I am afraid I have no opinion on the subject either way.
I would read @crossing-sun’s posts and his new book on the subject. He is much more versed in such things.
Magister Officiorum is absolutely not a demonolatry book and neither are the rest of Ody’s writings unless you consider a relationship with Lucifer demonolatry (I definitely do not). He’s a Solomonic magician (albeit one who takes a more spirit-friendly approach) who incorporates his Obeah training into the grimoire tradition. That is a very, very different thing than worshiping demons. Spirit-friendly Solomonic magick should not be mistaken for demonolatry, they are very different practices.
As an aside, unless you’re quite experienced with goetic and Solomonic magick I would not recommend Magister Officiorum. It’s an excellent book but also one you can get in real trouble with if you don’t know what you’re doing.
I concede I know nothing about demons, worshipped or otherwise.
Well for not knowing, you certainly recommended an excellent author
I read a lot, but I don’t incorporate everything I read into my practice. I’d like to learn more about Solomonic magic, but I just haven’t the time.
Boy I feel you on not having the time to incorporate everything that interests you. There have been some pretty interesting books coming out lately that incorporate folk and/or indigenous traditions with Solomonic magick that might be up your alley.
Magister Officiorum definitely is one and Peterson’s Secrets of Solomon has really gripped some of my tradcraft friends lately (myself as well, it’s a really fascinating work). SoS in particular is really interesting because you see a lot of tech that’s instantly recognizable as folk magick but using Solomonic spirit catalogs. It’s a strange little beast.
Oh yes, I have that one. I also want that new one by Skinner ♡♡♡
Man me too! I have to put hard limits on often I can buy Skinner’s books or I go buckwild lol
Here is my perspective. I know of others that work well for people, like Lon Milo DuQuette’s belief that demons are essentially negative traits made manifest that you can control and use to your benefit. I know people who have had good results with this model. I have not.
I essentially see demons as just another classification of spirits, and a pretty poor descriptor. A casual examination of many grimoires (like the above mentioned Key of Solomon) finds many of the demons have the names of old pagan gods. This is literal demonization. So are the grimoires describing spirits that are inherently malevolent and simply share a name with these spirits? Is it simply a Christian perspective that sees all pagan gods as inherently evil? Or have these spirits always existed and the grimoires simply giving them a bad rap? I tend to lean towards the last explanation. My work with demons has shown me that they are just another spirit, some more powerful than others. Like any other spirits they have their own goals, motivations, and morality. These things may not align with yours. They are going to try and get what they can out of a relationship with a magician, just like the magician is trying to get something from them. So you should treat them with caution, but it need not be an adversarial relationship.
I’m not sure where this “most demons in grimoires are pagan gods” idea rolled around from but it’s nonsense. You can make the case (maybe) for Asteroth and Baal but that’s two examples and both rely on questionable etymology. What are the other ones? What is anyone’s evidence that they are pagan gods beyond “some names kinda sound like other names”? If your answer is “well, they told me so!” please take a moment to have a long think about why a spirit might lie to you and what benefits they gain from lying about their status as gods. Frankly, I think this is a comforting narrative people have come up with using the most tenuous evidence possible to justify not wanting to use the methodology of the grimoires and to justify worshiping them and honestly, it’s horseshit.
Where is the evidence to support this?
Where does it come from? One of the most respected living scholars on goetia, Jake Stratton-Kent.
Go ahead and check all of his numerous primary sources.
Not sure why you find the etymology questionable. Seems pretty solid. Let’s list some more.
Abraxas = Greco-Epyptian god, also revered by the gnostics.
Pazuzu = Mesopotamian god.
Moloch = Canaanite god. There are a lot of Canaanite gods as they were primary rivals of the Hebrews.
Paimon = A djinn, which were originally spirits of the earthly realm. Also, a lot of djinn on the list, including Asmodeus.
Amon = Carthegian god.
The fucking phoenix is on the list in several grimoires.
I can list more.
If you want to get technical about the whole Ba’al thing, Ba’al means lord, and it was used to address several gods. Many gods in the Near East were named Ba’al-XXX
About your tags. I happen to respect by fellow magicians. If they say they have success working with a particular approach, I tend to believe them. Didn’t work for me, but it worked for them.
Also, never said a word about physical manifestation. I don’t see where anyone on this post did. I don’t find it to absolutely necessary, but I have experienced it and do not discount it.
History matters. Context matters. If the trend stopped at one or two that would be one thing, but several of the beings listed come from other mythological sources. Christians were also not the only people to participate in this practice. It is thoroughly documented.