Quick Specs
- Author: E.R. Vernor
- Subtitle: Exploring the Archetype and Origins of the Devil
- Edition: Expanded edition, full color
- Format: Paperback, 191 pages
- ISBN-13: 9781660868131
- Subject: Demonology, religion and philosophy
The Devil as an Archetype With a History
I, Lucifer treats the Devil as an archetype, a figure whose shape has shifted with the people telling his story. The back cover describes the evolving archetype of Lucifer, from his multifaceted creation to what it calls his almost endearing charm on today’s world stage. The book takes up myths and legends about Satan and about what Lucifer represents in culture, then follows the effects over the centuries, from the dogmatic repression of pagan beliefs to the fervor of the Satanic Panic in the 1980s and 1990s. It also examines the defense of the Devil by the Romantic writers and by Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan, and the part literature and film have played in redefining his guise. Borrowing runs through the book: it traces what has been taken from other faiths to shape the popular mental picture of the Devil. The subtitle names two tasks, exploring the archetype and tracing its origins, and the back cover frames both as one history running from the figure’s origin up to modern times. It asks you to set aside preconceived notions, and its closing line invites you to find out if the Devil made you do it.
The subtitle names two tasks, exploring the archetype and tracing the origins of the Devil, and the back cover frames both as one history running from the figure’s origin up to modern times. Reviews of the 2011 edition, published under the pen name Corvis Nocturnum, describe a wide field of source material: creation stories, poems, quotes and paintings, religious texts from around the world, witches’ confessions and early Jewish and Christian views of Satan. Wendy Stokes, writing for Hellnotes, calls it a thorough study of myths, archetypes and symbols, and she adds that the author recounts a personal journey through the topic, with historical context. She finds the book enlightening and entertaining. This printing is an expanded and revised full-color edition, so use the earlier reviews as a guide to the book’s range and expect the details to differ.
Using I, Lucifer as a Study Reference
Treat the book as a reading anchor for a wider study of the Devil in culture, and keep it beside primary texts and reference works so each claim has company. If you read Tarot, the Devil card is a natural place to bring this material: set the cards from several decks side by side, note what each artist emphasizes, and journal about the differences. A reading group can give each member one era or theme to present and ask what surprised them. Pair a section with a film, poem or painting from the era it covers, and write down how that portrayal fits or departs from the archetype the book traces. A short glossary of names and terms, kept as you go, gives later reading on any of the religions it mentions a firmer footing. For related reading, browse my esoteric and occult books, then return to this one with fresh questions.
How to Read I, Lucifer as a Study of an Archetype
Use this sequence to work through the book as a history of one idea.
- Write Down Your Own Picture of the Devil
Before you open the book, jot down what you already associate with the Devil: images, stories, films and phrases you've heard. The book asks you to set aside preconceived notions, and a written list shows you which ones you carry. Tuck the page inside the cover. When you finish, read the list again and mark what the book confirmed, complicated or replaced.
- Follow One Strand at a Time
Read with a running timeline. Note each era the book touches, such as the repression of pagan beliefs, the Romantic writers, the Church of Satan and the Satanic Panic, and write a line on what that era seemed to want the figure to be. Putting the eras side by side makes the archetype's changes easy to see.
- Check What Matters to You
When a name, date or claim matters to you, mark it and check it against a second source, such as an encyclopedia or the primary text itself. A book that ranges across religions, history and film covers a lot of ground, and a second source keeps the details of each tradition accurate before you repeat them to anyone else.
The Tarot Fellow Standard
I stock I, Lucifer because the Devil is a figure that appears in Tarot, in folklore and in film, and this book follows him through myth, religion, literature and popular culture. It examines an idea, and the religions and groups it mentions have their own voices, so I suggest reading it beside their own writings and a reference work or two. It’s a reading reference that gives you a place to start before you chase any single thread. You can find it with my books and journals.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. It's nonfiction: the subtitle is Exploring the Archetype and Origins of the Devil, the back cover covers myths, history, literature and film, and Google Books files it under Demonology. Other books share the title, including Glen Duncan's 2002 novel, in which Lucifer is offered a chance at redemption and spends it living in London in a human body. A Hellnotes reviewer also warns that several books are called I, Lucifer. This one is credited to E.R. Vernor.
It shares that book's title, subtitle and description. Goodreads lists Corvis Nocturnum as a pseudonym of E.R. Vernor, and the back cover says Vernor is best known under that pen name. The 2011 edition is a 176-page paperback. This printing's cover says Expanded edition, and the back cover adds that it's revised and in full color, so the text may differ from what the 2011 reviews describe.
Lucifer is Latin for light-bringer and was a Roman name for the morning star, the planet Venus. The Latin Vulgate uses it in Isaiah 14:12, in a passage about the king of Babylon. Christian tradition later applied the name to the fallen angel identified with the Devil, though the Catholic Encyclopedia notes that the Church Fathers held it isn't his proper name and only names the state he fell from.
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