I once heard that the practice of using circles during summoning was for protection from hostile demons, but there were some methods of controlling them that made them all the more hostile. In the Bartimeus fantasy books, demons are not given offering but are enslaved by their summoners during special spells. In the books they are mentioned as being the djinn or genies from Arabic mythology but earned the intentionally negative title demon due to their rebelliousness toward their self-proclaimed masters. Is their any truth to this?
You know Each world religion or tradition seems to have its own idea of what is considered evil. In some cases, these ideas are similar if not identical, whereas in other cases, these ideas are almost as complete opposites. this post will be a never ending post based on many's belief systems.
When you begin to look within religions, you find many, many interpretations of what evil is and how it came to be in the world. Religions that have an omnipotent God, such as Judaism and Christianity, have some of the most elaborate ideas of the existence of evil, and religions such as Hinduism tend to have gods and goddesses with both positive and negative aspects. Native Americans personify the destructive qualities of nature, such as the whirlwind, which i honestly like.
all religions seem to have ideas of what their demons are.
its pretty much what you think a demon is, no right no wrong answers actually.
I did however love sonsofshadows post. I wanted to Bring that up.
Blessings :)
FaithSeeker, the demons mentioned in medieval grimoires such as the Goetia are from a variety of sources - some are from the Bible, some are from Jewish mysticism, some are old gods or goddesses from other tribes. There are no djinn in the Goetia, but some other demons may have originally been djinn.
SonofShadows, do you know why people began to use summoning circles in the first place? Can you explain to me the theory behind them? If you cannot... if you do not know these things... how can you say they are pointless in the practice of ceremonial magic? Unless you are familiar with the system of ceremonial magic (sometimes called High Magic), and the way in which demons are summoned in grimoires such as the Goetia, I do not think you have the knowledge to declare such an essential magical element "pointless."
I have nearly a decade of experience in the use of grimoires, and I say again: in the traditional system of ceremonial magic, the circle is NOT pointless. But note that I say "in the system of ceremonial magic". Circles ARE, as you say, and as I said in my previous post, quite pointless... in the practice of demonolatry. Demonolatry seems to be quite similar to your own practice, where the demons are regarded as friends or helpers. No need to protect yourself in this case.
However, if you wish to summon a demon and have it bound to your command, as in the Ars Goetia and other grimoires, a circle IS required. The Goetia and other grimoires are where the idea of demonic seals or sigils come from... the same sigils that you use! These grimoires also declare a circle is necessary. It is up to you, of course, which parts of the grimoires you decide are necessary - sigils, in your case - and which parts are not - circles, in your case. But to try to declare that circles are ALWAYS pointless, in EVERY system of magic, is simply incorrect.
It may also interest you, or other readers, to know that the Goetia was not corrupted by the Christian Church; it was written after the Church came into being, and its author was himself a Christian - the book uses the authority of God to compel demons to serve the magician. It is indeed mostly Christian in origin; it is in the "Solomonic" tradition of magic, so-called because it was long attributed (wrongly) to King Solomon from the Bible.
My main question is.. what is "evil"?
Tbh to me it depends on the person themselves
to someonelse what we do would be considered as "evil" as to us it wouldnt be
Based on what I know about demons, I think possessions (if they are real, that is) is the result of an accident (probably involving a ritual) that imprisons the demon within a person's body. The demon is most likely afraid in this situation, how would you feel about being trapped in someone's body, not knowing if you could ever change back? The strange behavior, such as unusual movements, are because demons do not have bones, muscles, and (most of the time) physical mass. They resist exorcism because either they are too afraid to realize what's happening or the ritual is harmful to them.
thank you so much! you have cleared up what DEMON means. i always thought of it as an evil being that is only out for personal gain, but i see now that it is not so much evil, but just a being on its own. of course there is other actual evil demons but im assuming the majority is neutral (more or less)
i met a demon once, his name was damien. he followed my friend around which freaked her out and me too so i made protection bottles for us so that he couldnt be mean or face the wrath of US (ooh so scare XD) anyways, turns out, he was her sort of guardian angel thing. and he likes to bother me. i used to be able to see him... but now i cant. :( sad day. anyways. thank you for clearing this blurr up.
