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A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity.Martin, Dale Basil. "When Did Angels Become Demons?" Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 129, no. 4, 2010, pp. 657–58. . Accessed 5 January 2025. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in media including fiction, comics, film, television, and video games. Belief in demons probably goes back to the Paleolithic, stemming from humanity's fear of the unknown, the strange and the horrific.. In ancient Near Eastern religions and in the Abrahamic religions, including early Judaism and ancient-medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered a harmful spiritual entity that may cause demonic possession, calling for an exorcism. Large portions of Jewish demonology, a key influence on Christianity and Islam, originated from a later form of Zoroastrianism, and was transferred to Judaism during the Persian era.
Demons may or may not be considered to be devils: minions of the Devil. In many traditions, demons are independent operators, with different demons causing different types of evils (destructive natural phenomena, specific diseases, etc.) in general, while devils appear more often as demons within a
/ref> As lesser spirits doing the Devil's work, they have additional duties— causing humans to have sinful thoughts and tempting humans to commit sinful actions.
The original Ancient Greek word daimōn (δαίμων) did not carry negative connotations, as it denotes a spirit or divine power. The Greek conception of a daimōn notably appears in the philosophical works of Plato, where it describes the divine inspiration of Socrates. In Christianity, morally ambivalent daimōn were replaced by demons, forces of evil only striving for corruption. Such demons are not the Greek intermediary spirits, but hostile entities, already known in Iranian beliefs. In Western esotericism and Renaissance magic, which grew out of an amalgamation of Greco-Roman magic, Jewish Aggadah, and Christian demonology, a demon is believed to be a spiritual entity that may be conjured and controlled.
Belief in demons remains an important part of many modern religions and occult traditions. Demons are still feared largely due to their alleged power to possess living creatures. In contemporary Western esoteric traditions, demons may be used as metaphors for inner psychological processes ("inner demons").
The Greek terms do not have any connotations of evil or malevolence. By the early centuries of the Roman Empire, Cult image were seen, by Paganism and their Christian neighbors alike, as inhabited by the numinous presence of the Greco-Roman gods: "Like pagans, Christians still sensed and saw the gods and their power, and as something, they had to assume, lay behind it, by an easy traditional shift of opinion they turned these pagan daimones into malevolent 'demons', the troupe of Satan. Far into the Byzantine Empire, Christians eyed their cities' old pagan statuary as a seat of the demons' presence. It was no longer beautiful, it was "infested." The term had first acquired its negative connotations in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, which drew on the mythology of ancient Semitic religions. This was then inherited by the Koine text of the New Testament.
The English use of demon as synonym for devils goes back at least as far as about 825. The German word ( Dämon), however, is different from devil ( Teufel) and demons as evil spirits, and akin to the original meaning of daimōn. The Western Modern era conception of demons, as in the Ars Goetia, derives seamlessly from the ambient popular culture of Late Antiquity.
/ref> Forces of nature and foreigners may be portrayed as demons if they are perceived as hostile or dangerous; an evil demon might be considered as a projection onto unknown entities which are perceived as potentially dangerous. Thus, unknown causes of death or illness are anthropomorphized into rational agents with evil intentions and then giving raise to the notion of a demon.
Likewise, people outside one's own social group may be blamed for accidents and unexplained causes of harm, leading to a demonization of said people. Then, the imagined cause of said evil is integrated into one's prevailing belief-system. This may also include persons who are considered to be banished from the social group. Transgressions of social norms may result in expulsion from the community and or being killed. From a psychological perspective there is no difference between expulsion and death as both leave a gap in the community. This gap is then filled with a ghost (in case of death) or demon (in case of expulsion), perceived as a disruptive factor in the life of the community.
Ancient Egyptian demons can be divided into two classes: "guardians" and "wanderers". "Guardians" are tied to a specific place; their demonic activity is topographically defined and their function can be benevolent towards those who have the secret knowledge to face them. Demons protecting the underworld may prevent human souls from entering paradise. Only by knowing the right charms is the deceased able to enter the Halls of Osiris. Here, the aggressive nature of the guardian demons is motivated by the need to protect their abodes and not by their evil essence. Accordingly, demons guarded sacred places or the gates to the netherworld. During the Ptolemaic and Roman period, the guardians shifted towards the role of genius loci and they were the focus of local and private cults.
The "wanderers" are associated with possession, mental illness, death and plagues. Many of them serve as executioners for the major deities, such as Ra or Osiris, when ordered to punish humans on earth or in the netherworld. Wanderers can also be agents of chaos, arising from the world beyond creation to bring about misfortune and suffering without any divine instructions, led only by evil motivations. The influences of the wanderers can be warded off and kept at the borders of the human world by the use of magic, but they can never be destroyed. A sub-category of "wanderers" are nightmare demons, which were believed to cause nightmares by entering a human body.
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Some demons were the evil spirits of those who died in misery, while other demons were nature demons causing harm by carrying plagues and nightmares, and causing headaches and storms. People could protect themselves from demons by wearing amulets, using magic, or seeking refuge amongst another demon or deity. On an ontological level, in early Semitic history, deities and demons often shed into another, as the distinction was of no importance for the believer.Introduction: Angels and Their Religious and Cosmological Contexts p. 17
The Kur was home to many demonic beings, sometimes referred to as the "offspring of arali". These demons ascend from the underworld and terrorize mortals. One class of demons that were believed to reside in the underworld were known as Gallu; their primary purpose appears to have been to drag unfortunate mortals back to Kur. They are frequently referenced in magical texts, and some texts describe them as being seven in number. Several extant poems describe the galla dragging the god Dumuzid into the underworld. Like many other Mesopotamian demons galla could also fulfill a protective role. In a hymn from King Gudea of Lagash ( 2144 – 2124 BCE), a minor god named Ig-alima is described as "the great galla of Girsu".
The battle between the hosts of deities against evil demons (dīv and druz) are described in the Bundahishn.Shaked, Shaul. The Bundahisn: The Zoroastrian Book of Creation. Oxford University Press, 2020. p. xviii Humankind lives in a world between the good powers of God (Ahura Mazda) and the Devil (Ahriman) and suffers corruption through defection of humankind. Therefore, Zorastrianism proposes a threefold nature for humans: divine, animalistic, and demonic.Russell, Jeffrey Burton. The devil: Perceptions of evil from antiquity to primitive Christianity. Cornell University Press, 1987. p. 115 As such, humans are obligated to keep fighting the demonic traits. After death, people must cross the Chinvat Bridge to enter paradise. However, those who have chosen evil in their life will fall into the pit of hell. In hell, the damned are tormented by the demons.Russell, Jeffrey Burton. The devil: Perceptions of evil from antiquity to primitive Christianity. Cornell University Press, 1987. p. 119
In the Avesta, demons (daēuua) cause diseases and death. By abiding to ritual purification and recitation of sacred prayers, demons can be warded off and kept at bay.
In antiquity, belief in demonic agents of misfortune were widespread.Brown, Peter. Sorcery, Demons, and the Rise of Christianity from Late Antiquity into the Middle Ages. New York, NY, 1970. p. 28 The early Christian community took it for granted that people outside the Judeo-Christian community were worshipping demons.Brown, Peter. Sorcery, Demons, and the Rise of Christianity from Late Antiquity into the Middle Ages. New York, NY, 1970. p. 24 Conversion to Christianity meant renunciation of the demons by the bearers of the Holy Spirit.Brown, Peter. Sorcery, Demons, and the Rise of Christianity from Late Antiquity into the Middle Ages. New York, NY, 1970. p. 31-32
By the end of the sixth century, the Mediterranean widely considered themselves to be unequivocally Christian, with an exception to Jews, the last record of worshipping another pre-Christian deity being in 570s.Brown, Peter. Sorcery, Demons, and the Rise of Christianity from Late Antiquity into the Middle Ages. New York, NY, 1970. p. 35
In Medieval Christianity, demons and spirits were generally considered to be fallen angels. Morally ambivalent nature spirits, such as fairy from Irish and Scandinavian folklore were often explained as angels who remained neutral during the war of heaven.Mack, C. K., Mack, D. (1998). A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels, and Other Subversive Spirits. USA: Arcade Pub. p. xxiiiWilde, J. F. E. (1888). Ancient Legends, mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland: With Sketches of the Irish Past. To which is Appended a Chaper on "The Ancient Race of Ireland". USA: Ticknor and Company. p. 89 They became spirits of the place they fell into when banished to earth. Although considered neutral spirits earlier, later Protestantism increasingly associated them with Satan and considered them to be demons.Oldridge, Darren. "Fairies and the Devil in early modern England." The Seventeenth Century 31.1 (2016): 1-15.
Dīv also appear in Manichaeism as the original inhabitants of the world of darkness. Before the demons attacked the realm of light, they have been in constant battle and sexual intercourse against each other. It is only in the realm of darkness demons are described in their physical form. After their assault on the world above, they have been overcome by the Living Spirit, and imprisoned in the structure of the world. From that point onwards, they impact human's ethical life, and appear as personified ethical qualities, mostly greed, envy, grief, and wrath (desire for destruction). Ibn al-Jawzi, describes these demons ( ifrit), in his Talbīs Iblīs (), as components of the Devil (or Darkness) waging war against God (or Light), composed of angels.David S. Margoliouth; The Devil's Delusion by Ibn al-Jawzi, 1935, Bd. 1, chapter: Account of the way wherein he deludes the Dualists. Such demons also frequently appear throughout Islamic literature as personification of human vices. The protagonist of these stories must overcome the demons, as a symbol for their own animalistic nature, in order to heed his rational inclination and achieve salvation in paradisical bliss.Barry, M. A. (2004). Figurative art in medieval Islam and the riddle of Bihzad of Herat (1465-1535). Flammarion. 361-363Davaran, Fereshteh. Continuity in Iranian identity: Resilience of a cultural heritage. Routledge, 2010. pp. 207-208
The idea of demons is not limited to Islam alone, but appear in various belief-systems along the Silk Road. An Uyghur language Manichaeism text fragment, narrates a story about a prince and three demons. The demons quarrel over three magical items: a cap which turns people invisible, sandals which can bring people to any place they wish, and staff which belongs to the sandals. The demons request the prince to distribute the magical items among the demons. Therefore, he shots three arrows into three different directions and claims that the demon who brings back an arrow first will receive the cap, the second one the staff, and the third will receive the sandals. Once the demons start chasing the arrows, the prince puts on the cap on his head and vanishes with the power of the sandals and the staff.Laut, Jens Peter. "Vielfalt türkischer Religionen." (1996) Spirita. p. 28
Demons are believed to be vanquished by sacred symbols. The content of the symbol depends on the prevailing religion of the culture. Among Turks, the basmalah ("invocation of the name of Allah") is used to ward off demons,Zhanar, Abdibek, et al. "The Problems of the Mythological Personages in the Ancient Turkic Literature." Asian Social Science 11.7 (2015): 341. while among Armenians, the symbol of the cross is utilized. Common features of these Middle Eastern demons are their immortality and pernicious nature, they can turn invisible, and can be enslaved when pierced by a silver needle. Demons are believed to be mostly active at night and a bad smell in the air or sudden change in temperature would announce their presence. It is generally accepted that demons can be subjugated as they are said to be enslaved by legendary heroes (Solomon in the Quran and Jamshid in Persian legends). (2019). 9783847008873, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. ISBN 9783847008873 Due to their reluctant nature, even enslaved, they do always the opposite of what has been commanded. In some tales, supernatural powers are attributed to them, such as causing sickness, mental illnesses, or even turn humans to stone.Pedram Khosronejad The People of the Air Healing and Spirit Possession in South of Iran in: Shamanism and Healing Rituals in Contemporary Islam and Sufism, T.Zarcone (ed.) 2011, I.B.Tauris
You think, as I infer from your words, that a demon is the same as a devil, which is not the case. For a demon is said to be any invisible being using reason, as if knowing. Of these the two high orders are called calodemons, that is, 'good knowing ones', the lower order is called cacodemon, that is, 'evil knowing one', for calos means 'good', cacos 'bad'.
In the sixteenth century, among proponents of demons as ambivalent spirits, Paracelsus was the most vocal.Goodare, Julian. "Between humans and angels: Scientific uses for fairies in early modern Scotland." Fairies, Demons, and Nature Spirits: 'Small Gods' at the Margins of Christendom (2018): 175. He asserted that these beings are spirit-like and thus not human, but they have bodies and flesh and are thus, not angels. Robert Kirk (1644–1692) integrated Fairy into his theories of intermediary spirits.Goodare, Julian. "Between humans and angels: Scientific uses for fairies in early modern Scotland." Fairies, Demons, and Nature Spirits: 'Small Gods' at the Margins of Christendom (2018): 180. He suggested that these beings are structured similar to human societies, intelligent beings who eat and drink yet invisible to most humans.Goodare, Julian. "Between humans and angels: Scientific uses for fairies in early modern Scotland." Fairies, Demons, and Nature Spirits: 'Small Gods' at the Margins of Christendom (2018): 181. Their views were rejected by demonologists and religious orthodoxy and labelled as "atheistic". They denied that spirits could have an autonomeous existence and that they are demons with the sole purpose of deceiving and harming people.Goodare, Julian. "Between humans and angels: Scientific uses for fairies in early modern Scotland." Fairies, Demons, and Nature Spirits: 'Small Gods' at the Margins of Christendom (2018): 186-187.
A variety of spirits or the assumption that demons might be morally ambivalent is encouraged by necromancy.Goodare, Julian. "Between humans and angels: Scientific uses for fairies in early modern Scotland." Fairies, Demons, and Nature Spirits: 'Small Gods' at the Margins of Christendom (2018): 174. Here, a necromancer supposedly converses with the spirits of the dead. A ceremonial magician usually consults a grimoire, which gives the names and abilities of demons as well as detailed instructions for conjuring and controlling them. Grimoires are not limited to demons – some give instructions for the invocation of deity, a process called theurgy. The use of ceremonial magic to call demons is also known as goetia, a word derived from the Greek word goes, which originally denoted Divination, magicians, healers, and Oracle.
The Age of Enlightenment conceptualizes humans as Free will, mostly independent from external invisible forces, such as demons or gods ruling over human fate. While in the pre-modern period, spirits and demons were assigned to various natural phenomena, the Rationalism, increasingly rejected the attribution of demons to unknown causes.Mircea Eliade Encyclopedia of Religion Macmillan Publishing (1986) p. 287
The rejection of demons as a form of superstition was also welcomed by religious perspective, considered to be a "removal" of remaining pagan beliefs. According to Wouter Hanegraaff, demons are pagan beliefs, removed by the Age of Enlightenment.Josephson-Storm, Jason Ānanda. "The superstition, secularism, and religion trinary: Or re-theorizing secularism." Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 30.1 (2018): 13.
Many considered demons to be non-existent and alleged visions of demons and ghosts were explained as results of superstition. By that local religious customs were also oppressed in favor of nationwide (religious) ideas or deities. Wilkinson Duran states that people who believe in demons are often marginalized in the United States.
The rejection of demons as the cause of natural events also contributed to the association of demons with delusions and merely mental phenomena. For example, the notion that demons could possess an individual, stripped the individual away from their personhood and was at odds with modern Western philosophy. The most prominent ones, such as the American Dream and capitalism, imply the belief that everyone is responsible for their own fate and not at the mercy of external forces, thus has no room left for demons or demonic possessions. The concept of demons has nevertheless not disappeared from the public, permeating media, arts, and psychology.
Various diseases and ailments were ascribed to demons, particularly those affecting the brain and those of internal nature. Examples include catalepsy, headache, epilepsy and nightmares. There also existed a demon of blindness, Shabriri (), who rested on uncovered water at night and blinded those who drank from it.
Demons supposedly entered the body and caused the disease while overwhelming or "seizing" the victim. To cure such diseases, it was necessary to draw out the evil demons by certain incantations and talismanic performances, at which the Essenes excelled. Josephus, who spoke of demons as "spirits of the wicked which enter into men that are alive and kill them", but which could be driven out by a certain Rootwork, Bellum Judaeorum vii. 6, § 3 witnessed such a performance in the presence of the Emperor Vespasian"Antiquities" viii. 2, § 5 and ascribed its origin to King Solomon. In mythology, there were few defences against Babylonian demons. The mythical mace Sharur had the power to slay demons such as Asag, a legendary gallu or edimmu of hideous strength.
The opinion of some authors is not clear. Abraham ibn Ezra states that insane people can see the image of se'irim, when they go astray and ascribe to them powers independent from God. It is not clear from his work, if he considered these images of se'irim as manifestations of actual spirits or merely delusions. Despite academic consensus, disputed that Maimonides denied the existence of demons entirely. He would only dispute the existence of demons in his own life time, but not that demons had existed once. Ibn Zarza likewise argues that demons ( se'irim) are a manifestation of insanity. He asserts that a weak intellect could not discern reality from imagination and hence errorneously believes in the reality of demons and satans.Schwartz, D. (2021). Studies on Astral Magic in Medieval Jewish Thought. Niederlande: Brill. p. 116
Occasionally an angel is called satan in the Babylon Talmud. But satans do not refer to demons as they remain at the service of God: "Stand not in the way of an ox when coming from the pasture, for Satan dances between his horns".Pes. 112b; compare B. Ḳ. 21a Ibn Zarza, however, argues that satan belongs to the demons ( se'irim):
Demons are called goats, as it says, "And they shall no more offer their sacrifices to the se'irim" satyrs (Leviticus 17:7), since they saw fit to compare demons to them more than to other animals. The nature of the goat is to cause blight and vast damage, so great that they called the goat the angel of death, and the angel of death is Satan, as it is said "Reksh Lakish said: Satan, the angel of death, and the evil instinct are all one," hence it is proper to call them se'irim."Schwartz, D. (2021). Studies on Astral Magic in Medieval Jewish Thought. Niederlande: Brill. p. 116
Aggadah tales from the Persian tradition describe the shedim, the Mazzikin ("harmers"), and the ruḥin ("spirits"). There were also lilin ("night spirits"), ṭelane ("shade", or "evening spirits"), ṭiharire ("midday spirits"), and ẓafrire ("morning spirits"), as well as the "demons that bring famine" and "such as cause storm and earthquake".(Targ. Yer. to Deuteronomy xxxii. 24 and Numbers vi. 24; Targ. to Cant. iii. 8, iv. 6; Eccl. ii. 5; Ps. xci. 5, 6.) According to some Aggadah stories, demons were under the dominion of a king or chief, usually Asmodai.Targ. to Eccl. i. 13; Pes. 110a; Yer. Shek. 49b
Other demonic entities, such as the shedim, might be considered benevolent. The Zohar classifies them as those who are like humans and submit to the Torah, and those who have no fear of God and are like animals.
/ref> According to Christian theology, demons are fallen angels.Martin, Dale Basil. "When Did Angels Become Demons?" Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 129, no. 4, 2010, pp. 657. . Accessed 5 Jan 2025.Joad Raymond Milton's Angels: The Early-Modern Imagination OUP Oxford 2010 p. 77 They are believed to have been created as angel who then turned evil by joining Lucifer in his rebellion against God.Heinz Schreckenberg, Kurt Schubert, Jewish Historiography and Iconography in Early and Medieval Christianity (Van Gorcum, 1992, ), p. 253David L Bradnick Evil, Spirits, and Possession: An Emergentist Theology of the Demonic Brill 2017 p. 42 This mythology is not shared by Judaism or found as such in the New Testament. The story of fallen angels is a result of interpretation of different Biblical passages in the second and third century.Martin, Dale Basil. "When Did Angels Become Demons?" Journal of Biblical Literature
Accessed 5 Jan. 2025. Augustine of Hippo (5th century) established the position, that demons are spirits (angels) who turn away from God, for Western demonology and for the Catholic Church.David L Bradnick Evil, Spirits, and Possession: An Emergentist Theology of the Demonic Brill 2017 p. 39
The Greek Daimons were associated with demi-divine entities, deities, illnesses and fortune-telling. The Jewish translators rendered them all as demons, depicting their power as nullified comparable to the description of shedim in the Tanakh. Although all these supernatural powers were translated, none were angels, despite sharing a similar function to that of the Greek Daimon. This established a dualism between the angels on God's side and negatively evaluated demons of pagan origin. Their relationship to the God-head became the main difference between angels and demons, not their degree of benevolence. Both angels and demons might be fierce and terrifying. However, the angels act always at service of the high god of the Israelites, differing from the pagan demons, who represent the powers of foreign deities. The Septuagint refers to evil spirits as demons (daimon).
In the Genesis flood narrative, the author explains how God was noticing "how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways" (). In Jubilees, the sins of man are attributed to "the unclean demons who began to lead astray the children of the sons of Noah, and to make to err and destroy them" (Jubilees 10:1). In Jubilees, Mastema questions the loyalty of Abraham and tells God to "bid him offer him as a burnt offering on the altar, and Thou wilt see if he will do this command" (Jubilees 17:16). The discrepancy between the story in Jubilees and the story in Genesis 22 exists with the presence of Mastema. In Genesis, God tests the will of Abraham merely to determine whether he is a true follower, however; in Jubilees, Mastema has an agenda behind promoting the sacrifice of Abraham's son, "an even more demonic act than that of Satan in Job".Moshe Berstein (2000). "Angels at the Aqedah: A Study in the Development of a Midrashic Motif". Dead Sea Discoveries 7, p. 267. In Jubilees, where Mastema, an angel tasked with tempting mortals into sin and iniquity, requests that God give him a tenth of the spirits of the children of the watchers, demons, in order to aid the process (Jubilees 10:7–9). These demons are passed into Mastema's authority, where once again, an angel is in charge of demonic spirits.
In the Testament of Solomon, written sometime in the first three centuries C.E., the demon Asmodeus explains that he is the son of an angel and a human mother. Another demon describes himself as having died in the "massacre in the age of giants". Beelzeboul, the prince of demons, appears as a fallen angel, not as a demon, but makes people worship demons as their gods.
Building upon the few references to daimon in the New Testament, especially the poetry of the Book of Revelation, Christian writers of apocrypha from the second century onwards created a more complicated tapestry of beliefs about "demons" that was largely independent of Christian scripture.
While daimons were considered as both potentially benevolent or malevolent, Origen argued against Celsus that daimons are exclusively evil entities, supporting the later idea of (evil) demons. According to Origen's cosmology, increasing corruption and evil within the soul, the more estranged the soul gets from God. Therefore, Origen opined that the most evil demons are located underground. Besides the fallen angels known from Christian scriptures, Origen talks about Greek daemons, like nature spirits and giants. These creatures were thought to inhabit nature or air and nourish from pagan sacrifices roaming the earth. However, there is no functional difference between the spirits of the underworld and of earth, since both have fallen from perfection into the material world. Origen sums them up as and thus equal to demons.Jeffrey Burton Russell (1987). Satan: The Early Christian Tradition. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. . p. 132.
Many , like Origen and Anthony the Great, described demons as psychological powers, tempting to evil,David L Bradnick (2017). Evil, Spirits, and Possession: An Emergentist Theology of the Demonic. Brill. . p. 30 in contrast to benevolent angels advising good. According to Life of Anthony, written in Greek around 360 by Athanasius of Alexandria, most of the time, the demons were expressed as an internal struggle, inclinations, and temptations. But after Anthony successfully resisted the demons, they would appear in human form to tempt and threaten him even more intensely.Brakke, D. (2009). Demons and the Making of the Monk: Spiritual Combat in Early Christianity. Harvard University Press. p. 157
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite described evil as "defiancy" and does not give evil an ontological existence. He explains demons are deficient creatures, who willingly turn themselves towards the unreal and non-existence. Their dangerous nature results not from the power of their nature, but from their tendency to drag others into the "Kenoma" and the unreal, away from God.
Michael Psellos proposed the existence of several types of demons, deeply influenced by the material nature of the regions they dwell. The highest and most powerful demons attack the mind of people using their "imaginative action" (phantastikos) to produce illusions in the mind. The lowest demons, on the other hand, are almost mindless, gross, and grunting spirits, which try to possess people instinctively, simply attracted by the warmth and life of humans. These cause diseases, fatal accidents and animalistic behavior in their victims. They are unable to speak, while other lower types of demons might give out false oracles. The demons are divided into:
The contemporary Roman Catholic Church unequivocally teaches that angels and demons are real beings rather than just symbolic devices. The Catholic Church has a cadre of officially sanctioned exorcists which perform many each year. The exorcists of the Catholic Church teach that demons attack humans continually but that afflicted persons can be effectively healed and protected either by the formal rite of exorcism, authorized to be performed only by bishops and those they designate, or by prayers of deliverance, which any Christian can offer for themselves or others.
At various times in Christian history, attempts have been made to classify demons according to various proposed demonic hierarchies.
In recent times, scholars doubted that independent demons exist, and rather considers them, aking to Jewish satan, to be servants of God. According to S. N. Chiu, God is shown sending a demon against Saul in 1 Samuel 16 and 18 in order to punish him for the failure to follow God's instructions, showing God as having the power to use demons for his own purposes, putting the demon under his divine authority. According to the Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, demons, despite being typically associated with evil, are often shown to be under divine control, and not acting of their own devices."Demon" in Britannica Concise Encyclopedia,
/ref> Jinn and Shayatin ( or ).Charles Mathewes Understanding Religious Ethics John Wiley & Sons . p. 249Reynolds, Gabriel Said, "Angels", in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE, Edited by: Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett Rowson. Consulted online on 17 August 2021. . First published online: 2009. First print edition: 9789004181304, 2009, 2009-3 The jinn derive from pre-Islamic Arabian beliefs, although their exact origin is unclear. The presence of jinn in pre-Islamic Arabian beliefs is not only testified by the Quran, but also by pre-Islamic literature in the seventh century. The šayāṭīn (devils or satans) on the other hand, appear in stories bearing similarities with Judeo-Christian tradition.
Although virtually absent in the Quran, Muslims generally hold the belief that jinn can possess people. In the tradition of Ash'ari, it has been considered to be part of the doctrines (aqidah) of the "Sunnism" (ahl as-sunnah wal-jammah'a).Islam, Migration and Jinn: Spiritual Medicine in Muslim Health Management. (2021). Deutschland: Springer International Publishing. For most theologians, (Ashʿaris as well as Muʿtazilis), and in contrast to philosophers, both demons (jinn and devils) and angels are considered to be material.St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology Angels (malāʾika) Stephen Burgep. 18 All sentient beings are said to be created out from a physical substance: angels from light, jinn from fire and air, devils from fire, and humans from earth.St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology Angels (malāʾika) Stephen Burgep. 14-15
The Quran emphasizes similarities between humans and jinn. The Quranic phrase al-ins wa al-jinn (rtl=yes) puts the jinn to the same position as humans and whereby also rejecting kinship with God. In contrast to demons from the Bible, the jinn are not a source of evil. In the majority of Muslim writings, the jinn are ephemeral and shadowy creatures and primarily linked to magical practises (both white and black magic), though sometimes to disastrous effects.Mircea Eliade Encyclopedia of Religion Macmillan Publishing (1986) p. 286-287
While the jinn are morally ambivalent, the šayāṭīn represent malevolent forces akin to the devils of the Judeo-Christian, and are actively obstructing the execution of God's will. Because of that, they bear less resemblance to humans than the jinn. The latter share attributes with humans, such as mortality, whereas the šayāṭīn do not.Egdunas Racius ISLAMIC EXEGESIS ON THE JINN: THEIR ORIGIN, KINDS AND SUBSTANCE AND THEIR RELATION TO OTHER BEINGS pp. 132–135 In Muslim popular culture, the šayāṭīn are sometimes depicted as Dīv (rtl=yes).Huart, Cl.; Massé, H. (2012) 1960-2007. "Dīw". In Bearman, P.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.)
Muslim writers on astrology identified the planetary spirits known from ancient Greek cosmology, with seven demon-kings, often invoked for the preparation of Magic squares.Mommersteeg, Geert. "'He Has Smitten Her to the Heart with Love' The Fabrication of an Islamic Love-Amulet in West Africa." Anthropos, vol. 83, no. 4/6, 1988, pp. 501–510. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40463380. Accessed 13 June 2020. According to the Book of Wonders each day of the week is assigned to one of the rūḥāiya ulia (higher spirits) and rūḥāiya sufula (lower spirits).
The identification of asura with demons stems from the description of asura as "formerly gods" (pūrvadeva). The deva Śakra tricked the asuras from liquor and hurled them down to the steps of Mount Meru, claiming heaven solely for the devas.(287)
In the Veda, gods ( deva) and demons or titans ( asura) are not yet differentiated beings and both share the upper world.Rodrigues, H. (2018). Asuras, Daityas, Dānavas, Rākṣasas, Piśācas, Bhūtas, Pretas, and so forth.. In K. A. Jacobsen (ed.), Brill'
At the time of the that the asuras are said to inhabit the underworld and are progressively, despite originally distinct beings, assimilated to the rakshasas. During the Vedic period, gods aid humans against demons. By that, gods secure their own place in heaven, using humans as tools to defeat their cosmic enemies.O'Flaherty, W. D., Doniger, W. (1988). The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology. Indien: Motilal Banarsidass. p. 65-95 The rakshasas are often portrayed as vile creatures associated with greed and magical abilities, unleashed through rites considered inappropriate by the Brahmins. However, the asuras retain some of their previous features, and function often as individual leaders of the rakshasas. The asuras also mostly dwell in the heavenly worlds, while the Earth is plagued by lower demonic beings such as rakshasas, bhutas, pretas, and pishachas. The pretas are ghosts, who could not go to the afterlife yet. The Pishachas, likewise, are spirits of the dead, but associated with eating human-flesh.
With increase in Sannyasa during the post-Vedic period, withdrawal of sacrificial rituals was considered a threat to the gods. Ascetic humans or ascetic demons were supposed to be more powerful than gods. Pious, highly enlightened asuras and Rakshasas, such as Prahlada and Vibhishana, are not uncommon. The asura are not fundamentally against the gods, nor do they tempt humans to fall. Many people metaphorically interpret the Asura as manifestations of the ignoble passions in the human mind and as symbolic devices. There were also cases of power-hungry asuras challenging various aspects of the gods, but only to be defeated eventually and seek forgiveness.
Despite the impermanence of beings, demonic entities share characteristics impeding the chance of liberation through the realization of the Ātman, such as greed, pride, or improper rituals. However, all demonic appearances are only temporary.
Asuras belong to one of the four unhappy (or evil) rebirths, along with animals, ghosts, and hell-beings. They are characterized by anger, jealousy (of the gods), and pride. Despite appearing as the enemies of the gods, asuras are not evil, but have both good and bad karma. However, since their lives are pervaded by unwholesome states, rebirth as an asura is considered to be undesirable. Many texts mention anger, conceit, and doubt, as causes for birth as an asura. The early Buddhist Sutras mention speaking evil, thinking evil in the mind, and arising of thoughts of superiority lead to rebirth as an asura, combined with a good deed. Beings from the realm of ghosts and hells rise up by becoming an asura on accord of the good action, whereas beings of the celestial worlds descend through the malicious actions by rebirth as an asura
When Buddhism spread, indigenous ideas about ghosts and demons were integrated into Buddhist teachings. For example, in Chinese culture, people offer food in order to appease the suffering of the pretas (hungry ghosts) during the Zhongyuan Festival. Such beings are not evil per se, and they are not precisely demons, the closest equivalent in English language may be the term jinn adopted from Islamic beliefs. Even though Buddhism does not deny the existence of ghosts and evil spirits, they play not important role in search for Nirvana from the circle of life.
Nārakis are born in hell as result of intense negative karma, wherein they suffer in a state of continuous torment until their bad karma is extinguished and they cannot accumulate further bad karma. Their actions are confined to the bad karmic actions they previously committed but are turned into an agonizing experiences. Additionally, hell is inhabited by demons or Hell Wardens ( nirayapāla) who ensure that beings born in hell are continuously tortured. This posed the question, if the demons in hell are real or merely an illusion. Vasubandhu argues that every being in hell must be, by definition, suffering and since demons do not suffer in hell, they are not real but only illusions. It is because of the result of their bad karma, the inhabitants of hell perceive demonic hell-wardens and thus, the latter are merely a projection of the former.
Demons may thus be understood as personifications of correlative mental states projected onto the external cosmos.Mircea Eliade Encyclopedia of Religion Macmillan Publishing (1986) p. 284 The Pali Sutras represent the unenlightened people as "possessed" by the demons of "desire" and "craving". These two self-destructive feelings then cause the images of horrifying demons. In a state of enlightenment, the Buddha has overcome such passions and by that, conquered the demons.
Belief in wilderness demons haunted China from the very earliest periods and persisted throughout the late imperial era. In the Xia dynasty, nine bronze cauldrons with their forms were cast to help the common people to identify and to avoid them. Classical texts in the Zhou and Warring-States period distinguish between the demons of mountains and forests (the seductive Chimei 魑魅), demons of trees and rocks (a necrophagous fever-demon, the Wangliang 魍魎), subterranean demons of the earth and of decay (the goat-like and necrophagous Fenyang 墳羊 (), who caused disease and miscarriage) and fever demons born from water (Wangxiang 罔象, a child-like being with red eyes). These demons were said to be born of aberrant qi (breath or energy), known to accost and kill travellers, and held responsible for sickness. People also feared the Muling 木灵 (also muzhong 木肿 ) – demons forming over time in trees of immense age, capable of inflicting disease and killing human passers-by and birds flying overhead. Examples include the penghou 彭侯 (), a demon associated with camphor trees in mountain forests, and which takes the form of a human-headed dog, and in the southern provinces, the banana-leaf spirits.
From the Tang dynasty onwards, belief in shapeshifting foxes, tigers and wolves, amongst other creatures, also featured in Chinese folk belief, partly due to the existence of outlawed fox-spirit cults. Fox demons (狐妖) are described as cunning and lustful, capable of clairvoyance, and of inflicting disease and poisoning at will. They are sometimes seen as beings requiring worship to be appeased or placated. Tiger demons (虎妖) and wolf demons (狼妖) are ravening beings roaming large territories for prey, taking the form of humans to conveniently insert themselves into communities and settlements. Tiger demons are described as being enslaved souls of humans they have killed, turning them into minions. In the superstitious climate of the previous centuries, people mistaken as tigers and wolves in human disguise were often put to death or starved in their cells by magistrates.
Fish (鱼妖) and snake demons (蛇妖) are said to have attempted to assault Confucius. Even insects are capable of being demonic. In one tale, the sighting of a centipede demon (蜈蚣妖) in the form of an old woman without eyes is said to have led to the sickness and death of an entire household.
One notable demon not in the above categories includes the Heisheng or Heiqi 黑气 ( or ), a kind of roving vapour demon that inflicts damage to persons and property wherever it roams, sometimes killing where it goes. Another are undefined Poltergeists, sometimes afflicting monasteries, causing serious nuisances, and unable to be exorcised.
China has two classes of beings that might be regarded as demons, and which are generally translated as such:
In his Kitāb al-Hayawān, al-Jāḥiẓ states that jinn and demons are the product of loneliness. Such a state induces people to mind-games, causing waswās. Al-Masʿūdī is similarly critical regarding the reality of demons. He states that alleged demonic encounters are the result of fear and "wrong thinking". Alleged encounters are then told to other generations in bedtime stories and poems. When they grow up, they remember such stories in a state of fear or loneliness. This encourages their imaginations, resulting in another alleged demonic encounter.
M. Scott Peck, an American psychiatrist, wrote two books on the subject, People of the Lie: The Hope For Healing Human Evil and Glimpses of the Devil: A Psychiatrist's Personal Accounts of Possession, Exorcism, and Redemption. Peck describes in some detail several cases involving his patients. In People of the Lie he provides identifying characteristics of an evil person, whom he classified as having a character disorder. In Glimpses of the Devil Peck goes into significant detail describing how he became interested in exorcism in order to debunk the myth of possession by evil spirits – only to be convinced otherwise after encountering two cases which did not fit into any category known to psychology or psychiatry. Peck came to the conclusion that possession was a rare phenomenon related to evil and that possessed people are not actually evil; rather, they are doing battle with the forces of evil. The exorcist , an interview with M. Scott Peck by Rebecca Traister published in Salon
Although Peck's earlier work was met with widespread popular acceptance, his work on the topics of evil and possession has generated significant debate and derision. Much was made of his association with (and admiration for) the controversial Malachi Martin, a Roman Catholic priest and a former Jesuit, despite the fact that Peck consistently called Martin a liar and a manipulator. The Patient Is the Exorcist , an interview with M. Scott Peck by Laura Sheahen
/ref> Rather than denoting a separate class of being, the asuras are characterized by being great leaders, often warriors. Asura, in the earliest hymns of the Rigveda, originally meant any supernatural spirit, either good or bad. Since the of the Indic linguistic branch is cognate with the of the Early Iranian languages, the word asura, representing a category of celestial beings, is a cognate with Old Persian Ahura. Ancient Hinduism tells that Devas (also called suras) and Asuras are half-brothers, sons of the same father Kashyapa; although some of the Devas, such as Varuna, are also called Asuras. Later, during Puranic age, Asura and Rakshasa came to exclusively mean any of a race of anthropomorphic, powerful, possibly evil beings. Daitya (lit. sons of the mother Diti), Danava (lit. sons of the mother "Danu"), Mayasura, Rakshasa (lit. from "harm to be guarded against"), and asura are sometimes translated into English as .Asian Mythologies. (1993). Vereinigtes Königreich: University of Chicago Press. p. 52
Buddhism
Buddhism classifies sentient beings into six types: Devas (gods and celestial beings), asuras (titans or demi-gods), humans, animals, Hungry Ghost (ghost), nāraki (hell-being). As in Hinduism, all these beings are part of the Saṃsāra. Since Buddhism rejects the existence of a permanent self ( anātman), ghosts and evil spirits, such as bhūta, rākṣasa, pretas and Pishacha, are not inherently evil, but reborn in states of misery as the result of bad karma. They may have good and evil characteristics, just as any other being in saṃsāra, but suffer more than beings of better rebirth. Only beings born in hell may be considered demonic in the sense of an intrinsic evil creature, however, they cannot leave their infernal place and harm none but each other. Once their evil karma is extinguished, they are reborn in upper realms.
Ethnic and folkloric
Aboriginal Australian cultures
Aboriginal Australian cultures have various beings translated into English as "demons" or "devils". The most notable is the Bunyip, which was originally a term applied to malevolent spirits in general.See for example, "Oodgeroo Noonuccal", Kath Walker's story collected in Stradbroke Dreamtime. [2] Tasmanian mythology in particular has many beings translated as "devils"; these include malicious spirits like RageowrapperPlomley, N. J. B. (1991). The Westlake papers: records of interviews in Tasmania by Ernest Westlake. Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery. as well as spirits summoned in magic. Tasmanian Aboriginal people would describe these entities as "devils" and related that these spiritual beings as walking alongside Aboriginal people "carrying a torch but could not be seen".Plomley, N. J. B., ed. (2008) First. Friendly Mission: The Tasmanian Journals and Papers of George Augustus Robinson (2nd ed.). Hobart, Tasmania and Launceston, Tasmania: Quintus and Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery. ISBN 978-0-977-55722-6.
Chinese folklore
Chinese folktale, legend and literature are replete with malevolent supernatural creatures who are often rendered "demons" in English translations. These include categories of beings such as the Yaoguai 妖 – shapeshifters with the power to cause insanity, to inflict poison, and to bring about disease, and the mo 魔 – derived from Indian mythology and entering through the influence of Buddhism. In folk belief, these beings are responsible for misfortune, insanity, and illness, and any number of strange phenomena that could not easily be accounted for. Epilepsy and stroke, which led to either temporary or permanent contortions, were generally seen as the results of demonic possession and attacks (中邪).
Disambiguation
The terms Yao (妖), Mo (魔), Gui (鬼), Guai (怪) and Xie (邪) are their various two-character combinations often used to refer to these creatures, but of these terms, only Mo (魔) denotes demons in the religious sense.
Native North America
The Algonquian people traditionally believe in a spirit called a wendigo. The spirit is believed to possess people who then become cannibals. In Athabaskan folklore, there is a belief in wechuge, a similar cannibal spirit.
Psychological interpretations
Islamic world
A minority of Muslim scholars in the Medieval Age, often associated with the Muʿtazila and the Jahmi, denied that demons (jinn, devils, divs etc.) have physicality and asserted, they could only affect the mind by Waswas (, 'demonic whisperings in the mind').Dein, Simon, and Abdool Samad Illaiee. "Jinn and mental health: looking at jinn possession in modern psychiatric practice." The Psychiatrist 37.9 (2013): 290-293. Some scholars, like ibn Sina,Rosen, L. (2008). Varieties of Muslim Experience: Encounters with Arab Political and Cultural Life. Ukraine: University of Chicago Press. rejected the reality of jinn altogether. Jahiz and al-Masʿūdī, explained jinn and demons as merely psychological phenomena.
Western world
Psychologist Wilhelm Wundt remarked that "among the activities attributed by myths all over the world to demons, the harmful predominate, so that in popular belief bad demons are clearly older than good ones.", quoting Wundt (1906, 129). Sigmund Freud developed this idea and claimed that the concept of demons was derived from the important relation of the living to the dead: "The fact that demons are always regarded as the spirits of those who have died recently shows better than anything the influence of mourning on the origin of the belief in demons."
See also
Citations
Works cited
(2025). 9789004338548, Brill. ISBN 9789004338548
(1992). 9780714117058, University of Texas Press. ISBN 9780714117058
(1970). 9780297000440, Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 9780297000440
(2025). 9781440804182, Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781440804182
(1998). 9780765759658, Jason Aronson. ISBN 9780765759658
(2025). 9781315466750, Routledge. ISBN 9781315466750
Further reading
(2025). 9781625648259, Cascade Books. ISBN 9781625648259
External links
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