MISCONCEPTIONS ON DEMONOLATRY
Demonolatry is a religious practice that centers around the worship, honoring, and revering of demons, which are commonly referred to as the Demonic Divine.
While the rise in popularity of paganism and witchcraft has brought on a level of acceptance for the unknown and occult, the more traditional and or "darker" paths remain ostracized even within their own communities.
Much of this stems from a lack of education, secrecy, available materials, and over all practice amongst practitioners of the magical community. Today's practices seem to be based more on intention, nature, and good will for all. Whereas practitioners of Demonolatry typically embrace topics like baneful magic, Hermeticism, Renaissance Occultism, Satanism, and Luciferianism - all of which can be difficult topics to get accurate information on, let alone them being easily obtainable.
It doesn't help that most orders around these practices live behind a wall of secrecy and are not open to sharing their information with the none-initiate.
So for today's post I'll be discussing aspects of public or solitary Demonolatry. This is because even with the rise of Demonolatry in the magical world, it's not only a modern religion, but much of it's practices are secluded to private groups typically referred to as traddems or 'Traditional Demonolatry/Demonolater.'
Please keep in mind, this is an opinion piece. I don’t expect everyone to agree with everything said here, but it is meant to target an overall audience to provide a general understanding of what Demonolatry is.
ᴅᴇᴍᴏɴᴏʟᴀᴛʀʏ is the worship of demons. This is someone who reveres the demonic similar to how others worship deities because Demonolaters see the demonic as gods. They are divine beings and held in high honor, deserving of the utmost respect. While within Demonolatry ‘worshiping’ is used a bit more loosely than compared to other religious paths, Demonolaters do not see themselves beneath the divine, but in tangin with them. The Demonic Divine are revered out of respect.
ᴅᴇᴍᴏɴᴏʟᴏɢʏ is the study of demons. To call yourself demonologist, or to practice demonology simply means you study demons - both within their academic and occult understandings. It does not require you to worship or make any type of contact with the demonic unless you choose to do so to test theories and research.
ᴅᴇᴍᴏɴɪᴄ ᴅɪᴠɪɴᴇ are the divine gods within Demonolatry. They are held in the highest regards and respected as such. There are nine traditional demons known as the Nine Demonic Divine - Lucifer, Satan, Leviathan, Belial, Belphegor, Flereous, Amducious, Verrine, Unsere, Eurynomous - but Demonolaters see all demons as divine beings. You’ll also see them commonly referred to as simply demons, or the demonic.
ʜɪᴇʀᴀʀᴄʜɪᴇs are a way to categorize and label demons within various grimoires as written over rh centuries. Each demon has a rank within Hell, and depending on rank, are said to command a certain amount of legions. The most common ranks are: Emperor, Empress, Prince, Duke, Duchess, Earl, and Lieutenant. However, hierarchies can vary person to person and are not set in stone.
ᴍᴀsᴋs is a common term used within Demonolatry groups to describe various aspects of the Demonic Divine. Some demons have a history of having origins as gods before being demonized by Christianity. Demonolaters recognize their demonic aspect as being another ‘mask’ of theirs, so to speak, and acknowledge all aspects of the Demonic Divine.
Incorrect. This idea that demons want your soul is more so from Hollywood theatrics than anything else. What would they even do with your soul? It’s much more in their favor to set up a benefactor relationship with someone to continue to receive energy and power from offerings over a period of time. This also comes across as very hubristic as to think your soul is that important to them.
This always boggles me. We’ve already established that most of the demonic have origins as deities that were demonized by Christians to make followers turn from their gods and worship the Christian god. Demons are commonly seen as other masks of deities within Demonolatry. If someone isn’t Christian, then following the idea that demons are evil would be null.
ᴅᴇᴍᴏɴs ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴀᴅᴠᴀɴᴛᴀɢᴇ ᴏғ ʏᴏᴜ
Wrong. Demons don't want to take advantage of you any more than any other god. When we look to the divine, we look for guidance and understanding, for explanations and finding a higher purpose in ourselves. This also applies to working with demons.
Absolutely not. The core of demonolatry is holding yourself to a higher standard and learning to stand on your own two feet. They don’t want you to rely on them, they want you to learn to rely on yourself. Satanism, Luciferianism, and self godhood are all common practices within Demonolatry.
Again, untrue. Do demons care about every single aspect of our lives? Probably not. That doesn't mean they don't care. It does take longer to build bonds with demons in my experience, but I've also come to develop some wonderfully supportive relationships with the Demonic Divine because of this.
ᴅᴇᴍᴏɴs ᴅᴏɴ’ᴛ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴏʀ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴡᴏʀsʜɪᴘ
Why wouldn't they? Worshipping does not equate to submissive behavior that seems to commonly be connected to it. Per Oxford Languages:
Worship - the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity.
False. The demonic are known for coming in when needed or when necessary, and heading out once their job is done. That doesn't mean they won't come back later. It simply means what they needed to work on you with has come to completion, and now it's time to take up a new lesson with someone else, if needed.
The divine are above humanity and are not bound to our own personal inclination of right or wrong. We see this commonly in myths on gods, and the same applies to the Demonic Divine. They are divine individuals who have their own whims of fancy. They're certainly not going to let a mortals view of right or wrong hold them back.
No, they do not. Pacts are a major deal within Demonolatry and are not done lightly. If you complete a pack there is no getting out of it. You can also probably get whatever it is that you want or need by using another means.
Pacts are a carefully written transaction between a person and demon. They require detailed explanation of what you provide and what you will receive in return. They're typically used for large endeavors that cannot be achieved via typical exchange with the demonic.
Unfortunately no, there's no physical demons popping up in our living rooms asking for our souls. It's safe to assume that everything in the movies is wrong.
This is an interesting topic. While there are unverified demons, verifying them is usually left to traddem groups going through a long screening process to verify said demon. If you were to come in contact with an unverified demon and try to go about verifying it without the required experience, you run the risk of a lot of dangers and possibly working with something that's not even a demon.
First things first: this is a personal view on the subject and my reasoning behind it. If you disagree, cool. You do you.
Otherkin is based on the idea that someone has had a past life as something other than human. This can range from an animal to a mythical creature. Demonkin implies that you were a demon in a past life, and that demon has died and been reincarnated as a human.
Demonolatry sees demons as gods, as higher divine beings. Within Demonolatry if you were to claim that you're a demonkin, you thereby saying a divine being, a god, has died. This would be similar to saying you were Odin in a past life. Demonolatry sees all demonic beings as divine.
Theoretically, you couldn't claim to be a demonkin because divine beings don't die. Of course this is just the belief within the religious practice of Demonolatry, and what you choose to practice is up to you.
I hope this provided answers to some questions regarding Demonolatry and debunked some of the more common misconceptions around it.
It should be noted, this is an opinion piece, and based on my personal practices, views, and conversation with other practitioners. Demonolatry does not have an official religious text, but it does have some underlying rules and conditions that are followed.
As with all practices, I simply ask that our views and practices be respected as much as any other.
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