There was a lot of controversy about this, but unanimity has not been achieved for several centuries. And only one statement raised almost no objections: Satan, also known as the Emperor of the Great Underworld, the Prince of Light and the Angel of Darkness, reigned over everyone. He was the great adversary of God, the Serpent, the Reptile, the Spirit of universal hatred. It was Satan who embodied true evil in himself.

Under his leadership, there was a huge and terrible army of demons and other creatures that bring disaster, injury and destruction. But keeping such a horde in obedience would be an exorbitant task even for Satan himself, and, like God, who had seraphim, cherubim and archangels. Satan rallied around himself aristocratic demons to help him in the management of the Kingdom of Darkness. These demons, in contrast to the nine steps of the angelic hierarchy, formed their hellish nine-step structure. And everyone agrees that the first among the demons was one of Satan's oldest friends - a powerful angel named Beelzebub.

Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies L. Breton

When Satan first rebelled in heaven, he called in his ranks several very powerful seraphim, among whom was Beelzebub. Once in his new abode, he learned to seduce people with pride and ambition. When Beelzebub summoned witches and sorcerers to him, he appeared before them in the guise of a fly, since his military nickname was "Lord of the Flies." He received this name, the fact that he sent the plague with flies to Canaan, or perhaps because flies were believed to be the product of dead flesh. But in any case, this nickname remained with Beelzebub.

Another great angel who fell from heaven with “Lucifer was Leriathan, who was portrayed in the Bible as“ a serpent twisting ... a monster of the sea ”(Isaiah, ch. 21, v. 1). Sometimes Leviathan is accused of being the very serpent who seduced Eve in the Garden of Eden. In hell, he is considered the secretary of maritime affairs, since Satan has appointed him chief over all expanses of water.

Asmodeus is one of the busiest demons. He is not only the overseer of all gambling houses in Hell, but also the main distributor of debauchery. In all this, Asmodeus was a demon of lust and was personally responsible for stirring up trouble in families. Perhaps the reason was that he himself came from a dysfunctional family. According to Jewish legend, his mother was the mortal woman Naamah, and his father was one of the fallen angels (possibly Adam before Eve). The famous textbook of magic, The Testament of Solomon, described Asmodeus as "fierce and screaming." Every day he did everything he could to prevent husbands and wives from copulating, while at the same time spurring on their hidden animal instincts, inciting to betrayal and other sins. Before mortals, Asmodeus appeared sitting astride a dragon, with a sword in his hands. And he had three heads: one was a bull, the other was a ram, and the third was a human. All three heads were considered debauched by birth. The demon's legs, according to one of the versions, were of a cock.

Astaroth also rode around on a dragon, but perhaps there was only one head, which is usually painted as very ugly. In his left hand he held a viper. This demon was the great duke of the western regions of Hell, and also the keeper of the hellish treasury. Astaroth incited people to idle pastime, awakening laziness in them, in his free time he served as an advisor or mentor for the rest of the fallen angels.

The hippopotamus was a huge demon, as his name says. He is usually depicted as an elephant with a huge round belly waddling on two legs. He reigned over all gluttons and directed the feasts in Hell. And since, on duty, he had to stay awake for most of the night, he was also a watchman. The hippopotamus is also known to some extent for its singing.

Belial was one of Satan's most revered demons. Even before Satan was named the head of the dark forces of the underworld in the New Testament, Belial had already reached a high position. In one of the Dead Sea manuscripts, "The War of the Sons of Light with the Sons of Darkness," Belial appears as the sovereign ruler of the underworld:

“For the sake of debauchery, you are born, Belial - the angel of enmity. You and your abode are darkness, and your goals are to sow evil and pain around you. "

In the end, Belial descended from heaven, but he still retained the name of the demon of lies. Milton captured it in his book Paradise Lost II as follows:

“... Honest heaven does not leave, it seemed that he was born noble and for glorious deeds, but everything was deceit and untruth, although his tongue promised manna from heaven and could give plausibility to any evil deed in order to confuse and shock any reasonable advice: since his thoughts were low, he seduced the hardworking, but timid towards good deeds and careless to noble deeds. "

When Gilles de Rais, famous for his massacres, tried to summon demons using the parts of the dismembered body of the child he had killed, Beelzebub and Belial appeared to him.

Demons are all kinds of mediating spirits between the otherworldly and earthly worlds. Demons in humans are associated with evil. But in pre- and non-Christian culture, demons were (and remain) not only evil and good. There are good and bad demons, as well as those who do both good and evil. The science of demons is called demonology.

"Demon" means "full of wisdom." Good demons are called zudemons, and evil demons are called cacodemons. The word demon comes from the Greek term Diamon, that is, "divine power", "rock", "God". Daimons mediated between gods and humans. A good daimon could be a guardian spirit. A person was considered lucky if he had a demon nearby to help him. Guardian spirits whispered advice and correct decisions to their wards. Evil demons, by the way, misled people.

Throughout history, sorcerers and sorcerers have had power over demons. Demons were often blamed for disease, misery, and possession. In ancient Egypt, there was a belief that if a sorcerer expelled some demon, then he automatically received power over him.

Jewish demonology divides all demons into classes. According to Kabbalah, the power of darkness comes from the left trunk of the Tree of Life and especially from Geburah - the sephirah of divine wrath. According to another version, demons were born from nightmares. Some sources believe that demons fill the space between the Earth and the Moon.

There are demons who, like angels, act at night, or evil spirits that cause disease. Some demons have a seal that can be used by a person who calls upon the dark forces.

In the Old Slavic pagan religious and mythological representations, evil spirits, demons were called demons.

With the development of Christian demonology, demons began to be associated exclusively with evil, already by their origin they were confidants of the devil. According to Christian teaching, light spirits are angels. According to the Bible, demons are fallen angels who followed Lucifer when he was cast out of heaven by God. Towards the end of the early Christian period, all demons began to be identified with the fallen angels. Satan was their supreme ruler. The only purpose of demons is to incite people to immoral acts and stand between people and God.

In the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance, demons, as agents of the devil, became associated with witches and sorcerers.

The systematization and classification of demons appeared at least 100-400 AD. e. The Christian demonologists of the 16th and 17th centuries listed demons according to their hierarchy in hell, assigning them various duties and attributes. So, for example, each demon represented a certain nationality of the world. Johann Weyer, the compiler of the most complete hierarchy, has calculated that the total number of demons is 7,405,926 ordinary spirits, under the command of seventy-two princes of darkness. The books of cerimonial magic also provide their own hierarchy. Among the most powerful demons:

Asmodeus is a demon of debauchery, jealousy, anger and revenge. He seeks to bring discord between husbands and wives, destroys young families, drives men to adultery. He is one of the demons that most often take possession of people. He is considered one of Satan's most malevolent demons. According to the descriptions, he has three heads: a man-eating giant, a ram and a bull. These creatures have the greatest sexual promiscuity. He has rooster legs and wings (the rooster is considered the most aggressive bird). He rides a fire-breathing dragon.

His image is rooted in ancient Persia. He was associated with the demon Aishma. The ancient Jews believed that the parents of Asmodeus were Naama and Shamdon. Asmodeus was one of the seraphim, angels closest to the throne of God, but fell out of favor. According to other sources, he was the husband of Lilith, the demon of lust. The legend of Asmodeus speaks of him as the offspring of Lilith and Adam.

In the Middle Ages, it was believed that the witches obeyed the Asmodeus, and the magicians called him for help, trying to turn his power against their enemies. Warlocks were advised to approach him bareheaded out of respect for his power. Weier claimed that Asmodeus was running gambling houses.

Astaroth (or Ashtarot) is a demon with masculine properties, but evolved from the goddess of fertility Astarte. In the new incarnation, however, he weakly manifests his masculine nature. He patronizes scientists, has the secrets of the past, present and future. Astaroth is called upon during necromantic rituals of predicting the future. He appears as an angel with a human form. According to some sources, he is ugly, according to others, on the contrary, he is beautiful. However, an eerie malice emanates from him. Weier says that Astaroth is the great prince of Hell, and under his command are 40 legions of demons. According to other sources, Astaroth is one of the three supreme demons of hell.

Baal - this name was borne by small deities in ancient Syria and Persia. However, the great Baal was a deity of fertility and agriculture. He was the son of El, the supreme deity of Canaan, and the ruler of life. He ruled the cycle of death and rebirth. The inhabitants of Canaan worshiped Baal and sacrificed children to him, throwing them into the fire. The Christian demon Baal was also three-headed: in the center it had a human head, and on the sides - a feline and a toad's head. Baal could bestow wisdom and discernment.

Beelzebub is the "lord of the flies." He was the prince of demons in Hebrew beliefs and Christian teachings. In the Middle Ages, he was ascribed tremendous power. The sorcerers who called to him risked death from apoplexy or suffocation. Having summoned Beelzebub, it was very difficult to drive him away. He appeared in the form of a gigantic ugly fly.

He ruled the witches' covens. They chanted him during ritual dances.

Belial (Belial, Belial, Belial) - "vanity", "nothing", "no-god", one of the most powerful and evil demons of Satan. Belial appears before people in a deceptively beautiful appearance. His speech is pleasant to the ear, but he is deceitful and treacherous. Belial incites people to commit sinful acts, especially sexual perversion, lust and adultery.

The ancient Jews believed that Belial was created immediately after Lucifer and had an evil essence from birth. He was one of the first to rise up against God. After he was banished from heaven, he became the embodiment of evil.

Weier believed that Belial commanded 88 legions of demons (6666 demons each) and was the representative of the devilish forces in Turkey. When he was called, it was necessary to make a sacrifice. Belial often broke promises, but if someone sought his favor, he was generously rewarded.

Lucifer, the "light-bearer," was originally associated with the morning star. In the hierarchy of demons, Lucifer is the emperor of hell and stands above Satan, one of his deputies. Lucifer, summoned by spells, appears in the form of a beautiful child. He rules Europeans and Asians

Types of demons

Some demons were cleaned off by the gods, Kash or Xipe-Totek, which were particularly cruel. This is due to the fact that demons, as is commonly believed, do not obey the laws of nature and can create their bodies from air and subtle energies, they are able to take the form of humans or animals.

Indian goddess of destruction, plague and death. In one hand she holds the head of Raktevira, the king of demons. She entered into a mortal duel with him, won and drank all his blood. One of the most dramatic depictions of her shows her squatting by the body of the dead Shiva, consuming his penis with her vagina, while eating his intestines with her mouth. This scene should be taken not literally, but spiritually. It is believed that Kali takes Shiva's semen into her vagina in order to conceive it again in her eternal womb. In the same way, she devours and destroys all living things around her in order to create everything anew. On her neck she wears a necklace of skulls, on which Sanskrit letters are engraved, which are considered sacred mantras, with which Kali created, connecting the Elements. Kali Ma has black skin and an ugly face with fangs stained with blood. A third eye is located above her brow. She has four hands with claws on her fingers. Her naked body is decorated with garlands of a baby, necklaces of skulls, snakes, heads of her sons, and the belt was created from the hands of demons.

This is Xipe Totec, the bloodthirsty Mexican demon. It is said that he drinks the blood of sinners in hell. In the old days, prisoners captured in the war were sacrificed to him. It is believed that Xipe-Totek appears wherever blood is shed.

SCADI. The goddess Skadi was a dark and cruel goddess of the snowy and cold North. Scandinavia was once called Skadin-auya, that is, the Land of Skadi. Norse myths describe this goddess as the beautiful daughter of the giant Tiazzi. After killing her father by Thor, Skadi came to the gates of Asgard and challenged the gods. Trying to pacify her righteous anger, Loki took the goat and went out the gate to greet her. Loki tied one end of the rope to the goat, and the other to his genitals. The goat began to pull the rope in one direction, Loki in the other, until his genitals came off the body. Bleeding, Loki fell at Skadi's feet, washing her with his blood. The goddess considered this a sufficient punishment for the death of her father. But Loki magically regained his lost organs and continued to haunt other female goddesses.

Evil Indian demons digging up graves move into dead bodies and terrify the bastards and priests. Rakshasas possess tremendous supernatural strength and can take on any form. Often they are strange, distorted bodies of the most incredible color. These bloodthirsty demons are extremely dangerous. Their long claws are extremely poisonous. They devour human flesh with pleasure, and sometimes each other.

HEL. The Scandinavian goddess Hel, known to the Germans as Holda or Bertha, was the patroness of lakes and streams, home, spinning and growing flax. According to legend, she traveled across the sky with Odin on his Wild Hunt, which may have been associated with the Valkyries. Hel was the queen of the dead and ruler of the Underworld, called Niflheim in Norse-Germanic myths. She received this kingdom as a gift from Odin, and it was at the same time a world of freezing cold and volcanic fire. Hel was born of Loki and the female giant Angrboda. Her appearance was scary, as one half of her body was healthy and the other was large and rotten. Hel sided with Ragnarok in the fight against the gods and people, taking into her kingdom all the dead, except those who died in battle. In her kingdom, one half was intended for the righteous and gods, while the other was a place for punishing sinners.

This Japanese demon also attacks people. Kappa, as he is called, lives in the rivers and loves to drown anyone who inadvertently approaches him. There are only two ways to escape the Kappa's claws. The first is to treat him with a cucumber or melon, which Kappatak loves, which, having received, does not pay any attention to people. Another way is to bow before him. Kappan is so polite that he bows to his victims, spraying them with liquid from the top of his head, giving him supernatural power.

SRI LAKSHMI. The goddess Sri Lakshmi, the beloved of Vishnu, was portrayed with a lotus in her hands or sitting on a lotus, with a chest and money pouring from her palm. Legends say that she was born from the foam of the milky ocean. Lakshmi accompanies Vishnu in every reincarnation, being reborn with him. When Vishnu became Rama, Lakshmi became Sita. When he became Krsna, she became Radha's cowherd boy. Since Lakshmi is the goddess of luck, they say that she has a rather capricious character, since luck leaves a person suddenly.

Yara-ma - demons who lived in the forests of Australia. They are small creatures with bare red or green skin and suckers instead of arms and legs. Yara-ma hiding in the branches of trees, waiting for prey. When the victim approaches, he jumps on her, bites into the body and sucks blood. Yara-ma has such a huge mouth that they can easily swallow a person. Sometimes, if they fell asleep immediately after their meal, their victims managed to escape and flee.

A terrible Aztec demon, who was the middle ground between a woman and a butterfly, with stone knives attached to the ends of his wings; instead of language there was also a knife. Itzpapalotl also had a special magic cloak, with the help of which he could easily transform into a harmless butterfly.

KELPI - A Scottish demon in the form of a horse; a man who meets a kelpie on the bank of a river and swam across it on the other side can no longer return. Kelpies always eat their victims before devouring them.

LAMIA - A vampire demon with the face of a beautiful woman and the body of a snake. According to ancient Greek legend, the lamia is wrapped around young men and strangles.

ZOTZ - A South American demon from the Mayan legend. Zotz is an evil winged creature with a head dog, living in hell and drinking the blood of everyone who appears in the territory he occupies.

Vassago is a powerful prince of the Agares clan who calls things past,
real, comes and reveals what has been lost or hidden. By nature
he is good. He rules over 26 legions of spirits.
Information about Vassago is found in ancient sources long before the earliest
Babylonian times. He was one of the Naphilim and in Eastern legend he is considered
one of the seventy-two genie lords.
Your experiment should be carried out during clear weather, when the moon is two-,
four-, six ", eight-, ten-, twelve or fourteen-day and,
always growing, of course. However, the power of Vassago is so great (he is
"prince" in the hierarchy) that he does not depend on any stellar or solar
patterns of time and therefore can be called — at any time of the day or night. He
should only be called in extremely confusing situations where all others
simpler methods of prediction did not bring
desired result. Although he is "kind by nature", it is extremely important to remember
the fact that he is one of the seventy-two oldest formed
the primordial fire of infinity even before the creation of man and his intellect
far surpasses the mind of the living, and he is forced to humbly obey the prayers
Homo sapiens, still not much different from monkeys and causing it extremely
clumsily.

ABBADON is a demon, the lord of the abyss.

ABDUSTSIUS is a demon that uproots trees.

ABIGOR is a demon rider, a skillful warrior.

ADRAMALEKH is a demon advisor in charge of SATAN's wardrobe.

AGALIAREPT is a demon who knows how to solve any riddles.

AGVARES - demon, great duke of hell, organizer of dances.

AZAZEL is a demon, the standard-bearer of the troops of hell.

ALASTOR is a demon herald.

ALLOTRIOPHAGIA - vomiting or vomiting of foreign objects;

Usually associated with the possession of the Devil or other Demons.

ALRUNES - in Germanic mythology - these are sorceresses or Demons

Feminine, able to change their appearance.

ALTAR - an exalted place where religious ceremonies take place

And where sacrifices are made to the gods.

AMDUSCIAS is a demon musician, the great duke of hell.

AMON is a demon marquis.

ANDRAS is a demon, a great marquis.

ANCU - ​​a ghost with a carriage, portending death (Brittany).

ANKH - Egyptian symbol of life, universe and immortality is

Cross with a loop.

ARIANROD - Welsh goddess of the dawn, distinguished by an extraordinary

Beauty; her name means "silver wheel"

ASMODEUS is a demon of lust and family troubles.

ASTAROT is the great duke, the keeper of the treasures of hell.

ASTART is the great duke of hell.

ASTARTA - in ancient Phenicia - the great goddess of fertility, motherhood and war.

ATAM is a ritual dagger used by witches.

ACHERON is a hellish monster with flaming eyes.

BABA-YAGA - in Russian folklore: an old woman who loves to fry

And there are people, especially children.

BARBATOS is a demon who knows how to find hidden treasures and predict the future.

To occultism and magic.

BATORY ELIZAVETA - Carpathian countess, executed in 1610 for the fact that

Bathed in the blood of young kopeck piece for the purpose of rejuvenation.

BAFOMET - a symbol of the satanic goat; usually depicted as

Half-man-half-goat or in the form of a man with a goat's head.

BEGEMOTE is a huge demon who ruled the feasts in hell.

BELLARMINA JUG - Witch's bottle used to make potions.

BELPHEGORUS is a demon who seduces people with wealth.

BERTON ROBERT (1577 - 1640) - English clergyman and writer.

BINSFIELD PETER (c. 1540 - 1603) - German expert in witchcraft.

BODIN JEAN - French lawyer and demonologist, author

"Daemonomanie des Sorciers" (1580).

BOKOR is a Voodoo sorcerer.

BRUKHA, BRUHO - respectively, the female and male names of witches in

Mexico, Central America and Spanish communities.

PINS - used in some magic spells and

In sympathetic magic.

BAAL is a demon of treachery and deceit, the great duke of hell.

VAALBERIT is the chief secretary of Hell.

VALAFAR is a demon, patron saint of robbers and robbers.

VAMPIR is a dead man who came to life to drink the blood of people.

VARLOKI - designation of male witches.

The WITCH is a woman who uses black magic to achieve

Your goals.

WITCH'S MARKING - An unusually enlarged nipple or other location

Where does the witch feed her "favorites"

VELIAR is a powerful ally of SATAN, a demon of lies.

Beelzebub - Commander of the legions of hell, lord of the flies.

VERBENA is a herb considered sacred since the time of the Druids.

VERDELL is the master of ceremonies of hell.

VOODOO is a religion in the West Indies, a hybrid of African religions and the Catholic faith.

VURDALAK is a sinister creature that tears apart graves and eats carrion.

HECATE - in Greek mythology, a strong goddess who

Patronizes magic and magic.

GAYA - in Greek mythology, Mother Earth.

GLASTONBURY - the ancient sacred site of the pagans

And Christians in the west of England.

GNOME are spirits living in the earth.

GOBLINS are evil and ugly elves.

GOLEM - in Jewish folklore, a terrible person created by magic.

HOMUNCULUS is an artificial man created with the help of alchemy.

GODY ISABELLA - Scottish witch of the 17th century.

GRI-GRI - in shamanism - charms or talismans were kept

For good luck and averting evil.

GUAZZO FRANCZO-MARIA - Italian monk, author

Compendium Maladicarum (1608).

DAGON - demon, baker of hell.

DANTALIAN is a demon that incites people to evil deeds.

DANTE ALIGERI (1265-1321) - Italian poet, author of The Divine Comedy.

DANU is the ancestor of fairies in Celtic mythology.

DEMETRA - Greek goddess of fertility and agriculture, whose image is

An integral part of the cult of the female deity in modern witchcraft.

JINNS - in Arabic mythology - are usually ugly and

Evil demons with supernatural strength and obedience

Those who own the secrets of magic.

GIFFORD GEORGE - English preacher, author of "Dialogue ..." (1593).

DEE JOHN (1527-1608) - alchemist, mathematician, astronomer and astrologer.

DIANA (ARTEMIS) - the ancient goddess of the moon and the hunt.

DIS is the poetic name given to Dante SATAN.

DAVIE JONES'S BOX - the seabed, drowned sailors went there.

DRUIDS are a high-ranking caste of Celtic priests.

DEVIL - The Grand Duke of Evil according to Christian teachings.

DUBBUK is a wandering spirit in Jewish mythology.

ZEPAR is a demon that drove women to madness.

ZOMBIE - an animated corpse, carrying out the orders of the sorcerer.

ZOSIMA was a Greek philosopher and alchemist of the 3rd or 4th century BC.

INNANA - in Sumerian mythology - the mother goddess, the queen of Heaven.

INCUBUS is a male demon lover.

ISIS is the ancient Egyptian mother goddess, a symbol of a faithful wife and

A fertile mother protector.

ISHTAR - the great mother goddess in ancient Assyrian

And Babylonian mythology.

I-Ching is an ancient Chinese system of divination and witchcraft.

Kabbalah - Jewish system of theosophy, philosophy, science, magic and

Mysticism, which has developed since the Middle Ages.

KALI - Indian goddess of death, destruction, fear and horror,

The wife of the destroyer SHIVA.

KALIOSTRO ALESSANDRO (1743-1795) - Sicilian magician, alchemist,

Parapsiologist and healer.

KASSANDRA - in Greek mythology, a prophetess, on whose predictions,

Incl. and no one paid attention to the prediction of the fall of Troy.

KERNUNNOS is the horned god of the Celts, the god of hunting and fertility.

KERRIDUEN - Celtic goddess of wisdom, reason, magic,

Fortune telling and magic.

CLAIN JOHANN is a law professor who has studied sexual

THE KEY OF SOLOMON is a famous witchcraft book, allegedly written

King of Israel Solomon.

KOCITUS is a frozen river in the ninth circle of hell.

KRAMER HENRICH - Dominican monk who lived in the 15th century,

CROWLEY ALISTER (1875-1947) - magician, occultist, who wrote a lot

Scientific works.

XAFAN is a demon who makes fires in hell.

LAMIA is a demon woman, a vampire who hunted mainly for children.

LEVIAFAN is a huge snake, the lord of the oceans.

LEMEGETON - Lesser Key of Solomon, pocket witchcraft book.

LEONARD is a demon, the master of the Sabbath.

SUMMER is a river of oblivion in hell.

FLYING Dutchman - ghost captain who controls the ghost ship,

Doomed to wander the seas forever.

LYCANTHROPY - the transformation of people into werewolves.

LILIAN - children of Lilith from demons.

LILITH is the queen of succubus, the first wife of Adam.

LITOMANCE - a method of fortune-telling using stones.

LOA - in the Voodoo religion "soul".

LUBIN - in France they called the people living in cemeteries and

Feeding on carrion

LEKCHO - (Fin.) The ghost of a child buried in the forest.

LUCIFER - angel, son of the dawn, rebelled against God and overthrown

From the sky, SATAN.

LUCIFUG ROFOCAL - Prime Minister of Hell.

LUPIN - in France, they called werewolves living in cemeteries.

MALEBOLGE - the eighth circle of hell, intended for cunning and swindlers.

MAMMON is a demon of wealth.

MANDRAGORA - a plant with which a magic potion was obtained,

Strengthening.

MARBAS is a demon who could send and heal disease.

MARLOW CHRISTOPHER - (1564-1593) - English playwright, author

"The tragic incident with Dr. Faustus".

MELKHOM - demon, keeper of the treasures of the princes of hell.

MERLIN is a classic sorcerer from the cycle about King Arthur.

MEPHISTOPHEES - a demon who served Faust for 24 years.

MILTON JOHN - (1608-1674) -English poet, author of Paradise Lost.

HAMMER OF THE WITCHES - The definitive handbook of witch hunters.

MOLOK is a demon-deity to whom children were sacrificed.

MULZIBER is a demon, the architect of hell.

NAVKI - the souls of dead or unresolved children (among the Slavs).

NEBIROS is a demon, field marshal of the army of hell.

NECROMANTIA - the ancient art of spells of the dead

Bodies for the Vorzhba.

NIBRAS is a demon in charge of entertainment.

NISROK is a demon, one of the administrators of hell.

NOSTRADAMUS (1503-1566) - French healer, astrologer and prophet.

WOLF - a person who has turned into a wolf.

OLIVIER is a fallen archangel who awakens cruelty towards the poor in people.

OSIRIS is the Greek god of the dead.

HUNTER HERNE - ghost hunter of English legends.

PANDEMONIUS is the capital of SATAN in hell.

PARACELS - (1493-1541) -Swedish physician and alchemist.

FIRST ELEMENTS - four primary elements - earth, air,

Water and fire.

SEAL OF SOLOMON - This symbol represents

A six-pointed star, a powerful amulet and talisman.

PLINIUS - Greek naturalist (1st century AD).

PRELATI FRANCESKO - monk, alchemist Gilles de Rais.

PSELLUS MICHAEL - (about 1018-1080) -Byzantine

Philosopher and statesman.

PUT SATANAKIA is the supreme commander of the army of SATAN.

RE GILES DE - (1404-1440) -Per of France, who committed mass murders.

THE HAND OF GLORY - a brush cut off from a hanged man, necessary

For some types of witchcraft.

RUNES - a magic alphabet of symbols.

RUSALS are half-women, half-fish living in the sea.

SABNAK is a demon responsible for rotting corpses.

SALAMANDRA - lords of fire, spirits living in flames.

SARGATANAS is a demon, major general of the army of hell.

SATANA is the Supreme Lord of Hell and Demons.

SATANISM - worship of the Devil or Satan, the ruler of evil forces

In the Christian worldview.

SWASTIKA is a powerful sacred symbol of ancient and

Pagan cultures around the world.

ST. ELMA LIGHTS - the bright glow of the ship's masts after a storm,

A good sign for sailors.

SELENA is the Greek goddess of the moon.

SINISTRARI LUDOVIKO-MARIA - (1622-1701) -theologian,

SIMON MAG - sorcerer, organizer of the Gnostic sect in the 1st century. AD

SOLOMON - King of Israel in the X century. BC..

SPINA ALFONSE DE - Spanish theologian of the 15th century, author of "Fortalicium Filei".

STRIGA - in antiquity, this was the name of the night spirit drinking blood.

SPRENGNR JACOB - 15th century Dominican monk, co-author of "Malleus Maleficarum".

SUKKUBUS is a devil lover.

SILVES (SILVESTERS) - the spirit-masters of the air.

TALISMANS - items that have magical powers by themselves,

Transfer this power to the owner.

TOT is the ancient Egyptian god, the creator of the universe, the deity of secret knowledge.

THIRTEEN is a number that is considered unlucky and

Symbolizes the forces of evil.

WESLEY SAMUEL - (1662-1735) - English priest, "master"

Epworth poltergeist.

UNDINES are the master spirits of water.

UFIR is a demon, the doctor of hell.

UTBURD - the ghost of a dead child (Norwegian).

FAUST is a medieval doctor and sorcerer who sold his soul to the Devil.

FAIRY MORGANA - a sorceress who possessed the art of magic

Herbal medicine.

FLEVRETI - Lieutenant General of Beelzebub, governor of Africa.

FURFUR is a demon that controls thunder, lightning and hurricane winds.

CHIROMANTY - the art of fortune telling by hand.

HOPKINS METEW - the man who proclaimed himself the supreme investigator

On the affairs of witches (died 1647).

HUNGAN is a priest in the Voodoo religion.

CIRCE - in Greek mythology, a sorceress known for her

Evil charms.

SHAX is a demon that blinds and stuns its victims.

ESBAT - regular meetings of the community of witches.

Demonology

In Christian demonology, two main directions can be distinguished, the difference between which lies in the main question for demonology about the possibilities of the devil and his status in the world. The first trend, which inherited the ideas of early Christian dualistic heresies, significantly expands the rights and possibilities of the devil; the second arises as a reaction to heretical paradoxes and is driven by the need to explain the place of the devil in the world so as not to diminish the absolute competence of God in all matters of being; the first one way or another distinguishes between the creations of God and the devil (or good and evil principles, etc.), however, admitting their coexistence, the second completely denies the devil the ability to any creation, limiting his activity to the realm of imaginary, confusion, illusion.

These directions did not exist in their pure form, but as tendencies, sometimes intertwined into a single conglomerate of views, the inconsistency of which was almost not realized, sometimes clearly divided and arguing with each other, and one or another tendency prevailed. In the dualistic heresies of early and medieval Christianity, the concept of the co-creator of the devil is very clear. So, the Marcionites (from the 2nd century) considered the devil (an evil principle) to be the creator of this material world (to which the whole person was attributed - both the body and, surprisingly, the soul), and God (the good principle) - the creator of the otherworldly, spiritual world ; The Manicheans (from the 3rd century onwards) differentiated flesh and soul in the same way in the matter of creation. The most influential (especially in Byzantium and Eastern Europe) and developed dualistic teaching was the concept of the Bogomils (from the 10th century; later assimilated and developed by the Cathars; from the 12th century), who considered the devil (Satanael) a god of darkness and evil, independent of God light and kindness; the devil is the eldest son of God who created the flesh of Adam and "the second heaven with its own angels, which is a reflection of the divine heavenly order" (ROSCOFF, II, 125). (In the interpretation of Michael Psellus, the Bogomils believed in a kind of Trinity, consisting of the Father, the Son and the Devil; at the same time, the father ruled over eternal things, the devil over the things of this world, and the Son over the heavenly things - RUSSELL, LUCIFER, 44). In a weakened form, this distinction between the creative competences of God and the devil appears in the teaching of the Concourse (a party within the Cathar movement who believed that the sensible world was created by an “evil god”), according to which the material world was created by God, but arranged, organized by Lucifer (ROSCOFF, II, 127 ). Sometimes heresies, refusing the devil in creative functions, insisted on the eternity of the evil principle, comparable to the eternity of God himself. The anonymous author of the treatise "On the Heresy of the Cathars in Lombardy" (12-13 centuries) testifies to a unique belief allegedly professed by the followers of the Qatari bishops Kaloyanna and Garatta: the devil himself was seduced by some evil spirit with four faces (man, bird, fish and beast) who has no beginning (sine principio), lives in chaos, but is not able to create (SEMKOV, 355).

Not only dualistic heresies, but any recognition for the devil of any place in the hierarchy of divine powers led to paradoxes similar to the thesis of the English reformer John Wycliffe (14th century), who declared that “God must obey the devil” (Deus debet obcedire diabolo ) on the grounds that all the forces created by God are from God, partake of God and should be obeyed.

Orthodox demonology (the concept of which, of course, is just as conditional as the concept of heresy, and which can only be defined as "a doctrine that is not acceptable to the papacy at the moment" - RUSSELL, LUCIFER, 184), which fought against heresies of this kind, rejected the significance the devil in the hierarchy of forces and did not leave the devil not only creative, but also organizing functions, in the difficult problem of the origin of evil simply referring, like Jean Baudin (5), to the book of the prophet Isaiah: “I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, make peace and create calamities; I, the Lord, do all these ”(Isaiah 45: 6-8). That is why the church for a very long time did not recognize the reality of the deeds of demonomaniacs, especially witches: after all, their recognition would mean recognition of the reality of the creative efforts of the devil himself. The Council in Braga (563) is the first council that gave in its canons a detailed definition of the devil (later this topic was considered in such detail only by the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, which returned to the question of the devil in connection with the spread of the heresy of the Cathars and approved the position that “ the devil and other demons from God were created good, but through their own fault they became bad ", and Trent Cathedral, 1546), - approved the position according to which the devil is an angel created by God, and condemned those who" say that he rose from darkness (dicit eum ex tenebris emersisse) and does not have a creator for itself, but itself is the beginning and substance of evil ”(Canon 7); condemned the council and those who believed in the creation of the world, the human body by the devil, and that the birth of a fetus in the womb of a mother is the work of demons (canons 8 and 12). The Cathedral in Type (813) recognized the actions of the magicians as trickery, considering them as "illusions" caused by the devil. In the 8th century. John Damascene ("An Exact Statement of the Orthodox Faith") subjected the doctrine of the devil as an independent principle to logical criticism. His reasoning, proving the logical contradiction of dualism, is as follows: two completely hostile principles, if they existed, should not have anything in common; but if we admit that they exist, then we must admit that they are united by the very presence of being in them; thus, being preceded both principles, and it is it that is the first and only principle, whose name is God. According to the opinion of GREGORY THE GREAT, shared by many later theologians, the devil exists in a dangerous proximity to complete non-being: he “departed from his high essence, and therefore, becoming more and more imperfect every day, he is approaching non-being” (MORALIYA, 14:18 ). The idea of ​​the devil as almost "nothingness", a certain lack of being left him the role of the creator of illusions, which, however, are very dangerous both for human health and for his spiritual salvation: the figure of the devil-illusionist passes through the entire history of demonology, along with belief in the terrible physical reality of his deeds. But the demonologists of the Middle Ages, while not denying the devil the ability to bring material harm, at the same time believed that the devil's illusions could be more dangerous than the physical injuries inflicted by him. So, Michael Psellus considered the ability to induce illness and fatal misfortune to be the prerogative of the lower demons (the Hierarchy of Demons), while to the higher demons he attributed the ability for phantastikos - “imaginary actions” that, acting on the soul and causing false images in it, can destroy it.

Refusing to see in the devil an independent principle, co-present with the divine principle and parallel to it, orthodox demonology nevertheless retained a parallelism between the devil and the divine in another: in the structural organization of the infernal world, which she had to describe on the basis of vague, clearly insufficient indications of the Bible. Thus, the ranks of the demonic hierarchy (Demonic ranks) correspond to the hierarchy of angels; the principle by which demonologists extracted the names of the devil (Names of demons) from the Bible is the same as in the nomenclature of divine names; by analogy with the mystical body of Christ, the devil is perceived as a single body with his adepts (“one body - the devil and all the unrighteous” - GREGORY THE GREAT, MORALIYA, 13:34); the divine Trinity is opposed by the diabolical trinity, etc. "All the statistics of the infernal Sabbath are copied from the church rite," says GÖRRES (CHRISTIAN MYSTERY, IV: 2, 250); “The demonic world confronts the host of angels and saints as its dark but faithful shadow” (ROSCOFF, II, 153). The idea of ​​the need for a devilish principle in a common divine plan, which could serve as a motivation for such parallelism, was sometimes expressed by early Christian authors with truly naive directness, unthinkable in later texts: there would be no martyrs, but in our life there would be neither sad nor joyful holidays ”(St. Asterius); “If there were no battle and struggle, there would be no victory, there would be no crown, there would be no reward” (St. Anastasius of Sinai - ROSCOFF, II, 153). Later, such guesses, probably, go into some unspoken subtext, and the similarity (with a value opposition) of the divine and devil worlds, developed with every century more and more carefully and concretely (about a curious deviation from this similarity between women and the devil), is motivated in a safer way : the idea of ​​the devil as a proud but unlucky imitator of God (Monkey God).

An important factor that determined the inconsistency of popular beliefs about the devil was the tension that existed between scholarly and folklore tradition: if monks, inquisitors and preachers, with their understandable desire to affirm the piety of their flock through intimidation, put an emphasis on the terrible, then folklore "made the devil funny and powerless, perhaps in order to tame him and ease the tension of fear. It is no coincidence that the period when the presence of the devil was felt with especially terrifying spontaneity - during the witch persecutions of the 15th and 17th centuries - was at the same time a period when he figured in the broadest way on the stage as a jester ... The public idea of ​​the devil oscillated between the images of a terrible lord and a fool "(RUSSELL, LUCIFER, 63). Another significant discrepancy between the scholar and the popular tradition was determined by the complete, truly "demonic" indifference of the latter to the Christian hierarchy of creatures: the mixing of man and demon, the images of "half-man-half-demon - a logical possibility that was completely rejected by scientific demonology that emerged from the traditions of Augustinianism" (SHMITT, 345), - nevertheless, they were widely circulated in popular beliefs, and no matter how scientific demonology proved that demons are not capable of childbearing and can only use stolen seed, the legends about half-demons - children of people and incubi and succubi - evoked so deep sympathy, that the heroes of such stories (for example, Bishop Trois Guichard, 14th century - SCHMITT, 346) had to seriously defend themselves against these accusations.

In the demonology of the early Middle Ages (as it appears in the lives of the saints), the image of the devil is distinguished by liveliness and concreteness: the devil is an enemy capable of taking on thousands of guises to achieve his goals; It is no coincidence that it is in the texts of this era (in particular, the famous life of St. Anthony, written by Athanasius, 4th century) that the iconographic types of the devil are developed in verbal form, which will only much later find embodiment in the plastic iconography of the devil (also the guise of the devil). The devil of early Christianity plays with his main enemies - the saints (Saints and demons) the most sophisticated strategic game (Struggle with the devil), which, however, has a psychological character and rarely takes the form of gross material interference of the devil in worldly affairs. The main problem of early medieval demonology is the problem of temptation, but not physical harm, not tyranny and violence perpetrated by the devil. In the Byzantine demonology of this era (first of all, Michael Psellus, 11th century), ideas that go back to Neoplatonism continue to live, in particular, the doctrine of higher and lower demons (moreover, the former are not completely alien to good, and the latter are ferocious, wordless, insensitive and sometimes similar animals), which is difficult to reconcile with the Christian idea of ​​fallen angels, but which later influenced the Neoplatonists of the Renaissance. The neo-Platonic concept of demons as creatures intermediate between people and gods (God) continued to remind of themselves as early as the 13th century: for example, the Parisian scholastic of Polish origin Vitelio (Witelo, Vitellio) in his treatise "On the Nature of Demons" argued that demons - “middle powers” ​​(mediae potestates), they are higher than man, but lower than angels, they consist of soul and body and are mortal. Echoes of Neoplatonism are also visible in the heresy of the Albigensians, among whom there was a belief that our souls were demons, put into our bodies for their crimes (COLLIN DE PLANCY, 15).

In the theology of the scholastics of the 11-13th centuries. (Anselm of Canterbury, Thomas Aquinas, Peter of Lombard, etc.) the devil from a living figure of a tempter and a liar is increasingly turning into an abstract allegory of evil as such: for example, in the treatise "On the Fall of the Devil" the free will of the devil, who rejected the gift of God - grace, and “wished for something of his own, not subject to anything by his will” (ON THE FALL OF THE DEVIL, ch. 4); the cause of al is free will, seeking its own happiness (commodum) outside the divine order (justitia) - and the devil's will has no reason (nulla causa praecessit hanc voluntatem; ABOUT THE FALL OF THE DEVIL, ch. 27), it is absolutely free.

In the 15-17th centuries, in the era of mass witch trials, the attention of demonologists clearly switched from the devil himself to their servants - witches; the treatises of this period are filled with endless discussions about the possibilities of witches, about the reality or imagination of the Sabbath and witch flights through the air, etc. In this era, belief in the undoubted physical reality of devilish acts takes root, and as a result, a significant shift occurs in the image of the devil himself: from the cunning tempter, he more and more turns into a bloody tyrant, an executioner (Executioner of God), whose crimes are sometimes inexplicably cruel. Ulrich Molitoris ("Dialogue on Lamias and Women-Soothsayers", 1489), J. Boden, P. Lancre, Delriot, N. Remy, Torreblanca and other theologians did not at all doubt the ability of the devil to interfere with physical reality, which was manifested in the flights of witches, the seduction of incubi and succubi, etc. "The providence of God is incomprehensible, and the power that he gave to Satan is unknown to people," - this is how BODEN, one of the main apologists of the idea of ​​the physical power of the devil, argued his point of view (ABOUT DEMONOMANIA BY WITCHES , 114a).

Protestant theologians (Luther himself, Melanchthon) took a moderate position on this issue: for example, Luther, in whose thinking the image of the devil played a huge role, believed in incubi and succubi, but denied the flights of witches and recommended not to get too carried away with cruel measures in their persecution.

Denying many of the acts traditionally attributed to the devil, Luther nevertheless finds his influence on human life enormous. Distinguishing in the relationship between man and God the area of ​​anger (the cause of which is the sin of Adam) and the area of ​​bliss, Luther believes that the first area is given by God to the complete disposal of the devil. "For God is such a lord (Meister) who can use the wickedness of the devil in such a way that he makes good out of it" (LUTHER, X, 1259). Only love, according to Luther, limits the power of the devil on earth (ROSCOFF, II, 360): “the devil acts, but God decides, for otherwise they would become completely evil”; the devil is necessary “so that we know that we are not masters and that not everything is in our jurisdiction” (quoted in ROSCOFF, II, 371, 384).

The flourishing of mystical-esoteric teachings in the Renaissance, which turned to the traditions of Kabbalah, neo-Platonic teachings about spirits, etc., led to a turn in demonology, the radicalism of which is especially clearly visible when referring to the treatise of Paracelsus (Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim) "On the Nymphs, sylphs, pygmies and salamanders "(1566). Paracelsus decisively breaks with the traditional Christian view of these and similar beings as demons; in fact, they are "wild creatures," somewhat human-like in that they say they eat, have a body, give birth to children, and die; they only lack a soul, and this explains why they are so interested in people: after all, in order to receive a soul and immortality in heaven, they must enter into a marriage union with a person. Each of them inhabits its own "chaos", its own element: nymphs - water, sylphs (sylvans) - air (ie forests), pygmies (ie gnomes) - earth, salamanders - fire (volcanoes). Treating these creatures very kindly and approving, in particular, the act of a certain "nymph" who killed the "master" from Staufenberg who had abandoned her (PARACELS, 244-245), Paracelsus at the same time admits that the devil can easily enter them and In this case, they become dangerous to people.

At the end of the 16th - 17th centuries. the idea of ​​the devil as a "deceiver", the creator of illusions, again gradually begins to supplant faith in the devil as a material force. In a very strong form, a similar concept of the devil is expressed in the treatise Erasmus FRANCISK "Hellish Proteus, or a Thousand ARTISTIC IMAGER ...", where the DEVIL is called "a monkey of God", "hellish buffoon", "Acheronian comedian" (FRANCIS. 92). A similar view, once, in the Middle Ages, already dominant in demonology, this time, in the era of the formation of scientific and rational thinking, takes on a medical and psychological character: the devil-"comedian" was now considered as the creator of dangerous illusions and hallucinations that had a detrimental effect on the soul of a person, causing a kind of mental disorder. This idea was fraught with great danger for theology, since it actually removed from the witches responsibility for their actions, turning them into "patients" (both in the medical and literal sense - patiens: passive, suffering), in whom the devil with his "illusions ”, Still representing mental (but not physical!) Reality, caused mental illness. Of decisive importance in this matter was the discussion between Jean Boden, who defended the thesis about the reality of the material affairs of the devil and witches, about their "miraculous" interference in physical causality, and Johann Veer (or Weier; variants of his name spelling: Weier, Weyer, Wierus, Piscinarius ) - a man who for the first time in demonology took a consistently medical point of view on the issue of witches, which followed, however, from his theological view of the devil as a "deceiver" who tormented the soul with hallucinations. According to his treatise "On the Deception of the Demons" (1563; KN. II, ch. 15), Vir traveled to Africa, where he observed local witches. Vir distinguishes between magicians (magus) who deliberately surrendered to the devil and therefore bear full responsibility for their actions (the esoteric teaching of magic magicians about the infernal kingdom of Vir made public in the treatise "Pseudomonarchy of Demons"; Books of the Devil), and witches (saga vel lamia) - unfortunate women, whom the devil is fooling with, taking advantage of the weakness of their spirit and perverted imagination; punishment for witches should be proportional to the harm they caused (if they somehow managed to do it). Vere's treatise was reprinted many times, translated into other languages ​​and had a huge impact on the minds; partly thanks to him, by the end of the 17th century, "apologies for those accused of witchcraft" (such as, for example, the treatise of GABRIELLE NODE) ​​became a fairly common occurrence.

In the texts of Jean Bodin, on the contrary, the Renaissance idea of ​​the material power of the devil found its highest expression. Bodin, in fact, “extended the divine privilege of creation to the devil” (CEAP, 100), sometimes resorting to very witty argumentation. “In nature, we see many amazing things that completely elude our understanding,” Boden writes. - So, celestial bodies run in one day 245 791 444 leagues; and we will deny the devil the ability to carry a person a hundred or a couple of hundred leagues from his home? " In the end, - Boden laid out his main trump card, - borrowed, however, from Augustine (ABOUT THE CITY OF GOD, 20:19) - who dares to assert that everything done by Satan with Job is an illusion? (BODEN, ABOUT THE WITCH DEMONOMY, 114).

The rapid development of natural science in the 17th century. partly it shook the belief in the devil, partly caused nothing more than a transformation of his image, adapted to the new "rational" thinking. The principle of this thinking - “one should not explain by the wiles of the devil those phenomena that can be explained by natural causes” (the formulation of the physician Marescot concerning the case of the witch Martha Brossier; cited from CEAP, 108) - led, of course, to a significant diminution of the prerogatives of the devil ; however, it turned out that the devil himself can be understood as one of the "natural causes", as a "phenomenon of nature", and thus included in the "rationality" of the new science: for the very idea of ​​the "natural" and "rational" in this era is essential was different from what we are used to. For example, the London physician Robert Fludd (1574-1637), a famous Rosicrucian, saw in the evil demons nesting in the planets of the solar system, the "natural cause" of diseases and developed his own system of treatment, which included, for example, such an item as dressing in the "armor of God "(ROSCOFF, II, 324-325). The rethinking of the devil in the spirit of new rationality consists here in the fact that the devil is no longer viewed as a being of a supra-worldly plan, intervening at his own will in the affairs of the world, but as a factor embedded within the structure of the world and having exactly the same status as the "laws of nature" - in other words: “demons of the planets” cause diseases not because they want it or because they hate the human race, but because they are included in the system of the Cosmos as a factor objectively unfavorable for man.

Simultaneously with this process of rationalization of the idea of ​​the devil, which met the requirements of science and science, there was also a kind of reincarnation of the devil, which responded to the demands of a new, Renaissance individualism; more important was not what separated man and the devil (the first was a worldly being, the second was a worldly being), but what brought them together: similar thoughts, actions, desires, etc., that is, ultimately, then "Worldly", which is personality. Luther already transferred many attributes of the infernal kingdom - for example, hellish fire - into the human soul, thereby internalizing the devil, almost identifying hell with a sick conscience: “Conscience is much more important than heaven and earth ... the heart is terrifying torment and hellish diabolism (hollische Teufelein), Erinnius, as the poets called them ”(LUTHER, II, 2539). BODEN (ON THE DEMONOMY OF THE WITCH, 21) sees in the relationship of demons a kind of destructive repulsion and mutual hatred, thereby interpreting the demonic in the spirit of a completely human topos “homo homini lupus” (“man to man is a wolf”): “Demons pursue demons ... By will God, they are destroyed only by their own kind, just as the evil are destroyed only by the evil ... ". Probably, the rooting of the devil in man himself reached a culminating point in the aphorism of THOMAS LODGE from his treatise "THE DELIGHT OF MIND AND THE INSANITY OF THE WORLD: THE DISCOVERY OF THE INCIDENTAL DEVIL OF THIS CENTURY" (1596): in search of incarnation of the devil, the devil is the best every person (for "the whole world is in evil"), hence the significant formula is born: Homo homini daemon - "man to man is a demon".

The same idea of ​​reincarnating the devil, when applied to exegesis, gave a truly epochal result in the treatise of the reformer preacher from Amsterdam Balthasar Becker "The Enchanted World" (1691-1693). Becker is perhaps the first of the demonologists who, without being distracted by particulars such as sabbaths and flights of witches, “aims right at the heart of the enemy, trying to destroy the devil himself and his power” (ROSCOFF, II, 446). Without denying the existence of the devil, Becker denies the existence of his kingdom: he seeks to prove that the influence of the devil on man and the world is negligible. Commenting on the Bible, Becker tries to show that the devil himself appears only in contexts where it is spoken of his fall and overthrow into hell (Is. 14:15; LU. 10:18; REV. 20: 2, etc.), in the majority in other cases, the name of the devil or Satan means evil people or evil as such, emanating from the free will of a person; the devil, as a creature hostile to God, was taken out of the game by God. "His kingdom, contrary to God, cannot exist, except for us to understand that the judge made the king of the one whom he condemned to imprisonment, chained, expelled from the face of the earth" (BECKER, II, 242-243). Becker's final conclusion - “we can do without the devil at all” (BECKER, II, 298) - is in striking contradiction with the pathos of struggle and triumph that permeated the Christianity of the holy fathers, and was not accepted by Protestantism, which, starting with Luther he urgently and personally needed the devil: Becker, despite the enormous success of his work, was removed from his spiritual position, severe criticism fell upon his book, and in the end “the Protestants saved their devil” (ROSCOFF, II, 472). Yet the idea of ​​the devil as a kind of metaphor for evil hidden in man himself steadily continued to form: in the guise of the devil, fleshly, sensual colors dimmed more and more, giving way to abstract speculation; so, already in 1701, Christian Thomasius in his treatise "On the Crime of Magic" asserts that the devil is an invisible being, unable to take on fleshly guise, and the pact with the devil is witches' tales. The further fate of the devil is literary incarnation, as a result of which he turns into a being unjustly rejected and arousing sympathy (the demon of Abbadon from Klopstock's poem "The Messiada"; Abaddon), and then into a mysteriously alienated alien from other worlds. Romantic interest in the topic of the demon was accompanied by curious attempts to resurrect demonology (treatise by F. BERRETTA "MAG", 1801, in which demons are regarded as "spirits of the planets").