In Harmonic_Concordance@yahoogroups, Carolyn D wrote (in a reply to Chandara):
With regards to Satan, my understanding of the christian mythology is that as Lucifer he was once the highest created being, entrusted with the education of Man, but when he realized that Man was destined to become a greater creation he became jealous, decieved (sic)
and brought about the downfall of man; and Jesus was then entrusted to take his place. In that regard, he would certainly be considered an adversary or opponent, but that in no way implies equality to God.
[Note: All sections in italics are quotes from Ms D's original email]
Dear Carolyn D,
Our opinions are largely derived from early inputs, the books we read or sermons we heard, only too few are from personal experience or direct insight, so methinks it's a good practice to not get overly attached to even our most cherished opinions - especially the ones institutionally imprinted in our circuits or inherited as prejudice from our ancestors.
With that little preamble out of the way, let's look at scary names like "Lucifer" and "Satan" and see where they come from. For good measure we'll throw in "The Devil," "Beelzebub" and "Mephistopheles."
LUCIFEROS is Latin for Light-Bringer, a poetic tag for the planet Venus (whose esoteric symbol is the pentagram or 5-pointed star). Also known as Prometheus in Greek mythology - a young Titan from an earlier evolutionary epoch who irked the usurping Olympian gods by taking fire from the heavens and bringing it to a benighted humanity. For this terrible "crime" Prometheus was chained to a rock and had his liver eaten by an eagle during the day; at night his liver would regenerate so that the whole gory punishment could proceed all over again
ad infinitum,
ad nauseam, till the end of Time! This is rather revealing of the cruel and vengeful Olympian psyche which labelled Lucifer/Prometheus as a traitor or whistle-blower (the Olympians didn't want humanity to have Fire or Light so they could forever exploit us as slave labor). Bear in mind, the leader of the Olympian gods was Zeus (later Latinized to Deus), also known as Jupiter or Jove, which derives from Yahweh or Jehovah.
Indeed, it's easy to draw a mythic comparison between Prometheus/Lucifer and Yeshua/Jesus: both upset the Status Quo and threatened the Powers That Be simply by shedding their Light in dark places - and for that were severely punished by crucifixion on the cross of Matter. Both were cult heroes with one significant difference: the admirers of Prometheus/Lucifer continue to be labeled "subversives" till this very day, while the followers of Yeshua/Jesus were abducted and mind-controlled by MK-Ultra Agent Saul of Tarsus (aka St Paul) into believing they were still loyal to the ideals of their hero when, in truth, they had been deactivated and turned into docile tithe-paying citizens of the "Holy" Roman Empire under King Constantine and his best crony the Pope.
In Hoc Signo Vinces. The politician unites with the priest under the sign of the cross to conquer the world.
Now from the viewpoint of humanity, Lucifer/Prometheus is a cult hero - a cosmic Robin Hood, Daniel Berrigan, Julian Assange or Edward Snowden - whose love for humanity (or justice and truth) overrides his fear of the Olympians' wrath. Imagine some Deep Throat from within the White House leaking some confidential information that could topple the regime. Fire is a metaphor for Intelligence, Knowledge, Technology, Illumination, Cosmic Gnosis. What's the connection with Venus? Apart from being the brightest visible planet, Venus is reputed to be the home of the Kumaras and the Hathors - spiritual guides to an evolving humanity. It so happens that Venus is the Roman name for Aphrodite, Greek goddess of erotic love - that's right, the source of our sexiness. In effect, the female aspect of Lucifer/Prometheus is Aphrodite, Goddess of Love. And we know how terrified of sex the patriarchal god of Abraham was (and still is) - note the many taboos against "carnal knowledge" unless "sanctified" by the Church through "marriage." And where does the Serpent come in? That's right - he encourages Eve to taste the Forbidden Fruit from the Tree of Immortality.
Notice how the serpent in indigenous mythology is invariably associated with the Life Force, with the Kundalini, as the Guardian of Secret Lore and Wisdom - while it's viciously reviled by all the patriarchal Book Religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). The Serpent also happens to be the emblem of the House of Enki, while the Eagle represents Enlil, in Sumerian mythology - but we won't delve into the subject of sibling rivalry for now or the story gets too complicated.
My point is: when you study the etymology and mythology of the names "Lucifer" and "Prometheus" it's impossible to pin anything "evil" on this archetypal entity. Indeed, it's fairly easy to end up admiring Lucifer's heroism in defying the Johnny-come-lately "deity" or local administrator known as Zeus/Yahweh/Jehovah/Jove.
Let's elaborate on what Lucifer/Prometheus's fate means: to be chained on a rock (a dense planet called Earth), liver devoured (lifetime after lifetime, the liver symbolizing the seat of the soul) by an Eagle (interchangeably a Phoenix or Scorpion, all symbols of resurrection) suggests that the defiant and rebellious Light-Bringing Spirit became imprisoned within the 3D Matrix and had to experience multiple incarnations within the physical realm... and yet could never really die because it would rise again repeatedly like the phoenix. Doesn't that sound pretty much like what all of us have had to endure? Are we not the descendants of Lucifer, still imprisoned by the Frequency Fence installed by an insecure Anunnaki godling named Enlil, later called Eli, Allah, Yahweh/Jehovah (or J. Edgar Hoover)? And are we not, like Yeshua/Jesus, perfectly capable of liberating ourselves from the illusion of death, resurrecting our bodies, and transmuting them into ascension vehicles of Light fueled by Love?
Moving on to "Satan": the word derives from the Arabic/Hebraic
shaitan which simply means "nemesis" or "opponent." In effect, anyone playing opposite you in a friendly game of ping-pong can be described as your
shaitan or Satan. Yup, Satan is your chess partner. And, remember, to your opponent, YOU are "shaitan."
In short, the naming of "Satan" as the opponent of "God" could well be a surreptitious insert contrived by a special committee appointed by King James I some time in the 17th century, when the Old and New Testaments were first translated into English - based on the Latin version, translated from the Greek which in turn had been translated from the Hebrew, drawing on fragments of the original Aramaic documents inscribed by the Essenes from a multitude of oral traditions going all the way back to Mesopotamian times and the
Enuma Elish - and eventually made available to the masses through the newly invented Caxton press. God knows what idiosyncratic modifications, omissions or mistranslations found their way into the Authorized King James Bible - used as the basis for most "modernized" editions published by various evangelical factions with different agendas. (Indeed, just to further complexify the issue, Mormons say that the tabernacles revealed to Joseph Smith in the 19th century by the ascended master Moroni are the missing chapters of the "unwholly" Bible. The original Tabernacles inscribed on gold plates apparently vanished soon after Smith had copied them into his journal).
How about "The Devil"? Where does THAT come from? The dictionary says it's etymologically derived from the Greek
diabolos (one who curses God). But the word may also have its obscure roots in the Sanskrit
deva and
devi - meaning "god" and "goddess" but oftentimes applied to the overlighting Spirit of a particular area, element, or species. The gross distortion probably originated in the Zoroastrian era when the word
deva became associated with the Asuras - an invading race regarded as barbarians and therefore "demonized" as an "evil" force. Even the word "demon" has its source in the Greek
daemon (which in New Age circles would be described as a spirit guide or Muse); only in the 19th century did the concept of
daemon acquire a negative connotation when its spelling was changed to "demon." Spelt backwards, the Devil merely comes across as one who has Lived!
And Beelzebub? What's the etymology here? Ba'al or Bel (from which the French word "belle" may have derived) was the tutelary spirit of the Philistines - a non-Semitic tribe that came into conflict with the Israelites and therefore got seriously badmouthed. Today a Philistine refers to someone totally uncultured, just as "barbarian" originally meant someone from Barbary (northwestern Africa). "Ba'al Zebub" (Lord of the Flies) is just a literary epithet for someone extremely scruffy and unwashed - which is how the bourgeois
nouveau riche often views their rural brethren. Interestingly, words like "pagan" and "heathen" originally referred to the peasantry - in other words, plain-living, unsophisticated countryfolk.
As for Mephistopheles (possibly a combination of "mephitic" and "anopheles" - meaning "foul-smelling" and "unprofitable"), the name was coined by the anonymous 16th century author of
Faustbuch who inspired Christopher Marlowe's - and later Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's - world-famous
Dr Faustus from which we get that exquisite metaphor, the Faustian pact of Hi-Tech Man (or as George Harrison sang: "We were talking/About the world that's gone so cold/And the people/Who gain the world and lose their soul...") In this instance, Mephistopheles is clearly the personification of Scientific Materialism - or the twisted notion that "Man was created to have dominion over Nature."
So... who, what, where is God's Adversary? Perhaps those Doomsday Preachers who deceive and stupefy In Her Name - all the while raping and pillaging Her beauty and bounty!
The Essenes and gnostics considered that the creator of the world, called the "demiurge", was the equivalent to the jealous, punitive god of the Old Testement (sic)
and was not the highest authority in the universe ......
Yahweh or Jehovah is indeed a junior godling, a sort of regional administrator who botched up big time (in all fairness, perhaps through bad advice from a bunch of mediocre intellects with severely aberrated reptilian egos, just as GWB, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton have served the secret government as a front for hideously arrogant and stupid ambitions). But we live and learn – or soon get demoted.
Whether Satan exists in actuality or allegory, or both, I don't know; but I do know his cult following is something you don't want to mess with.
It all begins as a "cult" - and when there are enough followers, it becomes an entire "culture." Take blood sacrifice and flag-worshiping for instance. A bunch of demented wannabe teenage "magicians" sacrifice a black cat in the woods - and there's a huge brouhaha when they get caught. But put them in public office and let them sacrifice thousands, even millions, of human beings in nonsensical wars - and they get hailed as Conquering Heroes, Loyal Nationalists and Empire Builders! You're quite right, Carolyn - you don't want to mess with this sort of coldblooded cult or they'll rocket-bomb you in bed.
I rest my flaming suitcase.
[First posted 2 February 2007, reposted 11 June 2014 & 9 November 2016]
