Sophia
By Miguel Conner – In the article, Luciferianism, I explained how Lucifer began as a haughty earthly king in Judaism, evolved into the prince and principle of evil in Christianity, and finally became an archetype for inner transformation in modern mysticism. Lucifer is a powerful symbol for the interplay of darkness and light within the soul. In a Jungian sense, Lucifer is our Shadow Self: the voice in our unconscious calling us to acknowledge the dark lagoons of our greatest fears, but in the end delivering oceans of enlightenment for those who take the odyssey of self-knowledge.
But both the modern and traditional incarnations of Lucifer likely had their genesis in the heresy known as Gnosticism—based on another rebellious figure also symbolizing the soul’s journey across the dimensions of the cosmos.
Her name is Sophia. And she has also returned as an important light-bringer for a world on the brink.
The Gnostics depicted Sophia as the personification of Divine Wisdom. She was one of the Aeons—personifications of the Mind of God that comprised the Eternal Realm. Like Lucifer, Sophia is seen as a defiant and fallen being, in some narratives likewise the font of all evil and even the manipulator of mankind for her own mercurial desires. The reasons for Sophia’s transgression against the Eternal Realm are varied and often murky; but the truth is that why Lucifer fell from Heaven is more legend and speculation than anything actually mentioned in the Bible. The commonality between Lucifer and Sophia’s expulsion does point to hubris and curiosity (an always perilous combination for the human ego, as well). (more…)