demons 4

Demons

The original concept of demon appears to be that of a spirit

of some divine nature, other than those, which are classed as angels.

It was not necessarily evil. 

The whole idea of a demon of evil comes out of the idea of fallen angels, 

A race of angels that were thrown out of heaven for

fraternising with humans.

In the book of Enoch, although it's by no means clearly expressed,

this fraternisation resulted in children, who were called "giants".

When i was studying at art college, i came across the use of the term

Daemon to describe the creative impulse, in the artist, 

as a feature of inanimate objects,as well, which is to say 

their personality. The idea is very clearly expressed in surrealist art

where an object taken out of context shows its true nature.

I think that about sums up the demon  as an angel with

other than holy intentions.

Ezekiel's vision?

This is a  different creature from the elemental spirits, or 

gods of other cultures, which  are called "demons" 

probably by comparison with the Western idea of a demon.

Perhaps, when Christianity swept through Europe, 

ancient Celtic gods became demonised, 

to fit them into  the belief system.

It's made harder to trace these changes as the church 

chose to delete from its library ancient works, gospels, 

which it didn't feel fitted with the world view, 

that it was adopting.

demons 3

Demons.

There are plenty of stories about demons posessing a member of a modern

Christian families. A Haunting and Paranormal Witness prove that.

However nearly all of these seem to come out of a certain context

being that the family especially the heads (or one of them) of the family believe

in the principle of demon existence as a corollary of thrir faith.

This is America, where religion has a gospel intensity.

Where demons are mooted in English history, it also has a strong

religious environment surrounding it.

I'm finding it hard to locate a historical demonic incident outside of that 

context. i'm not so much looking for a horror movie depiction of a posession, 

but a contextual one that has a credibility of its own apart

from Christian battles of faith between a husband and wife, 

in the midst of an escalating demonic development...

I'll keep on looking through my books.

I  would wonder if there's a lunar connection here somewhere?

The moon is supposed to operate in the cases of werewolves and vampires,

Is it also associated with demonic lore?

(I may update this blog today, with more info after more perusal)

 

demons 2

Demons

The idea of a demon isn't Christian. It comes from our remote past.

It isn't only the Christian priest, who performs exorcisms,

And shamans from various cultures practiced it.

It's a lot like curing the evil eye, or witchcraft.

The idea here, though, being that a malevolent spirit

is responsible. But how did it get to be a different

designation than an unappeased ancestor, or a returning

spirit, like a vampire? How did it get a higher status?

In the beginning, in creation myths, there was always a deceiver,

A Satan, or Mara in the Buddhist canons, and there were 

gods of places, rivers, forests, etc, some of which could be 

malevolent, and is it possible that the idea was that when

a god went out of fashion, it had its revenge by becoming demonic?

That's not unlike the concept of the Fallen Angel 

from the Book of Enoch.

These are ancient gods, who don't want to be forgotten,

and are prepared to torment and persecute those 

who neglected them.

It's interesting from a psychological point of view that,

in Christian terms, anyway, to learn the name

of the demon gives you the power to expel them.

Why should that be?

I watched the exorcism scene in A Haunting's episode "Possessed"

(Series 3) last night.

That always strikes me as odd. if the demon knows 

that it can be expelled, why does it give its name, 

when that's demanded of it?

I'm hunting for some good possession cases to relate here.

demons 1

Demons

Okay, do you believe that the cause is only sleep paralysis?

All the tales of people waking to feel a weight on top of them,

holding them down, as if a demonic entity, succubus or incubus, was seated

 on their laps or chests, and perhaps is trying to throttle them

- is this nothing but a physical paralysis, as a result of emerging out of sleep?

Or is it a demon attack? 

 

Fuseli's nightmare

 It occurs in a goodly number of tales of demonic possession,

in demonic raids on families, as witness stories from A Haunting, 

Paranormal Witness, etc, that people already suffering

bizarre events in their houses, experience this, and it usually

convinces them that a demon is on the loose.

Sleep could be a portal for things to get across to this side....

 It's easy to get from a weight pressing down on you 

to believing that it forms some sort of subhuman

sexual assault? 

 

I think the jury has to be out on this, as the important element 

in this must be the context, and the psychological state

of those involved has already been enflamed by whatever

appears to be happening to them.

I'd call that a Twilight Zone situation, 

where you wouldn't be sure if the imaginary and real worlds 

had not folded into one another.

demons

Demons

I have always been fascinated by tales of demons,

Well, i like "A Haunting" and they had plenty of stories

where the haunter proved to be demonic.

I once had a copy of a book of magic called The Magus, 

when i was at college, long gone now.

It was a limited edition reprint produced via Thorson's publishing house,

Just down the road from my birthplace, near Northampton.

It is basically, I believe, a writer called Francis Barrett's  version 

published in 1801, of a work by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa,(1486-1535)

 both of which, dare i say, are available for the curious, on the internet.

It was a common feature of occult works to produce lists of demons...

A sort of cartulary of all the different ranks and hierarchies of spirits,

Devils, fallen angels...

The Magus was "fun" because it included drawings of the faces of

Demons. The online version doesn't seem to go as far as to include this

little rogues' galleries of nasties.

A bit like " Pickman " in the Lovecraft story, i suppose,

 someone, some time, sat painting their portraits, 

whilst avoiding getting eaten?

Sadly in a fit of conscience or sudden burst of stable cleaning

I threw these books out, as well as my Eliphas Levi collection.

Ah well, easy come easy go......

Here are a couple of "Pickman's models"

 

principles of haunting

Principles.

So, what is a demon?

Well, after being so raspy last night that my throat was bleeding,

I think that flu bugs are demonic,

So.... are there simply other disease organisms, 

which affect this world? 

That was the basic premise of "I am legend..".

The book, rather than the film.

That vampires were the product of a disease organism.

I always think that there are three ways these things come to be.

Ghost, demon, vampire, whatever...

They can be (1) a recording of a past event in matter...

The most likely way a ghost comes about, perhaps?

The stone tape theory.

(2) the product of the mind, not necessarily a dream or imagination, 

Because it's possible that the mind translates incoming data,

and gives it material form.

If that wasn't possible, you couldn't possibly have poltergeists,

So it has to transmit into action as well as image.

If mediumship is real that would also be how it works.

(3) entities....

My theory being that like diseases, they exist, or thrive 

inside of us, and produce severe symptoms on the surface,

Or beyond the surface.

Demons.... etc, are inside us.

Human beings are capable of being evil, and converting that 

evil into physical action. So why not give it physical form as well?

The old cartoon image of an angel and a demon as two

sides of the personality, in fact, floating around your head,

vieing for superiority.

mibs

Men in Black.

So, are these also the next step in the mythology's development,

Shadow people employing their watching skills 

to intimidate and theaten witnesses of ufo phenomenon.

Or are they government black ops people

whose business presumably is to try and convince witnesses

that what they saw really was extra-terrestrial 

rather than the result of covert military operations 

with advanced technology? Field disinformation officers?

I don't think it matters which as they have informed our myth

about the dark people who watch and terrorise.

People seen out of the corner of the eye.

Or maybe the governments of the world are demonically infected

anyway, and send out their demonic agents to do

their dirty work?

I'd sooner believe that than that all the seniors and principals of the 

world are from the series  V.

And lizards. Although frankly i find politicians reptilian enough

anyway. Or are they all Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith clones?

Hmmmmmm.......