Magic

Demons in Ancient Christianity

For Christians, a divine something could not a demon be.” (McMahon, 39)

Demons had somewhat ambiguous beginnings, but as magic gained public eye and the Church shifted their stance during the Inquisition, demons took on a whole new meaning and importance. Here we will start by exploring the word ‘demon’ before the shift in thought. We will then follow the Pope’s decision to mark magic as inherently heretical as he seeks council from trusted advisors. Following this we will discuss the persecution of those that practice magic and what became of it as it accumulated into the witch trials. Finally, we will touch briefly on the use of demons in philosophy and where demonology leaves us today.

Demons Before: Outside of Monotheism

“The problem of evil transcends religion.” (Russell 2, 16)

It has been said before that Paganism greatly influenced Christianity. It is important to remember however, that the influence was not exclusively in that direction. In example, let us consider the magical charms of Anglo-Saxon England. These were greatly influenced by the charms used by priests to bless and bring about good things for the people of the Church (Russell 1, 62). Until magic hit the eye of the Church in full force during the inquisition, there was not such distinct lines between paganism, magic use, and Christianity. There was often a blending of rituals and incantations without public or personal outcry.

The line between the Devil and demons was a bit hard to define in early times as well. The Devil was generally accepted to be the king leading it’s followers, the demons. That was no a steadfast interpretation however. Folklore was often aimed at trying to tame the devil, or making him seem to be a fool. This again, was not a steadfast approach and did not develop until nearing the inquisition (Russell 1, 76).

DevilPhoto1

The Devil riding Behemoth. Lambert of Saint-Omer, Liber floridus. 12th century.

By this point, the Devil was almost always represented as a male and commonly took a form that was “monsterous and deformed, his outward shape betraying his inner defect” (Russell 1, 68). The Devil became connected to many animal forms, including the hoofed man, or he-goat, that often comes to mind when we think of his image in modern times. Other animal forms associated with the Devil include the boar which has also been connected with the feeding of heroes of Walhalla. The wolf, as a representation of the jaws of Hell. The black crow, or raven, which has long been associated with death and plague. And the dragon, worm or serpent, as suggested in the biblical text.

The Devil was also, somewhat unofficially, assigned to the direction of North. This had such a strong effect that in some time periods cemeteries were never to the left of a church, as a church traditionally was built facing East – and thus the left side of the church was facing to the North.

Other associations included the colors black and red, and environments that were dark and perpetually, uncomfortably cold. The Devil was dirty, dangerous, tricky and repulsive. Demons were said to swarm in the air like flies – another unpleasant image. They were always surrounding humanity ready to tempt them into evil.

The word ‘daimon’ in Greek has no one English equivalent. The translations vary as much as the seasons. What we do know, is that the word has only one form that is both masculine and feminine (Rexine, 340). It has been used by a variety of writers and thinkers, each time with varied meaning.

The Demon in Judaism

The word ‘shedim’ means demon in Hebrew. Although a word exists, it appears in the Hebrew bible only two times. Once in Psalm and again in Deuteronomy. In the King James Version it has been written as “devils” rather than “demons”. “Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils” (Psalms 106:37). In this case, it is likely that the meaning was simply false deities or idols. The grace of God is being told through the story of Canaan. The purpose of this passage was to show God as the righteous path that will lead to good things. The second time the word appears in the bible this intended meaning becomes even more obvious. “They sacrificed until devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your father feared not” (Deuteronomy 32:17).

It has been speculated that the personification of things such as diseases in the Old Testament may have made it easy for demonology to find roots and take hold in it’s texts. Also notable, is that names and concepts were often used directly from paganism. With these two working together, the text may have fallen in line with developing opinions on demons and the Devil more easily (Kelly, 12). The word Satan referred to an adversary, and was used to speak of human beings and spirits alike. Satan and the Devil were not originally interchangeable or uniquely tied together in meaning.

Demons as Partners in Magic

Pope XXII

Portrait of Pope John XXII (1244-1334) engraving, French School

Pope John XXII was known for seeking council, like many in power, before making big decisions. When he came to the conclusion that the issue of magic must be dealt with, he met with a commission of advisors.

One of these advisors was Enrico de Corretto, the Bishop of Lucca. It is on his advise that an argument is made by author Alain Boreau. His argument is that the role of the Devil in magic was the main motivating factor for the Pope’s decision to incorporate magic into heresy during the inquisition. This argument suggests that the motivation was purely doctrinal – magic involves the Devil, thus it is against God, and so it must be put to an end. The common belief up until this time had been one of inentions and contracts. Voluntary contracts were made on a regular basis, either between two human beings, or between a human being and God himself. When a sacrament was preformed in the Church, it was a pact with God. The Devil had been thought to work within natural parameters, but now he was making agreements with humans to help them achieve things through supernatural means (Iribarren, 32-33). This was a danger, as he was taking God’s children and misleading them. In order to take part in this pact they must be in agreement with the Devil, and therefore on his side. And if they were on his side, they were not on the side of God. Heresy was defined as “incorrect belief”, and this was certainly that. Such a thing could not be tolerated.

On the other side of the debate, is author Isabel Iribarren. She makes her argument on the basis of Guido Terreni’s advice to the Pope. The perspective theorizes that the motivations for shifting papal position on magic as heresy were purely ecclesiological (Iribarren, 35). The concern was finding the most effective method of squashing heresy in it’s tracks and saving the Holy Church. The Pope was dealing with the spiritual Franciscans and a refusal to accept papal authority from many avenues. The mindset of society at the time was shifting from that of hierarchies and pacts to that of legal procedure and order. The facts became all powerful. As the Pope was seeking council, he feared threats to his own life as well as the Church. He felt that this minimization of authority was weakening the church. The concern of this time was not how the magic came to work, but how to defend the church and bring it back to it’s former glory and power. In the margins of Terreni’s council can be found annotations from the Pope. It is clear that he considered this advice carefully. All concerns about whether or not a magician was truly a heretic were no longer of issue if the act of magic itself was heretical. Only God could judge their intentions, but the Church authority and papal law could certainly judge their actions (Iribarren, 43).

Regardless of which argument is the more accurate one, one thing is clear – there was a major shift happen in every part of society at this time. Intellectuals and universities were on the rise, views of power were being questioned and challenged, and the inquisition was taking heresy into it’s own hands in a serious way.

 

The Inquisition

In 1320 the papal stance was officially changed. Until this time the instruction had been to investigate accusations of magic only if heresy was suspected. The new instruction was to consider all cases of magic as opposition to God and inherently heretical.

The Devil Gives Gifts

Depiction of the Devil giving images to witches, from Agnes Sampson trial, 1591

This pathed the way for the infamous witch trials. Although magic was preformed by both men and women, the focus quickly fell on women. Views of women in medieval times were far from ideal, and they were seen as the perfect, or rather imperfect, conduits for the Devil’s power. Because they were “exchanging their natural subjection to God for a diabolical subjection to Satan” they were seen as “enemies not only of society, but of God” (Karlsen, 6). That is a pretty profound accusation, and it was given freely to many women (and some men) during the inquisition. In order to be brought to trial you must show signs of magic practice and be accused by another person of magic as well. Often such accusations were the results of personal disagreements or misguided emotional reactions to bad things happening. All of the things magic had previously been used to protect were now at risk of being damaged by the very same magic. Most examples of this included the illness or disease of a person or animal, or the failure of a crop. Women were often accused of crimes involving reproduction, such as using magic to cause a miscarriage or deformity in an enemy’s child. It is likely that a high death rate (20-30% in the first year of life) mixed with a lack of understanding illness (both physical and mental) contributed to these accusations. Something as simple as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome might have explained many of these cases. Another such example is the accusation that these magician women kept men up at night, beating them and holding them to the bed. Modern thinkers have wondered if this might not have been a case of sleep paralysis which people had the time had no way of understanding or explaining (Karlsen, 9).

Some more outlandish accusations against women included killing children by way of sucking their blood and consuming a powder made from their corpses (Ferreiro et al, 96). This is a possible link to vampiricism and other blood sucking beasts from stories of the past.

It might seem like if a woman who laid low and made few enemies would be safe from accusation of witchcraft, but this was not necessarily the case. A woman that did good deeds, such as cure someone when the doctors could not, was also at risk of accusation. If an action could not be easily explained, than it must be supernatural, and therefore it must be magic! It seemed that no one was safe, and especially not a woman (Karlsen, 9).

 

Development of Demons

“The persistence of the idea of the Devil indicates that it continues to generate a resonance of experience in many people” (Russell 2, 225)

Many philosophers have written of demons over the years. Some notable accounts include Homer, Pythagoras and Plato.

Homer equated the words ‘daimon’ and ‘theos’, meaning gods. Much like the Hebrew interpretation, he felt that demon was a word that represented the “other” gods (as opposed to a monotheistic God). This was not a personalized God, but it did influence mankind with it’s power. Most commonly he referred to demons as the cause of an event or action. A demon did not have a name or a specific title, but it was able to wield a divine power. Homer also, although much more rarely, used the word to refer to a specific God or Goddess, or even to refer to the fate or destiny of a human person.

Pythagoras wrote that any human soul became a demon once it was seperated from it’s corporeal body. This equates a demon with something like a ghost.

Plato made a connection in his “Synposium” between Eros and demons. In this, they were something that lay between the mortal and the immortal. They were more than humans, but less than God. Their purpose was to carry sacrifices from humanity to God, and in turn, carry ordinances from God to human kind. Demons were runners, of sorts, mediating between the two worlds or planes of being. They were also sometimes referred to as guides, almost like a guardian angel (Walzel, 83).

These diverse approaches to the word demon show that the terminology and definitions continued to change and grow throughout time. Demons were brought to the public eye by the Church, and are here they stay.

Christianity still struggles to some extent with the issue of demons. The word “daimonion” appears 55 times in New Testament. These appearances are in the diminutive form, implying a demons smallness before the greatness that is the Lord (McMahon, 39). This seems to reflect the fear of the Church and it’s insistence that the authority of God, and that which the papal office holds as the voice of God, is above all else. No other authority, good nor evil, may claim to be equal to that of the one true God.

Theodicy is the monotheistic effort to justify the actions and allowances of God. In order to accomplish this goal, Russell suggests there are four possible approaches. We can assume that God is neither all-good nor all-powerful – but of course, if that is to be the case, is it a God we speak of at all? We can assume that God is all-good but not all-powerful, or that he is all-powerful but not all good. Or the option that Christianity and other Abrahamaic religions generally choose, that God is both all-good and all-powerful. If however we choose this last option, how do we explain the pesky and persistent existence of evil? Evil is thus explained as something God tolerates, and a person of free will either chooses or does not choose. This allows God to be both good and in power, while admitting the undeniable fact of evil’s existence in this world (Russell 2, 17). This also allows the guilt to fall on the person who sins, and not God or the Church. It is usually said that the Devil has a purpose in this world that we are unable to understand but must have faith in (Russell 2, 220).

It has become common to suggest that the Devil entered the Garden of Eden and took the shape of a serpent to tempt Eden. This was not commissioned by God, but for the Devil’s own selfish purposes. It should be noted though that the Devil does not always win in these stories, and in fact, often fails.

Baptism was often seen as involving exorcistic elements. To baptize was to start anew, and commit to God. This meant the erasure of former sins, which were perhaps a result of demons. In 1969 the Church formally stated that all such elements were to be seen as allegory and not literal.

And so the interaction between humanity and demons continues on. The intricate intertwining of demonic forces and religious beliefs that has occurred will likely ensure that demonology will remain present in our scoiety for some time to come.

 

Bibliography

Baily, Michael D. Review of Satan Heretique. Paris: Odile Jacob, 2004.

After reading the work of Isabel Iribarren cited in this bibliography, there was a need for more information about the opposing argument by Alain Boreau. Unfortunately, the original text of Satan Heretique could not be aquired in time for this research. This review by Michael Bailey of the text provided a good overview and a few useful details to balance out the discussion in leu of the full text. The author offered a clear and concise summation of Boreau’s perspective.

Ferreiro, Alberto et al. The Devil, Heresy and Witchcraft in the Middle Ages: Essays in honor of Jeffrey B. Russell. Netherlands: Brill, 1998.

This is a valuable collection of essays on a variety of topics related to heresy and magic. In this research, information was primarily taken from two of the essays. The first of these was “Avenging the Blood of Children: Anxiety Over Child Victims and the Origins of the European Witch Trials” by Richard Kieckhefer. The exploration of accusations related to child death was informative and offered possible connections to real life causes, such as sudden infant death syndrome.

Iribarren, Isabel. 2007. “From black magic to heresy: a doctrinal leap in the pontificate of John XXII.” Church History 76, no. 1: 32-60.

This is a valuable source offering an two opposing hypotheses about the creation of magic as heresy as explored in our Deane reading. Our reading suggests that the presence of demons, or the devil, was the main guiding factor in the Pope’s decision to include magic in the inquisition on heresy. Iribarren suggests that it was instead a concern over effective means of conquering heresy, and less based on doctrinal concerns. The Pope had met with several experts before making his final decision, and the author makes her argument primarily based on the response of a particular member of the commission to the Pope, Guido Terreni. Gaining multiple viewpoints in the analysis of demons and their historical context will be extremely useful.

Isaacs, Ronald H. Ascending Jacob’s Ladder: Jewish Views of Angels, Demons and Evil Spirits. Jason Aronson Inc., 1998.

This source provided many essential details on the presence of demons in Judaism and the Hebrew bible. This text cited many biblical passages that from there could be explored and analyzed further on the part of the reader. Hebrew words often translated as demon were also offered and explained. Although only a small amount of information was used from this resource, it was invaluable.

Karlsen, Carol F. The Devil in the Shape of a Woman. New York: Norton and Company, 1987.

Focusing on the role of women in society and the subsequent results regarding witchcraft, this was a valuable resource. The author split the persecution of accused witches in categories and analyzed each one with reference to individual cases and over arching themes. Details of the types of accusations and the speculated motivations behind them got the ball rolling in this research of demonology and magic. From our class discussions and others, it had become apparent that the role of women in ancient times was one of repression and inferiority. This text added to that knowledge and inspired further analysis of the issue. At the end of the text a section on male witches and their roles was also provided, which proved to be interesting and useful.

Kelly, Henry A. Devil, Demonology and Witchcraft: The Development of Christian Beliefs in Evil Spirits. Scott & Collins, 1974.

In the beginning of this brief text, Kelly provides a good background of demonology in the Old Testament. The author does this by citing biblical passages and etymological context. The text goes on to discuss the New Testament developments on the topic of the Devil and demons including an exploration of Genesis, and the serpent of temptation in the garden of Eden. Eventually, the medieval period and Inquisition are discussed at some length. The text wraps up with a discussion of where demonology rests in modern times – which in this case, means the 1970’s. This source provides a strong foundation on which to build a working knowledge of demonology. It also supplies a useful introduction to the role of demons in ancient Judaism.

McMohan, Darrin M. Divine Fury. Basic Books, 2013.

Information was offered in this text regarding the term demon and it’s use by many theologians and philosophers over time. It also offers latin roots and explains the diminutive and non diminutive forms of the word. This text provided a small portion of the research information but made itself useful despite the brief included passages.

Nold, Patrick. Marriage Advice for a Pope: John XXII and the Power to Dissolve. Netherlands: Brill, 2009.

This text focuses on a letter from Cardinal Guillaume de Payre Godin that was sent to the Inquisition August 22nd, 1320. From this source information about the instructions to the inquisitors as well as the inquisition and it’s interaction with magic can be gained. This was a major turning point in papal stance on magic and heresy and this perspective proves useful.

Rexine, John E. 1985. “Daimon in Classical Greek Literature”. Greek Orthodox Theological Review 30, no. 3: 337-361.

This valuable source offered a discussion of the word ‘daimon’, which has no single fitting English equivalent. Both Greek and Christian uses are explored in this text. The author then continues to discuss Homer’s use of the term in his writings and others. Although a great deal of this text is the analysis of quotations from writings in Greek, it provided a great deal of useful information in it’s reading.

Russell, Jeffrey B. Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages. New York: Cornell University Press, 1984.

This source provided a wide ranging exploration of the word ‘demon’ in a variety of languages including French, Spanish, and Italian. Russell discusses paganism, mythology, and folklore in a way that makes a myriad of connections to enhance understanding and context. The reading is useful for filling in gaps left from previous research and filling out scattered tidbits of information to provide a more sturdy knowledge base. Russell also included relevant art and a thorough analysis of relevant literature at the time.

Russell, Jeffrey B. Satan: The Early Christian Tradition. Cornell University Press, 1981.

Russell offers four possible justification of God’s ways towards man in this text, and explores the one most commonly chosen by the Abrahamaic religions in significant detail. The author discussion some big names such as Ireneaus and Tertullian, as well as may other groups discussed in our course. This text was a great tie in to the basis of knowledge gained from course readings and it’s expansion in this research. Furthermore, this source was not only useful for it’s exploration of satan in ancient times, but also for it’s discussion of the views towards satan in modern times as well.

Walzel, Diana L. Sources of Medieval Demonology. Rice University Studies, 1974.

This text detailed the use of the term demon by several great philosophers. Among these were names such as Homer, Pythagoras and Plato. The perspectives offered in their writings were offered and analyzed. Other connections were also explored, such as the common connection of demons and the Devil with animal forms. From the serpent in the garden of Eden to the he-goat many envision when the Devil is mentioned, these connections provide a way to see the world through the eyes of those that lived at the time.