Plague of Demons II

[WitchBoy]

MOLOCH





Moloch was yet another god mentioned in the Old Testament. The Hebrew for Moloch means "King." The Ammonites worshipped this god by causing their children of both sexes to ritually pass through a fire (Second Kings 23:10). This was a common form of cleansing and initiation used during pagan times in honor of many gods. Evidently the god was popular -- the Israelites were explicitly forbidden from committing "whoredom with Moloch," giving their seed to Moloch, or from offering their children to Moloch (Leviticus 20:2-5). Anyone who violated this order was to be killed by his neighbors.

Historically the view was that children were burned alive as sacrificial offerings to Moloch. This is absolute nonsense, and it is difficult to understand how such an absurd notion can have survived unchallenged for so many centuries. The usual custom when passing through the fire was to leap over a bonfire -- the heat, smoke and light were believed to cleanse the body of the person undergoing the rite. This was done by the ancient Celts and other ancient peoples. A variation on this practice, fire-walking, is common around the world. Evidently children passed through the fire in honor of Moloch when they reached the age of puberty as an entrance into adulthood. The phrase to "commit fornication" with a pagan god was used loosely in the Old Testament to signify any form of worship of that god. By offering of one's seed to Moloch, the dedication of the children -- the seed of the father -- at puberty to Moloch was likely intended.

The bad press given to Moloch by the Israelites, who destroyed his holy places, has given this god the unjust reputation as a horrible flaming devourer of babies. The name Moloch was applied to the demon of unwilling sacrifice, just as Mammon was to the demon of avarice -- Brewer offers the example that the guillotine was said to be the "Moloch" of the French Revolution.

[WitchBoy]

PAIMON




"Paimon is more obedient in Lucifer than other kings are. Lucifer is heere to be understood he that was drowned in the depth of his knowledge: he would needs be like god, and for his arrogancie was throwne out into destruction, of whome it is said; Everie pretious stone is thy covering. Paimon is constrained by divine vertue to stand before the exorcist; where he putteth on the likenesse of a man: he sitteth on a beast called a dromedarie, which is a swift runner, and weareth a glorious crowne, and hath an effeminate countenance. There goeth before him an host of men with trumpets and well sounding cymbals, and all musicall instruments. At the first he appeareth with a great crie and roring, as in Circulo Salomonis, and in the art is declared. And if this Paimon speake something that the conjuror understandeth him not, let him not therefore be dismaied. But when he hath delivered him the first obligation, to observe his desire, he must bid him answer him distinctlie and plainelie to the questions he shall aske you, of all philosophie, wisedome, and science, and of all other secret things. And if you will knowe the disposition of the world, and what the earth is, or what holdeth it up in the water, or any other thing, or what is Abyssus, or where the wind is, or from whence it commeth, he will teach you aboundantlie. Consecrations also as well as sacrifices as otherwise may be reckoned. He giveth dignities and confirmations; he bindeth them that resist him in his owne chaines, and subjecteth them to the conjuror; he prepareth good familiars, and hath the understanding of all arts. Note, that at the calling up of him, the exorcist must looke towards the northwest, because that is his house. When he is called up, let the exorcist receive him constantlie without feare, let him aske what questions or demands he list, and no doubt he shall obtaine the same of him. And the exorcist must beware he forget not the creator, for those things, which have beene rehearsed before of Paimon, some saie he is of the order of dominations; others saie, of the order of cherubim. There follow him two hundred legions, partlie of the order of angels, and partlie of potestates. Note that if Paimon be cited alone by an offering or sacrifice, two kings followe him; to wit, Beball and Abalam, and other potentates: in his host are twentie five legions, bicause the spirits subject to them are not alwaies with them, except they be compelled to appeere by divine vertue." (Scot, Discoverie of Witchcraft, page 220)

Mathers gives the name of the two kings who follow Paimon as "Labal and Abalim." Usually Mathers follows the text of British Library manuscript Sloane 2731 quite closely, but not in this detail. In this manuscript version of the Goetia, the same names for these kings are given as provided by Scot. Another version of the text states that the magician must look toward the west when calling up this demon.

[WitchBoy]

PURSON





"Purson, alias Curson, a great king, he commeth foorth like a man with a lions face, carrieng a most cruell viper, and riding on a beare; and before him go alwaies trumpets, he knoweth things hidden, and can tell all things present, past, and to come: he bewraieth treasure, he can take a bodie either humane or aierie; he answereth truelie of all things earthlie and secret, of the divinitie and creation of the world, and bringeth foorth the best familiars; and there obeie him two and twentie legions of divels, partlie of the order of vertues, and partlie of the order of thrones." (Scott, Discoverie of Witchcraft, page 218).

[WitchBoy]

SATAN



In our modern Western culture no distinction is usually made between the Devil, Satan and Lucifer. They are different aspects of one being. Even so, it can be useful to draw a distinction between them, since it helps define the complete nature of the ruler of hell, as shaped in the folklore of European Christians over the past thousand years and more.

Devil is from the Greek diaballein, to slander, or throw across. Hence the Devil is the great deceiver who throws obstacles across the path of humanity. Lucifer is Latin for light-bringing or light-bearing. This is said to have been the name of the leader of the angels who revolted against God in heaven, and were cast down into the pit as punishment for their desire to be independent. It is also the name of Venus when this planet rises in the east as the Morning Star. Lucifer was the name of the Devil while he was still an angel in heaven, but after his expulsion he became known as Satan, a Hebrew word that means enemy or adversary. Satan is the adversary of God, and if humanity is assumed to be obedient to God, he is the foe of mankind as well.

The modern stereotype of Satan is a humanoid male figure with two short curved horns on the top of his head (the two horns of the lamb, mentioned in Revelation 13:11 in connection with the second Beast). Either he is bald or has short black hair, usually accompanied by a goatee beard (because the goat is considered a Satanic beast). In more explicit depictions he is overtly masculine, with a muscular body and a large penis that may be sharply pointed and horn-shaped, but his male organ is often covered up or avoided in popular illustrations. His skin is bright red, because hell is conceived by modern Christians as an exclusively fiery place. This was not so with medieval Christians, as an examination of Dante's Inferno clearly demonstrates. He frequently has cloven hooves for feet, and when this is so his lower legs are often Satyr-like and hairy. Sometimes his teeth and fingernails are pointed. Sometimes his eyes are snakelike, having vertical slits in place of circular pupils. His tongue may also be long and serpent-like. He has a snakelike tail with a barb on its tip, and carried a pitchfork with either three or two barbed tines.

It is interesting to compare this recent version of Satan with his image in the 16th century, as shown in the French woodcut above. In the illustration, Satan sits upon a throne in hell. He wears a papal crown on his head. His face and ears are cat-like. Notice that his lower legs and feet resemble the talons of a hawk rather than the hind legs of a goat. His breasts are enlarged and feminine. In place of his penis is a hairy face with an open mouth. The tail that projects under his buttocks and trails over the seat of the throne to hang down between his legs is like the tail of a rat, and might easily be mistaken for his flaccid penis. Satan is attended in the illustration by a witch and a wizard, both of whom swing censors smoking with (undoubtedly) brimstone.

The wizard makes the sign of the Devil with his right hand as he reaches up to scratch Satan behind his feline ear -- this sign, with two fingers extended upward like horns, was illustrated by Eliphas Levi in his Transcendental Magic, Book I, Ch. 1 (it appeared in the French first edition of Book I of Levi's work, published in 1855 under the title Dogme de la Haute Magie). Levi labeled it "The Sign of Excommunication." I've reproduced it below for comparison with the hand gesture of the wizard in the old French woodcut, above.

If Satan is viewed as the Adversary, it made sense for Christians to depict him as the anti-Pope, the spiritual authority of hell. This portrayal of Satan was not a satire on the Catholic institution of the Pope, although after the Reformation Protestant publishers sometimes gave the Pope devilish attributes for purposes of political commentary.

Satan is best known in the Bible as the devil who tempted Jesus with power and glory over the kingdoms of the Earth, if only Jesus would worship him (see Luke 4:5-8). Here occurs the memorable line, "Get thee behind me, Satan." The Devil also set Jesus on a high pinnacle of the Temple at Jerusalem and dared Jesus to throw himself down to the flagstones below, to prove that he really was the Son of God (Luke 4:9-12).

The connotative difference between Lucifer and Satan is nobility. In spite of his fallen and defeated condition, Lucifer is always a noble figure. We must admire his courage and strength of will. Satan, on the other hand, is without redeeming qualities. He is wickedness for its own sake. In this sense, these two sides of the Devil are almost separate and distinct beings.

[Teej]

I thought the Satan post was really interesting. I didn't really understand the Paimon one, but it was interesting as well.



Teej

[WitchBoy]

damn the evil tripod demon...not showing the pictures