Lucifer Lost (in Translation)

Lucifer, a Latin name which originally meant 'light bringer' (Lux - light Ferous - carry) became a synonym for the Devil or Satan, apparently through a translation error.

Lucifer makes a rare appearance in the Old Testament in the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 14, Verse 12 in the Latin version of the Bible.

In the New Jerusalem Bible, this phrase is now translated as: "How did you come to fall from the heavens, Daystar, son of Dawn?"

So how did the Star come to be known as the Devil, a being that is believed to have existed from the Beginning of Time and who is often equated with the Serpent in the Garden of Eden ?

The Isaiah text refers to the death of a king of Babylon and the Daystar was a metaphor for the downfall of this king. The Christian concept of the Devil did not exist at the time that the Isaiah text was composed.

In the 4th century St Jerome translated the phrase 'Daystar, son of the Dawn' as 'Lucifer' for the Vulgate (the Latin version of the Bible).

The translators for the King James version of the Bible based some of their revisions on St Jerome's Vulgate rather than on the original Hebrew texts.

The Isaiah verse is apparently the seed for the legend about the rebellious angel in Paradise Lost who was cast out of heaven and whose name became synonymous with darkness instead of light.

The expression Daystar or Star of the Morning pops up in the Bible a few times more, for example in the Book of Revelation. On these occasions, the translators have decided that Lucifer is a reference to Jesus Christ rather than the Devil.

To confuse matters further, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 11:14, "...even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light."

Those who choose to believe that the Bible is the literal infallible word of God and not metaphorical or astrological teachings, must surely concede that even if the Biblical Word of God is literal and infallible, his translators are probably not.

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Some thoughts on Eve, the Marys and Venus:

The name ‘Lucifer’ means ‘light bringer’ or ‘light bearer’ and was the alternative name of Venus, the Morning Star.




The Morning Star was called the Light Bringer because it heralded the arrival of the sun at dawn, the sun being the ultimate source of Light and Life.

For some reason, the Light Bringer and Knowledge became equated with Evil and “Lucifer” was also the name that has been given to the rebellious fallen angel who defied God in some traditions.



In the previous post, I discussed Edgar Cayce’s interpretation of the Garden of Eden story.

If you interpret his story symbolically rather than literally, it can be viewed as a reference to feminine intuition and wisdom where the Light Bringer shows Eve how to gain access to knowledge and her divine identity.

In Cayce’s version of the story, Eve is a soul who incarnated many times. Cayce believed that her last incarnation was that of Mary, the mother of Jesus.




The figure of Mary, whether it is the Immaculate Conception, (virgin) or the Magdalene (whore), is often linked with that of the goddess Isis, also known as the Black Madonna (mother).





And Isis is sometimes equated with the goddess Venus.

The goddess Venus was believed to be a powerful female creational force, a source of light and love. (Although as with all things, she also had a dark side or negative aspect) However, in this context, Lucifer/Venus, the Light Bringer is a source of enlightenment, universal love and illumination.



Throughout history, Lucifer, women, knowledge and the serpent (the symbol of wisdom) have all, at one time or another, become equated with Evil in the collective unconscious and suppressed in order to be replaced with the darkness and violent mysteries of the patriarchal religions.

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Continuing with the look at different stories and myths about the creation of humanity and evil, an interesting version of events is provided by Edgar Cayce a.k.a. the sleeping prophet.

According to Cayce, God, together with a collection of Souls and an assortment of angels collaborated to create the universe.

Fallen Angels

The Souls were given the gift of Free Will which made some of the angels jealous, among them the one that eventually become known as "Lucifer", who allegedly stormed off in a huff to do his own thing.

With the gift of Free Will, some of the Souls began to experiment with matter and energy projecting themselves onto the physical plane and creating many hybrid creatures.

These creatures remain in our collective unconscious as half-memories and are apparently the source of legends about centaurs or mermaids etc.

Some of the Souls descended into matter and became so entranced that they couldn't return to the realm of energy and forgot where they really came from.

Amilius and the Master Plan

One of the unfallen Souls called Amilius (apparently the first Soul that God created) volunteered to descend to the Earth and bring the Fallen Souls back.

God agreed but also devised a plan which involved reincarnation, forgiveness and karma which meant that the Souls had to earn their way back home.

Amilius incarnated on the physical plane as Adam and the twin soul Eve. These were the first humans who were part energy and part matter.

But descending (or falling) into physical matter meant that they too could not remember their true origins.

Forbidden Fruit

However Lucifer was apparently skulking in the wings ready to thwart God’s plan to release the souls from Earth. So he disguised himself as a serpent and told Eve that she could save the fallen souls much faster if she would only eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil because then they would be like God.

Adam wanted to play the long game but Eve eventually persuaded him to eat the fruit so that they could take a shortcut and redeem the souls faster.

The rest is as in the Book of Genesis with Adam and Eve getting found out by God and banished.

Many Lives, Many Masters

But then, according to Cayce, Adam (and Eve) continued to incarnate on Earth for many more lifetimes to continue their attempts to bring the Souls back to the realm of energy.

Some of these Adam-personalities are well-known figures from the Bible like Joshua and Enoch. Others are less well-known or completely unknown figures from the past.

The most well-known figure who was an incarnation of the first man Adam (according to Cayce) was that of Jesus Christ, hence titles given to Jesus such as the ‘First Born’, ‘Son of God’ or ‘only begotten Son of the Father’.

And the most well-known figure who was an incarnation of the first woman Eve was Mary as the Mother of Jesus.

An account of Cayce’s theory about the incarnations of Jesus can be found in the book Lives of the Master.

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