The Origin of Lucifer – Shiva

Lucifer is one of the more mythic beings, clouded in mystery, but I read a beautiful description by Rudolf Steiner on the origin of Lucifer:

“We find the Sun still as a planet among the seven planets, we find Venus with Lucifer as her ruler [Christ is the ruler of Sun]; and these two, the Sun Spirit and the Venus Spirit – in other words Christ and Lucifer – appear at first sight like brothers. Only by straining to the utmost our powers of perception are we to mark out the difference between them.

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“Lucifer, the ruler of Venus, appears in a form that is extraordinarily full of light … spiritual light. We have the feeling that all the glow and brilliance we can ever experience on Earth…is weak and dim in comparison to the majesty of Lucifer in the old Sun time. But then we notice, when we begin to perceive his intentions…that Lucifer is a being endowed in his very nature with infinite pride.

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“Lucifer’s proud greatness, Lucifer’s pride in his majestic figure of light …”Unmanifest light,” light that does not shine outwardly, but has immense strong power in itself – that Lucifer has in full measure … The Christ figure in the time of old Sun – the Lord and ruler of the Sun planet – is a picture of utmost devotion, entire devotion to all that is around Him in the world. Whereas Lucifer looks as one who thinks only of himself – we are obliged to cloth it all in human words, notwithstanding the fact that they are quite inadequate – Christ appears as wholly given up, in devotion, to all that is around Him in the great world.”

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These [the starsigns of the Zodiac] were not then externally visible; but instead, twelve great Forms, twelve Beings were present who let their words ring forth from the depths of the darkness, … they were words that told of primeval times, of times that even then were in a remote and ancient past.

The twelve were twelve World-Initiators [Logoi]. Today we behold standing in the directions of these twelve World-Initiators the twelve Signs of the Zodiac, but from them resounds, for the soul that is open to the whole world, the original being of the Unspoken Word of Worlds, that could take form in the twelve Voices.

 And whilst Lucifer alone — I must now begin to speak more in pictures; human words do not in the least suffice — whilst Lucifer had the impulse to let stream out upon all things the light that was present in him and therewith come to a knowledge of all things, the Christ on the other hand, gave Himself up to the Impression of this Word of the Worlds, received It in its fulness and entirety into Himself, so that this Christ Soul was now the Being that united in Himself all the great Secrets of the World that sounded into Him through the inexpressible Word.

Such is the contrast that presents itself, — the Christ Who receives the Word of the Worlds [AdamKadmon], and the proud Lucifer, the Spirit of Venus, who rejects the Word of the Worlds and wants to found and establish everything with his own light [outside Adam Kadmon].

(“Man in the Light of Theosophy, Philosophy, and Occultism”, Rudolf Steiner Press, 1964, lectures 8, 10)

This description is one of the more profound esoteric statements, it contains information that joins many other texts to a whole, and opens up for the understanding of the fall.

The above took place two æons back in time, a period called old Sun in esoteric parlance, see also Esoteric History of Man

Shiva as Lucifer

The previous text describes in reality Shiva, every place the name Lucifer is written there could as well have stood Shiva.

Steiner continues:

Every religion has to be referred back to a founder who through this religion made known to a group of people, in a manner suited to their capacity, some experience belonging to a particular stage of initiation.

You have for instance the religion which is not able to rise to the Christ, the Spirit of the Sun, but is peculiarly adapted to rise to the great and far-reaching soul that lived in the being who was many times incarnated as a Bodhisattva — a religion that looks up in worship to him who is the great Initiator, the great Inspirer, of the Buddha [Shiva, Lucifer].

This illustrates nicely Lucifer’s posture as he sits between the Archangels

This religion is not able to ascend to a vision of how the Christ is the Sun Spirit and has descended to Earth.

It sees only as far as to the one who is sent as a messenger; it gathers together, as it were, for its content that which goes forth from the Sun and becomes a planetary spirit.

And we can well understand that Buddha is regarded as a planetary spirit.

Such a religion, that lifts men’s thoughts to the Spirit who guides the evolution of the Buddha, could only grasp a figure like the figure of Vishnu in the Indian Trimurti.

Moreover, since a religion of this kind has not yet come through to the knowledge of the universal victory of Christ over Lucifer, neither is it able to place the figure of Lucifer in such relation to the Christ as we can today.

To the followers of such a religion Lucifer seems to be standing beside the Christ as an independent figure, — His equal, unsubdued. We have seen how Lucifer is given the place of a kind of brother. This is what you have when Shiva confronts Vishnu [Christ]. Look into the religion of Shiva, study it carefully; and you will follow me when I say that the Shiva religion of India can be understood when one has knowledge of the Lucifer Being. For Shiva is in reality Lucifer in the form in which he is not yet overcome.

(“Man in the Light of Theosophy, Philosophy, and Occultism”, Rudolf Steiner Press, 1964, lectures 8, 10)

Here Shiva is Lucifer as he entered the Earth development, he represent the angelic hierarchy, as it was when our development started on Earth, and he represents our etheric body before we began working on it.

Shiva represents our situation after we left Paradise, the etheric world, and entered the physical world, he represent tedious work in blood, sweat and tears, our way down into the physical.

See also Shiva and the Origin of the Earth

Vishnu represent Christ, but yet not very visible on Earth, Shiva was the absolute power, longer could man, at that time, not reach up into the spiritual worlds. Vishnu or Christ incarnates in etheric form as Krishna. Krishna shows his superiority over Shiva through many symbols, including his victory over the demon bull.

Steiner writes this on the relation between Lucifer and Christ:

 We learn how Christ already on the old Moon overcame Lucifer, and in the scene that is given us in the Gospels we have to see, as it were, a recurrence of the fact that Christ attained to victory over Lucifer.

On Earth Christ repels Lucifer from the outset. This is because on the Moon, when He was Himself less highly evolved — for Christ also undergoes evolution — He had repelled, through the uttermost devotion of His Being to Highest Powers, all the attacks of Lucifer which at that time still meant something to Him.

Already on old Moon Lucifer approached Christ. On Earth he was no longer dangerous to Him: on Earth Christ repels Lucifer at once. On the Moon, however, Christ had to exert all the forces at His disposal in order to repel Lucifer. This is then the added experience that comes to us when we cast back the gaze of higher consciousness into the remote time of Moon.

(“Man in the Light of Theosophy, Philosophy, and Occultism”, Rudolf Steiner Press, 1964, lectures 8, 10)

The fight between Lucifer and Christ, on the Old Moon, is described in the story about the Fight between Vishnu and Shiva. It’s of course described differently from the Vishnu and Shiva tradition. Here Vishnu only barely win over Shiva, as described with Christ and Lucifer.

On Earth the fight between Christ and Lucifer is described in the fight between Krishna and Shiva, where Krishna win without any problems.

See Krishna as Teacher of Love