Lucifer means "light bearer" (sometimes "bringer of light" or "morning star") and is one of the names given to Satan (the Prince of Darkness) in Christianity. Satan means "the adversary (of God)" or "the enemy".
However, Lucifer is NOT always equated with Satan - or seen as neccessarily evil - in other religious Traditions. Some views of Lucifer add to the "standard" Christian concept of Lucifer - others ignore it entirely!
For example, the general view, adopted in the literary tradition, is that Satan was called Lucifer before the Fall from Heaven. According to this view of the rebellion, Lucifer was the chief in the hierarchy of Heaven, and as preeminent among all created beings in beauty, power, and wisdom. To him God allotted dominion and power over the earth; and even after his fall from grace, he seemed to still retain, if not all, some of this power and status.
Lucifer's sin was pride, an act of pure egoism and malice; he loved himself, above anything else and to the exclusion of everything, without the excuse of ignorance. As Governor of Heaven, he was seated next to the Lord; but as soon as God left His seat, Lucifer, swelling with pride, would sit himself on the heavenly throne. An indignant Michael (the archangel) battles with him, and after a angelical war, succeeds in banishing Lucifer and his followers from Heaven, casting all down to the infernal dwelling reserved for them for all eternity.
The one once called Lucifer in Heaven, was now named Satan on earth; the Angels that joined with him became the demons, of whom he was lord.
John Milton, in 'Paradise Lost', applies the name Lucifer to the demon of sinful pride; in Dante's 'The Divine Comedy' and in the play 'Doctor Faustus' (Christopher Marlowe), Lucifer is depicted as the king of Hell.
In the Theosophical tradition, he has been looked upon quite differently is regarded as a personification or Archetype of the independent & self-conscious mind (which may desire to evolve through many lifetimes toward the "Light").
The name Lucifer has been adopted in some Esoteric circles to represent the modern equivalent of the being of the Sun (originally named Ormuzd in the Zoroastrian dualism) opposed by the darkness, the Prince of Lies, who was called Angra Mainyu, in some forms of Ritual Magic called Ahriman.
Lucifer, in the Roman Pantheon, is the father of Ceyx. He is the son of Aurora, whom according to legend spawned many deities. Lucifer literally means "light bearer," there is no evil or dark side to his nature. He is the illumination of the soul, and guide of the Mysteries. He is similar to the Celtic God, Bel.
It is known that Doreen Valiente borrowed the Charge of the Goddess and altered it from Leland's Gospel of the Witches. Within this text, Lucifer is said to be the father of the Witch Goddess, Aradia. He is the consort of Diana, and also her brother. According to this view Lucifer is a god of light, and Diana is a lunar Goddess of the night - Light (Lucifer) and Darkness (Diana). The sybmolism is of opposites attracting to form creation.
"Diana greatly loved her brother Lucifer, the god of the Sun and of the Moon, the god of Light (Splendor), who was so proud of his beauty, and who for his pride was driven from Paradise. Diana had by, her brother a daughter, to whom they gave the name of Aradia [i.e. Herodias]." - The Vangelo, Leland.
This is the reason why Lucifer is sometimes equated with Apollo by some occultists, because they have the same characteristics.
On a final note, there is also the "common knowledge" that Lucifer is a fallen Angel. Nothing could be further from the truth. As is already shown, Lucifer isn't a Hebrew word. Typically, in Christianity and Judaism, Angels have the suffix of the character lamed on their names, or "el" meaning "of God." Even the Angel commonly associated with Satan; Sammael; has this. Lucifer lacks the lamed, which is taken by some occultists as a further indication that Lucifer has nothing to do with Satan, but is indeed actually a Pagan deity.
For others in the occult, Lucifer is a pagan deity (as mention above) and should not even be considered part of Christianity! The reasoning for this is as follows:
The first mention of Lucifer in a Christian context was within the Book of Isaiah. Now, obviously, Lucifer is a Latin word. The etymology is in the Latin word for light: lux. How is it, then, that a Latin word managed to appear in a Hebrew text?
It didn't. When being translated from Hebrew, St Jerome and his peers changed the Hebrew word "Heylel" to Lucifer. This was a natural move against Paganism; which was still fairly popular at the time.
Here is the King James Version passage of Isaiah 14:12: "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!"
Now, as stated above, if Lucifer is a mistranslation of Heylel, what was the original meaning?
In this view, the original reference was to a Babylonian King - and him alone. This King was known as Nebuchadnezzar. When the context of the verse is appreciated, it makes sense. Even Jesus is referred to as an Star of evening, so it doesn't seem logical to ascribe this incorrectly to Lucifer. Therefore, according to this view, Lucifer has no place in the Bible and is not a Christian figure at all.
NOTE: This differs greatly from the "standard" Christian understanding which takes the word Lucifer (or Heylel which means "light bearer" or "morning star" - so what then is the difference?) to be speaking of the person behind King Nebuchadnezzar or, properly speaking, the person behind the wickedness of the King, who is Satan.
In Milton's classic Paradise Lost Lucifer was described as a demon of sinful pride. Many modern Satanists have picked up on this and use Lucifer as a alternate name for Satan. For example, in Anton Szandor La Vey's Satanic Bible, Lucifer is described as one of the four crown princes of Hell, related to air and the East. Lucifer is also a name used in the performance of a Black Mass and in the Satanic Baptism in LaVey's 'The Satanic Rituals'.
Yet many other groups have used the name Lucifer to represent quite different things. For instance, in astrology Lucifer is the name sometimes given to the planet Venus as the morning star. In the 'Royal Masonic Cyclopedia', Lucifer is listed as one of the seven genii that govern the days of the week, listed in the Scale of the Number Seven. In many Grimoires of Western Ceremonial Magick Lucifer usually appears as a spirit quite separate from Satan:
- *In the 'Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage':
- * Lucifer is one of the four "superior princes", the others being Leviathan, Satan and Belial.
* Lucifer is a name that appears on the first line of a double acrostic square used to cause a spirit to appear in human form
.
*In the 'Grimorium Verum' Lucifer is called the emperor of spirits and is named in a conjuration of Beelzebub
*In 'Pseudo-Monarchia', Wierus lists Lucifer as Beelzebub's lord chief justice.
*In the 'Grimoire of Honorius' Lucifer is a spirit associated to Monday.
*In 'The Magus' Lucifer is the Prince of Rebellion, Angels and Darkness and ruler of the Infernal World.
*Lucifer is the original name of the arch-Daimon Satan in the Diabolicon.
*Lucifer is a demon of pride listed by Binsfield.
*Lucifer is a spirit listed in the 'Grimoire of Armadel'. He rules over Beelzebub and Astaroth. Lucifer is said to be able to teach one about the rebellion and fall of the Angels who rebelled against Jehovah.
*In Aleister Crowley's 'Liber Aervm Vel Saecvli':
- * Lucifer is a demon mentioned in the cry of the aethyr Zon. Crowley compares Lucifer in this case to the Hindu deity Brahma.
* A demon mentioned in the cry of the aethyr Arn.
IT SHOULD BE NOTED BY ALL that the concept of the Devil is foreign to Wiccans. Some Wiccan Traditions do acknowledge a figure called Lucifer, however. In this they are influenced by Charles Geoffrey Leland's book Aradia: Gospel of the Witches. In this case Lucifer is seen as a Promethean light bringer, referred to as the "god of the Sun and of the Moon, the god of Light", and
not as the Devil or another name for Satan. As such Lucifer is found in Victor Anderson's Faery Tradition of Wicca.
It is obvious that there is no "one size fits all" definition or understanding of Lucifer in occult and/or Esoteric circles. That said, the prevailing view in Wicca and most forms of Neo-Pagan Witchcraft is that Lucifer as an equivelant being to, or as another name for Satan or the Devil, either simply does not exist - or is just considered to be a part of Christianity and has no part to play in Wicca and/or Neo-Pagan Witchcraft
at all!
Something to be considered and remembered in witnessing to those still involved in the occult in it's various forms...
I hope this proves to be of use/interest to some here...