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The Gnostic Lucifer - An Informal Discussion
Gnostic
The term "Gnostic" comes from the Greek word "gnosis" meaning "knowledge." This knowledge doesn't refer to simple information that you can obtain from a book. It is the direct experiential knowledge of something or someone. In this case it refers to the intimate knowledge of nature, divinity and yourself. A Gnostic is a someone who knows or seeks to know these things directly. The most well known and deeply developed system of Gnosticism is to be found within the Christian tradition. Therefore, it is useful to make a brief note comparing the Gnostic tradition with the two most prominent forms of Christianity. In Protestant theology, salvation comes to those with Faith. All you have to do is accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior and have faith that he died for your sins and you are guaranteed a place in Heaven. In Catholicism, faith is important but you must back it up with Action if you are to have any chance of entering the Kingdom of God. In Gnosticism, faith and good works are only stepping stones to Gnosis. Christian Gnostics feel that "salvation" is gained through directly Knowing God. This has a close parallel in the Merkava tradition of mystical Judaism. The goal of the Merkava practice was to ascend through the various heavens, giving certain passwords and signs to gain entrance until you reached the Throne of God and looked directly at the Face of God. Ezekiel is believed to have been a mystic of the Merkava tradition. The apocryphal books attributed to Enoch also appear to belong to this style of mysticism.
The Gnostic cosmology put forth by Valentinius in the second century describes an interesting spiritual hierarchy that includes many elements found in other flavors of Gnosticism. At the very top is the ultimate unity that is sometimes referred to as God Most High. It is from this unity that everything else issues. First is a series of four divine entities (or "Aeons") grouped into male-female pairs (called "syzygies") that are collectively referred to as the Eight (or "Ogdoad.") The Ogdoadic Aeons then went on to produce further Aeons, including Sophia, which means "Wisdom." Sophia decided to create without the aid of her male counterpart and accidentally created a deeply flawed, blind and delusional entity that is often termed the Demiurgos, which literally means "Half-Maker." The Demiurge also made an attempt at solo creation. This resulted in the entire physical plane, which was just as deeply flawed as it's creator. Seeing his creation and nothing else, he declares himself the highest god. The Gnostics usually connected the Demiurge with the Old Testament entities that are collectively referred to as "God" in English (such as IHVH and ELHIM.) The hosts of angels under the command of the Demiurgos are typically referred to as Watchers, Archons or Rulers. In an attempt to repair the flaws caused by her mistake, Sophia arranges for the Demiurge to witness a reflection (which implies light) of God Most High in a pool of water. Upon seeing this image of something higher than himself, the Demiurge becomes frightened and binds it to his creation in a vain attempt to exert control over it. Sophia knew that once the image, which had become an entity in it's own right, was able to remember itself that it would overthrow the Demiurge from below, repairing the damage and establishing the Kingdom of God Most High in the physical realm.
In all versions of the Gnostic myth, the Demiurge endeavors to keep us ignorant in order to maintain control over us. One notable version of this Gnostic cosmology states that we are to escape the "prison" of material existence. It states that when we die, our soul rises through the planes in an attempt to reunite with God Most High. On the way there it gets trapped by the Demiurge and his Archons, stripped of it's memories and sent back down into matter. The key to escape this cyclical trap and overcome the Demiurge is Gnosis. This is similar to certain schools of Buddhism where the object is to escape the cycle of rebirth by recognizing the falsehood of the entities encountered in the afterlife state. This method is detailed in the Bardo Thodol (commonly known as the "Tibetan Book of the Dead.") However, once freed from the cycle of rebirth the Buddhist has the choice of either remaining in a non-physical state or they can choose to take on a physical body again. The latter path is that of the Bodhisattva and corresponds to the earlier mentioned Gnostic goal of overcoming the Demiurge not to escape the physical world, but to perfect/repair it. The Bodhisattva vow is to continue to be reborn until every sentient being has reached enlightenment.
A related Buddhist concept is that if you receive a certain initiation eventually you will be reborn in the utopian city of Shambhala, supposedly hidden somewhere in the Himalayan mountains. The prophesy of Shambala is apocalyptic. At some future time, a malevolent warlord gains enough knowledge to find and invade Shambalah. All hell breaks loose and a full world war occurs. Eventually, the powers of Light win out and Shambhala is established in the world as a whole. This should sound familiar in many ways to those who have read the book of Revelations from the New Testament. Shambalah represents essentially the same thing as the New Jerusalem in Revelations. All that being said, what must be realized is that none of these complex cosmologies are meant to be taken entirely literal. They are allegories. Such colorful words and elaborate stories were created to express something which we do not have the words to express directly. They are like the finger pointing at the moon rather than the moon itself.
Lucifer
How does Lucifer tie into this? Well, Lucifer is that image of God Most High that was imprisoned in matter in order to perfect it. Some of you may be thinking, "How can Satan be the image of God?" Lucifer and Satan are often viewed as separate entities. Satan is actually another title for the Archons and Demi-Urge. The word "satan" actually means "adversary," so the connection with the Archons is obvious. A title of Lucifer is "The Morning Star" which is the last luminary visible in the sky before sunrise. It isn't actually a star, but is the planet Venus. The symbolism contained in this title will require a whole article to explore it. The word "lucifer" literally means "light bearer," which gives a good general description of how the Gnostic Lucifer is viewed.
This title connects Lucifer with figures in several other traditions, most notably Prometheus. Prometheus (Greek meaning "Fore-thought") stole the fire of the "gods" and brought it to mankind. As a result, he was chained to a mountain and every day, an eagle would come and eat his liver. Every night his liver would grow back. Eventually, Heracles came along, killed the Eagle and released Prometheus from his chains. This story, looked at from a Gnostic Luciferian viewpoint, would represent the image of God Most High being imprisoned in matter for the purpose of bringing enlightenment to it. The Eagle being one of three symbols for Scorpio, represents the sexual force. It being used an instrument of torture and bondage signifies how the sex force is twisted to keep us from achieving Gnosis. Once the Eagle has been overcome, a great step towards liberation has been achieved. This does not mean that one must destroy the sexual force or remain celibate.
The verb "to know" in the bible is often used to denote sexual union. It is no coincidence that Gnosis also means Knowledge. In many Gnostic texts, Christ mentions the internal union of male and female aspects as being a key to salvation. Many esoteric traditions around the world include the physical representation of this union as an aid in attaining the internal state of union. One of these traditions which most people have heard about is called Tantra and can be found in Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism (the Taoist "Tantra" is more commonly called "Internal Alchemy.")
In Tantra, the reproductive force is symbolized by a fiery serpent typically called Kundalini. In the Western Mysteries, Lucifer is also conceived of as a serpent; sometimes a fiery, winged serpent or a fire-breathing dragon. The path of directly working with the sexual force in the pursuit of Gnosis is a dangerous path filled with traps for the unwary. Working indirectly or at least less directly with the sexual force tends to be the less perilous path.
One could compare the two paths to the fable of the tortoise and the hare. The hare (a symbol of vigorous sexuality, to be sure!) is able to tread the path quite quickly, but falls prey to a trap of the ego (ie. arrogance) and his progress is completely halted halfway through. The tortoise goes at a slow speed that he is capable of maintaining, remains determined and progresses steadily without incident. The tortoise even reaches the goal before the hare! If we want to accomplish the work in one lifetime, as the sages of every tradition insist is possible, then we must work while it is still day, for the night cometh when no man can work. I would advise against embarking upon the more dangerous methods without the aid of an experienced and knowledgeable instructor too keep you from getting too far astray.
Jesus/Christ
So where would Jesus come into the picture? Gnostics tend not to talk a lot about Jesus, preferring rather to speak about the Christ. The difference is that Jesus was an historical figure from about 2000 years ago, whereas the Christ is ever present. We can never truly Know Jesus, but we can Know the Christ. If the accounts are correct, it would appear that Jesus fully manifested the Christ. Whether these documents are historically accurate or if they were written to express certain truths is of no consequence. The Christ is the awakened Lucifer. It has "remembered itself" and can now overthrow the Archons. The Christ is no longer bound by the limitations of matter (Hercules removing the chains binding Prometheus to the mountain), is no longer subject to death ("Death is swallowed up in Victory") and can help others achieve this state. The connection between Christ and Lucifer is alluded to in the book of Revelations (which is written in the style of the books of Enoch.) In chapter 22, Christ says, "I am the root and offspring of David and the Bright and Morning Star." I believe this to be a reference to the fact that he is the product of not only the Davidic line of decent, which can be traced back to Eve's third child Seth, but also back to Lucifer through his son Cain, Eve's first son. Other articles on this website go deeper into this. Also connected with the resurrected Christ is the phrase: Death is swallowed up in Victory. This is an amazingly deep phrase. On the Qabalistic Tree of Life, Victory is the primary title of the sphere which rules the energies represented by the planet Venus. Lucifer is the title the Romans gave to Venus in it's aspect as the Morning Star. Through the full "awakening" of the Lucifer within, even Death can be overcome and the Christ can be embodied. It may seem that this is a long ways off, but all through the writings of Adepts and Masters we are told that this can be accomplished in one lifetime. The key to this is to recognize the illusion of time and separation. All of these "stages" are present at all times and we are already one with those who are living in that stage. We just have to attune ourselves to it. That being said, becoming fully conscious of the illusion of time and separation takes place while still caught up in those illusions! Therefore, we must work in increments to increase this consciousness.
FROM http://www.jeremycrow.com/informal02.html