Lucifer

A term meaning "light bringer," from the Latin "lux" and "ferre," which appears in the Latin Vulgate Bible as a translation of the Hebrew word helel. The name appears in Isa. 14:12, where the king of Babylon is compared to Lucifer (or the planet Venus, the morning star) as one fallen from heaven. In the third century C.E., Lucifer was identified with Satan, and Luke 10:18, which speaks of Satan falling from heaven, was seen as a reference to the verse in Isaiah. In the West, Lucifer also survived as an independent spirit being.

According to the old magicians, Lucifer was said to preside over the East (possibly an identification with the morning star). He was invoked on Mondays in a circle in the center of which was written his name. As the price for appearing to the magician, he asked only a mouse.

Other traditions state that Lucifer rules Europeans and Asiatics. He sometimes appears in the shape of a beautiful child. When he is angry his face is flushed, but there is nothing monstrous about him.

He is, according to some students of demonology, the grand justice of Hades, and as such is the first to be invoked by witches in the Litanies of the Sabbat.

In his poetry John Milton pictured a most human Lucifer, who existed as a potent force for good or evil, one who might have done great good, intensely proud and exceedingly powerful.

The attempt to revive Lucifer in his pre-Christian positive nature occurred in Theosophy. Early in the twentieth century, the Theosophical Society named one of their prominent periodicals Lucifer, and the Arcane School called its publishing concern Lucis Publishing.

Lucifer (Lat., ‘light-bringer’). In the Vulgate and Authorized Version of Isaiah 14. 12 (‘How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer’), an epithet for the king of Babylon. By some of the fathers it was taken in conjunction with Luke 10. 18 as a name for the devil, so that the whole passage Isaiah 14. 12–16 became one basis for the myth (developed in Milton's Paradise Lost) that the devil is a rebellious angel cast into hell.

Lu·ci·fer / ˈloōsəfər/ • n. 1. another name for Satan.2. poetic/lit. the planet Venus when it rises in the morning.3. (lucifer) archaic a match struck by rubbing it on a rough surface.

Lucifer the rebel archangel whose fall from heaven was supposed to be referred to in Isaiah 14:12; Lucifer was traditionally interpreted as the name of Satan before his fall, and gives rise to the expression proud as Lucifer.

The name comes (in Old English) from Latin, ‘light-bringing morning star’. In literary use, Lucifer may designate the morning star, the planet Venus appearing in the sky before sunrise.

Lucifer Name given in ancient Roman times to the planet Venus as seen at dawn. In classical mythology, Lucifer's Greek counterpart was Phosphorus, and both were personified as male torch-bearers. In Christian mythology, Lucifer was an epithet of Satan.