Demonology

Simply put, Demonology is the study of Demons; what they do and how they interact with humans. While most cultures throughout time here in the west have had their own specific Demonology, from the middle ages onwards a particularly strong sort of European Demonology formed. This Demonology eventually lead to the hunt and persecution of tens of thousands of people for hundreds of years as witches and sorcerers. How this Demonology took shape is both fascinating and very telling of how our society conceives and adopts deleterious paradigms during certain periods of time.

There is a companion piece to this Episode on my Patreon.
BYZANTINE DEMONOLOGY

Show Notes & Book Recommendations

• I’ve already done an episode on Demons & Infernal Spirits, have a listen before diving into this one and check out the awesome show notes. Truthfully the reason that this episode’s show notes are so slight is that many of the juicy links are already on that episode
• Demons in Christian Thought
• Dr. Justin Sledge’s ESOTERICA YouTube Channel has tonnes of awesome videos about Demonology including a more in-depth analysis of many of the things mentioned in this episode
• The Oxford Illustrated History of Witchcraft and Magic – Astounding book. The Chapter on Demonology by James Sharpe provided most of the relevant information for this episode
• Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, Volume 4: The Period of the Witch Trials. Also has a great chapter by James Sharpe
• Satan the Heretic: The Birth of Demonology in the Medieval West by Alain Boureau – Well worth a read but very academic (and some of the translation is quite off)
• A Sabbat of Demonologists: Basel, 1431–1440 by Michael Bailey
• The Swiss origins of the European witch craze
• Battling Demons: Witchcraft, Heresy, and Reform in the Late Middle Ages by Michael Bailey – Excellent book
• The Hammer of Witches translated my Christopher MacKay
• Daemonologie by James VI of Scotland and eventually James I of England
• Demonology and Witch-Hunting in Early Modern Europe by Routledge
• The Science of Demons: Early Modern Authors Facing Witchcraft and the Devil by Routledge
• Thinking with Demons: The Idea of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe by Stuart Clarke – An awesome books to get ahold of, if you can find it that is
• I have a full length Patreon episode about Baphomet. I seriously consider it one of the best episodes I’ve ever made
• De Praestigiis Daemonum
• The Discoverie Of Witchcraft by Reginald Scot – Buy Copy Here – If you click and read the first link it has those added appendices which contain lots of ritual magic goodies in it (despite the fact that it would have certainly pissed off Reginald Scot were he still alive)
• England’s First Demonologist: Reginald Scot and ‘The Discoverie of Witchcraft’ by Philip Almond – Great book
• Pandemonium: A Visual History of Demonology by Ed Simon
• The Great DSM Hoax How Mental Disorders are Created and Sold
• The Book of Woe: The DSM and the Unmaking of Psychiatry by Gary Greenberg