[edit] Prevalence of demons

"/"">Nightmare"">Nightmare", 1800, by Nikolaj Abraham Abildgaard

According to some societies, all the affairs of life are supposed to be under the control of spirits, each ruling a certain "<br /"">element"">element" or even object, and themselves in subjection to a
greater spirit.^[6]
For example, the Inuit are said to believe in spirits of the sea, earth
and sky, the winds, the clouds and everything in nature. Every cove of
the seashore, every point, every island and prominent rock has its
guardian spirit. All are potentially of the malignant type, to be
propitiated by an appeal to knowledge of the supernatural.^[7]
Traditional Korean
belief posits that countless demons inhabit the natural world; they
fill household objects and are present in all locations. By the
thousands they accompany travelers, seeking them out from their places
in the elements.^[8]

In ancient Babylon, demonology had an influence on even the most mundane elements of life, from petty annoyances to the emotions of love and hatred. The numerous demonic spirits were given charge over
various parts of the human body, one for the head, one for the neck, and
so on. In present-day Egypt, the ubiquitous jinn are believed to be so
densely distributed that acts such as pouring water unto the ground are
accompanied by seeking the permission of a potentially dampened spirit.^[8]

Greek philosophers such as Porphyry, who claimed influence from Platonism,^[9] and the fathers of the Christian Church, held that
the world was pervaded with spirits,^[8]
the latter of whom advanced the belief that demons received the worship
directed at pagan gods.^[10]

Many religions and cultures believe, or once believed, that what is now known as sleep paralysis, was a form of physical contact with demons.

[edit] Character of
the spiritual world

The ascription of malevolence to the world of spirits is by no means universal. In West Africa, the Mpongwe believe in local spirits, just as do the Inuit; but they are regarded as
inoffensive in the main. Passers-by must make some trifling offering as
they near the spirits' place of abode; but it is only occasionally that
mischievous acts, such as the throwing down of a tree on a passer-by,
are, in the view of the natives, perpetuated by the class of spirits
known as Ombuiri.^[11]
So too, many of the spirits especially concerned with the operations of
nature are conceived as neutral or even benevolent; the European
peasant fears the corn-spirit only when he irritates him by trenching on
his domain and taking his property by cutting the corn;^[12]
similarly, there is no reason why the more insignificant personages of
the pantheon should be conceived as malevolent,
and we find that the Petara of the Dyaks
are far from indiscriminating and malignant, being viewed as invisible
guardians of mankind.^[13]

[edit] Types

See also: Classification of demons

Under the head of demons are classified only such spirits as are believed to enter into relations with the human race; the term therefore includes:

1. angels in the Judeo-Christian tradition that fell from grace,^[4]
2. human souls regarded as genii or <br /"">spirit"">familiars,^[14]
3. such as receive a cult (e.g., ancestor worship),^[4]
4. ghosts or other malevolent revenants.^[15]

Excluded are souls conceived as inhabiting another world. Yet just as gods are not necessarily spiritual, demons may also be regarded as corporeal; vampires for example are sometimes described as
human heads with appended entrails, which issue from the tomb to attack
the living during the night watches. The so-called Spectre Huntsman of
the Malay Peninsula is said to be a man who scours the firmament with
his dogs, vainly seeking for what he could not find on Earth -a buck
mouse-deer pregnant with male offspring; but he seems to be a living
man; there is no statement that he ever died, nor yet that he is a
spirit. The incubi and Succubi
of the <br /"">Ages"">Middle Ages are sometimes regarded as spiritual
beings; but
they were held to give proof of their bodily existence, such as
offspring (though often deformed).^[16]
Belief in demons goes back many millennia. The Zoroastrian faith teaches that there are
3,333 Demons, some with specific dark responsibilities such as war,
starvation, sickness, etc.

[edit] Judaism

While historical Judaism never "officially" recognized a rigid set of doctrines about demons,^[17] many scholars believe that its post-exilic concepts of eschatology,
angelology, and demonology were influenced by Zoroastrianism.^[18][19]
Some, however, believe that these concepts were received as part of the
Kabbalistic
tradition^[20]
passed down from (Bible)" class="mw-redirect"">Adam, Noah, and the
Hebrew patriarchs.^[21]
See <br /"">Yetzirah"">Sefer Yetzirah.

The Talmud declares that there are 7,405,926 demons, divided in 72 companies.^[22] While most people believe that Lucifer
and Satan are different names for the same being, not all
scholars subscribe to this view.^[23]

There is more than one instance where demons are said to have come to be, as seen by the sins of the Watchers and the Grigori, of Lilith leaving <br /"">and Eve"">Adam, of demons such as vampires,
impure spirits in <br /"">mythology"">Jewish folklore such as the dybbuk,
and of wicked humans that have become demons as well.^[24][25]

[edit] Christianity

Christian demonology is the study of demons from a Christian point of view. It is primarily based on the Bible
(/"">Testament"">Old Testament and New
Testament), the exegesis of these scriptures, the scriptures of
early Christian philosophers and hermits, tradition,
and legends
incorporated from other beliefs.

A number of authors throughout Christian history have written about demons for a variety of purposes. Theologians like /"">Aquinas"">Thomas Aquinas wrote concerning the behaviors Christians
should be aware of^[26],
while witchhunters like <br /"">Kramer"">Heinrich Kramer and /"">Sprenger" class="mw-redirect"">Jacob Sprenger wrote about how
to find
and what to do with people they believed were
involved with demons^[27].
Some texts are written with instructions
on how to summon demons in the name of God and often were claimed
to have been written by individuals respected within the Church, such as
the Lesser Key of Solomon^[28]
or The Grimoire of Pope Honorius
(although these the earliest manuscripts were from well after these
individuals had died)^[29].
These latter texts were usually more detailed, giving names, ranks, and
descriptions of demons individually and categorically.^[30]
Most Christians commonly reject these texts as either diabolical or
fictitious.^[31]

In modern times, some demonological texts have been written by Christians, usually in a similar vein of Thomas Aquinas, explaining their effects in the world and how faith may lessen or eliminate damage
by them.^[32]
A few Christian authors, such as Jack Chick and John
Todd, write with intentions similar to Kramer and Sprenger,
proclaiming that demons and their human agents are active in the world.^[33]
These claims are usually far from mainstream, and often include such
beliefs as that Christian rock is a means through which
demons influence people.

Not all Christians believe that demons exist in the literal sense. There is the view that the New Testament language of exorcism is an example of the language of the day being employed to describe the
healings of what today would be classified as epilepsy, mental illness
etc.^[34]

[edit] Islam

In Islam, the devil Iblis or Shaytan was a Jinn^[35] (humans are created from Earth, Angels from light, and jinn from
'smokeless fire'). The jinn though, are not necessarily evil; they could
be good doers or sinners just like humans. Since the jinn and humans
are the only kinds of creation who have the will to choose, the
followers of Iblis could be jinn or human. The angels, on the other
hand, are sinless and only obey the will of God.^[36]
In the Qur'an,
when God ordered those witnessing the creation of Adam to kneel before
him (before Adam), Iblis refused to do so and was therefore damned for
refusal to obey God's will.^[37]

[edit] Buddhism

Traditionally Buddhism affirms the existence of Hells^[38] peopled by demons who torment sinners and tempt mortals to sin, or who seek to thwart their enlightenment, with a demon named /"">(demon)"">Mara as chief tempter, "prince of darkness," or
"Evil One"
in Sanskrit sources.^[39][40]

The followers of Mara were also called mara, the devils, and are frequently cited as a cause of disease or representations of mental obstructions.^[41]
The mara became fully assimilated into the Chinese worldview,
and were called mo.

The idea of the imminent decline and collapse of the Buddhist religion amid a "great cacophony of demonic influences" was already a significant component of Buddhism when it reached China in the first
century C.E., according to Michel Strickmann.^[42]
Demonic forces had attained enormous power in the world. For some
writers of the time this state of affairs had been ordained to serve the
higher purpose of effecting a :preliminary cleansing" that would purge
and purify humanity in preparation for an ultimate, messianic renewal.^[40]

Medieval Chinese Buddhist demonology was heavily influenced by Indian Buddhism. Indian demonology is also fully and systematically described in written sources, though during Buddhism's millennium of direct
influence in China, "Chinese demonology was whipped into respectable
shape," with a number of Indian demons finding permanent niches even in
Taoist ritual texts.^[43]

[edit] Hinduism

Hinduism contains traditions of combats between its gods and various adversaries, such as the combat of the lord of the Gods Indra and
the major asura,
Vritra.^[44]

One form of Indian demon is the raksasas. Their Sanskrit name means the "protectors," and in India were known to haunt caves and trees. They roamed at night, often in animal form, but sometimes
disguised as humans and sometimes purely in monstrous form. Strickmann
writes that "They belch forth fire, eat meat (including human flesh),
drink milk, and disturb ritual offerings." Like other Indian demons,
they too came to be mentioned in Taoist texts.^[45]

[edit] Occult

Practitioners of ceremonial magic sometimes attempt to constrain and command demons to do their bidding, using methods such as the Goetia and
<br /"">Book of Abramelin"">The Book of Abramelin. The demons
are often
those mentioned in Christian demonology. These practitioners do not
necessarily worship demons, but seek to deploy them to obtain their
goals. Other followers of the occult do worship demons, and some refer
to their religion as "demonolatry."^[46]
Demonolators consider methods such as the Goetia
very disrespectful towards the demons, and possibly dangerous for the
operator. They instead use forms of prayer, <br /"">(paranormal)"">magic, and ritual
which petition the demons, asking for their aid rather than commanding
them.

Demonolators are not identical to practitioners of Theistic Satanism. They worship other demons (such as Belial and Leviathan)
either alongside, or instead of Satan. Some demonolators say that their
form of demonolatry is a tradition, often familial, that is not related
to the modern religious and philosophical movements collectively
referred to as Satanism.^[47]
Not all of the occultists who worship demons use the word "demonolator"
to describe themselves, nor do all belong to the specific group
mentioned above.

[edit] Zoroastrianism

In the Zoroastrian tradition, Ahura Mazda, as the force of good Spenta Mainyu, will eventually be victorious in a cosmic battle with an
evil force known as Angra Mainyu or Ahriman.^[48]