Vendredi: Chthonian Histories

Though in modern terms we tend to lump every demon known in the Christian Hell into one and call him/her/it “The Devil”, this is a fairly recent religious phenomena.  Our ancestors in Europe, the Middle East and parts of Africa and Asia loved nothing more than cataloguing the minutest detail of any given subgroup of obscure demons to the enth degree.  It was a particular passion for Christian scholars, who seem to have believed that by quantifying evil, they could somehow control it.

Given these obsessions, it should come as no surprise that Satan – both in name and being – was actually not one but several separate embodiments of evil.  “Our name is Legion, for We are Many,” after all. 

This was certainly the case in Johann Weyer’s 16^th century work Pseudographica Demoniaca.  Weyer lists a total of eight Satans all together and the listed characteristics are certainly worth taking a closer look at.  For the purposes of this post, we will only discuss seven of Weyer’s individual Satans.  The eighth, and to my mind most complex, is Lucifer~Satan and that guy absolutely needs his own space to fully breath anxiety, jealousy, rage and brimstone.

And so, in alphabetical order, seven of the eight Satans of demonologist Johann Weyer:

Abaddon~Satan:  Our first Satan may be a corruption or extension of the Hebrew angel of Gehenna.  He resides in the very lowest layer of Hell and can be associated with demons such as Apollyon who was a Christian demonization of the Greek Apollo.

Azazel~Satan:  Azazel, as a separate “dark angel,” is mentioned in the Book of Enoch which the Christians rejected when putting together their Bible.  Enoch implies that he may have been one of, or perhaps even the leader of, those creepy angels known as The Watchers.  It is Azazel who most closely resembles the rebel angel of Hebrew lore who refused to give homage to God’s creation in the form of Adam.  “Why,” Azazel asked.  “Should a Son of Light bow before a Son of Dust?”  In this, he may also be the Christian mirror of the Islamic Iblis.

Beelzebub~Satan:  The story of Beelzebub’s fall from Lord of the House in ancient Babylon to Lord of the Flies in Christian mythos is a prototype for demonization.  To the ancients, Beelzebub was essentially the Angel of Death who conducted the souls of the dead to their final home.  Since flies were believed to carry human souls, Beelzebub was a indeed the shepherd of flies.  This was turned in on itself in the Christian version and Beelzebub became the ruler of the filth, decay and pestilence associated with insects.

Beliel~Satan:  Beliel may be an afterthought as his story tends to mirror those of other Satans.  In the (again, rejected) Gospel of Bartholomew, Beliel states: “I was called Satanel, that is messenger of God, but I rejected God’s image and my name was called Satanas: he who keeps Hell.”  Beliel also claims to have been the first angel made by God.  Most demonologists name that angel Lucifer.

Mastema~Satan:  Some scholars say that Mastema’s name has its root in the Hebrew word for adverse.  Mastema is said to be the dark angel who attacked Moses in the desert and the snake who tempted Eve in the Garden.  Weyer makes him the accusing angel who will whisk the unjust to Hell and tell Heaven why.

Sammael~Satan:  Sammael is called “chief of the Satans” by Enoch, who writes of witnessing the powerful angel Uriel in argument with these demons.  The most forceful advocate among them, he says, was Sammael.  Weyer seems to agree, calling Sammael the Angel of Death.  Sammael is also known as the Great Serpent, so he too has a claim to being the snake in Eden.  This is the Satan who, flying over the homes of humans in the night, will make our dogs howl.

Satanel:  Aside from Lucifer, Satanel seems on the face of it to have the best claim to the title of capitol D “Devil”.  Unlike Lucifer, his name has the same ending as most of the truly famous angels: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and so on.  This suffix has an ancient lineage that passes from the Sumerian el meaning shining, through Babylonian ellu, radiant one into Celtic as elf or aelf, also radiant or shining one.  His name would indicate that Satanel has a good hold on the first seat in the angel band.  Unfortunately, he hasn’t the compelling story that Lucifer – or even Sammael – has and simply slapping an el onto your name doesn’t make you royalty.  Even in Weyer, our last Satan comes off more as a reflection of all the others than as a form of the Evil One.

So there are the eight minus one.  Another day we will meet Lucifer and ask to see his credentials.  Meanwhile, I’ll leave you with another bit of my Gran’s wisdom: Don’t raise more devils than you can lay down.  Vendredi heureux ~

Header: St. Michael and the Dragon by Albrecht Durer via Wikipedia

Vendredi: Chthonian Histories

My daughter, who is in high school, is currently reading Dante’s Divine Comedy for her history class.  Recently, she and I have been having some very enjoyable discussions about the ever popular cantos that comprise The Inferno.  From “abandon all hope” to “and lo I saw the Beast”, it doesn’t get much better in literature.  Of course Dante’s famous poem is one of the first cases in Western literature of political satire masked as allegory, which makes it all the more delicious.  Plus how cool is it that a teacher of freshman history, at a public school by the way, is introducing his kids to some of the finest writing in our culture?

These conversations got me thinking about the chthonic stories in Jewish, Christian and Islamic history, and how much modern practitioners of those religions are unfamiliar with.  There’s a lot that has been sifted through the rigorous religious upheavals as chaff that actually would give a person pause if they really thought about it.  One such story, from the ancient Hebrew text known as the Book of Enoch, puts an interesting spin on the fall of angels and the archfiends of Hell.

“And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the Sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose” says the opening of Genesis 6.  But who were these “Sons of God” that found the daughters of men irresistible?  While modern Biblical scholars interpret them as “angels”, the scribe Enoch begs to differ.

In the Book of Enoch, their name is Ben ha Elohim.  This can be interpreted as Sons of God but it also has a more sinister meaning: Watchers.  These Watchers, Enoch tells us, never slept and were tasked by Yahweh with keeping track of the descendants of Adam.  Enoch makes it fairly clear that the Ben Ha Elohim are not, in fact, angels as were the “Big Four” Michael, Uriel, Gabriel and Raphael (in order of appearance).  In Chapter 11 he speaks of these Archangels and specifically calls them “Four presences different from those who Sleep Not.”  What, exactly, the Watchers were is not specifically spelled out.  But their difference from angels – who are interpreted in Hebrew liturgy as beings of spirit without physical bodies – is made clear in their actions.

Besotted by the daughters of men, the Watchers descended from Mount Hermon 12,000 years ago according to Enoch.  In a manner familiar to lovers of Greek mythology, the Sons of God propositioned the daughters of men.  Throwing in a clever twist, the Hebrew daughters refused to gratify their suitors’ lusts until they had struck a bargain.  The ladies would “marry” the Watchers, but only if they in turn agreed to teach humans the knowledge so far kept only in heaven.  The Watchers quickly agree and, evidently after pairing off with the fleshly maidens, begin giving humans lessons in metal working, agriculture, astronomy and, perhaps most curiously, the manufacture of perfume, make-up and fine linen.

The humans became adept at their new skills and the Watchers settled in with their wives.  As will inevitably happen, children began to be born from these unions, but they were not any kind of bouncing babies.  They were horrid monsters who wreaked havoc on the countryside, their villages and even their own parents.  In dismay, both human mothers and Watcher fathers appealed to Yahweh for relief from the oppression of their children.

Seeing the trouble he had evidently tried to ignore was now out of hand, Yahweh sent his Archangels to Earth to clear things up.  The Watchers and their offspring were driven into “the valleys of the Earth” where they were said to be imprisoned under stone until the Day of Judgment.  It may have been one of the leaders of the Watchers, Azazel, to whom the famous “scapegoat” was sent out on the yearly Day of Atonement.  Azazel was said to be buried at the bottom of a cliff at Haradan, and it was over this cliff that the goat was driven to carry the sins of the people back to their originator: the “Seducer of Mankind.”

Some esoteric scholars have argued that the Watchers were the first heavenly beings to transform into demons of Hell, with their leader Azazel as the capital D “Devil”.  Lucifer in this scenario is a later addition to the fold who was only driven out by Michael when he refused to acknowledge Christ – who is sometimes said to be Lucifer’s twin – as the Son of God.  Others say that Lucifer awaited the Watchers when they came to Hell, his sin being his refusal to bow down before Yahweh’s creation, Adam.  At that point one might as well argue the number of angels dancing on the head of a pin for all the good it does.

But the story of the Ben Ha Elohim is interesting if for no other reason that it is so infrequently told in this day and age when the intrinsic characteristics of religion like sex and violence are carefully weeded out of the flower bed.  Enoch also graciously set down a list of the names of the Watchers, which is interesting too but certainly another post unto itself.  Enough is enough, so to say.

Header: Lucifer Cast Out by Gustave Dore