Luciferianism is a belief system that venerates the essential characteristics that are affixed to Lucifer, originally a name referring to the planet Venus when it rises ahead of the Sun.
Luciferianism is identified by some people as an auxiliary of Satanism, due to the popular identification of Lucifer with Satan. Some Luciferians accept this identification or consider Lucifer as the light bearer aspect of Satan. Others reject it, arguing that Lucifer is a more positive ideal than Satan. They are inspired by the ancient Egyptian mythology, Roman mythology, Greek mythology, Gnosticism and Western occultism.
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The Gesta Treverorum records that in 1231, heretics began to be persecuted throughout Germany. Among them were Luciferians principally in the archdiocese of Trier, but also Mainz and Cologne. Over the following three years, several people were burned as a result. According to a papal letter from Gregory IX, Vox in Rama, dated from July 13, 1233, one of the claims made by the Luciferians was that Lucifer had been cast out of Heaven unjustly. Women were implicated in the cult, and the Church accused those named as heretics of sexual perversities. The chronicler of the Gesta seems, however, to have confused Luciferians with the Cathars in some respects.[1]
On the other hand, Richard Cavendish has argued: "The confessions Conrad of Marburg extracted were apparently made without torture, but under the threat of death if the victim did not confess. If these confessions were accurate, the Luciferans were full-blown Satanists. They worshiped the Devil as creator and ruler of the world, complained that he had been unjustly and treacherously banished from Heaven, and believed that he would overthrow the God of the Christians and return to Heaven, when they would enjoy eternal happiness with him. They reveled in whatever displeased the Christian God and hated whatever pleased him..." (Cavendish, 1983, pp. 296-297, "The Black Arts.")
Many modern self-described Luciferian groups exist, such as the Church of Lucifer, a 20-year-old organization founded by the late Rev. Robert Stills and passed on to Frederick Nagash and Rev. Satrinah Nagash. Also, books such as Kosmology by Jeremy Christner describe a Luciferian worldview inspired heavily by Gnosticism and classical Greek philosophy. Such modern groups vary widely, with some ascribing a more gnostic worldview, while others are largely derived from occult Satanism.