Man’s enemies are not demons, but human beings like himself. – Lao Tzu

The Christian Church gathered all the elemental entities together under the title of demon. This is a misnomer with far-reaching consequences, for to the average mind the word demon means an evil thing, and the Nature spirits are essentially no more malevolent than are the minerals, plants, and animals. Many of the early Church Fathers asserted that they had met and debated with the elementals. — Manly P. Hall; The Secret Teachings of all Ages

It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell. – Buddha

In his De Ente Spirituali Paracelsus writes thus of these malignant beings: “A healthy and pure person cannot become obsessed by them, because such Larvæ can only act upon men if the later make room for them in their minds. A healthy mind is a castle that cannot be invaded without the will of its master; but if they are allowed to enter, they excite the passions of men and women, they create cravings in them, they produce bad thoughts which act injuriously upon the brain; they sharpen the animal intellect and suffocate the moral sense. Evil spirits obsess only those human beings in whom the animal nature is predominating. Minds that are illuminated by the spirit of truth cannot be possessed; only those who are habitually guided by their own lower impulses may become subjected to their influences.” (See Paracelsus, by Franz Hartmann.) — Manly P. Hall; The Secret Teachings of all Ages

These demons of an angelic nature, that were never joined to a mortal body, there were others who are called dii animales, soul-gods, or the deified souls of men after death. This way of canonization is of great antiquity, and was practised by the heathens in the beginning of the Hebrew government, and gave occasion to a kind of idolatry, which the people fell into in imitation of the nations about them.

Hesiod takes notice of this superstition, and asserts, that when those happy men of the first and golden age of the world were departed this life, great Jupiter promoted them to be demons, that is, keepers and protectors, or patrons, of earthly mortals, and overseers of their good and evil works. – Thomas Lewis; “Origines Hebrææ: The Anitquities of the Hebrew Republic”

Plato had said, “that when the great leader Jupiter drives his chariot swiftly in the heavens, he marches first, as disposing and taking care of all things, a vast host of gods and demons then follow, distributed into twelve parties, but that Vesta alone remains in the mansion of the gods.”

We seldom realize that our passions and hates create these demoniacal beings in the superphysical world, but this is one of the secretes of black magic. Every evil or debased thought or emotion of man helps to build these tearing, rending creatures, the innate qualities of which become, in the hands of those who know, agencies for the destruction of the powers of light. It also seems part of the plan that those who chain these demons shall themselves, fall victims to their own slaves, for one after another, the black magicians are sucked into the maelstrom of the astral hell. The lower planes of the astral world are the three hells of religion, and are the homes of these excess-created beings that battle each other with never-ending fury. — Manly P Hall; Magic: A Treatise on Esoteric Ethics

Do not worry over your past misdeeds – for worry itself breeds demons – but eliminate them from your aura, planting instead good seeds with constructive labors. — Manly P Hall; Magic: A Treatise on Esoteric Ethics

Animals and people could be “demons,” or could harbor demons within their bodies or minds. Sometimes, any alien group of people could be called demons. Europeans often visualized demons as black, like Negroes. On the other hand, dark-skinned people like the Singhalese maintained that demons were white and hairy.’ — Barbara G. Walker; The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets

Moe

Moe is the founder of GnosticWarrior.com. He is a father, husband, author, martial arts black belt, and an expert in Gnosticism, the occult, and esotericism.