Angels

BIBLE sTORY

signs meaning

Shapes
Crescent Moons - the four seasons
Distelfink - good luck and happiness...two distelfinks - double good luck and happiness...two distelfinks crossed over each other - true friendship
Doves or Birds of Paradise - friendship, camaraderie, peace, purity and happiness
Eagle - strength, courage, clarity of vision
Heart - true love, lasting love, and love for others
Oak Leaf - long life, strength and endurance
Pineapple - welcome and hospitality
Raindrops - water, crop abundance and fertility
Rosettes - (thought to be the oldest symbol) good luck
Scallops - ocean waves, smooth sailing in life
Stars - protection against fires, good fortune, hope, love, fertility, energy and harmony
Sun Wheel - warmth and fertility
Tulips - Faith, hope, charity and trust in mankind
Wheat - Abundance and goodwill
Colors
Black - protection, also used to blend or bind elements together
Blue - protection, peace, calmness and spirituality
Brown - mother earth, also can mean friendship and strength
Green - growth, fertility, success in things and ideas that grow
Orange - abundance in career, projects and matters needing an added push
Red - emotions, passion, charisma, lust and also creativity
Violet - things that are sacred
White - purity, power of the moon, allows energy to flow freely
Yellow - health in body and mind, love of man and the sun, connection to the God form

note bedelivered 1

bedelivered.com website notes



The Working Tools of the Wicca

These include Cords - Red, White and Blue, Scourge, Pentacle, Boleen White-Handed Knife, Chalice, Athame Witch's Dagger, Censer and Wand. Wicca symbols are similar to Satan worship.

BLOOD ON THE DOORPOSTS

AN ADVANCED COURSE IN SPIRITUAL WARFARE

Demonic Symbols

You can buy books that describe the meanings of demonic symbols. There are legions of demonic symbols. Here are a few:

Tai Chi Symbol (Yin and Yang), Hex Signs, Italian Horn, Inverted Pentagram: Symbol of Satanism and Black Magick, Cornu, Upright Pentagram: Symbol of Wicca (white or good witchcraft), Ankh (Crux Ansanta), Twin Sowelus or SS Runes, V Sign, Disguised 666, 666 FFF, A Symbol, Bowman, Inverted Cross, The Labrys (Ax From Crete), Peace Sign, Pontifical Cross Of Lucifer, Swastika, Unicursive Hexagram

DEVIL ON THE RUN

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Occult games (I Ching, ouija boards, tarot cards, crystal ball, fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons)

Ashes from fire pits, including fireplaces and wood stoves

Robes and detachable hoods

Gongs, drums and bells

Wooden stand for an altar, a marble slab or crosses

Chalice, goblet, cruet

Phallus (sculpture of the male sex organ)

Heavy wooden staff, sword, knives

Small velvet pillow, scarlet in color

Bullwhip, cat o'nine tails, ligatures

Mirror

Animal mask, possibly papier mache

Black satin or velvet glove for the right hand

Large ruby ring, worn on the first finger of the right hand

Flash powder, smoke bombs

Incense

Body paint, face paint

Metal crown with four candle holders

Ferns, palms

Human or animal bones (especially skull, long bones, finger bones)

Coffin

Ritual books, black books, diaries (such as the Book of Shadows, which may be handwritten)

Medallions with satanic symbols

Occult jewelry

Small animals in cages

Graph paper for fantasy games

Oddly shaped dice

Horror masks and costumes

Crystals

Small metal figurines of mythological nature

Posters of mythological beings, animals, half-animals

Nightmarish posters

Sexual, particularly sado-masochistic, posters

Posters of heavy metal and punk rock stars

Paraphernalia related to the martial arts - such as ninja costumes and throwing stars.

notes from bedelivered site

THE FIVE SENSES

The eye gate and the ear gate are doorways for demons to use when we look at and listen to ungodly things.

LOCATION OF SPIRITS

THE THREE HEAVENS

The Bible states that there are three heavens. The third heaven contains The Father God and a kingdom. The second heaven contains Satan and a kingdom. The first heaven, the earth, contains humans and a kingdom. The earth contains the atmosphere, seas and ground. The evil spirit beings (fallen angels and demons) can be found in the air, in the waters and under the ground.

The Throne Room of God is in the Third Heaven. The throne room of Satan is in the second heaven. We live in the first heaven. Fallen angels and demons are in the first and second heavens but not in the third heaven. This is analogous to Holy of Holies - Inner Court - Outer Court and Spirit - Soul - Body.

SPIRITS IN THE AIR

There are spirits in the atmosphere above the ground. This is probably the most common place for demons to be found because their targets are human beings.

SPIRITS IN THE WATERS

There are certain types of evil spirits that dwell in the waters that cover the earth. It has been reported that there are demonic cities under the seas where even human beings under the power of witchcraft can travel.

SPIRITS IN THE GROUND

The Bible talks about spirits which are in the earth. Some are locked up because they are so evil. Some are being held which will be loosed in the end time. Apparently, they live in dry places and can live in any type of material object.

SATAN'S SECRET PLACES

Satan has secret places in the first and second heavens that he uses for his kingdom and for his human servants. Human beings who follow Satan are taken there for various purposes
P E R S O N A L I T I E S

SOUL TIES AND DEMONIC HOLDS

Our soul can become fragmented with parts of other peoples souls. This could be by sex or witchcraft. We can have various types of demonic holds connected to our bodies.

OCCULT SPIRITISM

Sixteen different varieties of spiritualistic practices may be conveniently divided into the following categories: (1) physical phenomena (levitations, apports and telekinesis), (2) psychic phenomena (spiritualistic visions, automatic writing, speaking in a trance, materializations, table lifting, tumbler moving, excursions of the psyche), (3) metaphysical phenomena (apparitions, ghosts), (4) magic phenomena (magic persecution, magic defense) and (5) cultic phenomena (spiritualistic cults, spiritism among Christians).

Practitioners are spiritualistic fortune-tellers, clairvoyants, witches, charmers, consulters with familiar spirits (mediums) and necromancers.

W I T C H C R A F T

SATANIC WORSHIP

This is open-blatant worship of Satan. It is black witchcraft of the worst kind. There are Satanic churches.

SATANIC RITUAL ABUSE

The worst form of occult ritual abuse is that done by the Satanists who program the person to follow Satan all of their lives. This is trauma-based Monarch Mind-Control of Illuminati-Programmed Slaves: total and undetectable mind- control. Their terrorized fragmented-divided dark-side alters with Multiple Personality Disorders are brutal, secret, immoral and controlled to function in illusion and lies. There are blood covenants and sacrifices, sexual sealings, invocations of demons, demonizations of fetuses with Moon Child rituals, voodoo, witchcraft, psychics, drugs, hypnotism, electronics, electro-shock, hunger, fatigue, tenseness, threats, violence and other control methodologies. Fear, terror and torture are used to split the mind and develop animalistic demonic drives to survive. Controlled LSD trips in sensory deprivation tanks, chronology of layering in mind-control programming, Cranial manipulation, movie mind-control, implants, nanobots, thought-transfer, soul entrapment, dissociative programmed multiplicity, controlling minds electronically, implants, energy beamed at minds, and other secret technologies.

There may be 364 levels of demons, 169 principle alter personalities, three ceremonial alters, Beta and Delta alters, Multiple Personality Disorders, Dissociative Identity Disorders, and switching of alter personality or fragment. Satanic Ritual Abuse creates total mind control consisting of alters, programming, implants, internal computers and dissociative states of the ego- psycho-psysiological states of the mind. Some Paranoid Schizophrenics may be programmed multiples. Obscured concepts include programed MPD (DID) for trained- multiples, recovered memories, hypnosis, demonic possession, aliens, mind- control, the subconscious, sadistic and criminal alters, and conspiracy to bring in a NWO.

Hope For The Christians

But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with three, and I will save thy children. Isaiah 49:23-26 The powerful deliverance out of captivity. The least Christian is greater than anyone in The Old Testament because of Jesus Christ.

OCCULT and WITCHCRAFT

There is tremendous damage done because all of these are forms of following and worshiping Satan. Witchcraft would include the worst form such as Voodoo to the least form such as common witchcraft. Examples are paraphernalia, communicating with the dead, reciting incantations, using certain herbs for magical purposes, reading occult literature and casting spells.

WITCHCRAFT ATTACKS IN DREAMS

The dream realm is a little known arena of spiritual warfare. Just as God works through dreams, Satan also counterfeits this method. Sleep is a war front of demonic manipulation and attacks.

CHARISMATIC WITCHCRAFT

This is witchcraft practiced by Christians against each other. It includes Jezebelic practices, prophesy used to control, pastors that are dictators, and anyone who attempts to control others. Christians pray psychic prayers for other Christians that Satan answers rather than God.

CURSED OBJECTS

Having cursed objects in your possession causes you to be cursed. The demons then have a right to attack you, your family, and whatever you have a part in.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

You must educate yourself and family, and get experience in deliverance. Get head knowledge and experiential knowledge; both are required. Become a Warrior for Christ.

P R A Y E R S

Confession of the Christian Faith

I hereby make a positive confession, that I am a child of God, that I believe in God The Father, Creator of Heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ, His Only Begotten Son, who was conceived by The Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary. I believe that He was crucified for the remission of all sin, died and was buried, went down into Hell and rose again on the third day, and ascended to Heaven to sit at the right hand of God The Father. I believe in The Holy Spirit who was sent by Christ to indwell and fill us who believe.

Renunciation of the World, the Flesh, and the Devil I hereby make a positive confession, that I am a child of God, and am a member of the light. As such, I renounce the Devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of the same, and the carnal desires of the flesh, so that I will not follow, nor be led by them. I want absolutely nothing to do with the Kingdom of Darkness, and desire to walk only in the light.

General Prayer

I forgive the country of my origin and every nationality that is a part of my being for their sins; those involved in my traumatic experiences; those who have deeply hurt me emotionally, physically and sexually; those that I have had a hard time forgiving; those that have caused me emotional problems and struggles; anyone who hates me and would wish to harm me; any church for teaching false doctrines; and my ancestors for sins, illnesses and accidents that are repetitive.

Forgive me for my sinful habits; moving in false gifts; sexual activities and one-flesh unions; involvement in cults, occult activities and false religions; active and passive sinful activities; opening myself through sin to mental, physical, spiritual and material problems; making vows, pacts, oaths and dedications to lodges, clubs and societies; everything that I have done that causes me to feel guilty; and being involved in any ungodly religious and secular activities and organizations. I ask these things in The Name Of Jesus Christ, my Lord, Master and Savior.

I now break every legal hold and ground that I have the right to do so before God: inheritances, addictions, mental illness, physical disease, soul ties, demonic holds, curses, idolatry, witchcraft, occult, false worship, ritual abuse, and false personalities in the conscious, subconscious and unconscious minds. I command every family of spirits to manifest and come out of me as your name is called.

angel

The word angel means 'messenger' and describes the occupation of the angels. Archangels are head angels. According to St. Gregory the Great, there are 9 orders of angels, which St. Thomas,




Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones;
The Dominations, Virtues, and Powers;
The Principalities, Archangels, and Angels.
The apocryphal 1Enoch 20 lists the archangels as:
Uriel,
Raphael,
Raguel,
Sariel,
Gabriel, and
Remiel

religion links Catholc

Links

Religious Organizations (Papacy, Magisterium, Clergy, Missionaries)
Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus (Northern Province), Carmelite Sisters with a contemplative and active charism - fiercely loyal to the Church - and loyal to the special spirit of our Order and to all the beautiful Carmelite Saints that we are so privileged to have (St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Teresa Benedicta [Edith Stein]).
Catholic Dioceses within the United States of America.
The Confraternity of Penitents is a new, informal, private Catholic association of the faithful whose Rule of Life is based on a Rule given by St. Francis of Assisi to the laity in 1221.
The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest is a society of apostolic life approved by Rome and canonically erected in 1990. Its goal is the glory of God and the sanctification of priests in the service of the Church and souls through doctrinal and spiritual formation. The particular end of the Institute is missionary, which is the propagation and defense of the Reign of Christ in all aspects of human life.
Militia of the Immaculata, is a worldwide evangelization movement founded by St. Maximilian Kolbe in 1917 that encourages total consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary as a means of spiritual renewal for individuals and society.
Nuncio to the United States, His Excellency Most Rev. Gabriel Montalvo, 3339 Massachusetts Avenue N.W, Washington, DC 20008; Telephone: (202) 333-7121; Fax: (202) 337-4036
Papal homilies, from the Vatican.
Papal speeches, from the Vatican.
The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter is a Clerical Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Rite, that is, a community of Roman Catholic priests who do not take religious vows, but who work together for a common mission in the world. The mission of the Fraternity is two-fold: first, the formation and sanctification of priests in the cadre of the traditional liturgy of the Roman rite, and secondly, the pastoral deployment of the priests in the service of the Church.
St. Louis Mary de Montfort missionaries. Obtain information on total consecration to Jesus through Mary, a most efficacious way to rapidly reach holiness with the perfect help of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
United States Bishops Names and Addresses
Vatican in Rome, home of our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, and the Magisterium - the final authority in matters of Faith and Morals.

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Periodicals, Publishing and News
Catholic Media Coalition is an association of independent Catholic publications, authors and websites throughout the United States. While dissident "Catholic" publications advocate radical and heretical changes to Church structure and doctrine, the Catholic Media Coalition believes that what is needed is a strong defense of the Faith.
Catholic World News, an electronic based daily news source for Catholics. View via the web or subscribe to a daily email service or see the headlines scroll by on our home page.
Envoy Magazine, a bimonthly journal of Catholic apologetics and evangelization.
Inside the Vatican, Inside the Vatican is for anyone who would like to know more about the role of the Holy See in guiding the spiritual lives of one billion Catholics and more about the extensive impact of the papacy in today's world. Perhaps the easiest way to describe this magazine is to say it is both "a window on Rome," and "a door" through which one enters the Vatican.
New Oxford Review, a monthly magazine published by orthodox lay Catholics.
This Rock, a monthly journal of Catholic apologetics and evangelization.
The Wanderer has been providing its readers with news and commentary from an orthodox Catholic perspective for over 130 years.
ZENIT is an International News Agency based in Rome. Their mission is to provide objective and professional coverage of events, documents and issues emanating from or concerning the Catholic Church for a worldwide audience.

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Super Sites - Lots of Everything
CatholiCity, an Internet Service of the Mary Foundation.
Cross Roads Initiative , This site is rich with bios and writings of the Fathers as well as Church Documents and writings from contemporary orthodox authors.
Catholic Dispatch, primarily uses direct, electronic Internet mail to send Catholics short reading material pertaining to timely and timeless issues of the Faith, including moral issues.
Catholic Information Center on Internet
Catholic Information Network, Catholic electronic evangelization since 1987.
Eternal Word Television Network, home of Mother Angelica.
A Librarian's Guide to Catholic Resources on the Internet is dedicated to the organization and distribution of Catholic online resources which enable you to better understand, share, and defend the Catholic faith according to the Magisterium of the Church.
New Advent Catholic Supersite, including an online version of the Catholic Encyclopedia, Catholic Q&A (learn about Catholic beliefs) and Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth (a brief introduction to the Catholic Faith).
St. Michael's Cyberspace Monastery. A comprehensive site with much Catholic dogma and doctrine, a good Q&A section organized by topic, various groups and email lists, prayer requests, etc.
The Catholic Pages.
Traditional Catholic Reflections & Reports, journalism adhering to perennial Catholic teaching in every aspect, and joins other responsible traditional and conservative Catholics loyal to the Pope and Church, this Jubilee, in opposing the modernist revolution and its bitter manifestations, just as it opposes the errors that affect and infect the modern state-- secular globalism, Communism, Socialism (old forms or new) the abortion epidemic, euthanasia, sex education, sodomy, etc., etc.
Second Exodus helps Catholics show inquiring Jews that by becoming Catholic they do not take up a new religion but rather complete what they have already begun.
Got Prayer Timothy Arthur Doyle
Stairway to Heaven Art and Music Prayer & Devotion Scripture, Dogma, & Doctrine Apologetics and Evangelization
King of the Apocalypse web-site is dedicated solely for the purpose to bring souls to our Lord Jesus Christ
Mother Teresa And Me This web site is dedicated to Mother Teresa of Calcutta, now Blessed Teresa. It is our hope that you will be inspired by knowing more about Mother Teresa through the eyes of her friend, Marlene T. Elias.
2 Hearts Network Helping people cope with chronic illness through faith and prayer,professional and peer support and educational resources.



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Apologetics and Evangelization -
Learning the Reasoning of the Catholic Faith
American Catholic Truth Society, lots of apologetic material, as well as an apologetic chat room and email lists.
Catholic Answers. Apologetics and evangelization. Publishers of This Rock magazine. Listen also to their daily radio program.
Catholic Apologetics.com. "Apologetics without an apology" site featuring links to other Catholic apologetics sites as well as sites concerning education, entertainment, faith, forums, humor, kids, reference, and teens. Also has an RCIA program which is totally in line with the Magisterium of the Church and offers an online study of the Catechism written by Fr. John Trigilio.
Catholic Citizens of Illinois is working for a restoration of traditional Catholic values to the public life of Illinois by addressing American culture and public policy from a perspective formed in strict fidelity to the Magisterium.
Catholic Civil Rights League, dedicated to the faithful expression of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church in public affairs for the renewal of Canada and the benefit of the common good.
Catholic Information & Resources, Great site with lots of links well organized to find sites covering many topics of Truth.
Catholic League, as the largest Catholic civil rights organization in America, defends the right of Catholics, lay and clergy alike, to participate in American public life without defamation or discrimination.
The Cross and the Veil, a web resource created to aid Catholics in their efforts at discerning the various currents of thought and practice flowing from what has been termed the "New Age," including yoga, Reiki, Transcendental Meditation, and Healing Touch, which can be harmful spiritually because the contradict the Catholic faith.
Concerned Roman Catholics of America, concerns itself with anything or anyone whose teaching is contrary to the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church and the Papacy, especially as it is associated with the American laity and clergy. Our purpose is to watch and guard against false teachings, half truths, and bad example, among the laity and the clergy. We try to alert the faithful through the written and spoken word as well as through good example by our peaceful and prayerful rallies and demonstrations.
Dan's Catholic Resources, to help bring people home to the Church that Jesus Christ founded.
Defenders of the Faith, The Defender is the online newsletter of a group of faithful Roman Catholics fighting for the faith in the diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia. The primary purpose of Defenders of the Faith, Inc., is to educate Roman Catholics in the orthodox practice of their faith through the publication of a monthly newsletter, The Defender.
Defenders of the Magisterium, an organization of Catholics who profess a love and loyalty to the Holy See with an objective is to restore all things in Christ for the greater honor and glory of God and the sanctification and salvation of souls.
De Fide is a non-profit association founded specifically to use every available means of Canon Law to defend the Faith and Church from heresy and other grievous crimes. To accomplish its mission, De Fide initiates lawsuits in Ecclesiastical Court to protect the rights of the faithful and unbaptized. Their current work deals with pro-abortion Catholic politicians.
Faithful Voice, a site that has been established to expose the underpinnings of the dissent group Voice of the Faithful.
Les Femmes - the Women of Truth, an independent media apostolate of orthodox Roman Catholic laity in the Diocese of Arlington, VA. We are committed to catechesis and apologetics through publication of a quarterly newsletter, THE TRUTH, and other ad hoc projects.
Nazareth Resource Library. Various Catholic Information by James Akin, who is an apologist working for a ministry named Catholic Answers, and who also is a contributing editor to This Rock magazine.
Peter and Paul Ministries, proclaiming the uncompromising truth about Jesus Christ and His Church.
Radix Guys, whose mission is to fight the good fight for love of Our Blessed Lord and for the salvation of souls and to proclaim and preserve the beauty, the integrity and the truth of the Holy, Roman, Catholic Church!
Roman Catholic Faithful, Catholics who are faithful to the teachings of the Holy Father and the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church, including priests, religious, and laity, with the common goal to fight actively and spiritually to restore Holy Mother Church.
Theotokos Catholic Books, promoting orthodox reading, and also with topics such as Fatima, apparition discernment, the Bible/Theology, New Movements & Communities, and Creation/Evolution.
The Wanderer Forum Foundation is a network of lay Catholics who have banded together to promote and defend Catholic teaching and to infuse principles based on that teaching into the social consciousness of North America. They have much good material exposing dissenters.

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Pro-Life
American Life League, serving God by helping to build a society that respects and protects innocent human life from fertilization to natural death - without compromise, without exception, without apology.
Human Life international (HLI), a worldwide organization whose global mission is to protect and defend the right to life at all stages of human development and to promote natural methods of birth spacing.
Priests for Life, an officially approved association of Catholic Clergy who give special emphasis to the pro-life teachings of the Church, who offer ongoing assistance to the clergy in addressing the topics of abortion and euthanasia, and training and resources to the entire pro-life movement.
Pro-Life Across America, whose educational mission is to reach out through Billboard, TV, radio and newspaper ads to people who may not be reached in any other way, to create an "Atmosphere of Life" in a "culture of death."

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Family
Catholic Parents OnLine was founded in 1998 to build a network of faithful, dynamic, and informed parents, students, and alumni, committed to working with Catholic schools and other programs of education to ensure the authentic teaching and protection of our Catholic Faith.
Couple to Couple League, building healthy marriages through natural family planning.
Institute of Pope Paul VI has programs of research, education, ethics, and service for building strong marriages and healthy families. As the Institute pursues the development of morally and professionally acceptable reproductive health services, it is committed to the development of a culture of life based on responsible parenthood, responsible fertility regulation, and ethical means for the treatment of infertility and related reproductive disorders.
National Association for Catholic Families, Catholic families who try to give one another mutual, moral, spiritual and social support in a culture which is now at war with our values. This we do by linking committed Catholic families locally, nationally and internationally but always with the simple intention of mutual support. We are answering the Holy Father Pope John Paul's call for families to be what they are.
One More Soul is a non-profit organization dedicated to spreading the truth about the blessings of children and the harms of contraception. A wide variety of educational resources are available, including tapes, videos, and books.
St. Joseph's Covenant Keepers, founded to encourage and to equip fathers for service within their families. We chose St. Joseph, the world's greatest father, to be the model for restoring Christian fatherhood. We want to give men the tools they need to be godly husbands and fathers. We offer them the example of St. Joseph as a tangible model for earthly fatherhood. All men should look to the man God chose to lead the Holy Family.
The Same Sex Attraction Morality League is dedicated to the promotion of Christian sexual morality among those who experience same sex attraction and their treatment with respect, compassion and sensitivity by others.
The Joseph Foundation for support of men and their families. A website for men only in response to the Holy Father's call for a New Evangelization and to mobilize support for men and the family. The Joseph Foundation will take aggressive steps to convince men to return to God and will promote both the imitation of Saint Joseph and Saint John the Baptist -- The Forerunner.
Veil of Innocence, a coalition of parents, priests, religious, and educators safeguarding the innocence of children and the teachings of the Catholic Faith (i.e. purity and chastity).
Women for Faith and Family, whose purposes are 1) to assist orthodox Catholic women in their effort to provide witness to their faith, both to their families and to the world, 2) to aid women in their efforts to deepen their understanding of the Catholic Faith, 3) to aid faithful Catholic women in their desire for fellowship with others who share their faith and commitment, and 4) to serve as a channel through which questions from Catholic women seeking guidance or information can be directed.

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Catholic Scripture, Dogma and Doctrine
A short doctrinal concordance of the Catholic faith. The purpose is to give people interested in Catholicism a quick reference for the most common items of the faith, particularly in areas where Catholics and other religions disagree. It is not a full concordance.
Douay Rhiems Bible The Vulgate Bible in English. No inclusive language.
Catechism of the Catholic Church (at the Vatican)
Catholic Culture, a Catholic search and documentary service from Trinity Communications.
Church documents from many Popes, Church Fathers, and Ecumenical Councils, Eastern Rites, and Catholic history.
Doctors of the Church, Lots of detail about all the Doctors of the Church.
English translations of many of the Church Fathers, drawn from the 38-volume Schaff edition.
Many Church documents, primarily Encyclicals and Apostolic Letters.
Papal Encyclicals Online, Papal and other official documents of the Catholic Church, with easy indexed access by Pope.
Pope John Paul II documents.
Code of Canon Law (Latest Edition - 1983)
St. Joseph Foundation, serving Catholics who seek to know and vindicate their rights within the Church - rights that the Church herself recognizes and protects. Whenever individuals or groups believe their rights are threatened or have been violated, the Foundation assists them in using the means established by the Church to obtain remedies.
Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Two Thousand Years of Catholic Writings.
Vatican II documents. Find out what Vatican II really said, not some modernist "spirit of Vatican II."
Vox Populi Mariae Mediatrici, information on and promotion of the 5th Marian Dogma, that of Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix of all Graces and Advocate.

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Prayer and Devotion
Blue Army, dedicated to obtain world peace through Our Lady of Fatima.
Call to Holiness
Discover Love, a discussion group focused on growing in holiness and virtue.
Extensive and well indexed collection of Catholic prayers.
Headquarters of the Rosary Confraternity at the Rosary Center of Dominican Fathers.
Holy Face Organization, spreading devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus.
International Pilgrim Virgin Statue, the world-famous International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima travels the world, having visited more than 100 countries, to make known the message of Fatima.
Latin Catholic prayers.
Liturgy of the Hours, Liturgy of the Hours offers daily printouts of Morning, Evening and Night Prayer (also known as the Divine Office or Breviary).
Padre Pio Devotions, spreading devotion to St. Padre Pio.
Patron Saints index.
Prayer Warriors of the Holy Souls, a prayerful organization focused on getting the Holy Souls in Purgatory back home to Heaven sooner.
Shrines in Canada, plan a pilgrimage!
Shrines in the USA, plan a pilgrimage!
The Real Presence Association, dedicated to our Eucharistic Jesus. See also about Starting Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in your Parish.
The Rosary, everything you want to know about the Rosary.
The Friends of the Suffering Souls is an organization that assists the souls in Purgatory by arranging for Masses to be offered each and every day of the year for their benefit and especially for the benefit of deceased members.
The Real Presence Association, devoted to Eucharistic adoration. See where you too can adore Jesus truly present at their adoration chapel list.

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Liturgy
Adoremus, a non-profit organization founded for the sole purpose of promoting authentic reforms of the liturgy of the Roman Rite according to the intention of the Second Vatican Council as expressed in its decree on the liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium.
Catholic Liturgical Library, dedicated to providing accurate information about the liturgy of the Roman rite of the Catholic Church.
Daily Mass readings, at the USA Catholic Bishops site.
Find Mass times in your area or anywhere in the USA.
General Instruction of the Roman Missal, explains the rubrics (e.g. rules) of the Mass. A must-see to defend against liturgical abuses so common today.
The Catholic Mass
The Renovation Manipulation (book), exposes the blueprint used by highly-paid professionals to engineer unnecessary renovations, including the hallmarks of deceitful renovation schemes, such as fabricating the requirements of Church law and Vatican II, false-advertising fund drives, and lame-duck parish committees. Also covered is how to respond to propaganda about placement of the tabernacle, statues, and baptismal font; pews vs. chairs; removing the crucifix, communion rails, and kneelers; church "in-the-round," etc.
The Renovation Manipulation resource center, which contains details on how to deal with potential wreckovations.
Traditional Latin Mass of Flint, MI, which also includes links to Church authorized Latin Masses throughout the USA.

gatekeeper

Tartaruchi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tartaruchi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Tartaruchi (singular: tartaruchus, related to the Greek verb tartarizo, meaning "to shiver with cold") are the keepers of Tartarus (hell), according to the non-canonical Apocalypse of Paul. The author describes them as using one hand to choke damned souls, and the other using an "iron of three hooks". Temeluchus is the only tartaruchus named in the work.

The Portuguese word tartaruga ("turtle" or "tortoise") is a cognate.[citation needed]

Angels and Demons - Bible Study Planet

Angels and Demons - Bible Study Planet

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Their Creation and Nature

Angels have become very popular in recent years. You’ll find them featured in countless books, movies, artwork and television shows. The popularity of angels shows that our culture has a great interest in spiritual things. But the way angels are portrayed also shows us that our culture doesn’t have a good understanding of what the Bible says about them.

When someone has a spiritual curiosity or hunger, but isn’t grounded in Scripture, it can lead to that person being deceived and led away from God instead of towards Him.

Misunderstanding angels is one way people can be deceived. For example, I once came across a website that, for a fee, will send you a personalized email from an angel. For a more significant fee you can talk to an angel via Instant Messenger!

Obviously there are many people willing to take advantage of those who are searching and we must guard against this by knowing what the Bible says. The way to satisfy spiritual cravings is through Christ and His Word. Any other road will lead you down the wrong path.

Angels are spiritual beings created by God to serve Him (Ps 148:1-5; Col 1:16). Calvin described angels as “heavenly spirits, whose obedience and ministry God employs to execute all the purposes which he has decreed,” while the writer of Hebrews described them as “ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation.” (Heb 1:14)

There are countless numbers of angels (Dan 7:10; Heb 12:22), though they do not reproduce (Matt 22:30). It’s possible that Matthew 18:10 hints that there are at least as many angels as there are humans who have lived throughout history.

Exactly when they were created is unknown, but they were present during the creation of the world, and shouted for joy when they witnessed God’s creative power. (Job 38:6-7)

Like humans, angels are personalities who display intelligence, emotion and freewill. But while humans are both spiritual and material beings (Jam 2:26) angels are only spirit. (Heb 1:14) They sometimes appear in the glory of the Lord (Luke 2:9), sometimes as men (Heb 13:2; Mar 16:5), and sometimes appear as strange forms (Isa 6; Ezk 1).

Angels are limited beings and are not omniscient (2 Pet 2:11). They desire to learn more about the gospel (1 Pet 1:12) and rejoice when a sinner repents. (Lk 15:10)

Also like humans angels have freewill and can choose to either follow God or rebel against Him. And rebel is just what one angel named Lucifer and his followers did.

War In Heaven

Lucifer, whose name means “light bearer” or “morning star”, is not God’s equal. Like all beings, he is merely a creation of God and must submit to His sovereignty. (Ps 148:1-5; Col 1:16)

Lucifer held an exalted position in heaven. He may have been a cherub. (Ezk 28:14) Cherubs are high-ranking angels whose ministry involves, in some way, guarding the Lord’s holiness. This position would have allowed Lucifer to possibly be closer to God than any other creature.

But Lucifer wasn’t satisfied with simply being in the presence of God’s throne. He became filled with pride (1 Tim 3:6) and desired a throne of his own, one exalted above God’s. (Isa 14:13) He wanted to be like the Most High (Isa 14:14).

Lucifer wasn’t alone in his quest to be his own god. He convinced one-third of the heavenly host to join him in his rebellion. (Rev 12:4) But God is omniscient (1 Jn 3:20) and omnipotent (Rev 1:8) no being can oppose Him. Lucifer’s war was lost before it even began. His fate is sealed. (Gen 3:15; Rev 20:10)

We tend to think that people reject God because they don’t know Him like we know Him. That if only they could experience the love and fulfillment we have experienced then they would embrace Him too. But that isn’t always true. Lucifer and his followers lived every moment before God yet they choose to hide their faces from Him.

Be it angels or humans, it isn’t enough to simply have knowledge of who God is, we must also be willing to come to Him on His terms and call Him our Lord. (Jam 2:19; Rom 6:16)

And so Lucifer and his followers turned against God. Angels who remained loyal to the Lord were the holy or elect angels (Matt 25:31;1 Tim 5:21) while those who choose to follow Satan became known as demons. (Matt 12:24)

Lucifer, the morning star, had fallen. Satan, the adversary, was born.

The Work Of Christ, Angels And Demons

Satan took his war against God to a new battlefront – the heart of man. He tempted Adam and Eve to sin (Gen 3:1) which led to man being spiritually separated from God. (Rom 6:23)

God responded to this attack by promising to send a Seed who would restore that tarnished relationship and crush Satan (Gen 3:15). Jesus Christ, God the Son, was that Seed. At His death on the cross Christ defeated Satan. (Heb 2:14) Man’s relationship with God was restored and the countdown to Satan’s final judgment began. (John 4:16; Rev 20)

As Satan’s time runs short he and his demons increase their activity. (Rev 12:12) These activities involve opposing the plan of God (Dan 10:13) and leading people away from Christ. (1 Cor 10:20) They appeal to man’s spiritual desires by disguising themselves as “angels of light” (2 Cor 11:14), seducing many with wicked doctrine, (1 Tim 4:1) and drawing them into a form of godliness which has no power to save. (2 Tim 3:5)

Demons can sometimes afflict people with various physical conditions (Matt 9:33; Mark 5:2-16) though it’s important to note that Scripture distinguishes between natural and demonic illness (Matt 4:24; Mrk 1:32). They attempt to delay the answers to godly prayer (Dan 10:13) and draw nations into war (Rev 16:14).

Demons attempt to snare believers in sin (1 Tim 3:7). When they sin Satan acts as their accuser (Rev 12:10).

But where Satan accuses, Christ serves as the believers advocate (1 Jhn 2:1). Where demons reject God, the holy angels worship Him (Psa 148:2; Heb 1:6). Where demons oppose the Lord, the holy angels serve Him (Psa 103:20). Where demons draw men away from Christ the holy angels rejoice when a sinner repents (Lk 15:10).

Holy Angels announce and execute judgment on God’s command (Rev 14:6-7; Rev 16:1). They appear to be involved somehow in bringing answers to prayer requests (Dan 10:12; Acts 12:5-10), though as mere servants of God they are never to be prayed to or worshiped. To do so would be a terrible sin. (Col 2:18)

Holy angels observe our world, taking special interest in Christ’s work on the cross. (1 Pet 1:12) No doubt they were amazed to see the Lord step out of glory and into our fallen world. They must have marveled at the thought of He who knew no sin becoming sin on our behalf. (2 Cor 5:21) Every day they witness His grace in the lives of believers and it cause them to praise His holy name. It should cause us, the recipients of His grace, to do no less.

Bible topic

demonology: Definition from Answers.com


The ancient universal belief in demons is reflected in the Bible. In two passages (Deut 32:17; Ps 106:37) the Israelites are charged with having offered sacrifices to demons – a practice expressly condemned and forbidden. This proscribed worship is imputed to Canaanite influences. The demons are depicted as haunting ruined cities and deserts (cf Lev 16:10; Is 13:21).

Several demons are mentioned by name in the OT: Seirim, translated as "demons" or "wild goats", were probably hairy, goat-like demons (Deut 32:17; Ps 106:37; Is 13:21). Keteb, translated as "destruction" or "sudden death" (Deut 32:24; cf Is 28:2; Hos 13:14), has been identified as the bringer of a deadly plague. In the passage in Hosea, Keteb appears as a messenger of Sheol, the personified abode of the dead. Reshef was a god of plague in the ancient Near East. He has also been identified with the Akkadian deity Nergal who is compared to fire in Ugaritic literature. Translators have rendered Reshef both as "fever" and as "fiery lightning" or "sparks that fly upward" (Ps 78:48; Hab 3:5; Job 5:7). Azazel was a demon who lived in the wilderness, translated "scapegoat" in many versions (See AZAZEL) (Lev 16:8, 10, 26). Lilith, called "night creature" in Isaiah 34:14, was in ancient Mesopotamian and Jewish sources a female demon who tempts men sexually and strangles newborn babies. Dever, often translated "pestilence", joins Reshef in appearing before God as he is about to execute judgment on earth (Hab 3:5).

The OT antipathy to magic as practiced by the surrounding peoples meant that while demonology remained a folk-belief, it was excluded from the main line of religious thought.

An echo of the equation between demons and pagan deities found in the OT (Deut 32:17) is to be seen in the NT in such passages as Acts 17:18; I Corinthians 10:20 and Revelation 9:20. Demons are regarded in the NT as originators of evil, both physical and psychic. The mental disorders and physical ailments brought upon men by the entrance of demons (or "unclean spirits") into the human body include the loss of the power of speech (Matt 12:22), insanity (Luke 8:27-33), sickness (Matt 8:14-15), paralysis and lameness (Acts 8:7). The demons and "unclean spirits" are termed the ministers of Satan or Belial; the latter is occasionally called Beelzebub (Matt 10:25; 12:24, 27; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15, 18-19). In these passages, the Pharisees charge Jesus with casting out demons by invoking the name of Satan or Beelzebub.

On a number of occasions, Jesus is reported to have expelled demons from people so afflicted and restored them to sanity or the normal use of their physical faculties (Matt 12:22; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:14). Jesus gives his twelve disciples the power over unclean spirits; that is, the power to cast them out (Matt 10:1; Acts 5:15).

protect urself

first let me say ,I have seen evil destroy lives
& seen a person who was possessed
not a preety site will discuss latter ..lets look n 2 d historical studies









Demonology








1902 Encyclopedia > Demonology

Demonology





DEMONOLOGY. The word demon (or daemon) is the Greek daimon, the etymology of which is too doubtful to explain its original signification (see Pott, Etym. Forsch., ii. 1, 947).

Setting aside the use of the word in the general sense of deity (as in Iliad, i. 222), we find it employed in classic Greek literature with the more specific meaning under which it becomes an important term in the science of religion. Among the most instructive passages are those in which Hesiod tells how the men of the golden race became after death demons, guardians or watchers over mortals (Hesiod, Op. et Dies, 109, &c; see Welcker, Griech. Götterlehre, vol. i. p. 731), and where the doctrines of Empedocles, Plato, and other philosophers are set forth, showing how the demons came to be defined as good and evil beings intermediate between gods and men (Plutarch, De Defect. Orac., De Isid. Et Osir., De Vitand. Aer. Alien., &c.; Plato, Symposion, 28; Diog. Laert., Vit. Pythag.; see Grote, History of Greece, vol. i.chaps. 2,17).

The religions of the world usually recognize and order of spiritual beings, below the rank of governing deities, and distinguished from nature-spirits such as elves and nymphs by being especially concerned with living men and their affairs; these beings, very often themselves considered to be ghosts of dead men, are the demons.

The earlier and wider notion may be friendly or hostile, good or evil, persecuting and tormenting man or acting as his protecting and informing patron-spirits; while, when they are mediators or ministers of some higher deity, they will be, like the god himself, kindly or ill-disposed. A narrower definition was introduced in Christian theology where the ideas of a good demon and guardian genius were merged in the general conception of good "angels", while the term demon was appropriated to evil spirits, or "devil". For scientific purposes, it is desirable to use the term in the wider sense.

Demonology, the branch of the science of religion which relates to demons, is much obscured in the treatises of old writers by their taking the evidence too exclusively from among civilized nations, and neglecting what is to be learnt from barbarous tribes, whose ideas of demon, being nearer their primitive state, are comparatively clear and comprehensible.

When savage notions of the nature and functions of these spirits are taken as the starting-point, the demon appears as only a more or less modified human soul – whether it is still actually considered to be a human ghost, or whether part of the human quality has fallen away, so that only traces are left to show that man’s soul furnished the original model. But when such early and natural animistic conceptions were carried on into higher stages of culture, their original use as explaining natural phenomena was gradually superseded by the growth of knowledge, and they came to be maintained as broken-down and confused superstitions, only to be understood by comparison with their earlier forms. Such comparison, however, is facilitated by the primitive demon-ideas cropping up anew even in civilized life, as in the so-called "spirit-manifestations" of the present day.

The following details will show the main purposes which the doctrine of demons served in the philosophy of the primitive and savage world, as well as its large contribution to civilized superstition. The authorities, when not mentioned will mostly be found referred to in Tylor, Primitive Culture, chaps, xvi. xv. Other cases are given in Spencer, Principles of Sociology, vol. i., and every reader may supplement them with similar instances from the works of travellers and missionaries. Prof. Adolf Bastian’s Der Mensch in der Geschichte and Beiträge zur Vergleichenden Psychologie are of great value to students.

Among races of low culture, the conception of a ghost-soul being made to account for the phenomena of life (see article ANIMISM) readily leads to a corresponding theory of morbid states of body and mind. As the man’s proper soul causes the functions of normal life by its presence, while its more or less continued absence induces sleep, trance, and at last death, so the abnormal phenomena of disease have a sufficient explanation at hand in the idea that some other soul or soul-like spirit is acting on or has entered into the patient.

Among the cases which strongly suggest this are – first, such derangements as hysteria, epilepsy, and madness, where the raving and convulsions seem to bystanders like the acts of some other being in possession of the patient’s body, and even the patient is apt to think so when he "comes to himself", and, second, internal diseases where severe pain or wasting away may be ascribed to some unseen being wounding or gnawing within.

The applicability of demoniacal possession as a theory to explain disease in general is best proved by the fact that it is so often thus applied by savage races. Especially, reasoning out the matter in similar ways, rude tribes in different countries have repeatedly arrived at the conclusion that disease are caused by the surviving souls or ghost of the dead, who appear to the living in dreams and visions, thus proving at once their existence after death, and their continued concern with mankind.

This notion being once set on foot, it becomes easy to the savage mind to identify the particular spirit, as when the Tasmanian ascribed a gnawing disease to his having unwittingly pronounces the name of a dead man, who thus summoned has crept into his body, and is consuming his liver; or when the sick Zulu believes that some dead ancestor he sees in a dream has caused his ailment, wanting to be propitiated with the sacrifice of an ox; or when the Samoan persuades himself that the ancestral souls, who on occasion reveal themselves by talking through the voices of living members of the family, are the same beings who will take up their abode in the heads or stomachs of living men and cause their illness and death.

Here, then, the demon appears in what seems its original character of a human ghost.

We may notice in the last example the frequent case of the man’s mind being so thoroughly under the belief in a spirit possessing him that he speaks in the person of that spirit, and gives its name; the bearing of this on oracular possession will appear presently.

In many, perhaps in most cases, however, the disease-demon is nor specially described as a human ghost; for instance, some Malay tribes in their simple theory of diseases are content to say that one kind of demon causes small-pox, another brings on swellings, and so on.

The question is whether in such cases the human character has merely dropped away, and this seems likely from the very human fashion in which the demons are communicated with offerings of food, or driven away with noises and blows, just as though they were human souls accessible to the same motives as when they were in the body.

Thus the savage theory of demoniacal possession has for its natural result the practice of exorcism or banishment of the spirit as the regular means of cure, as where, to select these from hundreds of instances, the Antilles Indians in Columbus’s time went through the pretence of pulling the disease off the patient and blowing it away, bidding it begone to the mountain or the sea or where the Patagonians till lately, believing every sick person to be possessed by an evil demon, drove it away by beating at the bed’s head a drum painted with figures of devils.

That such modern savage notions fairly represent the doctrine of disease-possession in the ancient world is proved by the records of the earliest civilized nations. The very charms still exist by which the ancient Egyptians resisted the attacks of the wicked souls who, become demons, entered the bodies of men to torment them with diseases and drive them to furious madness. The doctrine of disease among the ancient Babylonians was that the swarming spirits of the air entered man’s body, and it was the exorcist’s, "the burning spirit of the entrails which devours the man", and to make the piercing pains in the head fly away "like grasshoppers" into the sky. (See records of the past, vols. i., iii., &c.; Birch’s trans. of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, see below; Maspero, Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l’Orient, p. 41; Lenormant, La Magie chez les Chaldeens, &c.)

The transition-stage of the ancient belief in the classical period of Greece and Rome is particularly interesting. The scientific doctrine of medicine was beginning to encroach upon it, but it was still current opinion that a fit was an attack by a demon (epilepsis = "seizure", hence English epilepsy), that fury or madness was demoniacal possession (daimonao = to be possessed by an evil spirit, hence English daemoniac, &c.), that madmen were "larvati", i.e., inhabited by ghosts, &c.

No record shows the ancient theory more clearly than the New Testament, from the explicit way in which the symptoms of the various affections are described, culminating in the patient declaring the name of his possessing demon, and answering in his person when addressed. The similarity of the symptoms with those which in barbarous countries are still accounted for in the ancient way may be seen form such statements as the following, by a well-known missionary (Rev. J. L. Wilson, Western Africa, p. 217):-- "Demonical possessions are common, and the feats performed by those who are supposed to be under such influence are certainly not unlike those described in the New Testament. Frantic gestures, convulsions, foaming at the mouth, feats of supernatural strength, furious ravings, bodily lacerations, gnashing of teeth, and other things of a similar character, may be witnesses in most of the cases."

Among the early Christians the demoniacs or energumens (energumenoi) formed a special class under the control of a clerical order of exorcists, and a mass of evidence drawn from such writers as Cyril, Tertullian, Chrysostom, and Minutius Felix, shows that the symptoms of those possessed were such as modern physicians would class under hysteria, epilepsy, lunacy, &c. (See their works, and refs. In Bingham, Antiquities of the Christian Church; Maury, La Magie et l’Astrologie, part ii, ch. 2, &c.) Some theologians, while in deference to advanced medical knowledge they abandon the primitive theory of demons causing such diseases in our own time, place themselves in an embarrassing position by maintaining, on the supposed sanction of Scripture, that the same symptoms were really caused by demonical possession in the 1st century.

A full statement of the arguments on both sides of this once important controversy will be found in earlier editions of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, but for our times it seems too like a discussion whether the earth was really flat in the ages when it was believed to be so, but became round since astronomers provided a different explanation of the same phenomena.

It is more profitable to notice how gradual the change of opinion has been from the doctrine of demon-possession to the scientific theory of disease, and how largely the older view still survives in the world. Not only in savage districts, but in counties whose native civilization is below the European level, such as India and China, the curious observer may still see the exorcist expel the malignant ghost or demon from the patient afflicted with fever, dizziness, frenzy, or any unaccountable ailment. (See Ward, History of the Hindoos, vol. i. p. 155, vol. ii. p. 183; Roberts, Oriental illustrations of the Scriptures, p. 529; Doolittle , Social Life of the Chinese.)

The unbroken continuance of the belief in mediaeval Europe may be gathered from such works as the excellent treatise by Maury, La Magie et l’Astrologie dans l’Antiquité et au Moyen Age, already referred to, Even in the 18th century was published with ecclesiastical approval a regular exorcist’s manual, the Fustis et Flagellum Daemonum, Auctore R.P.F. Hiernimo Mengo (1727), which among its curious contents gives instructions how to get the better of those cunning demons who hide in the bodies of men and vex them with diseases, and which are apt when expelled to take refuge in the patient’s hair.

The gradual shifting of opinion is marked by the attempt to reconcile the older demonology with the newer medicine. This argument, which appears among the early Christian fathers, is worked out most elaborately in that curious museum of demonology, the Disquisitiones Magicae of Martin Delrio, published as the late as 1720. While inveighing against those physicians who maintain that all diseases have natural causes, this learned Jesuit admits that men may be dumb, epileptic, or lunatic without being obsessed; but what the demons do is that, finding the deposition of epileptics suitable, they insinuate themselves into them; also they attack lunatics, especially at full moon, when their brains are full of humours, or they introduce disease by stirring up the black bile, sending blacks into the brain ears and eyes to cause deafness and blindness.

Looking at the date of this celebrated work, we cannot wonder that in benighted districts of Europe the old diabolical possession and its accompanying exorcism may still now and then be met with, as in 1861 at Morzine in Savoy. [Footnote 60-1] (See A. Constans, Relation sur une Epidémie d’Hystero-Démonopathie, Paris, 1863.)

One of the last notable cases of this kind in England was that of George Lukins of Yatton, a knavish epileptic out of whom seven devils were exorcised by seven clergymen, at the Temple Church at Bristol, on June 13, 1788. (See Encyclopaedia Britannica 3rd to 6th editions, art. "Possession".)





The derivation of the ideas of demons from the phantoms seen in dreams has already been instanced where the apparition is that of a dead man, but there are peculiar kinds of demons which are to be considered specially from this point of view. In savage animism, as among the Australians, what we call a nightmare is of course recognized as a demon; and though we have long learnt to interpret it subjectively as arising from some action of the sleeper’s brain, it is interesting to remember that its name remains proof of the same idea among our ancestors (Anglo Saxon maer = spirit, elf, &c., compare old German mar = elf, demon, nahtmar = nightmare, -- see Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, p. 433).

The vampires, or drinkers (Old Russian upir), well known in Slavonic regions, are a variety of the nightmare, being witch-souls or ghosts who suck the blood of living victims, thus accounting for their becoming pale and bloodless, and falling into decline. (See Grohmann, Aberlauben aus Böhmen, p. 24; Ralston, Songs of the Russian People, p.410.)

From dreams are avowedly formed the notions of incubi and succubi, those nocturnal demons who consort with women and men in their sleep. From the apparent distinctness of their evidence, these being are of course well known in savage demonology, and in connection with them there already arises among uncultured races the idea that children may be engendered between spirits and human mothers. (See Martin, Mariner’s Tonga Islands, vol. ii. p. 119).

For an ancient example of the general belief in this class of demons, no better could be chosen than that of the early Assyrians, whose name for a succubus, Lilit, evidently gave rise to the Rabbinical tale of Adam’s demon-wife Lilith. (See Lenormant, op. cit. p. 36.)

The literature of mediaeval sorcery abounds in mentions of this belief, of which the absurd pseudo-philosophical side comes well into view in the chapter of Delrio (lib. ii. quaest. 15), "An sint unquam daemons incubi et succubae , et an ex tali congressu proles nasci queat?" [Have there ever been demons, incubi and succubae, and from such a union can offspring be born?].

But its serious side is shown by the accusation of consorting with such demons being one of the main charges in the infamous bull of Innocent VIII., which brought judicial torture and death upon so many thousands of wretched so-called witches. (See Roskoff, Geschichte des Teufels, vol. ii. p. 222)

It further throws light on demonology that the frightful spectres seen in such affections as delirium tremens have of course been interpreted as real demons.

It is needless to give instances from among savage tribes, for the connection between such phantoms and the doctrine of demoniacal possession is shown in its most primitive state in modern Europe. In the Fustis Daemonum, p. 42, it is mentioned that demons before entering human bodies are apt to appear in some terrible form or deformity, human or bestial, and while they seem to the patients suddenly to vanish, then they enter into their bodies. By this supposition the disappearance of the phantom and the accompanying illness of the delirious patient are ingeniously accounted for at one stroke.

Though the functions ascribed to demons in savage philosophy are especially connected with disease, they are by no means exclusively so, but the swarming host of spirits pervading the world is called to account for any events which seem to happen by some unseen but controlling influence. Some cause must lead the wild man to find game one day and come back empty another, to stumble and hurt himself in the dusk, to lose his way and become bewildered in the dark forest, where the cries of animals and other sounds seem to him spirit-voices misleading or mocking him. For all such events requiring explanation savages find personal causes in intervening demons, who are sometimes ghosts, as when an American Indian falling into the fire will say that an angry ancestral spirit pushed him in; or they may be simply spirits of undefined origin, like those whom the Australians regard as lurking everywhere, ready to do harm to the poor balk-fellow.

To compare this state of thought with that of the classic world, we have but to remember the remark of Hippocrates about the superstitious who believed themselves infested day and night by malicious demons, or the Roman’s fear of those harmful ghost-demons, the lemurs, whom they got rid of by the quaint ceremonies of the annual Lemuralia.

How permanent these demon-ideas have been from the infancy of culture, may be well shown by the permanence of the practice of holding at intervals, such special ceremonies to expel them. In Siam the people first hunt the demons out of the houses, and then drive them with cannon-shots through the streets till they get them outside the walls into the forest. In Old Calabar they put puppets along the streets leading to the sea, to entice the demons into, and then at dead of night a sudden rush is made by the Negroes with whips and torches to drive the spirits down into the sea. Not only do other barbaric regions, such as the South Sea Islands and Peru, furnish similar examples of the expulsion of demons, but it may still be seen among European peasantry. In Sweden, Easter-tide is the season for the general purging of the land from the evil spirits and trolls of the old heathendom; and in many parts of Germany unseen witches are to this day driven out on Walpurgis-night with crack of whip and blast of horn. (See a collection of cases in Bastian and Hartman, Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 1869, p. 189; also Hylten-Cavallius, Wärend och Wirdarne, part i. p. 1780).

In these cases it is generally unfavourable influence which are considered as due to the demons. But favourable events are even by savages often recognized as due to the guardian or patron demon, whose help accounts for what among ourselves is often not much more rationally considered to be "luck". It is often recognized ancestral soul which from natural affection undertakes this duty, as when a Tasmanian has been known to account for escape from danger by the idea that his father’s soul was still watching over him.

But it need not be so; and among the American Indians or West Africans, where each man lives in constant imaginary intercourse with his patron-spirit, talking with it, making it offerings, and trusting to its guidance in difficulty and protection from danger, this spirit may be revealed in a dream or vision, and is often connected with some object known as a "medicine" or "fetish", but is seldom identified with any particular ghost. In Greek literature this idea is best exemplified by the lines of Menander on the good demon whom every man has from birth as his guide through the mysteries of life (ap. Clem. Alex., Stromat. V.); the most popularly known example is the so-called "demon" of Socrates, but he himself did not give such personal definiteness to the divine or daemonic influence (daimonion) which warned him by what he described as a voice or sign (see Zeller, Socrates, ch. 4).

The primitive idea of the patron spirit is carried on in the Roman genius, whose name (even without the addition of "natalis") indicates that it is born with the person whom it accompanies through life.

Its place very closely corresponds to that occupied in modern folklore by the guardian angel. There are districts in France where a peasant meeting another, salutes not only the man, but this "companion", the guardian angel who is supposed to be invisibly at his side.

Among attendant and patron demons, as recognized in the general belief of mankind, a specially important class is formed by the familiar spirits who accompany sorcerers, giving them mysterious knowledge, uttering oracular responses through their voices, enabling them to perform wonderful feats, bringing them treasures or injuring their enemies, and doing other spiritual services for them.

From the descriptions of sorcerers among the lower nations, it is at once evident that their supposed intercourse with demons is closely connected with the symptoms of disease possession. Thus among the Zulus, "the disease which precedes the power of divine" is distinctly hysterical, the patient’s morbid sensitiveness and intensely vivid imagination of sights and voices fitting well with his persuassion that he is under the control of some ancestral ghost. So well is this connection recognized among races like the Patagonians and rude tribes of Siberia, that children with an hereditary tendency to epilepsy are brought up to the profession of magicians.

Where the sorcerer has not naturally such symptoms of possession by a controlling demon, he is apt to ring them on by violent dancing and beating drums, or by drug, or to stimulate them by mere knavery; which latter is really the most convincing proof that the original notion of the demon of the magician did not arise for imposture, but from actual belief that the morbid excitement, hallucination, and raving consequent on mental disease were caused by spirits other than the man’s own soul, in possession of his body.

The primitive and savage theory of inspiration by another spirit getting inside the body is most materialistic, and cheating sorcerers accordingly use ventriloquism of the original kind, which (as its name implies) is supposed to be caused by the voice of a demon inside the body of the speaker, who really himself talks in a feigned human voice, or in squeaking or whistling tones thought suitable to the thin-bodies spirit-visitor.

The familiar spirit may be a human ghost or some other demon and may either be supposed to enter the man’s body or only to come into his presence, which is somewhat the same difference as whether in disease the demon "possesses" or "obsesses" a patient, i.e., controls him from inside or outside. Thus the Greenland angekok, or sorcerer, is described as following his profession by the aid of a torngak, or familiar spirit (who may be an ancestral ghost), whom he summons by drumming, and with whom he is heard by the bystanders to carry on a conversation within the hut, obtaining information which enables him to advise as to the treatment of the sick, the prospect of good and bad weather, and the other topics of the business of a soothsayer.

Passing over the intermediate space which divides the condition of savages from that of mediaeval or modern Europeans, we shall find, so far as the doctrine of familiar demons has survived, that it has changed but little in principle. In the witch trials a favourite accusation was that of having a familiar demon. Sir Walter Scott’s Demonology and Witchcraft contains among others the case of Bessie Dunlop, whose familiar was the ghost of one Thome Reid, killed at the battle of Pinkie (1547), who enabled her to give answers to such as consulted her about the ailments of human beings or cattle, or recovery of things lost or stolen. This miserable woman, chiefly on her own confession, was as usual "convict and burnt". Here the imagined demon was a human soul, but other spirits called Hudhart, who enabled a certain Highland woman to prosphesy as to the conspiracy to murder James I. of Scotland.

Dissertations on the art of raising demons for the sorcerers’ service, and even the actual charms and ceremonies to be used, form a large part of the precepts of magical books. (See Ennemoser, History of Magic; Horst, Zauberbibliothek, and other works already cited.) Among the latest English books treating seriously of this "black art" is Sibly’s Illustration of the Occult Sciences, of which a 10th edition, in 4to, bears the date London, 1807. The statute of James I. of England enacts that all persons invoking any evil spirit, or consulting, covenanting with, entertaining, employing, feeding, or rewarding any evil spirit, should be guilty of felony, and suffer death. This was not repealed till the reign of George II.

Educated public opinion has now risen above this level but popular credulity is still to be worked upon by much the same means as those employed by savage sorcerers professing intercourse with familiar spirits. At "spiritualistic séances" the convulsive and hysterical symptoms (pretended or real) of the "medium" under the "control of his guiding spirit" are much the same as those which may be seen among the Fijians or the hill-tribes of Burmah [Burma], while the feigned voice, supposed to indicate that it is some Negro or Irish spirit speaking through the medium’s organs, is often a clumsier performance than that of the New Zealand sorcerers, producing in thin squeaking tones the voice of a family ghost. Many of the special "manifestations", such as thumping and drumming in the dark, are those usual in the performances of the Siberian shamans, who also, in common with the Greenland angekoks, impose on the bystanders by the miraculous performance of the "rope-trick"; the "planchette-writing" by the guiding hand of a familiar spirit, has long been done by an inferior class of magicians in China. The crowning incident in the English proceedings is the "materialization" of the familiar spirit in a dimly-seen figure which, when a rush is made to seize it, proves to be a dull or the medium himself in drapery.





Returning to the general theory of demonology, two important principles have to be brought together under notice. As the religions of the world become more complexly organized, the various kinds of spirits divide into orders or ranks of a hierarchy; while with the growth of dualism the class of demons further arrange themselves as it were in two opposite camps, under the presiding good and evil deities.

The way in which such views may be developed is well seen in Bishop Callaway’s Religion of the Amazulu, among whom the ancestral ghosts (amatongo) carry on after death their friendly or hostile character, so that is general the ghosts of a man’s own family or tribe are friendly demons helping him and fighting on his side, while the ghosts of enemies remain hostile demons. In the religion of Congo, according to Magyar (Reisen in Süd-Afrika, 1849-57), the highest deity, Suku-Vakange, takes little interest in mankind, and the real government of the world belongs to the good and bad kilulu, -- spirits or demons. When a man dies, according to hisw circumstances in life he become a friend or enemy of the living, and thus passes among the good or bad kilulu. But as there are more bad spirits who torment than good who favour, man’s misery would be unbearable did not Suku-Vakange from time to time, enraged at the wickedness of the evil spirits, terrify them with thunder and smite the more obstinate with his bolts; then he returns ro rest and leaves the demons to rule again.

In the religion of the ancient Egyptians the dualistic system is worked out in the antagonism between the gods of light and the evil powers under the serpent Apap, whose long undulating form may be seen in those portions of the pictorial ritual of the dead which are painted on the mummy-cases. (See Birch’s translation of the Book of the Dead, in vol. c. of Bunsen, Egypt’s Place in Universal History) In the ancient Babylonian system the demons were classified in orders, and the minuteness with which their functions as personal causes of evil are assigned to them is well shown by the following passage from a cuneiform inscription" – "They assail country after country; they make the slave set himself up above his place; they make the son of the house leave his father; they make the young bird fly out of its nest; they make the ox and the lamb run away – the evil demons who set snares" (Lenormant, p. 29)

In Brahmanism and Buddhism which sprang from it, as well as in the ancient Persian religion, the various orders of spirits who come under the general definition of demons have large place. The latter faith, as represented in the Zend-Avesta, worked out to its extreme development the doctrines of the good and evil deities, Ahuramazda and Aura-mainyu (Ormuzd and Ahriman), each with his innumerable armies of spirits or demons, those of light, purity, and goodness being met in endless contention by the legions of darkness who seek to undo all good and spread foulness and sin around them. This remarkable system exercised strong influence on religions of later civilization. The later Jewish or Talmudic ideas are strongly leavened by it and it is in great measure due the rise of the Manichaean doctrine. The demonology of these systems may best be studied as part of their general doctrine, while their relation to the angelology and demonology of Christianity belongs to Christian theology.

Though in this short notice only a few illustrative cases are given as to the belief in demons, the great mass of details of the kind in the various religions of the world will be found to conform with them both as to the notion of demons being derived form the idea of the human soul, and as to their function in primitive philosophy being to serve as personal causes of events.

The principles of demonology thus form an interesting branch of intellectual history. But beside this, its names and formulas transmitted as they have been by the blind reverence of generations of magicians, preserve for the historical student some curious relics of antiquity. As a pendant to the already-mentioned Talmudic Lilith, the female nocturnal demon of ancient Assyria, may be noticed Asmodeus, famous on Le Sage’s novel Le Diable Boiteux, who is not only to be found in the book of Tobit and the Talmudic legend of King Solomon (see Eisenmenger, Enthdecktes Judenthum), but may be traced back still farther to his real origin in Aeshma daeva, one of the ancient Persian religions.

The conjurations and formulas for raising demons in the curious old book of magic which bears the name of Doctor Faustus (see reprint in Horst) are a wonderful medley of scraps from several religions. Their principal source, beside Christian invocations and fragments of ritual, is Hebrew, whether biblical or from the later Rabbinical books; Aziel, Faust’s own familiar, chosen because he can do his errands swift as thought, is apparently the fallen angel Azael of the Talmud, to whom Solomon goes every day for wisdom; Michael, Raphael, Uriel, and Gabriel guard the four quarters of a mystic demon-circle; while the names of Satan and Pluto, Ariel, and Hesper, Petrus and Adonis, figure among incantations in dog-Latin and good high Dutch, and a mass of words reduced to gibberish beyond comprehension.

The study of demonology also brings into view the tendency of hostile religions to degrade into evil demons the deities of a rival faith. The ancient schism between two branches of the Aryan race, which separated the Zarathustrian religion from the Vedic religion, now represented by Brahmanism, is nowhere better marked than in the fact that the devas, the bright gods of the Hindoo [Hindu], have become the devs or evil demons of the Persian. So the evil being recognized in the folk-lore of Christendom are many of them the nature-spirits, lares, and other deities of the earlier heathendom, not discarded as imaginary, but lowered from their high estate and good repute to swell the crowd of hateful demons. (E. B. T.)


Footnote
60-1 The Times, in November 1876, contains an account in the casting out of devils by a priest in the Church of the Holy Spirit in Barcelona, during the preceding month. On one occasion the patient, a young woman of seventeen or eighteen, lay on the floor before the altar, writhing in convulsions with distorted features and foaming at the month, while the priest carried on a dialogue wit the devil, whom he addressed by the name of Rusbel, the fiend’s answer being of course spoken by the voice of the frantic girl herself. At last a number of demons were supposed to come out of the patient’s body, and such scenes were repeated for days in the presence of many spectators till a riot, arose, and the civil authorities intervening put a stop to the whole affair.



The above article was written by Edward Burnett Tylor, LL.D., D.C.L., F.R.S., Professor of Anthropology, Oxford University; Keeper of the University Museum since 1883; author of Anahuac, Mexico and the Mexicans; Researches into the Early History of Mankind; Primitive Culture; Anthropology; and The Natural History of Religion.



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