DocHolliday
10-25-2005, 10:00 PM
The aim of this post is to discuss Cain in a Luciferian light and as the first lord of the Left Hand Path presented in Biblical (and thus Judaic, Christian, and Islamic) lore. I've cast Cain as the first to tread this path through a metaphorical reading of the Biblical and extra-Biblical traditions rather than a literal reading.
According to some Kabbalistic lore, Cain is the child not of Adam and Eve, but rather of the Serpent and Eve. The Serpent, in this case is identified as Sammael. It's necessary to indulge in a little recursion to see the link between the Serpent, Sammael, Satan, and Lucifer.
Lucifer, as understood by Christianity (and thus Gnosticism and Luciferianism), does not exist within a Judaic understanding of the Hebrew Bible, nor is he present in Judaic lore in this manner. However, the juxtapositions of these figures in Judaic lore does allow for the emergence of a Luciferian figure.
We must begin by understanding the concept of "God" in the Kabbalah. The most basic understanding is that God is a place created for the purpose of containing creation. It stems from the Talmudic use of "hamakom" (the place) as a euphamism for God. In the Zohar, this idea is elucidated by stating that En Sof (without limit - referred to also as the mysterious unknown, i.e. chaos) vacated a space into which a single point of light (singularity) was projected. This place is known as God, and the opening line of Genesis may be read as "with beginning ___ created God, the heavens, and the earth." This one point of light is referred to as Kether, the first and highest of the Sefiroth, which is part of En Sof itself. It is interesting to note that this idea of God as the cosmos itself, or the static, cosmic order, is mirrored in the modern Setian belief that Horus is the static, cosmic order (Set being the Platonic ideal of the first Isolate Intelligence, from which all others are derived).
The Sefiroth, arranged as they are in the diagram known as the Tree of Life, comrpise a figure known as Primordial (divine) Man - the blueprint of creation and the "image of God" in which the first man was created. It should be noted that this image is a static one - natural harmony with the cosmic order. Man, in this state, is pure with the innocence of naivete. He has no real conscious will, and such would not manifest without the incursion of a universal id.
This universal id, as much a creation and expression of En Sof as God, was known as Satan (Heb: hasatan, the adversary). His express purpose was to create a dynamism in man, to allow free moral agency. Satan, in terms of the Hebrew Bible is God's agent in testing and prosecuting mankind. In extra-Biblical texts, he is often identified as man's id. Kabbalistically, Satan is the title of the being known as Sammael.
Sammael, as a daemonic being, is considered the ruler of the Kelifah of Kether - the dark side of the Crown, as it were. Since he is identified with the title of Satan, we can say he is the figurehead of the supernatural id, the archetype of psyche-centricism. As the ruler of Kether, he is the inversion of Metatron (the angel which serves as the agent of theophany and the fugurehead of the supernal super-ego). It is interesting to note that sometimes, Sammael and Metatron are considered the same being with two sides, much like the oldest portayals of Horus and Set in Egyptian lore.
Ignoring, for the time being, the transfiguration of Enoch into the Metatron (as this is another mythical recursion - the Crown was created before Enoch was born, much less translated), we have, as previously established, a composite being within the Sefirah of Malkhuth: Metatron/Sammael. All descriptions of Metatron indicate that he is a being of fire - one of the Serafim, and the first of them all.
Serafim are beings of flame. The word seraf itself means "burning," "flaming," or "smouldering." However, they are more than that. At one point in their wanderings through the desert, the Hebrews are plagued with flaming serpents (hanehashim haserafim). In order to cure the Hebrews of the malady caused by these creatures, Moses is instructed to fashion a serpent (here called seraf) out of brass - the resultant brass serpent is referred to as "nehash neshosheth." Isaiah envisions the serafim with wings (Is 6) and makes reference to flying flaimg ones (seraf me'opep).
The purpose of identifying Sammael as a Seraf and the Serafim in general as serpents (nahashim) is to shed light on the tale of Eden. Ironically, the assosciation of the serpent of Eden with Satan (Sammael) is one area of theological agreement between Judaism in Christianity. We also see how Sammael plays his role as the supernal id by inciting Adam and Eve to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
What we do not see in the Biblical account is written of in extra-Biblical texts, such as the Zohar and other Kabbalistic works. This is the seduction of Eve by the serpent. The child of this union is Cain.
We are then brought to the story of Cain and Abel. Part of understanding this story on a level deeper than the gross surface reading that many engage in is taking a look at the words themselves. Most important of these are the names Cain and Abel: Cain (Kayin) is derived from "possess" (kana), Abel (Hevel) is the word for "vanity" or "shallowness" (cf Ecclesiastes). Furthermore, Cain was a tiller of the ground - he affected change, while Abel was a shepherd. This may be viewed as follows: the one who possesses the power to affect change slays empty vanity. Cain's mastery is further evidenced by the fact that the earth assissts him in his brother's murder, for it "swallowed" Abel's blood. The only times the Hebrew Bible uses this imagery, it literally depicts the earth opening up to entomb something or someone.
This is an interesting facet of the story, for we can see that Cain is not the one cursed, but rather the earth, as it is no longer able to assist and serve its master. Cain's only punishment is exile from his land into Nod (a word which means wandering). The surprising result of this exile is the construction of the first city, a momument to the refined, luminescent intellect.
I would like to state that this path did not cease with Cain or the deluge, but was continued by one of the twelve tibes of Isael, the tribe of Dan, whose icon is the serpent and who shall sit in judgement upon his brothers. From the place of religious history, Dan was the tribe which consistently existed on the edges of orthopraxy and the spirituality of Israelite society. Just as Satan was the supernal id and Cain the id of man's emergence, Dan (using the analogy of Israel as indicative of a person's spiritual essence) was the spiritual id.
In fact, this concept was so strong that an early Judaeo-Christian text states the antichrist would rise from the tribe of Dan, and the Apocalypse of St. John omits Dan from the listing of the tribes of Israel sealed by God.
As a self-styled "dark Kabbalist," the honour to which I hold myself is the honour of knowledge, the illumination brought by the serpent (lux ferre) and enshrined in Cain.
According to some Kabbalistic lore, Cain is the child not of Adam and Eve, but rather of the Serpent and Eve. The Serpent, in this case is identified as Sammael. It's necessary to indulge in a little recursion to see the link between the Serpent, Sammael, Satan, and Lucifer.
Lucifer, as understood by Christianity (and thus Gnosticism and Luciferianism), does not exist within a Judaic understanding of the Hebrew Bible, nor is he present in Judaic lore in this manner. However, the juxtapositions of these figures in Judaic lore does allow for the emergence of a Luciferian figure.
We must begin by understanding the concept of "God" in the Kabbalah. The most basic understanding is that God is a place created for the purpose of containing creation. It stems from the Talmudic use of "hamakom" (the place) as a euphamism for God. In the Zohar, this idea is elucidated by stating that En Sof (without limit - referred to also as the mysterious unknown, i.e. chaos) vacated a space into which a single point of light (singularity) was projected. This place is known as God, and the opening line of Genesis may be read as "with beginning ___ created God, the heavens, and the earth." This one point of light is referred to as Kether, the first and highest of the Sefiroth, which is part of En Sof itself. It is interesting to note that this idea of God as the cosmos itself, or the static, cosmic order, is mirrored in the modern Setian belief that Horus is the static, cosmic order (Set being the Platonic ideal of the first Isolate Intelligence, from which all others are derived).
The Sefiroth, arranged as they are in the diagram known as the Tree of Life, comrpise a figure known as Primordial (divine) Man - the blueprint of creation and the "image of God" in which the first man was created. It should be noted that this image is a static one - natural harmony with the cosmic order. Man, in this state, is pure with the innocence of naivete. He has no real conscious will, and such would not manifest without the incursion of a universal id.
This universal id, as much a creation and expression of En Sof as God, was known as Satan (Heb: hasatan, the adversary). His express purpose was to create a dynamism in man, to allow free moral agency. Satan, in terms of the Hebrew Bible is God's agent in testing and prosecuting mankind. In extra-Biblical texts, he is often identified as man's id. Kabbalistically, Satan is the title of the being known as Sammael.
Sammael, as a daemonic being, is considered the ruler of the Kelifah of Kether - the dark side of the Crown, as it were. Since he is identified with the title of Satan, we can say he is the figurehead of the supernatural id, the archetype of psyche-centricism. As the ruler of Kether, he is the inversion of Metatron (the angel which serves as the agent of theophany and the fugurehead of the supernal super-ego). It is interesting to note that sometimes, Sammael and Metatron are considered the same being with two sides, much like the oldest portayals of Horus and Set in Egyptian lore.
Ignoring, for the time being, the transfiguration of Enoch into the Metatron (as this is another mythical recursion - the Crown was created before Enoch was born, much less translated), we have, as previously established, a composite being within the Sefirah of Malkhuth: Metatron/Sammael. All descriptions of Metatron indicate that he is a being of fire - one of the Serafim, and the first of them all.
Serafim are beings of flame. The word seraf itself means "burning," "flaming," or "smouldering." However, they are more than that. At one point in their wanderings through the desert, the Hebrews are plagued with flaming serpents (hanehashim haserafim). In order to cure the Hebrews of the malady caused by these creatures, Moses is instructed to fashion a serpent (here called seraf) out of brass - the resultant brass serpent is referred to as "nehash neshosheth." Isaiah envisions the serafim with wings (Is 6) and makes reference to flying flaimg ones (seraf me'opep).
The purpose of identifying Sammael as a Seraf and the Serafim in general as serpents (nahashim) is to shed light on the tale of Eden. Ironically, the assosciation of the serpent of Eden with Satan (Sammael) is one area of theological agreement between Judaism in Christianity. We also see how Sammael plays his role as the supernal id by inciting Adam and Eve to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
What we do not see in the Biblical account is written of in extra-Biblical texts, such as the Zohar and other Kabbalistic works. This is the seduction of Eve by the serpent. The child of this union is Cain.
We are then brought to the story of Cain and Abel. Part of understanding this story on a level deeper than the gross surface reading that many engage in is taking a look at the words themselves. Most important of these are the names Cain and Abel: Cain (Kayin) is derived from "possess" (kana), Abel (Hevel) is the word for "vanity" or "shallowness" (cf Ecclesiastes). Furthermore, Cain was a tiller of the ground - he affected change, while Abel was a shepherd. This may be viewed as follows: the one who possesses the power to affect change slays empty vanity. Cain's mastery is further evidenced by the fact that the earth assissts him in his brother's murder, for it "swallowed" Abel's blood. The only times the Hebrew Bible uses this imagery, it literally depicts the earth opening up to entomb something or someone.
This is an interesting facet of the story, for we can see that Cain is not the one cursed, but rather the earth, as it is no longer able to assist and serve its master. Cain's only punishment is exile from his land into Nod (a word which means wandering). The surprising result of this exile is the construction of the first city, a momument to the refined, luminescent intellect.
I would like to state that this path did not cease with Cain or the deluge, but was continued by one of the twelve tibes of Isael, the tribe of Dan, whose icon is the serpent and who shall sit in judgement upon his brothers. From the place of religious history, Dan was the tribe which consistently existed on the edges of orthopraxy and the spirituality of Israelite society. Just as Satan was the supernal id and Cain the id of man's emergence, Dan (using the analogy of Israel as indicative of a person's spiritual essence) was the spiritual id.
In fact, this concept was so strong that an early Judaeo-Christian text states the antichrist would rise from the tribe of Dan, and the Apocalypse of St. John omits Dan from the listing of the tribes of Israel sealed by God.
As a self-styled "dark Kabbalist," the honour to which I hold myself is the honour of knowledge, the illumination brought by the serpent (lux ferre) and enshrined in Cain.