Demons, the malevolent kind

[CuAnnan]

We see a lot of people come into these guilds talking about being attacked by demons.
Clearly, this is them having maintained their Judaeochristian world view regarding Good and Evil or having inherited another world-view that has similar bent.
Not all of us have analogs of demons, some of us do.
So, I'm thinking it would be useful to have a vast swathe of viewpoints on the malevolent entities out there.

We have analogs to demons. They attacked Teamhair every year at Samhain during the Ulster Cycle. The Fomor are pretty demonic. But are these things outright malevolent? Not really. They're the dispossessed previous tenants of Ireland. They are malevolent towards the Irish or, more specifically, the Gael.

I have iron on my hearth, not because I actively believe in them but because my ancestors thought it was a good idea. My grandfather's (Gods be good to him) house had horse shoes above the front and back doors and he was a devout Catholic who commented on our Fir Bolg ancestry.

Have I ever encountered one of these beings? Maybe, but I was on some mind altering substances at the time so it could well have been the drugs.  

[Fiddlers Green]

Yazvata are entities that are not native to our cosmos.
Their mere presence is dissonant unless they are aware of the situation and take action to keep from tainting the area around them. Some can, some can't. This doesn't make them malicious (tho some are) so much as banefull.
Amesha in partate to Ahriman are, in some cases, the very definition of malicious. At least from a human perspective. Entities that spread plague, death, chill of night, darkness, hatred, and fear as part and parcel to their nature are rarely considered good. As for malice, some enjoy their jobs, some don't.

On a more local level, there are some spirits who have developed a marked distaste for humans, or humans with specific classifications. That they take action on this distaste may be considered malice. I have so rarely as to consider it nigh unique encountered spirits that had no discernible reason for their vicious actions. Doing it, for the LOLz so to speak. All things considered, I am inclined to believe the entity was in some way affected by a Yazvata's passing... however, someone good and flummoxed the site before I could do more than contain it, so I can only share hemn observations, which are hardly suitable for the topic.  

[Aino Ailill]

What is a demon if not a malevolent entity?  

[TeaDidikai]

Aino Ailill

What is a demon if not a malevolent entity?

A breed thereof.

Though, I have seen malevolent entities that are completely human.

We have creatures that have proper titles commonly translated into English as "demon". Most of these do cause problems for humans, but that's a function of purity and exposure during states of being impure, not some active malevolent intent towards humanity.

Others are more picky, and my suspicion is that interpretations of malevolence stem less from the beings intent and more from their reaction to prohibitions within the culture.  

[rmcdra]

In my particular world view, demons are entities that lack spirit and are purely things of the material realm, can be bodily or mental. They serve the Demiurge and his Archons by doing what ever it takes to enforce that the Demiurge is in charge and keep the material world functioning.

Personally I don't see them as evil per se as the texts make them out to be but I do understand why they wrote so viciously against them. They create a distraction for those that seek gnosis within Gnosticism. In worst cases though, they can create a Mr. Dark scenarios and influence a Gnostic into inadvertently a becoming a servant of the Demiurge.  

[CuAnnan]

Aino Ailill

What is a demon if not a malevolent entity?

The Jews would believe they are those that do the more nasty jobs that YHWH needs done. They're not evil, they just have sucky jobs.  

[bondage bunnie]

There is no single world view or religion that can be all correct. Just because you don't believe in daemons doesn't mean they do not exist. Just like Catholics don't believe in anything beyond what they are told to believe in.

Zionist daemons are angels that rebelled against "God".
Zoroastrianism daemons are forces and entities from both good and evil who do the work of the "creator" or "destroyer".

I have experienced entities outside my belief mythos that have been very aggressive and destructive. Doesn't mean i believe in Christianity beyond the fact "The Virgin Mary" told one of the best worse lies in the history of the world.  

[rmcdra]

bondage bunnie

I have experienced entities outside my belief mythos that have been very aggressive and destructive. Doesn't mean i believe in Christianity beyond the fact "The Virgin Mary" told one of the best worse lies in the history of the world.

Though highly unlikely from a historical and empirical perspective, from a mythic standpoint it does describe the state one must be in to bring Christ into one's own world.  

[CuAnnan]

bondage bunnie

There is no single world view or religion that can be all correct.

Why not?

bondage bunnie

Just because you don't believe in daemons doesn't mean they do not exist

Nowhere did I claim it did.

bondage bunnie

Just like Catholics don't believe in anything beyond what they are told to believe in.

Quit it with the religion bashing. All you're showing is your ignorance of Catholicism.

bondage bunnie

Zionist daemons are angels that rebelled against "God".

There's no such thing as Zionist daemons. Zionism is a political movement, not a religious one. Secondly, the Jews do not hold this position. They believe that demons are completely under the command of YHWH.

bondage bunnie

"The Virgin Mary" told one of the best worse lies in the history of the world.

Prove it. Seriously, I want to see proof for this position.
I don't care if you couch it with "I believe", because you've already asserted it as fact.
For someone bitching about maintaining that just because you believe it doesn't make it so, you seem to be dictating that the Christian beliefs are wrong. Hypocrite much? Or is it just ok when you do it?
I ******** detest this form of hypocrisy. Your name isn't Chloe is it?  

[redtearsblackwings]

Aino Ailill

What is a demon if not a malevolent entity?

Thats a very good point.  

[redtearsblackwings]

bondage bunnie

There is no single world view or religion that can be all correct.

I agree with this. I think that out of all the believe systems that are around there can't be just one that has got it compleatly right or compleatly wrong. I think that little bits are correct. But I really wouldn't know which ones they are.  

[rmcdra]

Aino Ailill

What is a demon if not a malevolent entity?

An entity of matter, matter beings substances that are hylic, psychic, or both, that perpetuates the ignorance of God because they are fulfilling their duties to keep the world of matter working as it should and reinforce that the Demiurge is God.  

[Shearaha]

I've never delt with anything I'd call a demon. I have delt with/am dealing with an angry, not sure I'd call him malevolent, location bound spirit. He's very agressive and doesn't like humans in his area, though seams to have no problem with the local wildlife, I'd simply avoid his area, but as it stands my current home is on the edges of his established range.  

[Recursive Paradox]

Pretty much anything that one would call malevolent in Etherism just doesn't think like us and has needs that... well... are very bad for us.

Void Aspect, for instance, eats everything. Including people. I'm sure if someone came across a Void Essence it would be a very unpleasant (perhaps even fatal) encounter. They might attribute the word demon to such a spiritual reflection.

There are Pain Essences. Fear Essences. Fury Essences. All sorts of things that will have exceedingly unpleasant effects on us just by existing or by their nature. That doesn't make them malevolent, it's just how they exist.

Even from what I understand of demons in Abrahamic Monotheism, they were mostly servants of YHVH acting out shitty jobs (like Cu said). Catholicism as I experienced it reformatted them into a rebellion of angels with the Morning Star at their head but that always seemed a bit nonsensical once you actually read Revelations and got historical context.

bondage bunnie

There is no single world view or religion that can be all correct

I find it distinctly amusing that you make an assertion as per your world view that immediately negates itself logically.

It's like the people who make objective reality claims about how all of reality is subjective. The irony. It poisons me with hilarity.  

[TeaDidikai]

redtearsblackwings

I think that out of all the believe systems that are around there can't be just one that has got it compleatly right

This is called an argument from ignorance. Your thoughts on the matter do not negate objective reality.

Quote:

or compleatly wrong.

So you believe that the Frosts raping little kids has a point of merit in it?