(01-13-2026, 11:07 PM)SteamyAmerican Wrote: Back on topic. Can someone more versed than I explain the difference between Satanism or believing in Satan vs. Luciferianism.
Are there differences, and if so what? I feel like the latter stalks the Halls of Power and is practiced by those that wish to elevate their mortal paths. While the former a shlub like me could pick up just to snub God and wear more black.
Satan (שָׂטָן Shaitan) is a fairly general Hebrew word for an "accuser" or "adversary", rather than being a name. Many ancient references do not actually give the fallen archangel a name but refer only to attributes and roles.
Descriptions and meanings
Abaddon: the destroyer
Asmodeus: "creature of judgment"
Azazel: taught man to make weapons of war, introduced cosmetics
Balaam: devil of avarice and greed
Beelzebub: Lord of the Flies, taken from symbolism of the scarab
Behemoth: personification of Satan in the form of an elephant
Haborym: synonym for Satan
Lilith: female devil, Adam's first wife who 'taught him the ropes'
Mastema: synonym for Satan
Naamah: female devil of seduction
Sammael: "venom of God"
It is believed that, originally, Satan was conceived of an adversarial angel of God, but between the writing of the Old and New Testaments, this understanding was changed to meaning the ultimate evil spirit, who no longer did the will of God, but actively opposed His will. This was possibly a syncretism of Zoroastrian ideas.
During the translation of the original Koine Greek and Hebrew texts of what we now call the Bible, Satan (Shaitan) symbolized an angel that was "the morning star" (i.e. once was beautiful and bright, but had faded).
This "Morning star" was translated as the literal morning star (the planet Venus) also referred to as the "light bringer" or 'lucifer', in Ancient Roman speak. Lucifer is not a name, it is an attribute, totally scrambled and misunderstood through successive translational and cultural 'Chinese whispers".