WARNING- THIS POST MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Let’s talk about Hell… again.
This time we will be looking at Demons. Specifically how we know about specific demons when there is little to no mention in the bible that covers them. As a part 2 to the first blog post on how Stephanie created her version of Hell, I will be looking at how characters like Zagan, Astaroth and even Dariush Decarabia came into being by looking at occult texts.
It’s worth mentioning that demonology is a wide and expansive topic, and its contents range far and wide outside of Christian or Christian based theology. There are many wonderful and dangerous demons out there from other religions, mythology and folklore, but today we are going to look at a few texts that have had an influence on Stephanie’s books.
We have also started to delve into this topic through our good friend Peter Binsfield and his circles of Hell. Which demons rule each part of hell is primarily defined by Binsfield based on his influence from Dante.
We jump ahead now to 1577 to look at a grimoire called the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum or the ‘False Monarchy of Demons’. Written by Johannes Weyer, a physician who was amongst the first to publish work against the trials and persecution of witchcraft. Anyway he writes a book in Latin listing 69 demons and their ‘blasphemies’. Included in this book are some familiar names.
Astaroth, who is mentioned in the Reaper’s Book (Part of the Academy Series) is a duke of Hell. Interestingly his Blasphemy is making a man ‘wonderfully learned in the liberal sciences’ and has incredibly bad breath. Maphas, a crow-like demon, who can build majestic buildings and towers and owns forty legions in Hell. Zagan, a great king and president can turn water into ‘blood wine’.
It’s worth mentioning that around this time witchcraft particularly was a big topic. We had contemporary writers such as catholic clergyman Heinrich Cramer writing the Malleus Maleficarum, the Hammer of Witches, which recommended illegal procedures for witches and demonology (Weyer criticised this!) A little later in 1597, James the VI of Scotland (soon to be James I of England) published a book on witchcraft called the Daemonologie endorsing the practice of witch hunting. Whilst this book was allegedly the inspiration for the witches in Macbeth- there is so much about this topic I could tell you- it fuelled the hunt for witches across the UK. One particular hunt in Scotland in the same year the Daemonology was published caused 400 people to be put on trial with roughly 200 of those executed.
Anyway, amongst other witchcraft texts, an anonymously written text called The Lesser Key of Solomon, is a grimoire focusing particularly on the art of summoning demons. Written in the mid 1600’s, it also included a list of seventy two Demons and their sigils in a book called the Ars Goetia (Part of the Lesser Key of Solomon).
The Ars Goetia builds on the foundations that Weyer created, and gives them titles, including (from my understanding) the first mentions of presidents of Hell. Asmodeus is featured in this book as a king of Hell. (I won't disclose more about him, because he’s worth a blog post in his own right.) Marquis Decarabia allegedly can change into all birds and knows the virtues of all herbs and precious stones. Haagenti, whose son fights at Jared’s club, can turn metals into gold. Buer, whose son was captured by Ninianne in Knights of Past, was mentioned by Weyer and the Ars Goetia is capable of healing all wounds and only appears when the sun is in Sagittarius.
The Ars Goetia is heavily associated with Aleister Crowley through his translation and work on the text, published in 1904. But that’s where I’ll leave my odyssey into demonology for now. There is a lot more I can talk about and I’ll probably have a meaty chat about Asmodeus next.
This is the second part of a series about how Stephanie Hudson creates Hell in her books. If you want to read more on the subject, the Afterlife Saga is free on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited here.
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