I have just read Awakening Lucifer, as well as Rites of Lucifer.
In Awakening Lucifer, there are eleven masks/aspects of Lucifer discussed, but no discussion of Lucifer himself. Am I to understand that, according to the authors, Lucifer is actually a conglomeration of all these deities and not an individual deity in and of himself?
Also, as the rituals contain quite explicit descriptions of the experience, are these the experiences and gnosis of the authors and only intended as examples of what may be experienced by others?
The concept of masks, or aspects, is a way for religious people to connect their favourite deity to older ones. Worship of Lucifer is pretty much a modern thing, historically speaking, not ever having existed until the invention of Christianity (the historical Lucifer is a very minor god in the Greek pantheon, who does’t even have any stories about him, showing that he was never worshipped in any capacity) so a lot of Luciferians try to tie their version, which was basically invented by Christians due to their misinterpretations and mistranslations of ancient Hebrew and Aramaic, to the older myths by claiming that ancient deities that were actually worshipped by different cultures are somehow “aspects” of their own god. Lucifer is not so much a conglomerate in this way of thinking, but that the other gods are individualized pieces of a defined characteristic attributed to him, who they see as an all encompassing force. It is exactly the same thing Christian magicians do, turning the pagan deities into pieces of their own One True God ™ as a way of plugging them into their monotheism (this is where the word “godform” originally comes from in ceremonial magick. Thor isn’t really a god to a Christian, he is a godform, a quality of the One True God individualized).
A true masterpiece! The book you will probably understand it only after doing the pathwork. The power resides in connecting with the dark side which really fits to you. Be sure thou to use a diary cause there are lots of dreams, synchronicities and so on happening and so you get a holistic view.
@Rav Right now, I’m just exploring to start working with Lucifer more, along with one or two of the ones mentioned. At the moment, I’m not looking to do the Draconian path.