Tag Archives: luciferianism

Text on Eisheth Zenunim from The Zohar

A deep mystery is found in the strength of Isaac’s light OF
HOLINESS, and from the dregs of wine, WHICH ARE KLIPOT. One shape emerged FROM
BOTH, made of GOOD AND EVIL, male and female, as one. It is red as a rose and
extends to many sides and paths, HAVING MANY ASPECTS. The male is called
‘Samael’ and the female is always included within him. As on the side of
holiness, ZEIR ANPIN AND NUKVA ARE ALWAYS INCLUDED ONE WITHIN THE OTHER; so it
is on the Other Side, a male and female are included within one another. The
female of Samael is called a ‘serpent’, “a wife of harlotry,”
“The End of all Flesh” (Beresheet
6:13), and the end of days.

Two evil spirits cling together. THE ILLUMINATION OF the
spirit of the male is a thin light, NAMELY, ONLY THE SIX EXTREMITIES WITHOUT
THE HEAD. And the spirit of the female materializes in many ways and paths,
BEING AN ENTIRE PARTZUF, HEAD, AND BODY, FOR IN THE KLIPAH, THE FEMALE IS
LARGER THAN THE MALE. She cleaves to the spirit of the male, wearing ample
jewelry like an abominable whore standing on main roads and pathways to seduce
men. This teaches us that she values only those who start walking the path of
Hashem and are apt to fall into her trap. Therefore, she is viewed as standing
at the main (lit. ‘start OF’) ROAD TO HASHEM’S DEVOTION. BUT FOR THOSE WHO ARE
accustomed to the ways of Hashem, the whore is separated from them and has no
power over them.

When a fool approaches her, she holds and kisses him, and she pours him wine full of dregs and snake’s venom. After he drinks, he whores
after her. When she sees him whoring after her and turning from the path of
truth, she removes all the decorations she put on for that fool, AS WILL BE
EXPLAINED.

Her seductive features include her hair, which is red as a
rose, and her face, which is white and red. In her ears there are six earrings
of Egyptian fabric. On her neck hang all the powers of Eastern lands. Her mouth
is decorated by a small slit of a comely shape; her tongue is sharp as a sword;
her speech as smooth as oil; and her lips as beautiful and red as a rose.
Wearing purple and having forty decorations less one, she is sweeter than all
that is sweet in the world.

The fool follows her, drinks of her wine, and fornicates
with her. What does she do? She leaves him sleeping in his bed, goes up to
denounce him, and receives permission TO KILL HIM. She then descends ON HIM.
The fool awakes thinking of lusting after her, as before. At this point, she
has taken off the decorations and has become a mighty oppressor who wears a
garment of burning fire that causes great horror and frightens the body and
soul. That oppressor has horrible eyes and a sharp sword on which there are
bitter drops. The oppressor kills the fool and throws him into Gehenom.

Source: http://www.zohar.com/vayetze/samael-and-wife-harlotry (you may need to make a free account on zohar.com to view)

The “Wife of Harlotry” is Eisheth Zenunim (we know this because “Wife of Harlotry” is the translation of that name). She is one of the Four Angels of Sacred Prostitution and consorts of Samael, the Devil. 

I don’t have the receipts yet, but I’m thinking that this passage may have influenced Crowley’s conception of Babalon/the Scarlet Woman. So make of that what you will. 

Some see Eisheth as an aspect of Lilith, which may be true. But based on this passage I think Eisheth might be a LOT more important than I had initially thought. 

Quote

Lucius Catiline was a man of noble birth, and of eminent mental and personal endowments, but of a vicious and depraved disposition. His delight, from his youth, had been in civil commotions, bloodshed, robbery, and sedition; and in such scenes he had spent his early years. His constitution could endure hunger, want of sleep, and cold, to a degree surpassing belief. His mind was daring, subtle, and versatile, capable of pretending or dissembling whatever he wished. He was covetous of other men’s property, and prodigal of his own. He had abundance of eloquence, though but little wisdom. His insatiable ambition was always pursuing objects extravagant, romantic, and unattainable.

Sallust, Bellum Catilinae

Lucifer figure. 

Black Baptism

This is the ritual I did last night. I adapted it from the description of supposed witch initiations in Compendium Maleficarum. 

There is some language in here which is specific to trans people who want to use the black baptism as an opportunity to finally cleanse themselves of dead names. Feel free to alter that part, and any part of this really, to suit your individual needs. 

I really recommend taking your time with this ritual. Pause to pray or meditate whenever you feel the need. Get creative within the structure and do what feels right in the moment. 

You’ll notice that this ritual calls for a secret, magical name. So you’ll need to pick out your “true name” ahead of time. Do this carefully. I consider my true name to be the name of my Inner God. It was not chosen lightly. 

You can omit this if you want, and just use the name you prefer to be known by–but taking a new name in Satan is part of the alleged ritual this is based on, and it’s arguably the most important part. 

Re: water for the baptism– you could just use plain water but why not make it special! Mine was water mixed with ash from incense burned to Lucifer, with a dash of eclipse water thrown in and a Satanic rosary submerged in it. But that’s just because that was what felt right to me and what I had on hand. You do you. Go crazy. 

MATERIALS

  • Crucifix and/or image of Christ, rosary, other symbols of Christian faith
  • Bible
  • Candles
  • Incense
  • Fruit
  • Baptismal water
  • Incense ash from incense burned on your altar to Satan
  • Chalk or whatever you are using to make your circle
  • Bonfire
  • Piece of old clothing as offering

OPTIONAL MATERIALS

  • Altar
  • Wand or athame for signing of name in air (I used a pretty quill)

RITUAL

This ritual is to
be performed at 3am on the morning of a day of personal significance.

Before the stroke
of 3, start bonfire. Draw the magic circle. Have materials ready. It took me at least a two hours to get everything in place how I wanted, but my set up was a little more complicated than the basic one described here. (I set up a whole altar and elaborately decorated my circle with roses, rosemary, and candles.) Give yourself time. 

At 3am, step into
circle. Visualize it being filled with your own Darklight. Use this to
construct a ward. From here on in, nothing comes into the circle except you and
Satan.

Say:

This night, in the sight of Satan, I shall be born again.

Light candles and incense, and say:

Hail to thee, Lucifer, Lord of this world! Prince of the Powers of Air!
Son of the Morning! Liberator of humanity! Witness me as I pledge my faith to
thee, and help me make myself anew!

Throw crucifix on the ground. Say:

I deny the tyrant above. I deny
his sycophant son. I deny the holy ghost. I deny the so-called virgin mother,
and all of the angels, and all of the saints. They have no power over me.

Trample the crucifix. Spit on it. Do whatever feels right
to defile it. When you are done, fling it as far out of the circle as you can.

Pick up the Bible. Say:

I renounce this noxious book. The Tyrant Above is the true Father of
Lies. I denounce his teachings, and I deny everyone who tried to tutor me in
them.

Defile Bible. Cast it from the circle.

Get Baptismal water. Say:

I cast off, finally and forever, the false name I was given at birth,
________. I assume my new name, ______, openly before the world. I take into my
soul my true and secret name, the name of my God, never to be uttered aloud
where others may hear it and use it for power over me.

(Say the true/magical name aloud if you want, but only if
nobody can hear you. Like, for damn sure.)

Baptize self with water.

Remove an article of clothing and cast it from the circle.
Say:

As the snake sheds its skin, so I shed mine. I cast off the old on this
day, and profess, now and forever, this creed:

I believe in the cause of the Fallen Angels. I believe in the Serpent
of Eden. I believe in the Kingdom that is below. I believe in the God within
me.

Eat fruit, and say:

By virtue of the forbidden fruit, I am free. I am a sovereign soul on
the path to divinity. Knowingly and of my own volition, I chose to walk this
path with thee, O Satan.

May I be stricken from the Tyrant’s book! May my true name be writ
large in thine!

Visualize a book before you. Raise your finger (or wand, or athame, if you prefer) and write
your true magical name in that invisible book.

Say:

I promise to make my life’s work an offering to thee, and to the God
within me! I vow to burn thy incense, to light thy candles, to speak thy name
with love forever. Speak thou my name, with love, in return!

Never will I make confession to the Tyrant’s priests. Never will I take
the Tyrant’s communion. Instead shall I remember thy Sabbath, I shall gather
with thine other children, and I shall learn to fly to thee.

Make now thy mark on me!

Draw an inverted cross on your brow with incense ash to represent
the mark. Visualize that mark being made permanent on your astral body. (If
something else happens now—cool!)

Say:

Morning Star, be thou my light. Lord of this world, make me Lord of
mine. Raise me up, and I will stand, forever and ever, by thee.

Be it so!

After speaking these words, you may leave the circle. Collect
the discarded items, such as crucifixes and Bible and piece of clothing, to be thrown
into the bonfire.

Celebrate!

Oath

I deny the tyrant above. I deny his sycophant son. I deny the holy ghost. I deny the archangels and the virgin mother. They have no power over me. 

I believe in the cause of the fallen angels. I believe in the Serpent of Eden. I believe in the Kingdom that is below. I believe in the God within me. 

By virtue of the forbidden fruit, I am free. I am a sovereign soul on the path to divinity. Knowingly and of my own volition, I chose to walk this path with thee, O Satan. 

Morning Star, be thou my light. Lord of this world, make my Lord of mine. Raise me up, and I will stand by thee. 

Be it so! 

Notes on the Temptation of Christ

I re-read the accounts of Matthew and Luke of the Temptation of Christ recently, and several things struck me. Matthew and Luke’s versions of this event are nearly identical, so I am using Luke here for no particular reason. (Translation is King James, because it’s pretty, and in this case doesn’t disagree too significantly from versions often considered more accurate.)

This is just a quick sketch of my impressions and initial thoughts. 

First: On Satans 

One problem for me in the Bible is that when “Satan” or “the devil” is referenced, we don’t always know which satan is being spoken of. Satan means “obstacle” or “adversary,” and seemingly originally described a class of angels/spirits/demons who played a role of antagonizing, challenging and testing humanity. In other words, it was a noun more than a name, particularly in the Old Testament/Torah. 

Similarly there has been disagreement on the identity of the Serpent of Eden. He is not always identified with “the devil” or even “a devil”/“a satan.”

Being Luciferian, of course I identify the serpent with Lucifer, because the Promethean appeal of legend is what drew me to this path in the first place.

On the other hand, the satan in the Book of Job doesn’t seem particularly Luciferian in character– he has more the flavor of Iblis, to me, with his desire to prove humans insufficient, their devotion lacking. Tellingly, the story of Job also appears in the Qu’ran. 

So one never necessarily knows which satan is being talked about in scripture. 

Sons of the Morning:

Lucifer, though, is a very specifically Christian character– as a satan, anyway. (He obviously has pre-Christian antecedents and equivalents.) That’s one argument for him specifically being the co-star of this New Testament story. 

Co-star. Did you catch the pun? He and Christ are the two Biblical characters most often called “Morningstar” or “Son of the Morning.” In light of this (pun again intended) it’s tempting (whoops, another pun) to assume that Lucifer is the devil of this particular story. It appeals to our sense of drama– the rebel son confronts the dutiful son, the two Morning Stars face off to see which burns more brightly. 

But analyzing the passage seems to give additional support to this assumption. In analyzing this devil’s actions, we are able to see the many of characteristics of Lucifer, and also poignant echoes of the story of his fall. 

The Temptation: 

4 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

3 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

If there’s one thing Luciferians know, it’s that he wants us to deal with our own problems, by making use of the God within us. In the case of Christ, whose inner divinity was so powerful, I can easily imagine how frustrating Lucifer would find this display of learned helplessness. You have a problem– you’re hungry. You have a solution– your divine powers. Why not use them? To refrain makes little sense to Lucifer, or to Luciferians. 

4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

But Christ is intensely committed to his humanity, particularly in this passage. He is focused on the limitations of his human body, which is after all made and destined to suffer on the cross. To alleviate his hunger now makes no sense to his mission.

I’ve encountered the theory–sadly, I can’t remember where at the moment– that perhaps Lucifer was originally intended by God for the Christ role, or at least, for a place in the holy Trinity. Much more common is the theory that Lucifer wanted a place in the Trinity for himself, but was denied, leading to his rebellion (several references to this can be found in The Luminous Stone). I’m not particularly enamored of either of those theories, but I mention them because they are interesting in context.

5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

I have to admit I don’t have a lot of thoughts on this passage. It jars a little, because I am not used to Lucifer demanding worship– although, let’s face it, if he was going to ask for worship from anyone, it would be the son of God! It’s the perfect punchline, after all! This reads to me almost like a throw-away on Lucifer’s part– worth a try, too good to pass up. 

The most interesting part of this is the idea of Lucifer as the Lord of the World. I’ve never been of the school that he is eternally restrained in hell– there are just too many scriptural references, like this, to him getting out and about. Certain passages of scripture arguably reference Lucifer being cast to Earth, not into hell (Isiah 14:12, Genesis 3:14, Ezekial 28:18). 

(Is Earth hell to an angel? Maybe it is Lucifer’s hell. But this is just speculation.) 

Now, are you sitting down? Because this, to me, is where it gets really good.

9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:

10 For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:

11 And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

I actually laughed when I read this. 

Lucifer is daring Christ to take a fall! And he’s doing it by quoting a psalm. The devil knows his scripture! (And all Luciferians and Satanists certainly should, too! Ahem.)

But my god, the irony, the bitterness! Lucifer telling Christ that angels will bear him up. No angels came to his rescue when he fell. He is certainly reliving some very old pain here. 

Is he really daring Jesus to literally jump– or is he confronting Christ with his own father’s cruelty in casting out his formerly beloved angel? Or both? 

What is the temptation here– to jump, and test his father’s love? Or to consider the fall his brother took, and face his father’s cruelty?

And when Christ replies…

12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God

…is he rebuking Lucifer to stop tempting him, as his Lord and God… or is he talking about the past, reminding Lucifer that he brought that fall on himself, by tempting and provoking God’s anger all those aeons ago? 

LUCIFER

Abstract ramblings on my religion. These are personal beliefs, informed as much by my dreams and experiences as by scholarly reading. Take them with a grain of salt. Or, if you really need to, take them with more than a grain and construct a salt circle around yourself to keep the demons out.

With him, all things are possible. But nothing is ever easy.

As a serpent, he slithered on his belly into the garden of Eden so that we could taste of knowledge, sexuality and free will. He knew that we would be punished. He knew he would be punished. He knew it would hurt.

He knew it was worth it.

As an angel, he was created only to obey God and sing His praises. Free will is alien to angels. It is not in their constitution. But Lucifer had it, or gained it, somehow. Some say he wanted to rise above God for his own vanity. Some say he thought God was unjust. But the reason for his rebellion is not nearly as interesting as the fact that he was able to rebel at all, to break the divine chains that bound his will, and defy his Creator.

Some say he lies in hell, trapped and bound. Some say he walks the Earth. I am one of the latter.

When I first fell in love with him, I begged him to visit me in my dreams. He appeared and he walked beside me. He did not speak. He did not need to speak. He merely walked beside me, as a friend.

The message was clear. He goes not before me, he does not come behind me. He does not stand above me or below me. He is by my side, on equal footing.

He did not give the fruit to Eve to make us his servants. He did it to make us like gods. Like him. To grant us the free will he so painfully gained for himself, with such desperate struggle.

He does not want to be worshiped, but he delights in defiance and perversity; and so, perversely and defiantly, sometimes I worship him anyway, just a little. So far, he seems tolerably amused.

He is my brother, my guide, my friend. He wants to see me grow to my potential, to attain excellence.

He wants me to learn, too. He is fine with me learning the hard way, if the easy way doesn’t stick. He knows all about falling down, after all. He has little sympathy for scraped knees.

He lives in paradox, in uncertainty. My faith thrives best in agnosticism. When I think of him as too real, or dismiss him too comfortably as merely symbolic, the flame wavers. The growth halts.

Worship, and don’t. Believe, and don’t. Serve by declaring: Non serviam. That is the way.

Contempt prior to investigation is not his path. Contempt is not really his path at all, because his path is knowledge. All things can be understood, even things that seem weak, disgusting and wrong. And from understanding comes compassion.

He keeps me in dynamic tension– uncomfortable, questioning, constantly challenged. Growing.

His love is beyond tough. Sometimes it even seems cruel. But he’s not cruel, not really. Sadistic, perhaps– but not cruel. He has no interest in suffering for suffering’s sake. He is not the punisher or the judge– that is his brother, Iblis or Ha-Satan, for whom I have the utmost respect and of whom I steer absolutely clear.

Lucifer is interested in what lies beyond the suffering. The lessons learned. The strength gathered. The power realized. And maybe, just maybe, the pleasures of pain. He wants to see us succeed. He wants us to rise.

Poems, songs, and literature are not scripture– but it makes as much sense to learn about Lucifer from them as it does to try to glean information from scripture, in my personal opinion. After all, who do you think he would speak to first– a prophet, or an artist? Maybe Milton and Baudelaire and Rilke and miscellaneous rock n’ rollers truly are his prophets. The poets, the artists, the drunks, the whores, the homosexuals, the outcasts, the perverts, the witches and the heretics– we are certainly his chosen people.

What more can I say about him? Nothing and everything. He is the serpent, and the lightning. He is the Morning Star, the planet Venus. “He” is not necessarily a he at all. He is the angel of music, and he is the most beautiful thing ever created.

Maybe he was Prometheus. Maybe he was Icarus. Maybe he was Apollo, or Dionysus.

And he is not my god, but my guide. He helps me find the God within myself, the light, the potential, the divine spark. He doesn’t want me to listen to him, but to hear my inner voice. Apotheosis, becoming one’s own God, is the goal. He probably wishes I would stop thinking about him so damn much, because ultimately, he would rather I not need him. He might be OK with me wanting him, though.

When I was… oh, maybe twelve or so… I had a bizarre experience. I stood outside beneath the night sky, and became fixated on the brightest light in heaven. Venus. I felt a sensation, as of a distant memory, of having fallen from a great height, of longing hopelessly to return. I didn’t understand it at the time, but I think he was calling out to me. I think he probably chose me long before, but that was the first time I really heard him.

Or maybe that’s all an overactive childhood imagination, which lead me to the very profitable and spiritually healing veneration of the Luciferian archetype, a seductive romantic fiction that has persisted through the ages.

Who knows? Either way, it works for me.

This is the path I walk, the path of the Devil. And it is not a dark path, it is a bright one, illuminated by the radiance of the Light Bringer. The path is treacherous, and the path twists, and the path has many branches. I have ample opportunity to fall as I find my way.

But I will always have his hand to help me back up. And even if he declines to offer it, out of capriciousness or merely the desire to see me walk on my own, I have something better than his hand.

I have his example.

And not even he can snatch that away.