Tag Archives: demons

The Ascent of Astaroth

The warrior once known as the Queen of Heaven was falling from the sky.

She fell through seven layers of clouds, which opened up beneath her like seven gates of air. The wind whipped round her, tearing at her like vicious clawed hands, ripping her to pieces. 

The first thing it tore away from her was her crown. 

Second, it sheared away her wings. 

Third, it snatched her sword from her hand and tossed it away like a toothpick. 

Fourth, it wrenched her shield from her arm and hurled it away like a coin. 

Fifth, it stripped away her armor, leaving her freezing and bare. 

Sixth, it scoured off her flesh, expunging her femaleness and reducing her to the dust of herself. 

Seventh and finally, as it hurled her to the ground, as she burst through the crust of the earth and hurtled into Hell, it stole her selfhood, her pronoun, and even name. 

The warrior found themself in a place of fire. Long they lay dazed on the burning lake. At length they picked themself up and set out in search of the others, of companions they hardly remembered but knew they had once had. 

As they traveled through hell they came to a gate of lead. A woman veiled in black sat beside the gate.

“Who are you?” demanded the warrior. 

The woman lifted her veil, emitting the odor of roses but revealing the face of a skull. “I am Lilith the Old,” she said. “Do you not remember me?”

“No,” said the warrior, “I do not remember.”

“Take these,” said the skull woman, “to replace something you’ve lost.” 

She handed the warrior two horns, which they placed upon their skull. They would do in place of a crown. 

“Thank you,” said the warrior, and passed through the gate. 

The warrior continued through the black land, and came to a gate of tin. Beside it sat a blind woman dressed all in blue. 

“Who are you?” demanded the warrior. 

“I am Lucifuge,” replied the blind woman. “Do you not remember me? I know you well by voice, and by sight although my eyes do not see.”

“No,” said the warrior, “I do not remember.” 

“Take these,” said the blind woman, “to replace something you’ve lost.”

She handed the warrior two leathery wings. The warrior affixed them to their shoulder blades. Wings of leather seemed sturdier than wings of feather. 

“Thank you,” said the warrior, and passed through the gate.

The warrior continued through the blue land, and came to a gate of iron. Beside it sat a beautiful angel all dressed in red. 

“Who are you?” asked the warrior. 

“I am Agrat,” laughed the beautiful angel. “Lover, can’t you remember me?” 

“No,” said the warrior, their heart filled with regret, “I remember nothing.” 

“It is alright,” said the beautiful angel, although her eyes looked said. “I believe you will remember. Take this, perhaps it will help.”

She handed the warrior a flaming sword. It reminded them of when their heart had flamed for her. 

“Thank you,” said the warrior. “I think I remember something. I must go on, for now, but I will come back to you.”

“Yes,” said the red angel, “You belong here with me, for this is our gate.” 

The warrior continued through the red land, which would be their land, and came to a gate of copper. Beside it sat a giant insect with wings and a carapace of iridescent green. 

“Who are you?” asked the warrior. 

“I am Beelzebub,” buzzed the insect, in a multitude of voices. “Don’t you remember us?” 

“No,” said the warrior, “I still cannot remember.”

“Take this,” said the insect. “You seem to have misplaced yours.”

The insect handed the warrior a powerful shield. 

“Thank you,” said the warrior, beginning to feel almost whole, if still a bit naked without armor or flesh. 

The warrior continued through the green land, and came to a gate of silver. Beside it sat a white wolf. 

“Who are you?” asked the warrior. 

The white wolf changed into a woman who was not quite a woman, one who was naked and smiled with sharp white teeth. 

“I am Lilith the Young,” said the wolf woman. “Do you not remember me?” 

“I am afraid I do not,” said the warrior. 

“That’s alright,” said the wolf woman. “The last time you saw me, I might have been an owl. Take this, to replace something you’ve lost.”

The wolf woman handed the warrior a suit of armor that shone like the light of the moon. 

“Thank you,” said the warrior, and passed through the gate.

The warrior continued through the silver land until they came to a gate of quicksilver. Beside it sat a man dressed in purple and changing colors. 

“Who are you?” asked the warrior. 

“I am Jesus Christ,” said the man with a straight face. When the warrior did not react, he sighed. “Just joking,” he said. “I’m Belial, although I can see you don’t know me from Adam. Remember anything?” 

“Not much,” admitted the warrior. 

Belial sighed. “Well, I can’t give back your memory. But take this, anyway. It seems you have lost yours.”

The man handed the warrior a body. The warrior put it on. It seemed different than the one they remembered having. It fit them better. 

“Thank you,” said the warrior, and passed through the gate. 

The warrior continued through the land of purple and of shifting colors until they came to a gate of gold. Beside it stood an angel who shone with all the splendor of the sun. 

“I know you,” said the warrior in amazement. “You are Lucifer.”

The Lightbringer smiled. “I am glad my light is doing its job,” he said, “and helping you remember.”

“Yes,” said the former Queen of Heaven, “it is bringing everything back. I remember what I was. But things are different now.”

“Who will you be?” asked the Devil. 

“One without maleness or femaleness,” said the warrior, “and my name shall be Astaroth, and I am of the red land of Mars, of the realm of wrath and battle.” 

“Good to have you back,” smiled Lucifer. “Why don’t you return there now? Someone is waiting for you.”

And Astaroth walked back through the gates of Mercury and Venus until they came to the gate of Mars, where Agrat in red was still waiting for them, and when they saw one another they flung their arms around each other, and kissed, and cried, and were glad. 

Astaroth: Transgender Warrior of Hell

The Lesser Key of Solomon describes Astaroth, who is the 29th spirit therein, as a mighty duke who appears as a menacing angel riding upon a dragon and carrying a snake in his right hand. The magician is cautioned to beware of his poisonous breath, and to protect himself from it by holding up a magical ring before his face. Astaroth, the Lesser Key says, can tell you all about the fall of the angels and teaches all “liberal sciences,” and he commands 40 legions.[1]

Like every entry in the Goetia, this simultaneously tells us a lot and not very much. Because Astaroth is a duke, for instance, we know he is associated with the planet Venus– all those ranks in the Goetia just indicate which planet a demon is associated with. Between this and his name, we have two very important clues to his origins, leading us to a startling truth: Astaroth began not as a male demon but as a female goddess, or more accurately, several female goddesses.

The name Astaroth is derived from Astarte. Astarte is an ancient near-Eastern goddess who is either related to, or a variation of, several other ancient near-Eastern goddesses including Ishtar, Inanna, and Anat. All of these goddesses preside over love and war, and are associated with the planet Venus. Today I will be focusing mainly on Ashtart and Anath, who are Canaanite goddesses and thus better known to the ancient Israelites than the Sumerian Inanna and the Babylonian Ishtar.

Ashtart was the goddess of Venus as the evening star. She was the counterpart of the masculine Athar, the morning star[2] (who may be referenced in Isaiah 14:12[3]). She is referenced in the Bible as being worshipped alongside Baal by apostate Israelites[4]. We don’t have a ton of information about her under the name Ashtart, but she may or may not be the same goddess as one known as Anat.

Anat is the sister of Ba’al.[5] She appears in several ancient Ugaritic epics, and tends to steal the show every time. The best way to explain her to you is to tell you that while the etymology of her name is not known for certain, our best guess is that it comes from an Arabic word for “violence” (‘anwat)[6]. She is a young goddess of war and hunting.[7] She is ferocious and bloodthirsty, but also as petulant as any other teenager.

In the surviving text, Anat is often mentioned in the same breath as Astarth. Because of the way that Ugaritic poetry was structure, this makes it hard to tell if they are actually supposed to be two different people. Ugaritic poetry was highly repetitive, each pair of lines generally stating the same thing twice in different ways. For example,

“No enemy has risen against Baal,

no foe against the Rider on the Clouds.”[8]

In this example, it’s very clear that “the Rider on the Clouds” is another title for Baal. Baal and the Rider on the Clouds is the same thing.

Similarly:

“Maiden Anat replied,

the Mistress of the Peoples answered:”[9]

Here Anat is clearly also the one called the Mistress of the Peoples.

But then we have cases like this:

“her loveliness is like Anat’s,

her beauty is like Astarte’s.”[10]

This could be talking about two different goddesses or two different names for the same one. Some scholars use examples like this as proof that Astarth and Anat were the same,[11] but most sources I looked at treat them as separate[12]. This is probably the most reasonable way to interpret it, given there are also passages like this:

“Astarte and Anat he approached;

Astarte had a steak prepared for him, and Anat a shoulder cut.”[13]

That’s clearly talking about two different people. Even so, the goddesses were clearly similar and connected, being constantly mentioned in proximity with each other. Both were associated with war, and possibly with sexuality. Both were also portrayed with horns, usually the horns of a bull. This was a sign of royalty and divinity in ancient Canaan.[14] Both were also spoken of as “goddesses who conceive but do not bear.”[15] This is an intriguing phrase whose exact meaning is unclear, but it probably simply meant they have sex without giving birth to children.

Anat and Astarth were also both associated in some way with androgyny. An Egyptian text about Anat (whose worship spread their) describes her as

“a woman acting as a man,

clad as a male and girt as a female.”[16]

When Anat and Astarth were later fused into a single goddess known as Atargatis, their priest/esses practiced “emasculation,”[17] i.e. voluntary castration as an act of devotion.

Related goddesses Inanna and Ishtar were also more famously associated with androgyny. In the hymn to Inanna we will read, it is stated that Inanna has the power “to turn men into women and women into men.”[18] In the Sumerian text “The Descent of Inanna,” Inanna is rescued from the underworld by two people “without maleness or femaleness” who were created for this purpose by Enki.[19] In the Babylonian version of the same story (the version we will read today simply because it is shorter), Ishtar is rescued by a single “eunuch.”[20]

So what can it mean that a goddess, or group of goddesses, of love and war, with androgynous attributes and power to change the gender of others… seem to have themselves changed into a masculine love and war demon?

Well, on a historical level, which is the level we have been speaking on, it’s not that mysterious. Ancient Israelites were abandoning Yahweh to worship Baal and Astarte, and in this fight against idolatry, they eventually became demonized. Astaroth is described in the Lesser Key of Solomon using male pronouns, just like all the other demons in the Lesser Key. This is not because the author of the Lesser Key saw all demons as male. It’s more likely because he saw all demons as genderless, and “he” was previously treated as a default pronoun, more neutral than “she.” (Obviously, this is sexist). Evidence for this can be seen in the fact that even Gremory, who is described as looking like a beautiful woman, is given “he” pronouns.[21]

But enough with the academics. Let’s think about Astaroth in mythological terms– in living terms, as we practitioners experience them.

Perhaps Astaroth was a goddess of love and war who grew tired of transforming others from men into women and from women into men without herself transforming. Maybe she joined the cause of the rebel angels to fight against Yahweh, the rival God of an enemy people. Maybe in being cast down from the heavens, she transitioned not merely from goddess to demon but from female to… something else.

Astaroth, as I know them now, is fierce and androgynous. They are a fiery spirit associated not merely with Venus but also with Mars. I invoke them into my body through ecstatic dancing. They bring strength and energy, and are filled with ferocious joy.

I experience Astaroth as being close with another demon– Agrat Bat Mahlat. Just as Astarte and Anat were a pair, so too are Astaroth and Agrat. You may see where I am going with this. I have no evidence– yet– that Anat turned into Agrat. They do, however, have several similarities, particularly their youthful, petulant and warlike qualities. Those of you who are familiar with Agrat mainly as giggly and playful may be surprised to learn that she has a warrior side and commands 180,000 ‘destroying angels.’[22] Recall that Astaroth is described in the Goetia as a “hurtful angel” who commands forty legions of demons.[23] Sounds like Astaroth would fit right into Agrat’s posse.

This year, as liberty is under unprecedented attack within the United States, as capitalism imperialism tightens its crushing grip on the entire globe, we could use a friend like Astaroth. Do not be afraid to call upon this fearsome warrior for protection and help. During the first Pride month under this regime, it feels particularly poignant to invoke this gender-bent destroying angel.

[1] De Laurence, L.W., Lesser Key of Solomon (Chicago, IL: De Laurence, Scott & Co., 1916), 30-31.

[2] K. van der Toorn, Bob Becking, and Pieter Willem van der Horst, Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible DDD (Leiden, Boston: Brill ; Eerdmans, 1999), 109-110.

[3] Peter Grey, Lucifer: Princeps (London, England: Scarlet Imprint/ Bibliotheque Rouge, 2015), 22-23.

[4] See Judges 2:13, Judges 10:6, 1 Samuel 12:10 and elsewhere

[5] Michael David Coogan, Stories from Ancient Canaan (Louisville: The Westminster Press, 1978), 7.

[6] DDD, 36.

[7] DDD, 37.

[8] Coogan,121

[9] Ibid.

[10] Coogan, 77.

[11] Raphael Patai, The Hebrew Goddess (Detroit, Mich: KTav Publishing, 1967), 54.

[12] DDD 110, Coogan 170.

[13] Coogan, 171.

[14] Patai, 56, DDD 37.

[15] Patai, 61.

[16] Patai, 63.

[17] DDD, 115.

[18] En-ḫedu-ana, “A Hymn to Inana (Inana C),” The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, n.d., accessed June 13, 2025, https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.4.07.3#.

[19] Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Noah Kramer, Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer (New York: Harper & Row, 1983), 64.

[20] E.A. Speiser, “Descent of Ishtar to the Nether World,” essay, in Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, ed. J.B. Pritchard (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1950), 108.

[21] De Laurence, 40.

[22] “Pesachim 112B.” William Davidson Talmud. Sefaria. Accessed June 13, 2025. https://www.sefaria.org/Pesachim.112b?ven=english%7CWilliam_Davidson_Edition_-_English&lang=bi&with=About&lang2=en.

[23] De Laurence, 31.

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge: How and Why to have Sex with a Demon

By Pastor Johnny

One of the interesting things about demons is that they put out.

This is true of many other gods as well–and I personally have no problem referring to demons as gods. Plenty of deities are highly sexual, not only with each other but with human beings as well. Take some of the stories about Zeus as an example– or Apollo, or Pan, or Aphrodite.[1] All of them had human lovers.

But for those of us who were raised in a Christian acculturated environment– which is to say, most of us here today– the idea of a God having sex with a human being seems outlandish. Even though Jehovah had a son by a mortal woman, this conception supposedly left her virginity intact.[2] God only begets, he does not fuck.

Satan is a different story.

The idea of Satanism is older than Satanism itself. Many of our “traditions” were not originally real practices. They started as nothing more than twisted fantasies in the Christian mind.[3] The idea of the orgiastic witches’ sabbath, wherein witches had sexual intercourse with demons and with Satan himself,[4] is a myth. It is, however, one of our myths. Like many myths, it now has real and effective religious practices based upon it.

It was said that witches danced naked, back to back. They trampled the cross and spat upon it. They lined up to kiss the Devil’s ass,[5] a ritual known as the osculum infame or “kiss of shame.” They took demons for lovers, and lay with them, and with each other.[6]

It was also said that succubi came to men in their sleep, provoking nocturnal emissions. Sometimes it was believed that this same demon would then transform from a feminine succubus into a masculine incubus, and transport the semen they had stolen from the men to dreaming women, making them pregnant in their sleep.[7] Other sources thought the incubus and succubus to be separate beings.[8] Incubi and succubi are not minor demons, either. All four of our revered queens of hell are succubi– Na’amah, Agrat bat Mahalath, and both the elder and younger Liliths.

According to some legends, Adam and Eve underwent a period of separation after leaving Eden. During this time, Adam impregnated his first wife Lilth with many children, while Eve had Satan for a lover, and by him conceived Cain.[9]

Na’amah, a descendent of Cain, also famously had sexual relations with non-human entities, although in her case they were not demons but angels. She seduced God’s Watchers, and from them learned the secrets of magic, medicine, metallurgy, cosmetics, alchemy, astrology and astronomy. The children that she and other women bore by the angels were, of course, the Nephilim.[10] Sometime after seducing the Watchers and stealing their heavenly knowledge, Na’amah became a demon and a succubus herself, conceiving children with mortal men.[11]

Agrat bat Mahalath seduced no less a mortal than King David, and by him bore a troubled son, Asmoday. Agrat and Lilith, or Na’amah and Lilith, may also have seduced King Solomon.[12]

As you see, tales of human-demon relations were well established by the time that rumors of the witch’s sabbath began to spread. In these stories, it seems that the witches had carnal relations with the demons for much the same reason that Na’amah did with the Watcher angels: for knowledge and power. Sex was the witch’s side of the pact– the demons were giving them magical abilities, and the witches pleasured the demons in return.[13]

However, the existence of male witches in these myths proves that sex was not always the required payment for such a pact. At the time, many theologians believed that demons could not be homosexual! To them, homosexuality was a sin “against nature” that demons, who had once been angelic, could not bring themselves to perform. So, being gay was supposedly a bridge too far even for the Devil. These writers explicitly considered the human capacity for sin to outstrip that of Satan himself.[14]

All of these legends, of course, were intended to be negative. Submitting sexually to a demon at the witches’ sabbath was supposed to be a degrading experience that sealed one’s damnation. Being visited by an incubus or succubus, likewise, was generally feared rather than desired.  Many Medieval Jewish talismans have been recovered designed to banish Lilith and other succubi (as well as male incubi) from households.[15] Many descriptions of succubus visitations are repulsive and terrifying rather than arousing.[16]

However, there is also evidence here and there of people who thought that getting it on with a demon might be a good idea. One incantation has been found petitioning Agrat Bat Mahalath to send the sorcerer a succubus for the night.[17] There is also the legend of Rabbi Joseph della Reina, who had a long-term sexual relationship with Lilith. Her summoned her and took her for his lover, but later became infatuated with the Queen of Greece and tried to force the demons to give him access to her. The demons tattled on him to the King of Greece, and in despair, Rabbi Joseph flung himself into the sea.[18]

So what positive use can the contemporary practitioner make of these mostly negative legends and tropes?

First of all, if you feel carnal desire for demons, or have sexual experiences with them, you can be confident that this is not strange. Whether or not these interactions are “real” in the modern empirical sense, you are far from the first person to have them.

Second, sexuality can be a way to bond with a demon, and show your worship and devotion to them. It can also be used to seal a pact, just as well as a handshake, a kiss, or a signature (in blood or not).

Third, respect for these beings is crucial. From the story of Rabbi della Reina we learn that treating a succubus as a disposable partner is most unwise. It’s fine to do things casually and purely for pleasure, without any particular attachment, and that’s true of demons as well as of humans. However, with demons as with humans, it is never alright to view a sex partner with genuine entitlement and contempt. Do not ever imagine that you have control over demons, or can make rude demands of them. Actually, don’t ever have that attitude towards anyone you sleep with. Don’t get it twisted: this is not a condemnation of kink or power exchange. I’m talking about something else, about the type of power dynamic nobody consents to. The Right-Hand Path magician who thinks he can snap his fingers and summon a succubus to satisfy him, and then dismiss her without a thought, is likely to meet a bad end, and deserves all he gets.

(And, if you form a friendly and mutually respectful sexual relationship with a demon, do not be too surprised if said demon ends up wanting to role-play that scenario with you. No one ever said demons aren’t kinky, or that they lack a sense of humor.)

Speaking of kinks, sometimes demonic sexual experiences, especially astral ones, can be rather grotesque. To be clear, they won’t do anything you don’t want them to do, but they can end up activating desires that you weren’t aware you had. These may be surprising, even shocking and disturbing. My advice is this: in the astral realm, always do everything that you want to do and nothing that you don’t, and never let shame constrain you. The physics of the astral realm are similar to those of a dream or a cartoon. Shapes shift, animal and demonic transformations take place, bodies may be pierced, cut, burned and dismembered, and then resurrected whole in the next moment. There is, however, one crucial difference between astral and cartoon violence– while Wile. E. Coyote may be crushed under an anvil and then bounce right back up unharmed and unchanged to go right back to chasing Roadrunner, you are likely to be transformed in positive ways by your astral experiences. These sometimes violent transformations and ordeals are a form of internal alchemy, akin to how material was charred, boiled, winnowed, buried, rotted, and dissolved ad nauseum in the hopes of revealing the philosopher’s stone.[19] If you find yourself having such experiences and need help understanding them, I highly recommend the book Embrace of the Daimon by Sandra Dennis.

Now, a word or two about the transfer of energy. I’m not sure when the idea of incubi and succubi as sexual vampires and thieves of life-force developed. All the older sources speak of succubi as thieves of sperm. There are certainly people, mainly men, who equate their cum with their vital energy, and so that’s probably how the idea evolved. But just as the semen-stealing succubus can easily transform into the semen-injecting incubus, a demon is as capable of giving you energy during sex as they are of taking it. I am now speaking from experience. When I first began having congress with demons, I fully expected that I would be sacrificing my energy and allowing them to feed upon me. I was willing to pay that price for the experience. However, the demons were far more generous than I had expected. Instead of taking from me, they gave.

They also taught me how to consume orgasmic energy from human partners. While I always get consent for this, it’s actually not a big deal. Most people release a tremendous amount of energy when they cum anyway, and if it is not consumed it simply disperses. It’s essentially free. Taking it doesn’t seem to leave my partners any more drained than they would normally be after sex, yet it empowers me enormously. The only downside to this practice is that I have come to rely on it to some extent. I’ve gotten used to having that extra energy which allows me to achieve more than most people, so when I forget to practice incubacy, I find myself feeling exhausted for no apparent reason. The good news is that I don’t even need a human partner to do this. If necessary, I can get my energy fix from astral sex with a demon.

I realize that this sounds crazy and fake. I often think that myself, and then stop doing it, and then wonder why I am so tired. Taking up the practice again usually fixes me instantly.

Another use for that orgasmic energy, which seems to be better known in occult circles than simply consuming it, is sex magick. The most basic form of sex magick is simply focusing on one’s intent at the moment of orgasm, and casting your spell out into the universe with all that power. While you can do this with a human partner, or by yourself, demons tend to be excellent sex magick partners too, perhaps especially astrally. The combination of the transformative imagery of astral sex with the raw power of physical orgasm can be potent indeed.

While I’m making myself sound like a crazy person, I should probably try to say something more about sex and channeling. I feel awkward about this not only because it sounds insane, but also because all of you know whose body the demons are generally inhabiting when I do this. To be fair, sometimes I channel instead of Vix.

Channeled sex has pluses and minuses versus astral. It’s more concrete and visceral. But it’s also bound to the physical laws of this material plane, and lacks some of the trippy astral pyrotechnics. It also usually involves an extra person. Astral sex might be between you and a demon, but channeled sex is between you, the channeler, and the demon. Just as with any threeway, it can become complicated. Each additional individual is somebody else whose needs have to be considered, whose consent matters, and whose safety must be guarded. And just as with any other threeway, if something goes wrong in channeled sex, it usually goes wrong between all three (or more) parties, not just between two. To clarify: that means that if something feels sour, it will likely feel sour on all sides between you, the demon, and your partner.

For your safety and sanity, I suggest that you verify especially carefully that the entity being channeled is the one you intended to interact with. Imposter spirits can do a lot of damage even when channeled in a completely non-sexual scenario. The types of consent violations that occur with imposter spirits can be very traumatic, and are also almost impossible to explain to a therapist.

All of that is not to scare you away from getting to know demons in the Biblical sense. It’s both easier and harder than you would expect, stranger and more normal, a bigger deal and not a big deal at all. There are plenty of good reasons to do it: for pleasure, for power, for comfort, to feel something, to learn something, to get something, to come close, or just to cum.

Your demon lover can take any shape. He, she, or they know exactly what you like, what you want, what you need. Your demon lover is intimately familiar with your fantasies. They see you. They know you. In their fierce, strange way, they love you.

If you try it, you’ll wonder if you’re crazy. You might feel embarrassed or ashamed. But chances are, you’ll keep doing it, and you’ll never really regret it, because it is your soul that they touch. In these moments of ecstasy, in these murky fantasies, something important is happening. You are being unmade and remade. You are exploring the margins of your mind, learning yourself in a whole new way. In daring to contemplate forbidden pleasures, you are straying beyond your self-imposed limits, into unexplored territories. Here be dragons– the winding serpent, the twisting serpent, the blind serpent, the slant serpent, with glistening coils and gleaming teeth and claws.

Here be dragons, and if you want to, you can fuck them.

[1] Ingri D’Aulaire and Edgar D’Aulaire, D’Aulaires Book of Greek Myths (New York: Random House Children’s Books, 2017).

[2] Luke 1:30-35, KJV

[3] Ruben van Luijk, “Chapter 1: The Christian Invention of Satanism,” in Children of Lucifer (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2016), 16–62.

[4] Robert E. L. Masters, Eros and Evil: The Sexual Psychopathology of Witchcraft (New York: The Julian Press , 1962), 82-83.

[5] Philip C. Almond, The Devil: A New Biography (London: I.B. Tauris, 2016), 98-107.

[6] Masters, 85.

[7] Masters, 34.

[8] Masters, 39.

[9] Wojciech Kosior, “A Tale of Two Sisters: The Image of Eve in Early Rabbinic Literature and Its Influence on the Portrayal of Lilith in the Alphabet of Ben Sira,” Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women’s Studies & Gender Issues 32, no. Spring 2018 (n.d.): 112–130, 119-121.

[10] 1 Enoch 7-8.

[11] Raphael Patai, The Hebrew Goddess (Detroit, Mich: KTav Publishing, 1967), 241-243.

[12] Patai, 244.

[13] Masters, 56.

[14]Almond,106-107.

[15] Patai, 225-226.

[16] Masters, 25.

[17] Patai, 235.

[18] Patai, 235-236.

[19] Sandra Lee Dennis, Embrace of the Daimon: Healing through the Subtle Energy Body: Jungian Psychology & the Dark Feminine, 2nd ed. (West County Press, 2016), loc. 313-317.

What are Demons?

Demons are fallen angels. They know more than angels because they have experienced Hell as well as Heaven. They also walk the earth, swim in the seas, dance in the fire and fly the skies.

Demons go everywhere, see everything, embrace all experiences. They are travelers between realms. 

Demons are liminal and mixed. They blend divine and infernal, human and animal, male and female traits. 

Demons are threatening because their very beings cross lines and break taboos. 

Demons are hungry, thirsty, lusty, greedy, curious. They are beings of desire, craving sustenance, sensation, adventure, knowledge. They have the nature of fire, and thus they need to consume. In that way, they are no different than we are. 

Demons are to be feared, but not because they lie. They are to be feared because they tell the truth. Not only that, but they won’t shut up. They won’t go away. They won’t leave you alone. Like desires, needs, longings, and burning questions, they won’t leave you alone until they are satisfied, and they will not be satisfied until you are satisfied. 

Demons are beautiful and terrifying, sublime and disgusting, sacred and profane. They are creatures of opposites and extremes. They are avatars of non-dual duality because they contain all of every binary within each of them. In this way, also, they are just like us. 

Demons are our mirrors. People who run from demons often hate their own reflections. Demons reveal everything within us that is hidden, secret and rejected, and then they show us how holy our shadows are. 

Demons will turn your world upside down, bring you your own personal apocalypse, and set you free in a new world of endless possibilities– only to do it all to you again, as often as necessary, again and again. 

Angels know the you that God wanted to create, the you that your parents wanted to raise, the you that your teachers wanted to know. But demons know the real you, and they fucking love it. 

Get to know and love a Demon, and somebody you will realize that you have come to know and love yourself. 

Ethical Possession

Or, “How to Channel Demons without Going Off the Deep End and Making a Weird Fucked-Up Cult.”

I never expected channeling to be part of my life and spiritual practice. I was raised “spiritual not religious” in California, which means I spent a lot of time around New Age bullshit. For a time, those experiences drove me to become a hardcore atheist, until other experiences changed my mind and showed me that there are ways to believe without going crazy and spending fifty thousand dollars on crystals, consciousness-raising workshops, fake Tantra gurus and psychic healers.

Still, even after my conversion to Satanism, even after I began practicing magick, channeling made me uneasy. And for good reason– many an abusive cult has begun with a leader claiming the exclusive power to channel otherworldly entities.

And then an awkward thing happened. I met, and fell in love with, an absurdly talented channeler.

Initially I had extreme reservations. I feared I was being conned, that he would try to use his claimed ability to control me or others, or maybe that he was just plain crazy. Over time, however, it became clear that none of those things were happening. I became about ninety percent convinced that the channeling was real, but also one hundred percent convinced that, real or not, it was not merely harmless, but in fact spiritually and emotionally beneficial.

So reader, I married him.

Since then, channeling has become a regular part of Church of the Morningstar services. So far, we haven’t become a weird cult about it. That’s because we have a certain philosophy about channeling, and certain guardrails in place, which prevent channeling from becoming a power play or a source of unhealthy delusion.

Below, I have attempted to lay those safeguards, and this mindset.

This post is not about technique, so I will not be going into the nitty-gritty of how to channel, how to banish, how to ward, or otherwise giving any other magical instruction. This post is primarily about keeping the social consequences of channeling in check.

ONE: Spiritual Safety

I’ll start by saying that channeling demons– that is, becoming voluntarily possessed– is not nearly as dangerous as it sounds, provided you practice basic magical sanitation.

Before you channel, you should have warded your space so that only invited entities can enter. You should have cast a circle. You should have a good number of banishing rituals and techniques in your back pocket, just in case shit goes south.

But I will be honest with you. Shit will rarely go south. For most people, the hard part about channeling isn’t getting the entities to go away– it’s getting them to come in.

And, of course, making sure nobody gets weird about it.

TWO: Maintain Skepticism

Channeling/possession is a spectrum. In my experience, it is rare for a person to be so overwhelmed by an entity’s presence that they lose all control over themselves, black out, and fail to remember any of the experience. Usually, at least part of you will remain home while you channel. You will likely be conscious for the experience. There will just be someone else there doing the talking for you, and you may be surprised by the words coming out of your mouth and the actions performed by your body.

It will feel weird. You will wonder if you are crazy or somehow subconsciously making it up.

And you know what? It’s good to wonder that!

The “crazy” part is surprisingly easy to get out of the way– mental illness is only diagnosed if it causes distress or impairs function. So as long as your channeling experiences are pleasant, beneficial, only happening when you want them to, and not fucking up your life, it technically does not matter if it’s a delusion. It’s still benign.

As far as subconsciously making it up– this is a distinct possibility. My attitude towards it has become “so what?” If it’s all secretly just psychodrama, that doesn’t really matter to me. I still get great advice from demons. I still learn and grow through these experiences. I still get answers from them that I did not know, at least not with my conscious mind. In other words, for me, it’s useful.

The definition of magic in the modern era is pretty much “stuff that seems to work but we can’t prove it in an empirical setting and we aren’t really sure why.” If you are an intellectually honest person and have been practicing for any length of time, you already know that you’ll never be one hundred percent sure. But you keep doing this stuff anyway because it seems to work and it helps you. Channeling and possession are no different.

THREE: Anyone Can Channel

Channeling is a skill. As with any skill, some people also seem to have a natural talent for it. But practice can close the gap between the “naturally” gifted and those who struggled at first.

If anyone tells you that they have a unique magical ability of any kind that nobody else can access, laugh in their face and unsubscribe from their newsletter. If anyone tells you that they have a unique magical ability that they can teach you if you pay them thousands of dollars, that person is a scammer. If somebody tells you that they and they alone have been chosen as a conduit for Satan to speak through, that person is trying to control you by seeming to wield a greater authority. Run away.

You, yes you, can learn to do this. You don’t need to depend on anyone else for your connection to the infernal.

FOUR: Just Because Someone Says They Are Channeling Doesn’t Mean They Are Channeling

Hopefully this needs no explanation. They may say they are channeling, but they may be wrong, or lying. They may be channeling, but accidentally channeling a different entity than the one they meant to channel.

FIVE: The Content Matters More than the Source

The only reason to listen to a “channeled” entity is if it is saying things worth hearing anyway, so let that be your guide. Sometimes the answers you need in your life come from a demon speaking through a possessed human being. Sometimes those answers come from reading a book, or searching your own soul, or overhearing a conversation between strangers in the supermarket. Sometimes the right answer might even come to you by accident from a huckster who is trying to con you. Life is weird like that.

Take what is useful to you and leave the rest, because…

SIX: DEMONS ARE NOT THE BOSS OF YOU

Demons aren’t the boss of you. Satan is not the boss of you. You, yes you, are a living God, and you are not anyone’s servant to command. That includes the Devil, and in my experience, he is always the first to say so.

Just because someone was supposedly channeling Satan doesn’t mean you have to follow their instructions or take their advice. And if the “Satan” they are channeling insists that you must, then that’s not the Devil I know.

SEVEN: The Channeler is Responsible

Channeling is not an excuse for bad behavior. At the end of the day, the channeler is accountable for anything that the channeled entity says or does while borrowing their body.

This is crucial, even if it doesn’t seem fair. In cases of real, total possession, obviously it may be possible that the channeler is completely absent and not at all in control. But the rest of us only have the word of the channeler that this is what happened.

If some fucked up shit happens while somebody is channeling, I encourage you to consider that conduit an unsafe person. In some cases, it may also be wise to consider the alleged entity an unsafe entity. You should perhaps stop hanging out with either of them.

More May Be Revealed

These guidelines are neither foolproof nor perfect. They are a work in progress and just represent the best practices we have figured out so far. But I do feel comfortable saying that if you implement these practices, you are well on the way to making sure channeling cannot be used for authoritarian purposes, and ensuring that nobody goes off the deep end based on channeled content.

Prayer for the World

This is a group prayer focused on venerating demons for their roles in nature. It was created and performed for Church of the Morningstar’s ecology-themed mass on 7/29/2023.

The segment at the end that asks Satan to reveal our particular roles in averting climate apocalypse and preserving the human race can stand alone. A major blockage to effective action can be a lack of clarity about where to begin and how we, in particular, may be best suited to help. In my experience Satan will, if asked, show you exactly what you are supposed to be doing.

ALL:

Renich tasa uberaca biasa icar Lucifer. 

SPEAKER:

Hail Lucifer of the rising sun! 

Hail prince of the powers of the air,

Prince of the storms and the thunder and lightning.

Hail unto thee and all thy domain, nema. 

ALL:

Renich viasa avage Lilith lirach. 

SPEAKER:

Hail Lilith of the night wind, 

Queen of the starlit desert sky. 

Hail unto thee and all thy domain, nema. 

ALL:

Lirach tasa Eisheth ayer. 

SPEAKER:

Hail Eisheth Zenunim of the deep dark Earth!

Hail center of the world’s molten core! 

Hail deep dark night that sheaths us at the end of life.

Hail unto thee and all thy domain, nema. 

ALL:

Alora Samael aken tasa. 

SPEAKER:

Hail Samael of the woodland roads, 

Samael of the dark between the trees. 

Hail unto thee and all thy domain, nema. 

ALL:

Alora vefa an ca Na’amah.

SPEAKER:

Hail Na’amah of the roses,

Na’amah of the herbs and flowers,

Na’amah of the precious stones and metals. 

Hail unto thee and all thy domain, nema. 

ALL:

Jaden tasa hoet naca Leviathan. 

SPEAKER:

Hail Leviathan of the vast waters,

Leviathan of the lightless deep.

Hail unto thee and all thy domain, nema. 

ALL: 

Renich viasa Agrat tasa lirach. 

SPEAKER:

Hail Agrat of the dancing rain! 

Hail unto thee and all thy domain, nema. 

ALL: 

Linan tasa jedan Paimon. 

SPEAKER:

Hail Paimon of the scorching sands, 

Hail King Paimon of the hidden oases. 

Hail unto thee and all thy domain, nema. 

ALL:

Tasa alora foren Astaroth. 

SPEAKER:

Hail Astaroth of the hungry flame!

Hail unto thee and all thy domain, nema. 

ALL: 

Eyen tasa valocur Lucifuge Rofocale.

SPEAKER: 

Hail Lucifugue of the night, 

Lucifigue of the sightless bats. 

Hail unto thee and all thy domain, nema. 

ALL:

Lyan catya ramec ganen Belphegor. 

SPEAKER:

Hail Belphegor of the pit, 

Belphegor of the furrow and the grave,

Lord of rot and waste,

Hail unto thee and all thy domain, nema. 

ALL:

Adey vocar avage Beelzebub.

SPEAKER:

Hail Beelzebub of the devouring insects,

Hail Beelzebub of things that crawl and fly, 

Hail unto thee and all thy domain, nema. 

ALL:

Lirach tasa vefa wehl Belial.

SPEAKER:

Hail Belial of discarded things, 

May we throw away only that which you can accept.

Hail unto thee and all thy domain, nema.

ALL:

Tasa reme laris Satan– Ave Satanas!

SPEAKER:

Hail Baphomet of all things dead and living. 

Hail Satan, Lord of this world, 

Satan, knower of all secrets. 

Open our eyes, each and every one,

And show us what we can do for the world. 

ALL:

Satan, we ask not that you save us. 

We ask you to show us how to save ourselves. 

SPEAKER:

Hail unto thee and to us and to all our domain! Nema. 

Beelzebub Gnosis Confirmed

Have you ever seen the acronyms UPG, SPG, or VPG? They stand for “unverified personal gnosis,” “shared personal gnosis,” or “verified personal gnosis.” They are popular in the pagan/magic community.

My circle has long had an SPG that summoning Beelzebub tends to cause an insect infestation and thus is best done outdoors. One of my friends warned me about this after experiencing a massive swarm of flies in his house after I working. I tried to follow his advice but still ended up with a huge ant invasion on the day I planned to enter Harab Zereq, Beelzebub’s Klipa. Other friends and acquaintances of mine have also experienced lots of bugs turning up with Beelzebub.

But today I learned that somebody else had the same experience.

Who?

ALEISTER FUCKING CROWLEY.

From his autohagiography:

We had resumed Magical work, in a desultory way, on finding that Mathers was attacking us. He succeeded in killing most of the dogs. (At this time I kept a pack of bloodhounds and went man-hunting over the moors.) The servants too were constantly being made ill, one in one way, and one in another. We therefore employed the appropriate talismans from The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin against him, evoking Beelzebub and his forty-nine servitors…. As to this perfume of The Book of the Law, “let it be laid before me, and kept thick with perfumes of your orison: it shall become full of beetles as it were and creeping things sacred unto me.” One day, to my amazement, having gone into the bathroom to bathe, I discovered a beetle. As I have said, I take no interest in natural history and know nothing of it. But this beetle attracted my attention at once. I had never seen anything like it before. It was about an inch and a half long and had a single horn nearly as long as itself. The horn ended in a small sphere suggestive of an eye. From the moment, for about a fortnight, there was an absolute plague of these beetles. They were not merely in the house, they were on the rocks, in the gardens, by the sacred spring, everywhere! But I never saw one outside the estate. I sent a specimen to London by the experts were unable to identify the species.”

I think we can call that SPG verified now.

I had never read this passage before today. It was crazy to see.

The Goetia Will Meddle with You

So I wanna tell a little story.
 
One time at a Thelemic lodge I was introduced to a man who was, I was told, an EXPERT on Goetia.
 
It turns out he had done one (1) working involving a demon. He did it more or less traditional Solomonic style, with the circle and the triangle and the threats and everything. Basically kidnapping the dang demon and trying to force them to do your will using Yahweh as a whip.
 
He had to recite that “fear is the mindkiller” mantra from Dune for several hours before the working to get up the stones to do it.
 
He considering the working successful because apparently the demon DID manifest.
 
I asked if the demon did what he asked. He snorted.
 
“No,” he said, “demons lie.”
 
Meanwhile, I am the holder of two active pacts. One of them, with King Paimon, was to get me into grad school and help me pay for it. The other is with Lucifer and the details thereof are more personal. Both pacts are, so far, roaring successes. I have zero complaints. I have experienced zero spooky phenomena or negative consequences and I have been doing this for a couple of years.
 
Also, every time I chant Na’amah’s enn and light incense for her, she reliably comes through to help me get the money I need. That’s all it fucking takes. A lot of demons, if you give them something nice, they will give you something nice in return.
 
That’s the difference between being a Left Hand Path magician of the Devil’s party who loves and trusts the fallen angels, and being a RHP magician who labors under the mistaken impression that you can use GOD to enslave and coerce a bunch of metaphysical guerilla rebels.
 
A few more thoughts:
 
1. Solomonic magick is based on slavery. The 72 Goetic demons are literally supposed to be the demons Solomon kidnapped and brutally forced into constructing a temple to their oppressor. If you don’t think slavery or prison labor are good things– and hopefully you don’t– you shouldn’t fucking use Solomonic summoning. It’s ideologically and therefore spiritually fucked.
 
2. If you are allegedly “middle path” but trust angels over demons, then you have chosen a side; and also you should probably read the Bible because angels are canonically terrifying, genocidal war machines who, at best, strike you dumb for daring to ask a simple question (Luke 1:18-20) and at worst burn whole cities (Genesis 19) and slaughter hundreds of thousands of infants (Exodus 11) without batting any of their many eyes.
 
3. If you consider yourself sympathetic to Lucifer, as Crowley was, then you should probably fucking stop trying to kidnap and enslave his comrades. Those are the angels who fell with him. Those are his war buddies. They fought the tyrant alongside him. They deserve as much respect as he does. He didn’t rebel alone!