Demons & Infernal Spirits

If there is one single concept which has been associated with Magic for the last 2000 years, none would be more notorious than Demons & Infernal Spirits. For centuries, the idea of illness, misfortune and all aspects of evil have been personified as a class of spirits. How they are conceptualized by different religions and spiritual traditions is fascinating and in a way- the key to understanding these faiths and how they view evil. Everyone has an idea in their head as to what demons are or if they even exist. It is time to put them front and centre as we look closer at these agents of malevolence.

You might want to listen to some of these earlier episodes before giving this one a spin.
• Goetia
• An Introduction to Solomonic Magic with Alexander Eth of Glitch Bottle Podcast
• Nigromancy with Julio Cesar Ody

Show Notes

• Demons (benevolent and malevolent) in Ancient Egypt
• Demons and Exorcism in Ancient Mesopotamia by Gina Konstantopoulos
• Demonology – The Jewish Encyclopedia
• Demons in Early Judaism & Christianity
• The Testament of Solomon from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance by Sarah Illes Johnston
• Demons in Christian Thought
• From Daimon to Demon: The Evolution of the Demon from Antiquity to Early Christianity by Hailey Marie Fuller
• Traditions of Belief in Late Byzantine Demonology by Richard Greenfield
• Pandemonium: A Visual History of Demonology by Ed Simon
• Thinking with Demons: The Idea of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe by Stuart Clark – Great book if you can find it
• Satan’s Rhetoric: A Study of Renaissance Demonology by Armando Maggi
• The Demons in Solomon’s Temple
• Evil Archaeology: Demons, Possessions, and Sinister Relics by Heather Lynn
• The Transformations of Magic: Illicit Learned Magic in the Later Middle Ages and Renaissance by Frank Klaassen
• Magic in the Middle Ages by Richard Kieckhefer
• The Techniques of Solomonic Magic by Dr. Stephen Skinner
• Jake Stratton-Kent’s Encyclopedia Goetica – The True Grimoire • Geosophia • The Testament of Cyprian the Mage
• The Brazen Vessel by Alkistis Demech and Peter Grey – The essay The Submerged Word is worth reading regarding Demons and Magic
• Pandemonium: A Discordant Concordance of Diverse Spirit Catalogues by Jake Stratton-Kent – Includes the excellent essay The Other Magicians
• Demons and Illness from Antiquity to the Early-Modern Period
• The Little Book of Demons: The Positive Advantages of the Personification of Life’s Problems by Ramsey Dukes – A fun and funny book. Certainly worth a read
• Demonology at Esoterica – Great video Playlist from Dr. Justin Sledge. Lots to learn here
• St. Anthony’s Tongue Podcast – Demonic Origins • The Demonic Then & Now • Discerning Spirits
• Demon Possession: Papers Presented at the University of Notre Dame by John Warwick Montgomery – Interesting, insane and confounding in equal measure
• Demons in the Middle Ages by Juanita Feros Ruys
• Essentials of demonology; a study of Jewish and Christian doctrine, its origin and development by Edward Langton
• Demons, Magic and Medicine by Andrew Perry
• Sorcery, Demons, and the Rise of Christianity from Late Antiquity into the Middle Ages by Peter Brown
• The Dictionary of Demons: Names of the Damned by Michele Belanger
• Encyclopedia of Demons in World Religions and Cultures by Theresa Bane
• The Routledge History of Medieval Magic
• A speculative list of where the Demons in the Ars Goetia got their names from
• Bedeviled: A Shadow History of Demons in Science by Jimena Canales