Demonology and Theurgy

This usually comes up in RitualMagic circles, since the majority of such rituals are in some sense demonological; it also comes up of course in Satanism^?, for which see Dangerous Kinds of Magic.

In brief, demonology and theurgy are about summoning, controlling, and commanding intelligent non-corporeal beings. In standard terms of the day, demonology is about beings from hell, theurgy is about angels; the main difference from much ritual magic, then, is that these beings are explicitly evil or good. At the same time, the lines are very blurry, because the mostly Renaissance sources from which these traditions draw use the word “demon” (daemonum) to refer to any sort of non-corporeal intelligence.

If you want to play somebody like this, do up the ritual side of things, have lots of chanting and props, and make the effects exceedingly dangerous for the magus. You’re going to want pentagrams, candles, and the whole shtick here, whether it’s demons or angels you’re working with. Don’t worry about commanding angels: if they’ll come to your call, you have the right to command them, as God created Man in His image, which is not the case of the daemonic beings, including angels. And yes, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim magicians all agree on that point, if they accept any form of demonology or theurgy as licit in the first place.

See Demonology^?, Theurgy^?

-- ChrisLehrich^? - 24 Dec 2004