Demons

Last time I discussed the concepts or precepts of different faiths. I finally mentioned "demons" which is where I would like to start today.

The demon I chose for the front cover for my book "The Demon Cult" is from the "Dictionnaire Infernal" by Collin de Plancy written and  illustrated in the 1800s. It is a manifestation of the Devil. For more information on this subject I suggest the excellent website Delirium's Realm will provide further insight.

So "Demons": evil or just a bad press?
As a committed atheist any concept of a god, demon, angel et al all comes under the heading of "the supernatural" i.e. that there is a world beyond ours were beings exist who can influence or change our lives. I suppose it goes back to the concept of a sun god, where, when the crops failed some bright spark thought that sacrificing a goat might please the divine presence of the sun god and the crops would thrive. It they did not, the inevitable and logical next step was to sacrifice a human being. At some point "voilà" as the French say, and man, woman, child, or beast, is marked for future sacrificial duty.I am not being glib - well only a bit - but it does not take Einstein to work out the pattern.
Demons have been around as long as humans inhabited the Earth; they are usually portrayed as fallen angels which can be conjured and controlled. Most religions have them and as I mentioned in a previous blog, you cannot have good without the antithesis of evil.

In my book the anti-hero is Baal Crowley. He is supposed to be the grandson of Aleister Crowley, the Satanist and so-named in the twenties and thirties, "the Beast 666". Baal is the storm god and god of fertility. Some say that he is the personification of God, others that he was at the hand of El who was married in mythology to Asherah. El was considered the father of the humanities and Ba'al Hadad, his son. Both are depicted by a bull and bulls on their headdress. These are the gods of the ancients and despite many attempts to bring in prophets, in all religions, declaring that there is but one god, all evidence points back to El and Baal. Even when monotheism (belief in one god) started to be accepted, around two thousand years ago, there was evidence that the common man still believed in the gods of old. Statues have been found in Lebanon and Palestine (in biblical times Canaan) and Israel of Baal. The "man-in-the-street" can be forced, in public to worship whatever the ruling classes say but secretly he will do what seems right. Demonology has its place in all religions.

I should note at this time that the Aleister Crowley images are linked from the web site: http://www.pinterest.com/explore/aleister-crowley/, where you can find further information and images on this topic.