Luciferianism
Luciferianism is a belief system that venerates the essential characteristics that are affixed to Lucifer. The tradition, influenced by Gnosticism, usually reveres Lucifer not as the Devil, but as a liberator or guiding spirit[1] (often associated with the Greek Prometheus[2]) or even the true god as opposed to Jehovah.[3]
Luciferianism is identified by some people as an auxiliary of Satanism, due to the popular identification of Lucifer with Satan. Some Luciferians accept this identification or consider Lucifer the light bearer aspect of Satan.[1] Others reject it, arguing that Lucifer is a more positive ideal than Satan.
Contents |
[edit] Historical Luciferianism
The Gesta Treverorum records that in 1231, heretics began to be persecuted throughout Germany. Among them were Luciferians principally in the archdiocese of Trier, but also Mainz and Cologne. Over the following three years, several people were burned as a result. According to a papal letter from Gregory IX, Vox in Rama, dated from July 13, 1233, one of the claims made by the Luciferians was that Lucifer had been cast out of Heaven unjustly. Women were implicated in the cult, and the Church accused those named as heretics of sexual perversities. The chronicler of the Gesta seems, however, to have confused Luciferians with the Cathars in some respects.[4]
On the other hand, Richard Cavendish has argued: "The confessions Conrad of Marburg extracted were apparently made without torture, but under the threat of death if the victim did not confess. If these confessions were accurate, the Luciferans were full-blown Satanists. They worshiped the Devil as creator and ruler of the world, complained that he had been unjustly and treacherously banished from Heaven, and believed that he would overthrow the God of the Christians and return to Heaven, when they would enjoy eternal happiness with him. They reveled in whatever displeased the Christian God and hated whatever pleased him..."[5]
[edit] Modern Luciferianism
![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} |
This section requires expansion. |
Many modern self-described Luciferian groups exist. Such modern groups vary widely, with some ascribing a more gnostic worldview, while others are largely derived from occult Satanism.[citation needed]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Michelle Belanger (2007). Vampires in Their Own Words: An Anthology of Vampire Voices. Llewellyn Worldwide. p. 175. ISBN 0738712205.
- ^ James Randall Noblitt; Pamela Sue Perskin (2000). Cult and Ritual Abuse: Its History, Anthropology, and Recent Discovery in Contemporary America (Second ed.). Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 133. ISBN 027596664X.
- ^ Spence, L. (1993). An Encyclopedia of Occultism. Carol Publishing.
- ^ Paul B. Pixton, The German Episcopacy and the Implementation of the Decrees of the Fourth Lateran Council, 1216-1245: Watchmen on the Tower (Brill, 1995), pp. 381–387
- ^ Cavendish, 1983, pp. 296-297, The Black Arts
