
2 Peter 1:19
KJV "And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts"
Vulgate "et habemus firmiorem propheticum sermonem cui bene facitis adtendentes quasi lucernae lucenti in caliginoso loco donec dies inlucescat et lucifer oriatur in cordibus vestris"
**
So the translation of lucifer to morning star or the translation of lucifer to Lucifer was the discretion of the translator.
Some futher evidence that Lucifer is not synonymous with Satan or the Devil...
Saint Lucifer
Lucifer or Lucifer Calaritanus (d. 370 or 371) was a bishop of Cagliari in Sardinia and Christian saint known for his passionate opposition to Arianism.
At the Council of Milan in 354 he defended Athanasius, and he opposed the Arians so powerfully that they had the Emperor Constantius (an Arian sympathizer) to confine Lucifer for three days in the palace. While in confinement, Saint Lucifer argued so strongly with the emperor that he was banished, first to Palestine and then to Thebes, Egypt. While in exile, he wrote fiery letters to the emperor that put him in danger of martyrdom.
After the death of Constantius and the coronation of Julian the Apostate, Lucifer was released in 362. However, he would not be reconciled to former Arians. He consecrated bishop Paulinus, without license, creating the schism of Meletius. He may have been excommunicated, as is hinted in the writings of Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine and Saint Jerome, who refers to his followers as Luciferians, a sect that survived in scattered remnants into the early 5th century. Jerome, in his polemic Altercatio Luciferiani et orthodoxi ("Altercation of the Luciferian and the orthodox"), offers almost all that is known of Lucifer or the sect.
His feast day in the Catholic Church is May 20. His name demonstrates that "Lucifer" (meaning "light-bringer") was not yet merely a synonym of "Satan" in the 4th century. However, hasty references by enthusiastic 19th century biblical scholars assumed from the name that the Luciferians were Satanists. Therefore, although his cultus has not been suppressed nor his canonization reevaluated, he is not often celebrated or spoken of in the calendar.
**
Well I have to say this connection is falling apart quite rapidly. Some passages from the Bible that mention the "morning star", Lucifer?
Revelation 22:16
I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, [and] the bright and morning star.
Revelation 2:26-29
And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
And I will give him the morning star.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
2 Peter 1:19
"And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts."
**
So according to Jerome, Revelation 22:16 should read...
"I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, [and] Lucifer."
So Jesus claims to be Lucifer, the Light-Bearer. Is Jesus the light?
John 1:6-10
"There was a man sent from God, whose name [was] John.
The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all [men] through him might believe.
He was not that Light, but [was sent] to bear witness of that Light.
[That] was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not."
John 8:12
"Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
**
But what of the Pentagram, the symbol of Satan? Freemasons use that symbol.
The Pentagram
The pentagram has long been associated with the planet Venus and the worship of the goddess Venus, or her equivalent. It is most likely to have originated from the observations of prehistoric astronomers. When viewed from Earth, successive inferior conjunctions of Venus plot a nearly perfect pentagram shape around the Sun every eight years.
**
So Lucifer ties to Venus, the Pentagram ties to Veus/Lucifer and Jesus calls himself "the bright and morning star"/Venus/Lucifer/the Pentagram.
A side note: Buddha attained enlightenment "when the morning star appeared in the eastern sky, the struggle was over and the Prince's mind was as clear and bright as the day-break." - The Life of Gotama Buddha
Venus the morning star, Lucifer, Jesus and Buddha represent enlightenment.
"Lucifer, the Light-bearer! Strange and mysterious name to give to the Spirit of Darkness! Lucifer, the Son of the Morning! Is it he who bears the Light, and with its splendors intolerable, blinds feeble, sensual, or selfish souls? Doubt it not!"
Doubt it not!
This post has been edited by Hermetic Hermit: 08 March 2006 - 07:45 PM
Top
MultiQuote
You know, I could answer as a Freemason, a Rosicrucian, a mystic, and an occultist, but I have no doubt that whatever I would say would fall on deaf ears since the person posting it already has made up their mind in-spite of all evidence, so why waste my time? 
(if you know what i mean).
