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"Day star, morning star." a name for Venus, from Greek Phosphorus, or Eosphoros. Lucifer is from Latin: lux, lucis, luce, luci, and lucu: “light”; and fer, fero: “to bear, carry, support, lift, hold, take up”; these synthesize literally as “Bearer of Light.”
While modern Christians believe the name Lucifer is a name for Satan, "the devil," the chief architect of evil, the reality is that before Milton ("Paradise Lost," 17th century), Lucifer had never been a name of the devil. One of the early Popes of Rome bore that name, and there was even a Christian sect in the fourth century which was called the Luciferians.
The name Lucifer is not in the Hebrew Bible. It was introduced into translations of the Bible (and subsequent doctrines) by a bishop named Jerome, who translated what is known as the Latin Vulgate. When he reached the book of Isaiah, there is a passage describing a king of Babylon:
"How are you fallen from heaven, O Shining One, son of Dawn!" - Isaiah 14:12
At that time Jerome was battling politically against a Christian bishop named Lucifer, so he translated the Hebrew phrase הילל בן־שחר Hillel ben Schahar (Shining One, son of Dawn) as "Lucifer." Thus, in modern Bibles, it reads:
"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" (King James version)
Although the original passage has nothing to do with Satan, "the devil," this minor change had massive impact on the interpretation of Christian doctrine and the now widespread misunderstanding of the name Lucifer.
Lucifer, the "carrier of the light," is the equivilent to the Greek myth of Prometheus, the divinity who brings the life-giving fire to humanity, yet is punished for this act, and is only freed when that fire incarnates as the hero (Herakles, the bodhisattva; i.e. Jesus, Krishna, Moses, etc) who liberates the Christic fire from its bondage in the stone (the mountain / Mercury / sex).
The fall of Lucifer symbolizes to how because of our defects and mistakes the divine fire within us has fallen into degeneration and must be cleansed of impurity.
"...in antiquity and reality, Lucifer, or Luciferus, is the name of the angelic Entity presiding over the light of truth as over the light of the day. In the great Valentinian gospel Pistis Sophia (§ 361) it is taught that of the three Powers emanating from the Holy names of the Three [[Tridunameis]], that of Sophia (the Holy Ghost according to these gnostics -- the most cultured of all), resides in the planet Venus or Lucifer." —H.P. Blavatsky
"We need to whitewash the devil with maximum expedited urgency. This is only possible through fighting against our own selves, by dissolving all those conjunctions of psychological aggregates that constitute the “I,” the “myself,” the “itself.” Only by dying in ourselves can we whitewash the brass and contemplate the Sun of the Middle Night (the Father). This signifies that we must defeat all temptations and eliminate all of the inhuman elements that we carry within (anger, greed, lust, envy, pride, laziness, gluttony, etc, etc, etc.). A trainer in the psychological gymnasium of human existence is always required. The divine Daimon, quoted many times by Socrates, is the very shadow of our own individual Spirit. He is the most extraordinary psychological trainer that each one of us carries within. He delivers us into temptation with the purpose of training us, teaching us. Only in this way is it possible for the precious gems of virtue to sprout from our psyche. Now I question myself and I question you. Where is the evil of Lucifer? The results speak for themselves. If there are no temptations there are no virtues. Virtues are more grandiose when temptations are stronger. What is important is not to fall into temptation. That is why we have to pray to our Father, saying, “Lead us not into temptation.”
Reference~ Samael Aun Weor, Tarot and Kabbalah
