Demons

In the teachings and traditions of all world religions, demons are spiritual entities without physical bodies that roam the Earth seeking to torment whomever attracts them through a wide variety of means—from weakness to wizardry. According to these ancient traditions, demons have supernatural powers; they are numerous; and they are organized. They can inflict sickness and mental disorders on their victims. They can possess and control humans and animals. Demons lie and deceive and teach false and misleading doctrines of spirituality. They oppose all teachings and actions that seek to serve the good and God.

According to the great teachers of the world religions, the main tasks of demons are to disseminate error among humans and to seduce believers into forsaking good for evil. Since they are such skilled deceivers, it is nearly impossible to develop an adequate litmus test that will unfailingly distinguish between good spirits and bad ones. Unless one is truly pure in heart, mind, and soul and has the ability to maintain only clean thoughts and good habits, it is very difficult to discern with unfailing accuracy the true nature of demon spirits.

Theologians remind their followers that as mortal beings they are in the midst of a great spiritual warfare between the angels of light who serve God and the fallen angels who serve the forces of darkness—and that their souls may be the prize for the victors. Accomplished spiritual teachers of all faiths advise their congregants that the good spirits will never try to interfere with the free will of humans or seek to possess their bodies. On the other hand, the evil spirits desire the physical host body of a human being. In fact, they must have such a vehicle if they are to experience earthly pleasures. When a demon invades a human body, it is said that possession has occurred and an exorcism by a priest or shaman may be required to free the victim from the evil spirit's grasp.

Demonic entities are credited with will and intellect, but these attributes are invariably directed toward evil as they exert their malevolent powers. When these evil spirits penetrate the material world and the circumstances of human life, they conceal themselves in every aspect of human existence.

In many instances, the gods of the old religions become the demons of the new. The Asuras, a race of gods in the early Vedas (sacred Hindu texts composed around 1500 to 1200 b.c.e.), are transmuted to powerful evil beings with the advent of the new deities of Indra and Vishnu. The raksasas are a class of entities who attack humans with the intended goal of driving them insane or causing them material ruin. As in many theologies, there is an ambivalence concerning certain deities. In Hinduism, the most terrifying of the gods, such as Kali, Durga, and Shiva, although seemingly demonic and destructive, often perform deeds that ultimately turn out to be good.

In the scriptures of the world religions, the chief of the legions and hordes of demons is known by various names: Satan, Lucifer, Iblis, Mara, and Angra Mainyu, among others. The word "devil" is derived from the Greek diabolos, which means "accuser" or "slanderer," and is one of the names for Satan. Daimon, the Greek word from which "demon" is derived, originally meant a tutelary spirit or a spirit guide, but it is frequently, and incorrectly, translated as "devil" or "demon."

In the traditions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, the animosity between demons (the fallen angels) and the human race can be traced to the moment when God granted his earthly creations of dust and clay with the priceless gift of free will. In the biblical and qur'anic traditions are found references to the jealousy that afflicted certain angels regarding the attention that God displayed toward his human creation. In the Qur'an (17:61–64), Iblis (Satan), the leader of the rebellious angels, refuses to bow to a creature that God has created of clay, and he threatens to make existence miserable for the descendants of the being that the Creator has honored above them. Because of the declared animosity of the fallen angels against those heavenly beings who remain faithful to the Creator and against those mortals who seek to follow the higher teachings of revealed truth, the epistle writer Paul (d. 62–68 c.e.) gave counsel when he warned that humans not only engage in spiritual warfare with those of flesh and blood who serve evil, "but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12).

Although Buddhism generally rejects a cosmological dualism between good and bad, angels and demons, there is an aspect within the traditional lives of the Buddha which echoes the jealousy motif of various entities toward humans. Mara, who tempted the Awakened One on the night of his enlightenment, is said to be an asura or a Deva (a being of light) who was jealous of the power that was about to be bestowed on a human, for to become a Buddha would be to achieve spiritual status greater than they possessed. Tibetan Buddhism borrows its demons from Hinduism and adds a number of indigenous entities, who are ambivalent toward the inhabitants of the Himalayas, sometimes appearing as fierce and malevolent creatures, other times manifesting as teachers of enlightenment.

Various scriptures state firmly that regardless of their strength, power, and majesty, angels are not to be worshipped, and religious teachers advise that true heavenly beings will immediately discourage any humans from attempting to bow their knees to them. On the other hand, the fallen angels, the demons, are motivated by their own selfish goals and delight in corrupting humans. They encourage mortals to express greed and to seek the acquisition of material, rather than spiritual, treasures. As a general spiritual law, these negative entities cannot achieve power over humans unless they are somehow invited into a person's private space—or unless they are attracted to an individual by that person's negativity or vulnerability.

According to certain Christian teachers, there was an outburst of demonic activity upon the occasion of Jesus' coming to Earth, which was perceived as a great threat to Satan's material kingdom. Other church scholars state that another such outburst is expected just before the Second Coming of Christ. Some fundamentalist Christians believe that that time has begun.

Regardless of the general view of the vast majority of contemporary scientists and psychologists—and even many members of the clergy—to regard a belief in demons as a superstitious holdover from the past and to attribute the traditional accounts of possession by evil spirits as primitive ways of describing mental illness, there are professional caregivers and clerics who maintain that these evil creatures are as much a part of the twenty-first-century world as they were in the Middle Ages. And the results of a Gallup poll released in June 2001 reveal that 41 percent of adult Americans believe that people can be possessed by the Devil or his demons.

Professor Morton Kelsey, an Episcopal priest, a noted Notre Dame professor of theology, and the author of Discernment—The Study of Ecstasy and Evil (1978), states that demons are real and can invade the minds of humans. "Most people in the modern world consider themselves too sophisticated and too intelligent to be concerned with demons," he commented. "They totally ignore the evidence around them. But in thirty years of study, I have seen the effects of angels and demons on humans."

Kelsey insists that a demon is not a figment of the imagination. "It is a negative, destructive spiritual force. It seeks to destroy the person and everyone with whom that person comes into contact. The essential mark of the demon—and those possessed by demons—is total self-interest to the exclusion of everyone and everything else."

Agreeing with many other contemporary religious scholars, Kelsey expressed his concern that most people in today's world offer little challenge for demons. "They find it easy to enter and operate in the unconscious parts of the mind, taking control of the person and his character," he said. In offering advice for those who may fear themselves to be under demonic attack, Kelsey said that they should not despair. They must focus their thoughts on God, and "try to reach out to Him and find His light."

There are numerous admonitions in the New Testament to be cautious of any manifesting entity and to test it to determine its true motives. "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God" (1 John 4:1).

While such a passage is easily quoted, its admonition is much more difficult to put into practice when warned in 2 Corinthians 11:14, "Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light."

Dr. Wilson Van Dusen is a university professor who has served as chief psychologist at Mendocino State Hospital in California. Based upon his decades of research, Van Dusen has stated that many patients in mental hospitals may be possessed by demons and that people who hallucinate may often be under the control of demonic entities. Van Dusen also affirms that he has been able to speak directly to demons that have possessed his patients. He has heard their own guttural, otherworld voices, and he has even been able to administer psychological tests to these tormenting entities.

An accomplished psychologist, Van Dusen has lectured at the University of California, Davis; served as professor of psychology at John F. Kennedy University; and published more than 150 scientific papers and written several books on his research, such as The Presence of Other Worlds: The Psychological/Spiritual Findings of Emanuel Swedenborg (1974) and The Natural Depth in Man (1974).

In a landmark research paper, the clinical psychologist noted the "striking similarities" between the hierarchy of the unseen world described by the Swedish inventor-mystic Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) and the alleged hallucinations of his patients in a state mental hospital. Van Dusen began to seek out those from among the hundreds of chronic schizophrenics, alcoholics, and brain-damaged persons who could distinguish between their own thoughts and the products of their hallucinations. He would question these other supposed entities directly and instruct the patient to give a word-for-word account of what the voices answered or what was seen. In this manner, he could hold long dialogues with a patient's hallucinations and record both his questions and the entity's answers.

On numerous occasions the psychologist found that he was engaged in dialogues with hallucinations that were above the patient's comprehension. He found this to be especially true when he contacted the higher order of hallucinations, which he discovered to be "symbolically rich beyond the patient's own understanding." The lower order, Van Dusen noted, was composed of entities that were consistently antireligious, and some actively obstructed the patient's religious practices. Occasionally they would even refer to themselves as demons from hell, suggest lewd acts, then scold the patient for considering them. They would find a weak point of conscience and work on it interminably. They would invade "every nook and cranny of privacy, work on every weakness and credibility, claim awesome powers, lie, make promises, and then undermine the patient's will."

Van Dusen also found that the "hallucinations" could take over a patient's eyes, ears, and voice, just as in traditional accounts of demon possession. The entities had totally different personalities from his patients' normal dispositions, which indicated to him that they were not simply products of his patients' minds. Some of the beings had ESP and could predict the future. Often they would threaten a patient and then cause actual physical pain. The demons were described in a variety of shapes and sizes, but generally appeared in human form, ranging from an old man to alleged space aliens, but any of them could change form in an instant. Some were so solid to the victims that they could not see through them. At times the patients would become so angry at the apparitions that they would strike at them—only to hurt their hands on the wall.

Van Dusen made detailed studies of 15 cases of demonic possession, but he dealt with several thousand patients during his 20 years as a clinical psychologist. In his opinion, the entities were present "in every single one of the thousands of patients." He even admitted that some of the entities knew far more than he did, even though he tried to test them by looking up obscure academic references.

One of Van Dusen's conclusions was that the entities took over the minds of people who were emotionally or physically at a low ebb. The beings seemed to be able to "leech on those people because they had been weakened by strains and stresses with which they could not cope."

Considering once again some of the implications of Swedenborg's thoughts and works, Van Dusen commented that it was curious to reflect that, as Swedenborg has suggested, human lives may be "the little free space at the confluence of giant higher and lower spiritual hierarchies." The psychologist finds a lesson in such a consideration: "Man freely poised between good and evil, is under the influence of cosmic forces he usually doesn't know exist. Man, thinking he chooses, may be the resultant of other forces."

Delving Deeper

Crim, Keith, ed. The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1989.

Karpel, Craig. The Rite of Exorcism: The Complete Text. New York: Berkley, 1975.

Kinnaman, Gary. Angels Dark and Light. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Servant Publications, 1994.

Mack, Carol K., and Dianah Mack. A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels, and Other Subversive Spirits. New York: Owl Book, Henry Holt, 1999.

Montgomery, John Warwick. Powers and Principalities. Minneapolis: Dimension Books, 1975.

Van Dusen, Wilson. The Psychological/Spiritual Presence of Other Worlds: The Findings of Emanuel Swedenborg. New York: Harper & Row, 1974.

DEMONOLOGY.

Some years ago, Richard Cavendish, an eminent demonologist and student of the so-called black arts, observed that "[b]elief in the existence of evil supernatural beings" is so widespread that it "seems to be instinctive" (p. 8). Whether, as Cavendish suggests, these beliefs are in fact instinctive is still very much an open question. However, human beings do indeed appear to have a deep-seated penchant for explaining misfortune by attributing it to evil and malicious spirits and deities—that is, to demons. Such beliefs can be documented in virtually every known human society for which adequate information exists. This essay explores some of the more salient manifestations, modern as well as ancient, of this well-nigh universal component of several belief systems.

In the great majority of cases, demonic figures occur in conjunction with their opposites, that is, beneficent deities to whom worshipers turn for succor when misfortune strikes or when in need of assurance that crops will grow, illness will be avoided, and prosperity will continue. One of the earliest documented examples of such a pair can be found in ancient Egypt in Osiris and his demonic brother Seth.

Osiris and Seth

Dating from Old Kingdom times (2700–2200 b.c.e.), this pair of opposites was defined in the Pyramid Texts and other ancient Egyptian mythological texts as brothers. While Osiris—together with his sister/wife Isis—was the incarnation of fertility and, eventually, life everlasting, Seth was evil personified. He was also a reflection of the arid desert that presses in on either side of Osiris's domain: the fertile Nile Valley. Seth was jealous of his brother and, through trickery, caused his death. However, with the help of Isis and their son Horus, who was iconographically represented as a falcon-headed man, Osiris was resurrected and ascended to heaven to become the judge of the dead. Meanwhile, Horus and Seth struggled mightily. It was one of the first examples of a supernatural conflict between good and evil, between a demon and his diametric opposite (Horus later became identified with the pharaoh, who was worshiped as a god incarnate). The falcon-headed god finally prevailed, and Seth was killed and dismembered. But the latter remained a quintessential demon, the template, as it were, for a great many later Western demonic figures.

Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu

Another extremely important ancient demon can be found in the Iranian figure Angra Mainyu, or "Evil Spirit," later known as Ahriman, who was paired in early Iranian mythology, especially as shaped by the prophet Zarathustra (or Zoroaster, as he was known to the ancient Greeks), with the beneficent deity Ahura Mazda, the "Wise Lord," called Ormazd in Middle Persian. Although they were not held to be siblings, Angra Mainyu and Ahura Mazda were believed to be engaged in an ongoing cosmic struggle, both for world hegemony and for each individual soul. Angra Mainyu/Ahriman was a true "Prince of Darkness," the diametric opposite—and eternal opponent—of the light-filled Ahura Mazda/Ormazd. The most extreme variant of this good-evil dichotomy was promulgated during the third-century c.e. by the Iranian religious reformer Mani (ca. 216–276 or 277 c.e.), founder of the Manichean sect, which, for a time, was a serious rival to nascent Christianity. According to the Manicheans, who emphasized free will, one could choose to follow the evil Ahriman, who might ultimately defeat Ormazd in their final, apocalyptic confrontation.

Satanism

The origins of Satan and related figures are complex. The word satan itself simply means "adversary" in Hebrew; in his earlier manifestations as Lucifer, the "Light-Bearer," who rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven (cf. Isaiah 14: 12–15), he is not unlike the Greek figure Prometheus, albeit negatively valued. However, as the Zoroastrian theology of evil incarnate came to permeate post-exile Judaism, the Rebel evolved into a full-fledged evil adversary, in effect a malevolent twin of Yahweh who presided over the corrupt world of the senses.

Several centuries later, this evolution was greatly facilitated by the emergence of Gnosticism (from Greek gnosis, "knowledge"), a heretical movement that emerged in Alexandria and elsewhere in the early years of the common era. Gnosticism held that the mortal realm was created by a fool called the Demiurge, a corrupt if not totally malevolent pseudo-deity the Gnostics identified with the God of the Old Testament. This rejection of God linked Manichaeism to Gnosticism, but for the Gnostics the "real" world, that is, the world of the senses, was evil, and their goal in life was to escape it and return to the Pleroma, or "Fullness," a light-filled spiritual realm that was the antithesis of corrupt mortality. These ideas, although roundly condemned by the early church fathers, from Athanasius to Augustine, lingered on and reappeared in the twelfth century in southern France in the Cathay heresy, which was brutally suppressed during the infamous Albigensian Crusade (1208). It was out of this heretical crucible, which also came to include the "pagan" witchcraft beliefs that incited such intense persecutions between the mid-thirteenth century and the end of the seventeenth century, that Satanism as we know it today emerged. Indeed, the idea that a divine adversary who governs the sensate world is the "true" god still persists in cults such as the late Anton Szandor LaVey's (1930–1997) Church of Satan, founded in San Francisco in 1966, and the Temple of Set, founded in 1975 by Michael Acquino (b. 1946). The idea that people are susceptible to possession by demons persists in the Roman Catholic ritual of exorcism, so graphically depicted in the film The Exorcist (1973).

Non-Western Demonology

Such beliefs are, of course, by no means limited to the West. Islam conceives of the demon Iblis as Allah's prime adversary, aided by a host of malevolent spirits called jinn (the English word "genie" derives from this Arabic word), who are capable of all manner of mischief. Moreover, a great many non-Western cultures also share a belief in demonic figures. In Japan, demonic figures that have the ability to possess human beings and cause them great harm are called oni. There are a great many varieties of oni, not all of whom are really evil; however, most of them are at least mischievous. Among the more dangerous oni are animal spirits, including fox spirits, who are believed to be especially malevolent and are held responsible for a wide variety of personal misfortunes. Moreover, they are extremely difficult to exorcise. Similar folk beliefs can be found throughout East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Africa, the Caribbean, and Oceania, as well as the Americas.

Hindu mythology is replete with demonic figures, the most famous of whom is the evil raksha, or demon, Ravanna, king of Sri Lanka, and abductor of Sita, the devoted wife of the demigod Rama. Indeed, the plot of the ancient Indian epic known as the Ramayana, which spread throughout much of Southeast Asia during the early centuries of the common era, turns on Rama's conflict with Ravanna and Sita's eventual rescue—once again, an account of an epic struggle between good and evil, although Ravanna and Rama are not conceived as siblings.

In the high Andean plateau, or altiplano, of Bolivia, as June Nash reports, the local miners believe that the mountains are haunted by a demon called Huari, whom they refer to as Tio, or "Uncle," and who must be propitiated to avoid cave-ins and other calamities. This reflects another important dimension of demonology: the propitiation of evil forces and beings so as to preclude disaster and misfortune.

A further example of this ambiguous attitude toward evil figures can be found in Afro-Caribbean religions such as Santeria and Voodoo, where the orishas, or deities, are considered both evil and beneficent, depending on the context. Both good and evil manifestations of the gods are found in the pantheon and are regularly the recipients of sacrifices. Although for the most part absent in fully evolved Judeo-Christian demonology, this ambiguous attitude toward evil and the propitiation of what we might consider demons is an integral element of folk religious beliefs in a great many parts of the non-Western world—as well as in classical antiquity, where, for example, the ancient Greek god Pan was both benevolent and capable of creating havoc, whence the English word panic.

She-Devils and Female Demons

Although the majority of demons in most cultures tend to be male, female demons, she-devils, and the like are also common. One of the oldest examples of such a figure can be found in the Sumero-Babylonian demon Tiamat, wife of the primordial being Apsu. The supreme Babylonian god Marduk engaged in an epic struggle with Tiamat and, after finally defeating her, created the world from her corpse. Ancient Greek mythology abounds with evil female creatures, from the Gorgons, the most famous of whom was snaky-locked Medusa, whose glance could turn a mortal into stone, to the monster Python, whom Apollo killed at the site of Delphi, to the equally bloodthirsty female Sphinx, whose riddle Oedipus managed to solve, causing her to drop dead.

In Shinto mythology, Izanami-no-Mikoto, the wife of the primeval male figure Izanagi-no-Mikoto, changed into a raging demon after she died giving birth to the Fire-god, Kagu-Tsuchi, and descended into Yomi, the land of the dead. When Izanagi visited Yomi in order to bring her back to life, she led a band of female demons, the so-called Hags of Yomi, against him and almost succeeded in killing him. More recently, medieval European folklore knew the succubus, a demon or evil spirit who seduced unwitting mortal men and produced demonic offspring.

Space Aliens as Demons

In recent years, since accounts of UFOs and space aliens have become widespread in Europe and especially the United States, some fundamentalist Christians have asserted that these presumed extraterrestrial visitors are in fact manifestations of Satan and his demonic horde. Indeed, according to this contemporary "school" of demonology, those persons who claim to have been abducted by aliens and forced to have sex with them are believed to be victims of the same demonic possession that was reported in premodern times, which also frequently had a strong sexual component. In sum, demonology continues to persist in this otherwise secular age, just as it has since the dawn of human culture.

See also Evil ; Syncretism ; Witchcraft .

bibliography

Cavendish, Richard. The Black Arts. New York: Berkeley Publishing Group, 1967.

Duchesne-Guillemin, J. The Western Response to Zoroaster. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1959.

Fairman, H. W., ed. and trans. The Triumph of Horus: An Ancient Egyptian Sacred Drama. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974.

Gettings, Fred. Dictionary of Demons: A Guide to Demons and Demonologists in Occult Lore. North Pomfret, Vt.: Trafalgar Square Publishers, 1988.

Littleton, C. Scott. "Japanese Religions." In Religion and Culture: An Anthropological Focus, edited by Raymond Scupin. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2000.

Marrs, Jim. Alien Agenda: Investigating the Extraterrestrial Presence among Us. New York: Harper Paperbacks, 1997. See pp. 548–555.

Murphy, Joseph M. Santeria: An African Religion in America. Boston: Beacon Press, 1988.

Nash, June. "Devils, Witches, and Sudden Death." In Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion: An Anthropological Study of the Supernatural, edited by Arthur C. Lehmann and James E. Myers. 3rd ed. Mountain View, Calif.: Mayfield, 1993.

O'Flaherty, Wendy Doniger. The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976.

The Ramayana of Valmiki. Translated by Hari Prasad Shastri. London: Shanti Sadan, 1962.

Russell, Jeffrey Burton. The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1977.

——. Witchcraft in the Middle Ages. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1972.

Wilson, Colin. The Occult: A History. New York: Vintage, 1973.

C. Scott Littleton

114. Demons

See also 117. DEVIL ; 146. EVIL ; 182. GHOSTS ; 203. HELL ; 384. SPIRITS and SPIRITUALISM .

ademonist

one who denies the existence of the devil or demons.

bogyism, bogeyism

recognition of the existence of demons and goblins.

cacodemonia

a mania that causes a person to believe himself possessed and controlled by an evil spirit. Also cacodemonomania . —cacodemonic , cacodemoniac, adj.

demonianism

1. a belief in the possibility of possession by a demon.

2. demoniac possession. Also demoniacism . —demonian , adj. —demoniac , n., adj.

demonism

1. the belief in demons.

2. the worship of demons. Also demonolatry . —demonist , n.

demonocracy

1. the power of demons.

2. government or rule by demons. —demonocratic , adj.

demonography

demonology. —demonographer , n.

demonolatry

the worship, through propitiation, of ghosts, demons, and spirits. Also demonism .

demonology

1. the study of demons or superstitions about demons.

2. the doctrine of demons. Also demonography . —demonologist , n. —demonologic, demonological, adj.

demonomagy

Obsolete, forms of magie that require the invocation or assistance of demons.

demonomancy

a form of divination involving a demon or demons.

demonomist

Obsolete, a person who is possessed by demons.

demonomy

Obsolete, the sway or dominion of demons.

demonophobia

an abnormal fear of spirits and demons.

demonurgy

the working of magie with the aid of demons. —demonurgist , n.

devilism

qualities and doctrines that are diabolical. —devilish , adj.

energumen

a demoniac; a person possessed by an evil spirit. See also 150. FADS

exorcism

1. the ceremony that seeks to expel an evil spirit from a person or place.

2. the act or process of exorcising. —exorcist , n. —exorcismal, exorcisory, exorcistic, exorcistical, adj.

incubus

a demon alleged to lie upon people in their sleep and especially to tempt women to sexual relations. —incubi , n. pl.

nympholepsy

1. an ecstatic variety of demonic possession believed by the ancients to be inspired by nymphs.

2. a frenzy of emotion, as for something unattainable. —nympholeptic, adj.

pandemonism

Rare. the worship of spirits dwelling in all forms of nature.

Pandemonium

1. the abode of all demons; Heil.

2. any scène of wild confusion or disorder.

polydemonism, polydaemonism

a devotion to a multitude of demonic powers or spirits. —polydemonistic , polydaemonistic, adj.

succubus, succuba

a demon that assumes a female form to tempt men to intercourse, especially appearing in their dreams. —succubi , succubae, n. pl .

demons Non-material beings. In the ancient world there was a common belief in spiritual beings, either good or bad, inhabiting the world, independently of any deity, and capable of influencing human beings. In the philosophy of the Greek Plato the ‘demons’ are guardian spirits who determine the fate of individuals, and are thus precursors of guardian angels. In late Judaism the demons are wholly bad; they exist as an army under a general (Satan) and they engage in battle with God and his angels. These demons were thought to invade human personalities and destroy the power of reason and health. They caused disasters: their proper place was in the abyss (Mark 5: 13). Jesus, having vanquished Satan in the wilderness (Matt. 4: 10), is known to be one who casts out demons (Luke 8: 26–39). But whether this was by the power of the prince of demons (Matt. 9: 34) or was a sign corroborating Satan's defeat (Luke 10: 17) was debated. The genuineness of the healings does not seem to be disputable. Although in John there is reference to the Jewish charge that Jesus is possessed by a demon (John 8: 48–9), there are no accounts of exorcisms in the fourth gospel, but successful exorcisms are reported in the early Church (Acts 19: 11–16).

Returning missionaries sometimes describe what they take to be demon-possession as distinct from physical or mental disorder. Several bishops have appointed official exorcists in order to establish some control over modern fundamentalist healers with convictions that the NT world-view is still directly applicable today.

demon supernatural being, generally malevolent in character. In general, the more civilized pagan societies came to consider demons as powerful, supernatural beings who lacked the dignity of gods and who, depending on the circumstance, might be either benevolent or malevolent in their dealings with men. Some demons, like the Greek Pan, were nature spirits; others were guardians of the home or fields or watchers over travelers; still others were spirits of disease and insanity or dream spirits. Some demons were considered to be intermediaries between men and the gods. It was not until the development of late Hebraic and Christian thinking that demons came to represent the unqualified malevolence so common in European demonology of the 16th and 17th cent. This period was a high point in the study of demons, in the speculation on their nature, number, and specific fiendishness. The list compiled in 1589 by a demonologist named Binsfield was considered to be highly authoritative; in it he listed the following major demons and their particular evils: Lucifer (pride), Mammon (avarice), Asmodeus or Ashmodai (lechery), Satan (anger), Beelzebub (gluttony), Leviathan (envy), and Belphegor (sloth). The widespread and ancient belief in demons is still a strong force in many regions of the world today. See spiritism ; witchcraft .

Bibliography: See R. H. Robbins, The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology (1959); H. A. Relly, The Devil, Demonology, and Witchcraft (1968); F. Gettings, Dictionary of Demons (1988).

172. Demon (See also Devil.)

1. Aello Harpy; demon carrying people away, personifying a whirlwind. [Gk. Myth.: Jobes, 40]
2. afreet or afrit gigantic jinn, powerful and malicious. [Muslim Myth.: Benét, 13]
3. Apophis the snake god; most important of demons. [Ancient Egypt. Rel.: Parrinder, 24]
4. Ashmedai king of fiends. [Hebrew Myth.: Leach, 83]
5. Asmodeus king of the devils. [Talmudic Legend: Benét, 58]
6. bat bird that is the devil incarnate. [Western Folklore: Mercatante, 181]
7. cat evil being, demonic in nature. [Animal Symbolism: Mercatante, 46]
8. crocodile feared as spirit of evil. [African Folklore: Jobes, 382; Mercatante, 9]
9. Demogorgon mere mention of his name brings death and destruction. [Western Folklore: Benét, 263]
10. Dives ferocious spirits under sovereignty of Eblis. [Persian Myth.: LLEI, I: 326]
11. Fideal evil water spirit; dragged men under water. [Scot. Folklore: Briggs, 175]
12. Great Giant of Henllys ghost of dead man turned demon. [Br. Folklore: Briggs, 199–200]
13. incubus demon in the form of a man. [Western Folklore: Briggs, 232]
14. jinn (genii ) class of demon assuming animal/human form. [Arab. Myth.: Benét, 13, 521]
15. Old Bogy nursery fiend invoked to frighten children. [Br. Folklore: Wheeler, 265]
16. succubus demon in the form of a woman. [Western Folklore: Briggs, 232]
17. whale former symbol of demonic evil. [Animal Symbolism: Mercatante, 26]

Evil spirits. The sense of evil being a consequence of active agents is common in all religions. They may be synonymous with demons (q.v. for examples), but evil spirits take on many other forms. In Zoroastrianism, as daevas, they form a fundamental part of the dynamic of the whole system. Evil spirits are frequently the spirits of the dead who have not received appropriate care from the living, and who are therefore restless until they receive support: for examples, see KUEI, PRETA. Evil spirits may take possession of other lives, not least those of humans. They are then contested through exorcism or other rituals. They may also be contested by exclusion from the existing human community, a strategy which resulted in the execution of witches and others believed to have been possessed.

demon [GK. daimōn]. A Greek concept of an evil spirit, of second rank spiritually, borrowed by Christian commentators and applied subjectively to Celtic phenomena, such as the ‘demons’ driven from Ireland by St Patrick. Almost any pre-Christian personalities may be described as demons, especially the Fomorians and the Tuatha Dé Danann. A large number of mischievous or malevolent figures from oral tradition may be called demons; these include bocánach and the Cornu of Ireland; the ankou, nain, and youdik of Brittany. Bodb changes Aífe (2) into a ‘demon of the air’, a concept that appears in many translated texts although not expressed in an Irish phrase. See also DEVIL.

demon an evil spirit or devil, especially one thought to possess a person or act as a tormentor in hell; the word is recorded from Middle English, and comes partly via medieval Latin and Latin from Greek daimōn ‘deity, genius’, and partly (in this sense) from Latin daemonium ‘lesser or evil spirit’, from Greek diminutive of daimōn.

From late Middle English, the word was also used for a divinity or supernatural being (in ancient Greek belief) of a nature between gods and humans, an inner or attendant spirit or inspiring force, for which daemon is now the standard spelling.

de·mon¹ / ˈdēmən/ • n. 1. an evil spirit or devil, esp. one thought to possess a person or act as a tormentor in hell. ∎  a cruel, evil, or destructive person or thing. ∎  [often as adj.] a forceful, fierce, or skillful performer of a specified activity: a demon cook a demon for work. 2. another term for daemon¹ (sense 1). de·mon² • n. variant spelling of daemon² .

demon inferior divinity, genius, attendant spirit; evil spirit, devil. XV. — medL. dēmōn, L. dæmōn — Gr. daímōn divinity, genius. In both senses repr. L. dæmonium, Gr. dim. daimónion.
So demoniac (one) possessed by an unclean spirit. XIV. — (O)F. — ChrL. demoniacal XVII. demonic XVII.

de·mon·ic / diˈmänik/ • adj. of, resembling, or characteristic of demons or evil spirits: demonic possession | her laughter was demonic. ∎  fiercely energetic or frenzied: in a demonic hurry. DERIVATIVES: de·mon·i·cal·ly / -ik(ə)lē/ adv.

Demon (Gk., daimōn, ‘a spirit’). Originally an unseen reality influencing a person's life, speech, or actions (e.g. the daimōn of Socrates), it became associated with malevolence or evil. Sometimes identical with the devil, demons (in the plural) become more often servants or agents of the devil.

demon Part of a program waits for an event to happen which it then responds to: for example, a section of JAVA code which waits for the end of a file transfer from a computer on a network. Similar to a DAEMON, the difference is that a daemon is a program and a demon is usually part of a program: for example a SUBROUTINE.

demon In some operating systems, the process that controls a peripheral device. (The word is probably a contraction of device monitor.) By an extension of meaning the word is sometimes used for any process within the operating system, even if the process is not actually responsible for a peripheral device.

demon •Alabaman, Amman, Ammon, Drammen, gammon, Mammon, salmon •Bradman, Caedmon, madman, madmen •flagman, flagmen •trackman, trackmen •hangman, hangmen •chapman, chapmen •cragsman, cragsmen •cracksman, cracksmen, Flaxman •batsman, batsmen •batman, batmen •Tasman •clansman, clansmen, Klansman, Klansmen, landsman, landsmen •backgammon •barman, barmen, Brahman, Carman, Carmen, shaman, Sharman, Tutankhamen •craftsman, craftsmen, draftsman, draftsmen, draughtsman, draughtsmen, raftsman, raftsmen •marksman, marksmen •atman •guardsman, guardsmen •leman, Lemmon, lemon, Yemen •headman, headmen, Stedman •Beckmann •bellman, bellmen, Hellman •gentleman, gentlemen •penman, penmen •Helpmann •pressman, pressmen •freshman, freshmen •Welshman, Welshmen •Frenchman, Frenchmen, henchman, henchmen •desman •headsman, headsmen •helmsman, helmsmen •lensman, lensmen •airman, airmen, chairman, chairmen •Bremen, caiman, Damon, Eamon, layman, laymen, stamen •railman, railmen •brakesman, brakesmen •statesman, statesmen •tradesman, tradesmen •salesman, salesmen •gamesman, gamesmen •plainsman, plainsmen •railwayman, railwaymen •highwayman, highwaymen •cacodemon, daemon, demon, Freeman, freemen, Philemon, Riemann, Schliemann, seaman, seamen, semen •Friedman •liegeman, liegemen •Eastman, policeman, policemen •beadsman, beadsmen, seedsman, seedsmen •fieldsman, fieldsmen •wheelsman, wheelsmen •persimmon, Rimmon •pitchman, pitchmen •Bridgman • milkman • Hillman •signalman, signalmen •Lippmann •pitman, pitmen, Whitman •guildsman, guildsmen •kinsman, kinsmen •Betjeman • regimen •clergyman, clergymen •tallyman, tallymen •talisman •Englishman, Englishmen •businessman, businessmen •Cornishman, Cornishmen •journeyman, journeymen •cavalryman, cavalrymen •ferryman, ferrymen •vestryman, vestrymen •dairyman, dairymen •Irishman, Irishmen •quarryman, quarrymen •Orangeman, Orangemen •congressman, congressmen •countryman, countrymen •infantryman, infantrymen •nurseryman, nurserymen •liveryman, liverymen •midshipman, midshipmen •harvestman, harvestmen •serviceman, servicemen •Hyman, Simon •Eichmann •rifleman, riflemen •Feynman, lineman, linemen •Weismann • Wiseman •tribesman, tribesmen •linesman, linesmen •exciseman, excisemen •common, Roscommon •watchman, watchmen •Godman, hodman, hodmen •Hoffman •frogman, frogmen •stockman, stockmen •dolman, dolmen •Scotsman, Scotsmen, yachtsman, yachtsmen •Boltzmann • Cotman •bondsman, bondsmen •Bormann, doorman, doormen, foreman, foremen, Mormon, Norman, storeman, storemen •Kauffmann • Walkman •horseman, horsemen, Norseman, Norsemen •sportsman, sportsmen •oarsman, oarsmen, outdoorsman, outdoorsmen •swordsman •longshoreman, longshoremen •bowmen, cowman, cowmen, ploughman (US plowman), ploughmen (US plowmen) •councilman, councilmen •Hauptmann • Housman •groundsman, groundsmen, roundsman, roundsmen, townsman, townsmen •warehouseman, warehousemen •Bowman, Oklahoman, Oman, omen, Roman, showman, showmen, yeoman, yeomen •coachman, coachmen •Coleman, Goldman •nobleman, noblemen •postman, postmen •spokesman, spokesmen •boatman, boatmen •lifeboatman, lifeboatmen •dragoman •crewman, crewmen, energumen, human, ichneumon, Newman, numen, Schumann, subhuman, Trueman •woman •woodman, woodmen •bookman, bookmen •Pullman •Bushman, Bushmen •footman, footmen •woodsman, woodsmen •ombudsman, ombudsmen •clanswoman •backwoodsman, backwoodsmen •charwoman •craftswoman, draughtswoman •gentlewoman • Welshwoman •Frenchwoman •airwoman, chairwoman •laywoman • stateswoman •saleswoman • policewoman •kinswoman • Englishwoman •businesswoman • Irishwoman •congresswoman • countrywoman •jurywoman • servicewoman •tribeswoman •Scotswoman, yachtswoman •forewoman • horsewoman •sportswoman • oarswoman •townswoman • spokeswoman •Dutchwoman • frontierswoman •alderwoman • anchorwoman •washerwoman • Ulsterwoman •churchwoman • acumen • summon •Dutchman, Dutchmen •gunman, gunmen •busman, busmen, dustman, dustmen •huntsman, huntsmen •Newcomen • Layamon •privateersman, privateersmen, steersman, steersmen •frontiersman, frontiersmen •fireman • Dobermann • lumbermen •abdomen • Omdurman •alderman, aldermen •Turkoman •cellarman, cellarmen, telamon •cyclamen •Highlandman, Highlandmen •Solomon • trawlerman • cinnamon •Chinaman, Chinamen •trencherman, trenchermen •fisherman, fishermen, militiaman, militiamen •washerman, washermen •ottoman •waterman, watermen •Ulsterman, Ulstermen •Burman, firman, German, Herman, sermon, Sherman •churchman, churchmen •turfman, turfmen •Bergman •kirkman, kirkmen, workman, workmen •Perelman •herdsman, herdsmen

demonic •aldermanic, botanic, Brahmanic, Britannic, epiphanic, galvanic, Germanic, Hispanic, interoceanic, Koranic, manganic, manic, mechanic, messianic, oceanic, organic, panic, Puranic, Romanic, satanic, shamanic, talismanic, titanic, transoceanic, tympanic, volcanic •anthropogenic, arsenic, autogenic, callisthenic (US calisthenic), carcinogenic, cariogenic, cryogenic, erotogenic, eugenic, fennec, hallucinogenic, Hellenic, hypo-allergenic, photogenic, pyrogenic, radiogenic, schizophrenic, telegenic •polytechnic, pyrotechnic, technic •Chetnik •ethnic, multi-ethnic •Selznick •hygienic, scenic •peacenik • beatnik •actinic, clinic, cynic, Finnic, Jacobinic, rabbinic •picnic, pyknic •hymnic • Iznik • Dominic •anachronic, animatronic, bionic, Brythonic, bubonic, Byronic, canonic, carbonic, catatonic, chalcedonic, chronic, colonic, conic, cyclonic, daemonic, demonic, diatonic, draconic, electronic, embryonic, euphonic, harmonic, hegemonic, histrionic, homophonic, hypersonic, iconic, ionic, ironic, isotonic, laconic, macaronic, Masonic, Miltonic, mnemonic, monotonic, moronic, Napoleonic, philharmonic, phonic, Platonic, Plutonic, polyphonic, quadraphonic, sardonic, saxophonic, siphonic, Slavonic, sonic, stereophonic, subsonic, subtonic, symphonic, tectonic, Teutonic, thermionic, tonic, transonic, ultrasonic •Dubrovnik •Munich, Punic, runic, tunic •refusenik • nudnik • kibbutznik •sputnik • Metternich