Lucifer, Satan, and the Rebel Archetype in Anarchist Thought
Exploring the Intersection of Mythology, Religion, and Radical Politics
In 1883, the American anarchist Moses Harman began publishing a newspaper called Lucifer the Light-Bearer, which immediately attracted controversy for promoting various trends in radical social and political thought that were common in the late 19th century. In the pages of the publication, Harman not only expressed opposition to government, but also criticized organized religion, along with conventional bourgeois social norms regarding marriage, family relations, gender roles, sexual morality, and child-rearing. Harman was also interested in eugenics, the idea that the human species could be improved upon through selective breeding, which was also popular in the 19th century. In fact, the name of the publication was eventually changed to The Eugenic Magazine in 1906. During his time as the publisher of Lucifer the Light-Bearer, Harman frequently ran afoul of the laws of the United States for allegedly promoting obscenity, largely because of his advocacy of “free love” and contraception. Harman was one of numerous anarchist figures that adopted Luciferian imagery as a representation of either enlightenment, or rebellion against tyrannical authority.
The Origins of Lucifer in Astro-Theology
The concept of “Lucifer” is one that is rooted in astro-theological traditions that extend back into the very ancient world. The term “Lucifer” is Latin in origin, and was originally utilized to signify the planet Venus. A range of mythological figures subsequently came to be associated with Venus as a heavenly body. Because of the odd motions and frequent invisibility of the Venus, the figures associated with Venus came to be known as celestial beings that fell from the sky to Earth. Venus as known as the “morning star” in ancient cosmology and the planet was thought to be a manifestation of multiple divine figures in ancient religions. In the Babylonian tradition, Venus was associated with the goddess Ishtar, and with Inanna in the Sumerian religion. In the Canaanite tradition, Venus was a manifestation of the god Attar, who had attempted to dethrone the god Baal, and was subsequently exiled to become the ruler of the underworld. A parallel, and probably older, Canaanite tradition involves the myth of the god Helel who tried to overthrow the rule of El, the supreme god of the Canaanite pantheon. The stories of Attar and Helel are clearly earlier prototypes for the myth of Lucifer, the Fallen Angel associated with the Abrahamic traditions.
In the classical Greco-Roman tradition, Lucifer was thought of as the “light-bringer,” and was frequently depicted as a man carrying a torch. It was claimed that Lucifer was the son of the goddess Aurora and the god Cephalus. Lucifer was considered to be the one who “heralded the dawn” in the form of the morning star. Parallels to Aurora exist in other theological traditions, including the Greek goddess Eos, the Vedic goddess Ushaa, and the Lithuanian goddess Ausrine. Each of these figures is believed to be rooted in the Indo-European concept of the “dawn goddess.” Writing in the second century A.D. /C.E., the Roman writer Pseudo-Hyginus described the relationship between the planet Venus and the figure of Lucifer as follows:
"The fourth star is that of Venus, Luciferus by name. Some say it is Juno's. In many tales it is recorded that it is called Hesperus, too. It seems to be the largest of all stars. Some have said it represents the son of Aurora and Cephalus, who surpassed many in beauty, so that he even vied with Venus, and, as Eratosthenes says, for this reason it is called the star of Venus. It is visible both at dawn and sunset, and so properly has been called both Luciferus and Hesperus.”
Lucifer is depicted in Ovid’s Metamorphoses: “"Aurora, watchful in the reddening dawn, threw wide her crimson doors and rose-filled halls; the Stellae took flight, in marshaled order set by Lucifer who left his station last." Cicero described the place of Lucifer in the astro-theological concepts of Roman religion:
“Sol the Sun and Luna the Moon are deities, and the Greeks identify the former with Apollo and the latter with Diana. But if Luna (the Moon) is a goddess, then Lucifer (the Morning-Star) also and the rest of the Wandering Stars (Stellae Errantes) will have to be counted gods; and if so, then the Fixed Stars (Stellae Inerrantes) as well."
Within the Christian tradition, a passage from the book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Tanakh/Christian Old Testament has often been interpreted as representation of the story of Lucifer, the Fallen Angel:
On the day the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and turmoil and from the harsh labour forced on you, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has come to an end! How his fury has ended! How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit. Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: 'Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, the man who made the world a wilderness, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?'
In some translations of the Bible, the phrase “morning star” is translated as “Lucifer.” However, taken in context, this passage from Isaiah is clearly a depiction of the prophet Isaiah’s rebuke of the King of Babylon, and not a reference to a fallen angel, and such an interpretation of the passage is not found within Jewish traditions. Some leading Christian theologians also rejected the interpretation of the passage from Isaiah as a reference to Lucifer, the manifestation of Satan, Yahweh’s evil counterpart. For example, John Calvin said, in reference to such interpretations: "The exposition of this passage, which some have given, as if it referred to Satan, has arisen from ignorance: for the context plainly shows these statements must be understood in reference to the king of the Babylonians."
In the Bogomil tradition within Gnosticism, Lucifer was believed to be the older brother of Jesus, who subsequently fell from Heaven in the form of the Demiurge, and became the creator of the material world. Because human souls were trapped in the material realm, Jesus descended from Heaven to free the imprisoned souls, and Lucifer attempted to use the cross as an attempt to kill his brother Jesus. The scriptures of the Church of the Latter Day Saints (“Mormons”) depict Lucifer as a renegade member of the heavenly council who rebelled against God in a manner that is similar to the historic Christian view of Lucifer, the Fallen Angel.
"And this we saw also, and bear record, that an angel of God who was in authority in the presence of God, who rebelled against the Only Begotten Son whom the Father loved and who was in the bosom of the Father, was thrust down from the presence of God and the Son, and was called Perdition, for the heavens wept over him—he was Lucifer, a son of the morning. And we beheld, and lo, he is fallen! is fallen, even a son of the morning! And while we were yet in the Spirit, the Lord commanded us that we should write the vision; for we beheld Satan, that old serpent, even the devil, who rebelled against God, and sought to take the kingdom of our God and his Christ—Wherefore, he maketh war with the saints of God, and encompasseth them round about."
It is clear that the origins of Lucifer as an astro-theological concept have little to do with the later Abrahamic notion of Lucifer, the Fallen Angel, who was expelled from Heaven because of his efforts to dethrone the supreme God. While the identification of Lucifer with Satan eventually became commonplace within the Christian tradition, such a relationship is not consistent with either pagan or Jewish traditions. Likewise, the figure of Satan does not assume a prominent role in Judaism, but only emerges as a major malevolent force with the advent of Christianity.
The Concept of “Satan” in Abrahamic Religious Traditions
The character of Satan is certainly one of the most fascinating figures in the mythological traditions of the Abrahamic religions. While Satan is only a marginal figure in the Hebrew Bible, the character of Satan assumes a more significant role in both the Christian New Testament, and in Islam. Indeed, religious believers of different kinds have at times become quite fixated on the image of Satan. An example involves the so-called “Satanic panic” of the 1980s, when many people came to believe that secretive Satanist cults were committing clandestine crimes against children and other atrocities. The concept of Satan has its roots in religions of the Ancient Near East, where a “satan” was considered to be a heavenly being that played a particular role in the realm of the gods, such as that of a celestial prosecutor. The idea of Satan as a fallen angel that serves as a rival being to Yahweh or Allah within the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition has its theological roots in the dualism of the ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism.
An examination of the biblical literature, as well as the literature and traditions of other religions that developed in the Ancient Near East, indicates that the concept of Satan was one that evolved over time. Initially, for example, the Jewish religious tradition had no concept of an evil god or demonic figure that served as a force for evil and in competition with the “good” god. However, in the Hebrew Bible there are references to a character known as the “satan,” most notably in the books of Job and Zephaniah. This character appears to the equivalent of a heavenly prosecutor that is involved in accusing both humans and other heavenly figures of wrongdoing. The familiar Christian mythology of Satan as Lucifer, the Fallen Angel who was expelled from Heaven, is absent from the Hebrew Bible, but contained within certain inter-Testamental Hebrew works that are also part of the Apocrypha, which is included in the Catholic Bible, but not in the Protestant Bible.
The development of Satan as a kind of god-like being that serves as an evil counterpart to the “good” god (known as Yahweh in the Judeo-Christian tradition, or as Allah in the Islamic tradition) appears to have initially developed as a result of the influence of the Persian religion of Zoroastrianism. The Zoroastrian religious tradition postulated the idea of two rival gods, one evil and one benevolent, that were is a constant dualistic struggle. Ideas of this kind apparently influenced the development of Second Temple Judaism and entered the Jewish tradition through the influence of Zoroastrianism during the time that the Hebrew people were under the rule of the Persians. Zoroastrianism postulated the existence of the god Angra Mainyu, the evil counterpart of the benevolent deity Ahura Mazda, as revealed by the prophet Zoroaster. It was within Zoroastrianism that concepts such as messianism, judgment after death, heaven and hell, and free will were initially developed in a sophisticated theological form. Many of these concepts subsequently influenced Second Temple Judaism, and later, Greek philosophy, Gnosticism, Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, and the Ba’hai religion.
The influence of Zoroastrianism on Second Temple Judaism is most apparent in the book of Enoch where a legion of hundreds of angels known as “The Watchers” is responsible for guarding the Earth. The Watchers subsequently abandon their position to engage in sexual relations with human women in a manner similar to the story of the Nephilim in the book of Genesis. The Watchers’ leader, Semjaza, goes about spreading sin, evil, and corruption throughout the Earth in a story that resembles the Fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis. The Watchers are subsequently confined to caves, and it is said they will face punishment at the end of time. A similar story is told in the book of Jubilees. In the second book of Enoch, a Watcher named Satanael is expelled from Heaven. Talmudic writings from this period depict an archangel known as Samael whose purpose is to engage in the destruction of sinners.
The character of Satan begins to assume a more fully developed form in the New Testament Gospels, which purport to depict the story of Jesus Christ. The Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke describe Satan as synonymous with the Philistine god Beelzebub, which is most likely another name for Baal. While references to “the devil” appear in other parts of the New Testament, it is in the book of Revelation that depictions of Satan are the most vivid. Satan is described as the supernatural ruler of the Roman Empire who is the root of all evil, and will eventually be destroyed in an apocalyptic war between supernatural forces:
"And war broke out in Heaven Michael and his angels fought against Dragon. Dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in Heaven. Dragon the Great was thrown down, that ancient serpent who is called Devil and Satan, the one deceiving the whole inhabited World – he was thrown down to earth and his angels were thrown down with him."
Historically, the Abrahamic religions have placed varying degrees of emphasis on the importance of Satan, depending on the particular faith tradition, sect, and time period.
Satan/Lucifer as an Anarchist Rebel-Hero Archetype
Many self-styled outlaws and social rebels, ranging from ruthless self-seekers to high-minded idealists, have found inspiration in a famous saying from the 17th century poet John Milton’s Paradise Lost: “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven." The saying originates from the monologue given by the character of Satan in the poem, which is located in Book I, lines 242 through 270, with the saying itself being located in line 263. The image of Satan that is presented by Milton is one of a being that rejects subservience to the point of eschewing the heavenly paradise in favor of the position of power owned by the ruler of Hell. Milton’s Satan has been alternately interpreted as either a petty tyrant or, in a manner similar to William Blake, a rebel against tyranny, depending upon the proclivities on the interpreter.
Because of the common Christian practice of associating Lucifer with Satan, both Luciferian and Satanic imagery and metaphors have been utilized by various anarchist thinkers over time. Within the anarchist tradition, the image of Lucifer/Satan has often been presented as one of a noble rebel that rejected the tyranny of Yahweh, even at the cost of being expelled from Paradise. The 18th century English anarchist philosopher William Godwin once wrote of Satan, “Did he rebel against his maker? It was, as he himself informs us, because he saw no sufficient reason, for that extreme inequality of rank and power which the creator assumed.” That Godwin had been raised as a Calvinist, with its theological system that postulates the arbitrary and capricious God of predestination, likely influenced his thinking considerably on such matters. Godwin’s son-in-law, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, also favorably quoted Milton’s Satan: “Awake! – arise! – or be forever fallen.”
The classical anarchist movement of the 19th century often exhibited a very powerful strand of anticlericalism, largely because anarchism had emerged in countries where clerical authorities continued to hold considerable amounts of authority, and where the theocratic church and its union with the state persisted. In 1858, Pierre Joseph Proudhon, the first modern writer to refer to himself as an anarchist, issued an attack on the Catholic Church and its opposition to political reform:
“Liberty, symbolized by the story of the temptation, is your Antichrist; liberty, for you, is the Devil. Come, Satan, come, the one slandered by priests and kings…Your works, oh beloved of my heart, are not always beautiful nor good; but only they bestow meaning upon the universe and prevent it from being absurd.”
In this passage, Proudhon invokes the metaphorical image of Satan as a representation of one who is in rebellion against the tyranny of the Church and the secular rulers for whom it provides sanction.
Luciferian imagery became popular with a range of radical thinkers. In the late 19th century, Theosophical Society founder Helena Petrovna Blavatsky also began publishing a journal called Lucifer. The theosophist outlook that Blavatsky promoted included elements that combined occultism, Hindu cosmology, and modern science. Politically, the journal identified with women’s suffrage, anti-colonialism, and social reform. Blavatsky was not a Satanist. Her use of Lucifer was as a symbol of rebellion in the realms of spirituality and politics. In 1886, the Swedish radical Atterdag Wermelin issued a biblical parody called the “Ten Commandments of Lucifer,” which included such statements as, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, unless she covets only you, but his ox and ass and all the capital that belongs to him thou shalt take from him and make the property of thine brothers.”
Perhaps the most famous example of anarchist adoption of Satan as rebel-hero was that of Bakunin, who said, “Satan is the first free-thinker and Savior of the World. He frees Adam and impresses the seal of humanity and liberty on his forehead, by making him disobedient.” A century later, the American social activist Saul Alinksy wrote,
“Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom – Lucifer.”
Comically, some of the more reactionary sectors of American politics have seized upon this quote as evidence of Alinsky’s incipient Satanism. In reality, Alinsky identified as Jewish (though he was a probable atheist) and was primarily interested in social and economic reform in areas pertaining to labor relations and housing conditions.
The historic relationship between anarchists and religion has been somewhat paradoxical. In the tradition of thinkers such as Godwin, Proudhon, and Bakunin, many anarchists have been religious skeptics or non-believers, and some have embraced militant anticlericalism. However, other anarchists have adopted what they considered to be the original, pure teachings of the world’s great religious traditions. As Peter Marshall explained:
The original message of the great religious teachers to live a simple life, to share the wealth of the earth, to treat each other with love and respect, to tolerate others and to live in peace invariably gets lost as worldly institutions take over. Religious leaders, like their political counterparts, accrue power to themselves, draw up dogmas, and wage war on dissenters in their own ranks and the followers of other religions. They seek protection from temporal rulers, bestowing on them in return a supernatural legitimacy and magical aura. They weave webs of mystery and mystification around naked power; they join the sword with the cross and the crescent. As a result, in nearly all cases organized religions have lost the peaceful and tolerant message of their founding fathers, whether it be Buddha, Jesus or Mohammed.
Ironically, the figures of the founders of the major religious traditions and the figures of Lucifer or Satan have served similar purposes for anarchists. Each of these has been adopted by anarchists as archetypes representing human resistance to oppression.
Reading List:
Jasper, D. (2008). The Sacred Body: Asceticism in Religion, Literature, Art, and Culture.
Baylor University Press.
An exploration of the body in religious and philosophical traditions, touching on the themes of rebellion, spirituality, and the human condition, relevant to understanding Luciferian and anarchist symbolism.Blavatsky, H. P. (1887). Lucifer: A Theosophical Magazine.
Theosophical Publishing Society.
The original publication by Helena Blavatsky, which adopted the Luciferian symbol in a spiritual and political context. This work sheds light on the use of Lucifer as a symbol of enlightenment and rebellion.Marshall, P. (1992). Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism.
HarperCollins.
A comprehensive history of anarchism, including a discussion of the role that religious and mythical figures like Lucifer and Satan have played in anarchist philosophy.Milton, J. (1667). Paradise Lost.
Penguin Classics Edition (2003).
Milton’s epic poem is foundational to the modern concept of Satan as a rebellious figure, which has been appropriated by many anarchists as a symbol of resistance to authority.Proudhon, P. J. (1858). Justice in the Revolution and in the Church.
Dover Publications.
This text includes Proudhon’s critiques of the Church and his invocation of Satan as a symbol of rebellion, crucial for understanding the roots of anticlerical anarchism.Godwin, W. (1793). Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and Its Influence on Morals and Happiness.
Penguin Classics Edition (2006).
Godwin’s foundational anarchist work, which also contains reflections on the relationship between authority, rebellion, and the figure of Satan as a metaphysical rebel.Shelley, P. B. (1813). Queen Mab.
Oxford University Press.
Percy Bysshe Shelley’s radical poem that includes themes of rebellion against tyranny, echoing Milton’s portrayal of Satan as a symbol of defiance.Alinsky, S. (1971). Rules for Radicals.
Vintage Books.
Alinsky’s political guide to grassroots organizing famously includes a dedication to Lucifer, the "first radical." This work is essential for understanding the symbolic use of Satan in modern political thought.Blake, W. (1793). The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.
Oxford World’s Classics Edition (2000).
Blake’s visionary work portrays Satan as a symbol of freedom and energy, often interpreted as a critique of organized religion and traditional authority.Dyrendal, A., Lewis, J. R., & Petersen, J. A. (2016). The Invention of Satanism.
Oxford University Press.
A scholarly analysis of the development of Satanism as a concept and its association with rebellion and subversion, key themes in both religious and anarchist contexts.
Very interesting - I wonder what thoughts you have about the association of Satan with Ahriman (per Steiner) and the notion that we live in an age of strong ahrimanic influences (centralisation, dead intellectuality, control, enslavement of the mind etc) which parallels with the increasing modern references to satan