© 2012 Bruce Johnson – Reprinted with permission from Shining Lotus Metaphysical Bookstore Newsletter February 2012
by Bruce Johnson
The Bible teaches that Satan, as the adversary of good, is identical to the Serpent in the Garden, the tempter of Jesus, and the horned red Dragon in the Book of Revelation. Orthodox Judaism and Christianity teach in the existence of a personal Devil who is the enemy of a personal God. Examining the history of Satan shows him to be an anthropomorphic caricature that is rooted in pagan theology.
Samael or Satan is modeled after the red- colored Typhon or Set-an of Egypt, and the Zoroastrian Ahriman, both of whom represented the principle of evil. To the Egyptians and Persians, Set-an and Ahriman were symbolic of that force that is antagonistic to, and a shadow of, the light. This is partially shown in the Kabalistic axiom- Evil is good reversed.
The ancient mystery schools didn’t teach in the existence of a personal God or Devil, but of two great principles in nature. The first was a force of spirit, life, and goodness, the second a balancing force of matter, death, and evil. These two universal forces represented as paths were seen to be everywhere in the world. Great or small examples of individuals following either path could be seen in both the physical and spiritual worlds. The ancients, like us today, certainly recognized the existence of evil beings, but didn’t make an imaginary Devil their leader. The blind opposing force inherent in matter was transformed by early church leaders into the entity called Satan.
Many of our of our modern ideas of the Devil, or ”Father of Lies”, are founded on a literal interpretation of the Bible, and allegorical tales like the famous drama Faust, and the poem Paradise Lost. Although Paradise Lost was written as fiction, its’ Lucifer meshed with the biblical Satan and was believed by Puritan Protestants and many people today to be a true depiction of Satan.
Satan traditionally lives in Hell, or the lowest plane of the astral world, even though no Adept has ever seen the mythical Satan on any plane of life except as a thought- form created by human minds. Satan’s slaves are those individuals who have aligned themselves with the negative principle in nature. Symbolic examples of these tragic souls can be seen in the Beasts of Earth and Water of Revelation, the fallen Angels, and those chained in The Devil tarot card.
If one would avoid deep personal tragedy, steer well clear of any group in or out of Denver involved in Satanism.
Bruce Johnson has over 30 years of study in the fields of Ancient Wisdom and occultism. He has taught classes on a wide range of topics, from Atlantis to mediums to Zoroaster. He is also a spiritualist minister, with a background in spiritual astrology. He lives in Colorado with his wife and their cat.
