Lucifer

From AnthroWiki
Revision as of 15:31, 18 March 2021 by Odyssee (talk | contribs)
Lucifer in a production of Rudolf Steiner's Mystery Dramas at the Goetheanum in Dornach.

Lucifer (from Latin: lux "light" and ferre "to bring"; Greek: Φωσφόρος Phosphoros "light-bringer, light-bearer" or Ἑωσφόρος Eosphoros "bringer of the dawn"), in Latin also the poetic name of the morning star, i.e. Venus, literally the "bearer of light", the light-filled red devil, often also called Diabolos (Greek: Διάβολος Diàbolos "muddler, confounder", from Διά-βαλλειν dia-ballein "to throw into confusion") and according to Rudolf Steiner identical with Iblis mentioned in the Koran, is symbolised in the Bible by the serpent who sneaks into paradise and tempts man to eat from the "tree of knowledge". Lucifer is also often depicted as a winged dragon; in Ezekiel's vision also as a winged bull. Lucifer has anchored himself above all in the sentient soul, which has come into being through the transformation of the astral body (Lit.:GA 107, p. 247), and here he incites the sensual desires and instincts.

Lucifer and Venus

The "morning star" Venus on the left below the Moon.

The biblical story of creation begins with its description at about the time when the Sun separated from the Earth in the course of the Earth evolution during the so-called Hyperborean period. The most exalted spiritual entities went out with the Sun at that time, while on Earth the formation of man was being prepared at the same time. However, not all spiritual beings above man were already so far advanced that they could have gone with the sun. For them, with Mercury and Venus, suitable dwellings were created between the Earth and the Sun. Lucifer and his hosts found their new home on Venus:

„Thus on Venus also live entities that stand between man and the solar beings. They inhabit Venus and can even become effective on Earth. They become effective in the human body. We call these entities Luciferic entities. In a certain sense they have their home on Venus. That is why Venus is also called 'Lucifer'.“ (Lit.:GA 98, p. 186)

„There were powerful beings during the old lunar evolution, highly elevated spirits, who, however, in a certain respect had not reached the end of their evolution during this lunar evolution. Among these high spirits there was a group which was, as it were, under a leader and which, when the lunar evolution came to an end, had not reached its evolutionary goal and had therefore not reached it when the Earth began its evolution. This multitude now intervened in the evolution of the Earth, assisted in the guidance of mankind, but inwardly with the tragic longing for a star of the universe thrown out of the whole of the old lunar evolution - in the sense in which it has been portrayed in "Occult Science". We have powerful, high, important beings under their leader within our spiritual Earth evolution, who really carry within themselves this longing for a star out there in the universe, which they regard as their true home, but on which they cannot be, because they had to leave the Moon and go to Earth without having completed their evolution. These are the multitudes who are under Lucifer, and Lucifer himself works in the evolution of the earth with a continual longing within himself for his true home, for the star of Venus outside in the universe. This is the most prominent feature of the Luciferic being when we look at it cosmically. And the clairvoyant consciousness actually comes to know what is characterised in the star of Venus by looking into Lucifer's soul, and thus has within the earth the tragic longing of Lucifer, like a wonderful cosmic homesickness for the star Phosphoros, Lucifer or Venus. For all that Lucifer has thrown off like a shell, all that has been sieved out of the Luciferic beings at the death of the Old Moon, just as the physical body is sieved off from the human soul at death, shines down from heaven as Venus.“ (Lit.:GA 129, p. 91)

Venus shows itself similar to the Moon, the abode of Yahweh, in periodically changing phases. Only the fully luminous disc of Venus affects the lower man in the same way as the Full Moon; the quarters affect the breast of man and when Venus, similar to the New Moon, affects only spiritually, it, i.e. the Luciferic forces, seize the head of man. This is especially true in the case of a transit of Venus, where Venus comes immediately before the solar disc.

„From Lucifer we learn that his kingdom is Venus, and that those forces which find their symbolic-physical expression by coming to us as the light of Venus, the morning and evening star, that these physical rays of Venus, which are sent into space, are the symbolic-physical influence of Lucifer on man. Lucifer did not confine himself to influencing the lower human being. He would only work there when Venus shines with her full disc, as with the full moon. You know that Venus has just such phases as the moon, that there is a waxing, a full and a waning Venus. The quarters again have the same effect on the breast-man as the quarters of the Moon. Venus, however, which works spiritually, works on the head of man, so that an expression of what spiritual effects are in relation to man can be seen in the interaction of Sun, Moon and Venus in the heavens. Mind you, an expression of what is in the human spirit.

As the great Sun-Spirit works in man in relation to the Moon-Spirit, in relation to Yahweh or Jehovah, so Lucifer, who is always active in human nature, works in relation to these two. If one wished to represent this law of interaction graphically and give a sketch of it, one could best do so by seeking it in the constellations of the physical Sun, the physical Moon and Venus. As these stand to each other, as these can have a relation, that the one opposes the other, repels it, that the one strengthens the other or that it weakens it by placing itself above it and darkening it, so is the relation of the three spiritual powers, which have been characterised, in man. Man can especially unfold his solar effect when it is impaired neither by the lunar nor by the Venusian forces. But his Sun, so to speak, the forces that are in the middle man, in the heart, can also be eclipsed by the Moon, by the head forces, just as eclipses can also occur through Lucifer, through Venus. As you also know, there are what are called passages, transitions of Venus before the Sun in the space of the world.

Thus you have the interrelatedness of the inner trinity of man, so to speak the Sun-spirit, the Moon-spirit and the Venus-spirit or Lucifer symbolised in space and expressed by the constellation of Sun, Moon and Venus.“ (Lit.:GA 137, p. 167f)

Origin of the Luciferic Beings

On the Old Moon, the former embodiment of our Earth, the Luciferic beings went through their humanity stage, i.e. their I-development, but did not reach their full developmental goal. Today they stand on a level of development between man and angel and become seducers of today's man by implanting selfish sensual urges and desires in his astral body. But precisely through this they also prepare the freedom of man.

„What kind of forces are the Luciferic beings? They are such as belong to beings who, during the previous earthly embodiment, in the old lunar period, remained behind in their development, and thus did not enter into the full hardening of earthly existence into which man has entered, but remained at a stage which lies before the materialisation of man. Thus they have remained more spiritual with their powers than man is. In their development they have only been able to reach a stage which is more spiritual than the stage at which man undergoes his earthly embodiments. By permeating human nature with their powers, they have caused this human nature to be more spiritual than it ought to be. If these Luciferic forces had not existed, man in his astral body would, in the unconscious forces subordinate to the conscious I-forces, have personally spiritualised things, such as the Luciferic forces are, but not such forces as he now has. In his lower nature man has become more spiritual through the Luciferic influence than he would otherwise have been. Man would have received all that he should have received on earth from the powers that are only progressing, but he would not be as spiritual as he is today. He would be without the Luciferic influence.

But man would not have anything else either. Without this influence man could not have had freedom, for if this Luciferic influence had not come he would carry out all his actions in such a way that when he had to do this or that he could only have looked to the motives which had come to him in the form of ideas flowing from the spiritual world. Whatever the human being would accomplish on earth, he would accomplish it in such a way that he would look at the idea that underlies it like a picture that shows him what has to happen without him having to form this idea. It would be like an inspiration from the higher worlds, and it would have such an effect on him that he could not possibly resist it. He would follow the will of the gods as a matter of course.“ (Lit.:GA 150, p. 90f)

Elsewhere Rudolf Steiner characterises Lucifer as a retarded Archangel:

„Lucifer is a being which we can designate as an archangel retarded on an earlier stage, Ahriman a being which we can designate as a Spirit of Personality retarded on an earlier stage.“ (Lit.:GA 154, p. 96)

See also

Literatur
References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.
Retrieved from "https://en.anthro.wiki/index.php?title=Lucifer&oldid=1559"