DISCLAIMER — This is not a treatise regarding the validity or invalidity of various Ceremonial traditions. While there are many religions and magical systems I vehemently disagree with, I am not about to take time out of my day to waste energy telling anyone their religion is “stupid” or inherently false. This article, if you will, concerns common and often grave errors people across a broad spectrum of disciplines make in regard to interacting with demons and other Powers. This article is designed to inform and aid, not insult and harm. I’d like to say “I apologize in advance for any unintended offense,” but really, a growth of thicker skin is in order. This is a massive issue to tackle, so I may not address absolutely everything I would like to. Omissions are not intentional, and the language is honest.
Addendum: Most Powers, with the exception of Gods, will be referred to as “demons.” All demons are Powers, but not all Powers are demons. I also honestly detest the spelling of magic as “magick,” and magician as “magickian,” but that is how many Ceremonials spell them. For their preference and comfort, I am presenting those spellings in the following.
Demons and similar entities are deeply misunderstood, and often very foolishly approached. Knowing how to treat a demon or similar Power can end in great success. Mistreating a demon can lead to severe personal (often mental) injury.
One of the biggest issues I see in regard to “Ceremonials” and demons, whether said demons are malevolent, neutral, or beneficent, is profound hubris on the part of the Summoner/Magickian. One common tenet among Ceremonial traditions is that the Summoner/Magickian has inherent, personal divine right or authority, and can thus behave as (s)he pleases toward any and all demons (s)he manages to summon. Many practitioners of various Ceremonial traditions take stock in the idea that “Man is God,” and thus treat other entities much greater than themselves with impetuousness, disdain, and entitlement. That is not a safe way to play, and “not playing safe” does not make one “cool.” That makes one dead meat.
Ordering a demon around, especially when one doesn’t take the necessary protective precautions, will make that demon hostile to you, no matter how benevolent it is by nature. So too will the act of banishing it and summoning it again, and then presuming to assume it owes one every service imaginable. It will make scrambled eggs and hash out of that Summoner’s/Magickian’s brains, especially when formulae are not followed to the letter, and safety precautions observed.
Being kind to the demon, engaging in equivalent exchange (“there’s no such thing as a free lunch,” after all — give it goods for a service!), will make it more inclined to work with a person, and not harm that person — but it’s no excuse for anyone to glaze over protective precautions. By nature, demons are wildly capricious and don’t possess a concept of “human safety.” Demons’ power and knowledge far exceed their capacity for “rules,” and “but according to my belief, I have divine authority over you . . . “, and are far less predictable and lenient than most Gods are. Think of demons as apex predators, whereas we are herd animals by nature. An apex predator like a shark would not, anthropomorphized, develop the same system of “morality” and “ethics” as our own — human systems of “morality” and “ethics” ultimately having more similarities than differences at their core. Its needs and impulses and behaviors are vastly different from those of pack or herd animals. However one intones their words to a demon, and however well it means, it may not understand what you imply in your requests. What the demon may interpret as “good for the individual” may not actually be what the individual wants, or what is actually “good” for a human.
“Certainly! I accomplished this goal for you, as you had asked me to — but look at all the parts of your life and the things/people you care about I destroyed in the process!”
One can never be too careful in regard to phrasing. As the old adage goes, “be careful what you wish for — you just might get it.” And how.
However good a Summoner/Magickian believes hirself to be, or how safe that Summoner/Magickian believes that demon to be, (s)he is never too good for a proper protective sigil, amulet, formula, or other safety precaution. Petitioning the God(s) of one’s persuasion to oversee and protect the event and the individual is never a wrong way to go, either. “Skipping steps” does not denote skill as a Magickian; it says that the individual is careless, poorly-read, and easy, tender prey in the presence of a demon. And, demons being demons, they will be obscenely quick to detect one’s mistakes, and make the most of those missteps. The demon knows it is more powerful than the human that called it. It often comes because it wants to, not necessarily nor exclusively because it felt compelled. Many Summoners/Magickians do not wish to acknowledge these things, and suffer immensely for failing to do so. Some demons will allow one to build up a false sense of security, and lure the unwary out into the proverbial open, encouraging the individual to ignore protective measures, so it may use the individual to its own purpose, causing that individual great harm. Keeping one’s “arrogant streak” in check is paramount to overall success when dealing with demons. One may actualize one’s Will without being arrogant, pretentious, or rude toward the Powers one is working with. It is important to recognize and understand one’s own limitations, and keep one’s wits about oneself when calling upon a demon.
Another prominent issue among Ceremonials is ignorance of the religious and cultural context of various demons. Mesopotamian demons are very attractive to many Left Hand Path Ceremonials, so I shall use them as an example.
As can be attested by any Classical Studies student of Mesopotamian art, religion, and culture, and in authoritative academic tomes, including but not limited to Jeremy Black and Anthony Green’s Gods, Demons, and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia:
- Sumerian ≠ Assyrian ≠ Babylonian ≠ Hurrian ≠ Ugaritic ≠ Elamite ≠ Canaanite, and so on. These cultures were not inheritors of one-another, nor were they unified or “same,” but a mess of different cultures that militarily and politically succeeded and borrowed heavily from each other — as in the case of Sumer and the Akkadian (Assyrian, Babylonian) cultures that succeeded it. And in the case of the Hurrians, Ugaritic and Canaanite peoples, they were smaller groups that do not often get much notice, and possessed profound differences from the Imperial superpowers of the region in their day. Not all of the religious and ritual elements were the same (though Assyrian and Babylonian belief were quite similar), Sumerian and Assyrian Gods were not common to, nor worshiped by, all Mesopotamian groups, and there is no “unbroken” or “universal” Mesopotamian ritual magical tradition, nor one single unified superculture.
- Malevolent demons (beneficent examples being griffin-demons and šedu/lamassu), were in the overwhelming majority of cases personifications of undesirable elements of existence hostile to human comfort and happiness. In Babylonian medical theory and practice, many ailments were rationalized as demons, and not necessarily out of ignorance of what Moderns would consider legitimate medical science.Lamaštu, contrary to popular Modern belief, likely never had a cult, and is a demon rather than a Goddess, despite her Godly parentage. It is arguable that she is “worshipable,” given that amulets such as these exist. However, she is ultimately the personification of what we now refer to as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), and historically was deeply, deeply hated by the culture which created that personification. Pazuzu’s prominence and popularity as an Assyrian God revolved around His defeat of that foul and abhorrent personification of sudden illnesses afflicting and killing infants, as well as His power over “wind demons,” which were/are themselves personifications of other horrible diseases (Pazuzu’s protection also extended to mothers, who were, and are, most vulnerable during and immediately after pregnancy. Pazuzu-head amulets often adorned the necks and bedsides of new mothers).
The mistake I see Luciferians in particular making in this regard — in addition to mushing all these individual cultures together into a torpid porridge of historical revisionism — is building up altars to, and attempting to summon, Mesopotamian demons. More often than not, they are in actuality building altars to, and attempting to summon, tuberculosis and sepsis and SIDS. This can, in the worst of cases, have serious ramifications for the Summoner/Magickian, causing hir luck to turn foul and hir health/sanity to deteriorate. In the best of cases, (s)he is speaking to thin air and accomplishes nothing by doing so. Adequate research into Mesopotamian cultures and religions could have spared the Summoner/Magickian from this predicament. Some demons are purely representative of certain concepts (i.e., representing the act of violating a taboo), or simple literary devices, and should not be called upon, if one intends to accomplish any measurable, significant work.
Furthermore, if one gets into a bind with a particular malevolent demon after having actively pursued it, going to Gods like Marduk or Pazuzu may not end well for the Summoner/Magickian. Inasmuch as I understand Akkadian deities, They will likely make that person suffer for tainting hirself with the blood and bile and spiritual herpes of malevolent Powers antithetical or otherwise distasteful to Them, and will not clean up a mortal’s mess for them. Their Divine anger may very well have been provoked, and will not lend Their blessing to any traditional rites of exorcism (and good luck finding an intact and properly-translated transcript of an Akkadian exorcist ritual). One may easily find oneself spiritually ostracized in the wake of such an event, with little to no way out. Some mistakes are rather permanent.
Similarly, some cultures, such as that of Ancient Egypt, did not recognize virtually any demon as approachable, much less benevolent. Demons were seen, and are seen, in a Kemetic context as representatives of isfet — that is, they are the enemy and antithesis of all Creation and “created beings” (which includes humans. And, for the umpteenth time, Seth/Set/Sutekh is not a demon, nor is He evil). Apep is one such example, as that non-being is the epitome of all that is isfet and non-life. To Ceremonials of an Egyptian flavor inclined toward working with demons, I would strongly recommend to those Ceremonials to stay far, far away from Egyptian demons. If anything, one’s heka should be oriented toward execrating and keeping such demons at bay.
Another common pan-traditional mistake I see among Ceremonials is the writing of detailed accounts of their interactions with demons, naming those demons and jotting down every last detail one needs in order to summon them specifically. Whether “traps” were written into one’s magical texts or no, to be so exposed is a cause of grief, anger, and violence for many demons, inasmuch as my personal understanding of (some) demons goes. Much like human beings, there are some demons that value their privacy, and do not wish to be pestered by the masses. I suspect Goetic demons — also quite popular among some Ceremonials, namely Hermetics — are angrier, more volatile, and more dangerous than some, because they were named, written about, and have hordes of humans trying to summon them and get them to do what amounts to petty, menial chores ad infinitum et nauseum. It may seem silly, but it is imperative that one takes the demon’s feelings and needs into account. Not simply for the sake of the demon, but for one’s own sake and safety. If one does not observe the level of decorum any given demon expects, if one does not understand its behavior, one may find oneself at the receiving end of a demon’s malcontent.
Going for the biggest, baddest, meanest demon (or God, for that matter) is seldom a good idea, especially when one presumes to act superciliously toward it. Grabbing the attention of overwhelming Powers is not a position one would wish to find oneself in. It is an uncomfortable position to be in, and for many, it is the result of rash impudence. Most humans are not as skilled and wise and capable as they believe themselves to be, and very few Summoners/Magickians are seasoned enough, and courteous enough, to deal with most demons (or Gods, for that matter), particularly the malevolent sort naturally inclined toward violence and deception. My favourite quote from Yamamoto Tsunemoto’s Hagakure comes to mind:
In China, there was once a man who liked pictures of dragons, and his clothing and furnishings were all designed accordingly. His deep affection for dragons was brought to the attention of the Dragon King, and one day a real dragon appeared before his window. It is said that he died of fright. He was probably a man who always spoke big words but acted differently when facing the real thing.
