(Originally appeared in Mutant Renegade Zine #4, Spring 1994)
The evolution of the devil coincides with the evolution of Christianity; for when there was one god there was also Lucifer. Ironically, before the fear installed by monotheism, there were many Goddess-worshipping cultures dating back 30,000 years, beginning in the late Paleolithic era (the Ice Age) and in the Neolithic Age. The Goddess religion was earth-centered, not heaven-centered; body affirming, not body denying; holistic, not dualistic. The Goddess was immanent within every human, not transcendent, and humanity was viewed as part of nature, death as a part of life. Her worship was sensual, celebrating the erotic, embracing all that was alive. The religious quest was above all for renewal, for regeneration of life, and the Goddess was the life force (Gadon, XII)
How did the disassociation of nature take place and why? The demise of the Goddess can be traced back to the invasions of warlike nomadic peoples from the Asiatic and European North who overran the centers of Goddess culture in Southwestern Europe, the near East, and India causing large-scale destruction and dislocation. They brought with them their sky gods who ruled from the heavens like despots. The Goddess, women, and their values were suppressed. Patriarchy, the domination of culture by men, was the new order of society. (Gadon, XIII)
The concept of monotheism is a relatively recent one, first expressed by the ancient Hebrews less than 4,000 years ago. The exclusive authority on one universal male god in Western culture goes back less than 1,700 years by the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine in 320 C.E. (Common Era), and his imposition of Christianity as the state religion (Gadon XIV).
Prior to Constantine’s time, there was a religious movement, Zoroastrianism, a dualistic religion accounting for the problem of evil in terms of the struggle of good with an evil god. This creed influenced Judaism and the oriental cults which were to be part of the setting of Christianity; the angels of Christian tradition and the notion of the hellfire which awaited the wicked both came from Zoroaster (Roberts, pg. 169). This transition occurred circa 522-486 B.C.E. (Before Common Era) at the time of King Darius of Persia (common day Iran and Iraq).
I can only surmise on the actual causes of the universal transition. One is ethnocentrism. The Northerners who destroyed the Goddess cults were light skinned people; the cultures which were conquered were dark skinned. Ethnocentricity is commonly enforced by people in power, therefore the concept of light is good and dark is bad was established. This is the elemental polytheism to monotheism, instilled by Zoroastrianism and Judaism. King Daruis of Persia helped this installation through conquests of polytheistic countries, mainly Greece. The Universal religion throughout Greece was polytheism and patriarchal. When the Persians were exposed to this foreign, it was regarded as bad or evil.
The dominating factor of evil in Greece was the underworld (darkness). The Greeks believed that everyone descended to the underworld after death (however, evil was not in their vocabulary). The god of the underworld, Hades, had goal horns adorned on his head as a crown. One can’t fail to see the connection of hell and the devil here.
The description of the transition from Goddess religions to patriarchal (polytheistic) to monotheistic religions is an ambivalent one, but based on archaeological and historical facts. It is ironic that the foreign practices, which were regarded as evil to the intruders, have been integrated in the powerful religions that are practiced in contemporary beliefs, mainly through symbolism.