Demonographia: The Fountainhead of Diabolic Portraiture - Collin de Plancy 1999

A Collection of Sacred Magick | The Esoteric Library | www.sacred-magick.com

man victims.

xxtv. Cam, demon of u superior class, high president of hell. He usually shows himself in the guise of a blackbird. When he appears in human form, lie responds from the midst of a burning brazier; he carries in his hand a tapering sword. I le is, it is said, die most wise denizen of hell; and he could by the astuteness of his arguments cause the most seasoned logician to despair It is widi him that Lather had that famous dispute from which he has spared us die details. gives the knowledge to make intelligible the songs nf birds, the lowing of cattle, the barking of dogs, ami the noise of the waves. He knows the future. Sometimes he shows himself as a man coifed with an egret headdress and adorned with a peacock tail. This ileihon, who was in olden rimes with the order of angels, command* nt the present thirty legions in hell.

xxv. Crtttw. Crrbrmi or Babeus it a demon to us. Wicnm places him as otic of the marquis of the infernal empire. He is strong and powerful, when he doesn't appear as a three-headed dog, he shows himself ac a raven; his voice is raucous: nevertheless he gives eloquence and amiability: he imparts die arts of gracious living. Twenty nine legions obey him.

XXVI. Crapjud 'Ibadf hold a high place in soccer)*. Witches love them and select them. I hey always need them, they attend to them, nourish them, and some they dress tn livery of green, red, or black velvet. Pierre Delancre says that great w itches arc ordinarily assisted by some demon, who is always on their left shoulder in the shape of a toad, having two little horns on its head He could only be seen by those who were or would be witches. The devil baptised toads at the sabbath. Jeannette Alxidie and other women have revealed chat they have seen toads dressed m red velvet and some in black vel

vet; they wear a small bell around the neck and another on their hind foot.

xxvn. Pana of tlx j&abtaft. Pierre Delancre asserts that the sabbath dances drove men wild and made women miscarry. One says the devil taught different kinds of dances to the witches of Geneva. These dances were very rude, since they used birch rod_i and staffs like those they used to make animals dance. It was in this country dial a young woman had given to her by die devil a stone of fire which had die virtue of making anyone who touched it dance. She mocked the judges during her trial, and protested to them that they could not make her die; but the dunged her tunc.

Demons danced widi witches in the form of a goat or some other animal. One generally dances in a circle at the sabbath, back to back, rarely alone or with two. There are three brawl*-, the first is called the liohemian brawl; the second is executed like those of our country artisans, that is to say leaping while always keeping the back turned; in the third brawl, all place themselves m a line, holding hands and with a certain cadence, du a little sidestep, like the one we call the gallop today. One executes these dances to the sound of a link tambourine, a flute, a violin or ocher instrument that one strike* with a stick. It is the only music at the sabbath. I his way witches arc assured that there are no concert* m die world better executed.

xxvut. Prims or Ptwna. goddew of the inhabitants of Calicut in Malabar. This goddess, who it nothing more than a drill adored under the name ot Pfunxa. wears a crown, has four horns on her bead and four hooked teeth in her mouth which are very strong; she has a pointed and hooked nose, feet hkc a rooster, and holds between her claws a wid which she seems ready to devour.

xxix. fimRomt. superior demon, prince of death, according to several dcmonomaniacs. I le has huge, king teeth, a dreadful body all covered with sores and for dothing, a fox •kin. The pagans knew him. Pauaania* said that he fed on carruin and dead bodies. He has in the temple of Delphi a statue which shows him with a black complexion, I unrig his huge teeth like a famished wolf and sitting on a vulture vkm.

xxx. .ftigj, woe-working Scandinavian fairy. Some said that she was only a magician who had an eagle for riding.

xxxt. Jtana, grand-general of hell. He wa” seen in the form of a terrible leopard. When he took human form, he wore a frightful face with hunung eye*. He knows the past, the present and the future, raises all the ifeinon* or spirits against their enemies, the cxoreisu. and commands twenty legions.

xxxit. fmaa, Jaras or Jmaa. knight, high president of hell, he appears in the guise of a vigorous nun, with a long beard and white hair, he is mounted u|*on a large hone and hold* a sharp pointed dan. He knows the virtues of herbs and precious stones. He teaches logic, esthetics, chiromancy, |iyromancy, and rhetoric. I le ran make a man invisible, ingenious and well -spoken. He can be made tn find lost things, he can discover treasures, and he has under his orders rwentv nine legions of demons.

XXXIII. fkrtx. count ot hell. He can be seen in the guise of a stag with a flaming tad, he speaks only lies, unless he he enclosed m a mangle He often takes the form of an angel, speaks with a raucous voice and sustains the union between husbands and wives. I le makes fall the thunderbolt, the lightning flash ami the thunder groan tn the place* he has l”ern ordered to do so. He responds on abstract things. Twenty six legions are under his orders.

XXXiv. tAsngi CnaniW. feminine demon whom the Indians hold in great dread, and consequently to whom they offer great honors. He has a tingle head and four arms; he holds a small Ixiwl tn h“ left hand, and a three-pronged fork in hit right. He is drawn in processions on a chariot with plenty of pomp; sometimes hi* fanatic* were to erased with devotion that they threw themselves under his wheel*. Goats were the ordinary victim* that were burned to him. In sickness or in any other danger, he was found among the Indians who took a vow to him. If they recovered, the practice nf honoring t3wip CVmbu was a* follows. One sank down in a tkm lucked with honks, by which means one was raised in the air, there they performed sleight-of-hand and cut caper* before the spectators. When simple and credulous women, who were IKtvuadcd that this ceremony is agreeable tr> (Aingi < Vaimaj and would cause them no harm, consented, then there was no tunc to change their minds before they were already tn the air. The cnes of the assistants stifled their complaint*. A kind of penitence, always tn honor of this same demon, consist* ol letting a string paw through h” chair, and to dance while other people pull this string. I he night following the festival ot Cmiqi <Vaiaau one sacrificed to hun a buffalo whose blood had tilled a vase which was placed before hi* image. One swears that die very next day the blood had vanished. Some author* say that sometimes, instead of a buffalo, one immolate* a human victim.

xxxv. lAirada. fabulous bird who is often represented with the head of a handsome young nun, with a white ring around the neck and the body of an eagle He verves a* a mount to Vishnu, like the eagle who served a* a vehicle for Jupiter The Indians tell that he was hatched from an egg hi* mother. Dm, had laid and brooded over for five year*.

XXXVI. l3omon|. powerful duke of hell; he appear* in the form of a woman; he has a duoil ctown on his head, and he is mounted on a camel. I le responds concerning the present, rhe part, and the future; he can discover hidden treasures; he commands twenty six leginns.

xxxvn. tatonp. fire demon, also called 3jm He carnet in hell the title of duke; he ndes a viper and he has three heads; one is a serpent, the other is a man, the third a cat He holds a flaming torch in his hand. He commands twenty six legions. Some say that he is the same as Rann, but we doubt it. XXXVIII. or 3ppcn>”. prince and count of hell; he appear* m the form of an angel, sometimes as that of a lion, with the head and feel of a goose and with a short hare\ tail; he knows the part and the ftiture, gives genius and audacity to men, and commands thirty six legions.

xxxix. fimu, queen of Libya, who splits open the bellies of pregnant women tu devour the font of their wombs. She gave her name to the iamut who were evil demons. They could be found in the deserts in female form with dragons' heads at the end of their feet. They also haunted cemeteries where they disinterred cadavers and ate them, leaving nothing of the dead except their bone*.

XI- fntat*. demons of the woods, a kind of satyr among the Russian* who gave him a human body from the waist up with the horns, cars, and beard of a she-goat; and. from the wai“ down, the form of a goat. When they marched m the fields, they shrank themselves to the height of the grass; but when they ran in the forests, they grew to the rixe of the tallest tree*. Their cries were frightful. They wandered around promcnadem unceasingly, using a voice known to them and luring them tn their caverns, where they look pleasure in tickling them almost tu death.

xu. frtaarf. demon of the first order, grand master of the sabbaths, chief of the subaltern demons, inspector general of sorcery, black magic, and witches He is often railed “Zr Grand Nag"*   presides over the

sabbath in the form of a goat from the waist up; he has three horn* on his head, two fox-like can. hair-like bristles, round eye* which were inflamed and wide open, a glut’s beard, and a face on his butt. Wirches adore him by kissing this lower face while holding a green candle m their hand. Sometimes he resembles a Mood hound, or a beef, or a big black bird, or a tree trunk surmounted with a gloomy face. His feet, when he attends the sabbath, arc always those of a goose. Meanwhile, expert* who have teen the devil at the sabbath observe that he has no feet at all when he take* the form of a tree trunk and in other extraordinary circumstances. fraud is taciturn and melancholic; but at all the assemblies of witches and devil* where he i* obliged to appear, he thaw* himself to advantage and nukes use of a superh gravrnes*.

xxii, footer, na me of the spirit who rule* over the East, according to the opinion of the magicians, farter was evoked on Monday in the middle of a circle in which was his name. He was content with a mouse or venison-bit a* the price ut his compliance. He was often taken for the king of hell, and. according to several demonomaniacs, he is superior tu Slfan One say* that he M perfectly facetious, and that one of his tncks i“ to pull witches off the broom* they were riding on to the sabbath and give them a rule on his shoulders; this wa” attested tn by the witches of Muira, in Sweden, in 167a. Ihoc same witches have affirmed that they hail wen at the sabbath the same footer in a gray hahit, with blue aims and red culottes decorated with rilibon*. falter commands the Europeans and the Asians. I <c would appear with the form and

face of a bcautifiil young child. When he is angry, hi* face is inflamed, but it is nothing monstrous He h. according to some drmonographer*, a great lover of jusnee in hell. He is invoked first tn the htanies of the sabbath.

si in. Wblpfui, grand-president of hell, who appear* in the form of a raven. When he show* himself tn human fonn. the sound of hi* voice is raucous; he build* citadels and impregnable towers, overthrows rhe enemies’ ramparts, finds good workers, gives familiars, receives sacrifices and dccen-“ the sacrifice™ forty legions olicy hun.

xi iv. WUmoi. .lemon of avancc: it is he. sap .Milton, who from die first taught men tn rend the heeast of the earth to wrest away her treasure*.

riv •“’*•””. great marqm* of hell. He show* himself in the guise of a feruciou* *he-wn|f, with the wings of a grdfm and a serpent's tail; under this gracious aspect the marquis vomits flames When he take* human form, one belies e* that he see* a grand soldier. He obeys exorcist* and the ifnminauon of angels and commands thirty legion*

XIVI Mrktoa, demon who came* the purse, he is in hell the paymaster of civd tenant*.

tu n. Wlotorti, prince of the land of tears, member of the mfemaJ council, lie was adored by the Ammonites under the form of a bronze statue seated on a throne of the same metal, hating a calf* head surmounted with a royal crown. His arms were extended to receive human victims; one sacrificed children to him. In Milton, Wlokxti is a frightful and terrible demon covered with mother* tears and children* blood

l"hc rabhi* claim that, tn the intenor of the statue at the famous RUkk, god of the Ammonites, one had care* fully arranged seven kinds of cabinets. One could open one

for flour, another for turtle doves, a third for a ewe, a fourth for a ram. the fifth for a calf, the sixth for a beef, the seventh for a child. It it this which has given place to confounding Wlfliorti with Mithras and hi* seven mysterious gate* with the seven chamber*. When one wished to sacrifice children to HUMdt. one fit a huge fire in the inienur of this statue. Rut in order that one could not hear their plaintn-v cries, his priest* beat loudly on drum* and other instrument* around the idol.

xivm. Wligalt, magician who drew down the .Moon by die strength of her spells. She u a* die mother of the two famous Lapiths. Broteas and Orion.

xux. BwtJt or Bxt. According to Scandinavian mythology. principal source of all the popular belief* of Germany and England, Odin takes the name of MirtUt or tlmitif when he act* a* a destroyer or evil genie. Under this name and in the form of a kelpie, dcril-horsc of die Scot*, he frequent* the lakes and the rivers of Scandinavia, where he nines tempest*, humcane* and hailstonns. He is on the Isle of Rugen, in rhe midst of a somber lake, when it* water* arc troubled and whose bank* arc covered by thick woods It is there that he like* to torment the fishermen and upset their boat* and throw them sometime* almost to the tops of die highest fir trees. From the Scandinavian BltkJt arc descended the mermen and the incrwomcn. the nixie* of rhe leu tons There are none more famous dian the nymphs of the Elbe and the Gaal. Before the establishment of Christianity, the Saxon* who lived around these two rivers adored a feminine divinity, whose temple w as in the city of Magdebourg or Mcgdeburch (city of the young lady), and who has inspired ever since a certain fear a* the naiad of the Elbe. She would appear at Magdebourg. where she would go fur a walk with a luskct under her arm: she was full of grace, proper, and at first glance

one would take her for the daughter of a gixxl bourgeois; but the malicious-would notice a small comer of her apron dial was always wet, a reminder of her aquatic origin. Among the English, die sailors call the devil “Old Nick".

u JWbM. demon of an inferior order, high upper-gallery of the infernal court. He has also the management of visions and drcams. One treats him with little enough respect, regarding him as a buffoon and charlatan.

ij. cktrtui. high pnnee of the windier empire. One sees him in die form of a beautiful hone. When he appears in the form of a man. he speaks of the disine essence. Consulted, he gives responses on die past, die present, and the future. He discovers falsehood, grants faion and help, reconciles enemies, and has twenty legions under his orders.

in. Pwmirn. one of the kings of hell. If he shows himself to the exorcists, it “ in the form of a man riding a dromedary, crowned with a diadem encircled with precious stones, with the face of a woman. Two hundred legions, half from the order of the Angels, half from the order of the Powers, obey him. If paiimon is evoked with Mime sacrifice or libation, he can appear accompanied by the two great pnnccs KtUil and 2MHL

un. pttoltaa, demon revered by die ancient inhabitants nf Prussia, who consecrated to him the head of a dead man and burned a tallow in his honor, 'this demon could be seen during the last dap of important people. If one did not appease him at tint, he would present himself a second time; and when one gave him the pain of appearing a third time, he could only be mollified by the effusion of human blood.

When pKOllw was happy, nne could hear him laughing in his temple; because he had a temple.

L1V. pniflasor Busaa. high prince and grand duke of the

infernal empire. 1 le shall reign in Babylon, and there he has the head of an owl. He incites discord, firns the flames of w ar and quarrels and reduce* gentle folk to poverty, he responds profusely to all that is asked of him; he has twenty’ six legion* under his orders.

lv. Rahan n. demon whom we know not. In Morality, about the evil and stingy rich, primed at Rouen, undated, by Durzcl, ami played out tu the end of the fifteenth century, Satan ha* the demon lUhowrt for a companion It is in his basket that Kahaoort carries die soul of the curmudgeon when he is dead.

lvi. Rtbrsjl, specter whom the people ol Silesia place in residence at tire summit of the Rirembcrg. In their minds, it is he who suddenly covers this mountain with clouds and who excites tempot*. He i* the same as Kabcul.

t.vii. Kanor, marquis and count of hell, who appears in the form of a monster; he gives hi* adepts knowledge of languages add the gtjodwill of die whole world. Nineteen hellish cohorts are under hl* orders.

i.vtii. or ©tax, duke and high marquis of hell. He has a raucous v“>icr, a spirit carried away by falsehood; he presents himself in the form <H a stork I le steals the silver in houses he possesses and returns it only at the end of twelve hundred years, if everything is still m order. He carries oft horses. He executes all the commands that arc given to him, when one obliges him to behave immediately, and although he promises to ■obey the exorcists, he doesn’t always do so. He lies, if he is not in a triangle; if. on die other hand, he i$ closclv confined, he speak* the truth on supernatural matters. I le points out hidden treasures which are not guarded hy evil spirits. He command* thirty legions.

uvix. high prince of hell, who appears in the form

of an awl; when he takes the form of a man and shows himself before the exorcist, he teaches astronomy, and also the properties of plants, and die worth of precious stones. Twenty six legions recognize him as their general.

LX. tap or (Ajjj, high president and high ponce of hell. He shows himself at noon when lie takes human form. He commands four of the principal kings of the internal empire. He n as powerful m Bjgah In another age, necromancers would offer him libations and holocausts; they evoked him by means of magic spells that they said were composed by that very wise king, Solomon, this is false, because it was Cham, son of Noah, who first began the evocation of evil spirits. He was matte to serve Boltt* and compose an an in his name, and a book which is appreciated greatly hy mathematicians. One dtes another book attributed to the prophets I- It and Elijah, w ith which h conjured by the virtue of the saints* names of God contained in the Kty of Solomon.

If some exorcist knows rhe art of Bulat. <\u| or lap will not be able to support the presence of said exorcist. iVuj or tag eadtes the passion of love and hatred. He has an empire over the demons submissive to the power of Inuuma He transports very promptly men in different countries who wish to crow the abyss. He commands sixty legions.

t.xt Catngmat The Greenlanders make neither prayer nor sacrifice nor practice any rite, they believe only in the existence of some supernatural beings. The chief and the must powerful of these living is tomjirwt. who is invoked especially by fishermen, and whom they represent sometimes in the form of a hear, sometimes in the form of a one-armed man, and sometimes as a grand human creature at most like <me of the fingers of the hand. It is before this divinity that the Anguekkoks (their medicine men) are obliged to yield to

ask counsel when a Greenlander falls ill. Independently of this good spirit, who is invisible to everyone except the Anguckkok. there are other* who, by the intervention of the Anguckkok. teach what one mast do or ought to avoid to be happy. Each Anguekkok has in a leathern bottle a familiar spirit, whom he evokes and consults like an oradc.

uut. transport of Sotorns Some ol them go to the sabbath flying through the air like Simon the magician and without a mount; Inn, in France especially, powerful witches, when they earned a child with them tn the sabbath, were transported and returned to their douuciic by a goat who traveled in the void like a bin!

unit. Utobxh. demon of an inferior order. He ahvays shows himself with a blazing body, one calls him the inventor of frying and fireworks. He is charged by Brlutrnh with maintaining the oil in the infernal boilers

Utiv. Voktt high-president of hell, he appear* in the ftirra of a child with the wings of an angel, mounted on a twoheaded dragon. He knows the position of the planets and the lurking places of serpents. Thirty legions obey him,

LXV. Vowyrs ■f Setinni If they gn to the sabbath earned hy a goat or a black *hctp or by a demon, on their other cxcunions they generally only trawl by ridtng on a broom stick

utvt. Wall, great and powerful duke of the somber empire; he has die form of a dromedary, rail and temble, if he take* human form, he speaks Egyptian; be knows the piesent, the past, and the future, he was of the order of the Power*. 1 hi try ux legions are under his orders.

tx*n. lapun, demon of the second order. WTien iutan and his angels revolted against god, lapfuii joined the malcontents, and he was well received because be had an inven-

rive spirit. He proposed that the rebels set heaven on fire; but he was thrown with the others to the depth of the abyss, where he is continually occupied with fanning the Hames of the furnaces with his mouth and his hands. He has a bellows for an emblem.

urvtn. SMfMttCM, kind of demon who wanden at night in Finistcre. He earned five candles on his five fingers, and turns them with the speed of a winder. His appearance is considered an evil omen among the Bretons.

ucvtx. 2artu, grand-count of Hell. He has the fonnofa good soldier mounted on a crocodile; lus head is covered with a ducal crown. He is sweet of character.

Selected Bibliography of JAS. C-oujn oa Plancy

Dicrionnairc Infernal, ou Recherche* et anecdotes sur les demons, les spirits, les fantrimes ... en un mot. sur tout cc qui tient aux apparitions, i la magic, rtc. J tom. Ptm, 1818. 8*.

Dicrionnairc Infernal, ou Bibliothcquc universalle sur les circs, les personnages, les lores, les fait* ct les choses qui riennent aux apparitions, a la magic, au Commerce de I'enfer, aux divinations, aux sciences secret*, aux gnmoirex, aux pmdiges, aui erreurs ct aux prejuges. aux tradtions ct aux contea populaires, aux superstitions diverse*, ct gtneralcincnt a routes les cwvances mcrveiUcuse*, *uq>i enantea, mysci icutes et sumaturclles ... Dewoimc edition, entitlement refondue. 4 tom. pp. 498.491,483, 559. Parw, 1825. 26. 8*.

--------- Planches Pans. 1826. H^-.

Dicrionnairc Infernal, ou Repertoire universe! des etrcs, de” personnages, les livres, des faitset des choses qui riennent ...