In religion, folklore, and mythology a demon or demoness is a supernatural being that has generally been described as a malevolent spirit but outside Christian circles was viewed as a sort of elemental spirit: compare daemon and djinn. A demon is frequently depicted as a force that may be conjured and insecurely controlled. The "good" demon in recent use is largely a literary device (eg: Maxwell's demon). In common language, "demonizing" one's opponent is an aspersion. As the Indo-Iranian Avestan and Vedic traditions and also other branches of Indo-European mythologies show, the not ...

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• Demon - Etymology
• Demon - Demons in ancient Persia
• Demon - Demons in the Hebrew Bible
• Demon - Influences from Chaldean mythology
• Demon - In Jewish rabbinic literature
• Demon - The King and Queen of Demons
• Demon - In the New Testament and Christianity
• Demon - In Christian myth and legend
• Demon - War in Heaven
• Demon - Demonologies
• Demon - In pre-Islamic Arab culture
• Demon - In Islam
• Demon - In Hinduism
• Demon - Demons in other cultures and religions
• Demon - Demons in Hellenistic Neopaganism
• Demon - In art literature and television
• Demon - In science
• Demon - In games
• Demon - External link

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Demon, Demon - Etymology, Demon - Demons in the Hebrew Bible, Demon - Influences from Chaldean mythology, Demon - In Jewish rabbinic literature, Demon - The King and Queen of Demons, Demon - In the New Testament and Christianity, Demon - In Christian myth and legend, Demon - War in Heaven, Demon - Demonologies, Demon - In pre-Islamic Arab culture, Demon - In Islam, Demon - In Hinduism, Demon - Demons in other cultures and religions, Demon - Demons in Hellenistic Neopaganism, Demon - In art literature and television, Demon - In science, Demon - In games, Demon - External link

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The idea of demons is as old as religion itself, and the word "demon" seems to have ancient origins. The Merriam-Webster dictionary gives the etymology of the word as Greek daimon, probably from the verb daiesthai meaning "to divide, distribute." The Proto-Indo-European root *deiwos for god, originally an adjective meaning "celestial" or "bright, shining" has retained this meaning in many related Indo-European languages and cultures (Sanskrit deva, Latin deus, German Tiw), but also provided another other comm ...

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Demon, Demon - Etymology, Demon - Demons in the Hebrew Bible, Demon - Influences from Chaldean mythology, Demon - In Jewish rabbinic literature, Demon - The King and Queen of Demons, Demon - In the New Testament and Christianity, Demon - In Christian myth and legend, Demon - War in Heaven, Demon - Demonologies, Demon - In pre-Islamic Arab culture, Demon - In Islam, Demon - In Hinduism, Demon - Demons in other cultures and religions, Demon - Demons in Hellenistic Neopaganism, Demon - In art literature and television, Demon - In science, Demon - In games, Demon - External link

Read more here: » Demon: Encyclopedia II - Demon - Etymology

Baphomet is an idol or image of a being typically described as demonic. The name first came to public consciousness as a part of the suppression of the Knights Templar. Baphomet - In the Templar confessions. During the judicial proceedings and inquisitions of the Knights Templar, assertions were made that the knights engaged in pagan idolatry. Statements had been obtained from former knights, stating that the order secretly worshipped an entity they called Baphomet. These confessions were obtained under dur ...

Including:

• Baphomet - In the Templar confessions
• Baphomet - Eliphas Levi and Baphomet
• Baphomet - Criticism of Levi's interpretation
• Baphomet - Baphomet as a demon
• Baphomet - Etymology of the name Baphomet
• Baphomet - Baphomet in popular culture

Read more here: » Baphomet: Encyclopedia - Baphomet

Lilith is a female Mesopotamian night demon believed to harm male children. In Isaiah 34:14, Lilith is a kind of night-demon or animal, translated as onokentauros; in the Septuagint, as lamia; "witch" by Hieronymus of Cardia; and as screech owl in the King James Version of the Bible. In the Talmud and Midrash, Lilith appears as a night demon. The idea of Lilith as the first wife of Adam arose in the Middle Ages. Lilith - Etymology. Hebrew לילית lilith, Akkadian līlītuIncluding:

• Lilith - Etymology
• Lilith - Akkadian mythology
• Lilith - Kiskil-lilla
• Lilith - The Burney relief
• Lilith - Babylonian Lilitu
• Lilith - Lilith in the Bible
• Lilith - Christian Bible
• Lilith - Jewish tradition
• Lilith - Dead Sea scrolls
• Lilith - Talmud
• Lilith - Kabbala
• Lilith - Lilith as Adam's first wife
• Lilith - Modern magic
• Lilith - Lilith in popular culture

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In some forms of Western Christian belief, damnation to hell is the punishment of God for persons with unredeemed sin. Damnation can be a motivator for conversions to Christianity. One conception is of eternal suffocating heat, being taunted by demons for all eternity. (Actually, the Christian prophetic book of Revelation says that all demons will also be damned) Another conception, derived from the scripture about Gehenna ...

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• Damnation - Religious
• Damnation - Other uses of the word
• Damnation - Profane language
• Damnation - Etymology
• Damnation - In Music

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Deva (देव in Devanagari script, pronounced as "dévə") is the Sanskrit word for "god, deity". It can be variously interpreted as a spirit, demi-god, angel, deity or any supernatural being of high excellence. In Hindu mythology, the devas are opposed to the demonic Asuras. Deva Hinduism - Etymology. The word is from PIE *deiwos, originally an adjective meaning "celestial" or "shining", a PIE (not synchronic Sanskrit) vrddhi derivative from a root *diw "to shine", especially ...

Including:

• Deva Hinduism - Etymology
• Deva Hinduism - Vedic religion
• Deva Hinduism - Classical Hinduism

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A fairy is a spirit (supernatural being) found in the legends, folklore, and mythology of many cultures. They are generally humanoid in form, though of a higher, spiritual nature and so possessed of preternatural abilities, along with such mystical qualities as otherworldly beauty and grace, an ethereal glow, wings, or the like. They are also regarded as aloof, ephemeral, mercurial, and whimsical, among other qualities that place them outside of a human scope and have a tendency to make them associated or confused with other mythologi ...

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• Fairy - Etymology
• Fairy - Nature
• Fairy - Fairies in literature
• Fairy - Fairies in visual arts
• Fairy - Fairies in modern popular culture
• Fairy - In Debates

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For treatments of the vampire legend in fiction, see Vampire fiction. Vampires are mythical or folkloric creatures, typically held to be the re-animated corpses of human beings and said to subsist on human and/or animal blood (hematophagy), often having unnatural powers, heightened bodily functions, and/or the ability to physically transform. Some cultures have myths of non-human vampires, such as demons or animals like bats, dogs, and spiders. Vampires are often described as having a variety of additional powers and character traits, extremely variable in different traditions, and are a frequent subject ...

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• Vampire - Etymology
• Vampire - Vampires in ancient cultures
• Vampire - Folk beliefs in vampires
• Vampire - Slavic vampires
• Vampire - Romanian vampires
• Vampire - Roma and vampires
• Vampire - Other Old World vampires
• Vampire - New World
• Vampire - Asia and the Pacific
• Vampire - Eighteenth century vampire controversy
• Vampire - Contemporary belief in vampires
• Vampire - Traits of vampires
• Vampire - Natural phenomena that propagate the vampire myth
• Vampire - Pathology and vampirism
• Vampire - Finding vampires in graves
• Vampire - Vampire bats
• Vampire - Vampires in fiction
• Vampire - Sources

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Religion (see etymology below) —sometimes used interchangeably with faith or belief system—is commonly defined as belief concerning the supernatural, sacred, or divine; and the moral codes, practices, values, institutions and rituals associated with such belief. In its broadest sense some have defined it as the sum total of answers given to explain humankind's relationship with the universe. In the course of the development of religion, it has taken ...

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• Religion - Etymology
• Religion - Religion and science
• Religion - Philosophy and metaphysics
• Religion - Esotericism and mysticism
• Religion - Spirituality
• Religion - Myth
• Religion - Approaches to the study of individual religions
• Religion - Methods of studying religion subjectively in relation to one's own beliefs
• Religion - Methods of studying religion objectively in a scientific and religiously neutral fashion
• Religion - Development of religion
• Religion - Religion today
• Religion - Approaches to relating to the beliefs of others
• Religion - Exclusivism
• Religion - Inclusivism
• Religion - Pluralism
• Religion - Syncretism
• Religion - Universalism
• Religion - Systemization
• Religion - Religion and other approaches to forming beliefs about the nature of the universe
• Religion - Related philosophical stances
• Religion - Compare with

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According to The Alphabet of Ben-Sira, the lilin or lilim (singular lili) are the daughters of Lilith and Asmodai, engendered while Lilith was still Adam's wife. They are demons, with their function being similar to that of a succubus. While men feared them for this reason, mothers feared the attack of the lilin because they were also said to kidnap children, as Lilith herself did. Upon deserting Adam and turning against God, Lilith was warned that one hundred of her demonic children would die daily if she did not return to God. She refused, and so ...

Including:

• Lilin - Lilin in popular culture

Read more here: » Lilin: Encyclopedia - Lilin

In Unix and other computer multitasking operating systems, a daemon is a computer program that runs in the background, rather than under the direct control of a user; they are usually instantiated as processes. Typically daemons have names that end with the letter "d"; for example, syslogd is the daemon which handles the system log. Systems often start (or "launch") daemons at boot time: they often serve the function of responding to network requests, hardware activity, or other programs by performing some task. Daemons can also configure hardware (like devfsd on some Linux systems), run s ...

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A vârcolac in Romanian folklore may refer to several different figures. In some versions, a vârcolac is a wolf demon. Like the Norse Fenris, the vârcolac can swallow the moon and the sun and is thus responsible for eclipses. Some legends say it is a ghost or vampire (Strigoi) while others say it is a werewolf (in some versions, a werewolf that emerges from the corpses of babies [citation needed]). In Romanian, vârcolac commonly mean ...

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Mephistopheles (also Mephisto, Mephistophilus, Mephist and Mephistophilis as referred to in the original text) is a name given to one of the chief demons of Christian mythology that figure in European literary traditions. The name is frequently used as an alternative form of Satan or the Devil. Because the name Mephistopheles evolved during the Renaissance, Mephistopheles makes no appearance in the Bible. However, according to certain extra-biblical texts relating to Christian mysticism, and a number ...

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• Mephistopheles - Mephistopheles in popular culture

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Wraith - Etymology and meaning. The word 'wraith,' marked by the OED as being 'of obscure origin,' is first attested in 1513, with the meaning of 'ghost' or 'spectre' (that is, an apparition of a living or once-living being, possibly as a portent of death). In 18th century Scotland it was applied to water spirits, and in England it became used in a metaphoric sense to refer to wraith-like things, and to portents in general. The word may be of Scottish origin, possibly through Old Norse vörðr, meaning 'gu ...

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• Wraith - Etymology and meaning
• Wraith - Wraiths in modern fiction

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Belial (also Belhor, Baalial, Beliar, Beliall, Beliel) is the name for a demon in the Old Testament. He has been identified with Satan, both as a minion of Satan and sometimes as another name for Satan himself. Among certain Jewish sects, this demon was considered the chief of all the devils. He is also called "the angel of lawlessness" and "the king of this world", and is sometimes considered the father of idolatrous nations and the source of the seven spirits of seduction that enter men at birth, t ...

Including:

• Belial - In Judaism
• Belial - The Dead Sea Scrolls
• Belial - In Christianity
• Belial - Apocrypha
• Belial - In other religious traditions
• Belial - In fiction
• Belial - Medieval fiction and Milton
• Belial - Modern fiction film and popular culture

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Baphomet, as Lévi's illustration suggests, has occasionally been portrayed as a synonym of Satan or a demon, a member of the hierarchy of Hell. Baphomet appears in that guise as a character in James Blish's The Day After Judgment. Jack Chick claims that he is a demon worshipped by Freemasons, a claim that apparently originated with the Taxil hoax. The head of Lévi's Baphomet was inscribed with a pentagram which is a symbol occasionally adopted by Wiccans and other students of the Occult. A goat head inscribed within an invert ...

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Baphomet, Baphomet - In the Templar confessions, Baphomet - Eliphas Levi and Baphomet, Baphomet - Criticism of Levi's interpretation, Baphomet - Baphomet as a demon, Baphomet - Etymology of the name Baphomet, Baphomet - Baphomet in popular culture

Read more here: » Baphomet: Encyclopedia II - Baphomet - Baphomet as a demon

During the judicial proceedings and inquisitions of the Knights Templar, assertions were made that the knights engaged in pagan idolatry. Statements had been obtained from former knights, stating that the order secretly worshipped an entity they called Baphomet. These confessions were obtained under duress and were later recanted; therefore their validity is questionable. The Templar idol has been variously described as having a human skull for a head, as having two faces, as a cat-like creature or alternately as a bearded head. The idol was said to be worshipped by the Knights Templar in t ...

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Baphomet, Baphomet - In the Templar confessions, Baphomet - Eliphas Levi and Baphomet, Baphomet - Criticism of Levi's interpretation, Baphomet - Baphomet as a demon, Baphomet - Etymology of the name Baphomet, Baphomet - Baphomet in popular culture

Read more here: » Baphomet: Encyclopedia II - Baphomet - In the Templar confessions

A much more recent and well known depiction shows Baphomet in the form of a winged humanoid goat with a pair of breasts and a torch on his head between his horns. This image comes from Eliphas Lévi's 1854 Dogme et rituel de la haute magie (in English known as Transcendental Magic). Lévi considered the Baphomet to be a depiction of the absolute in symbolic form. Lévi on the symbolism of his drawing: "The goat on the frontispiece carries the sign of the pentagram on the forehead, with one point at the top, a symbo ...

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Baphomet, Baphomet - In the Templar confessions, Baphomet - Eliphas Levi and Baphomet, Baphomet - Criticism of Levi's interpretation, Baphomet - Baphomet as a demon, Baphomet - Etymology of the name Baphomet, Baphomet - Baphomet in popular culture

Read more here: » Baphomet: Encyclopedia II - Baphomet - Eliphas Levi and Baphomet

The words fae and faerie came to English from French and, ultimately, Latin. An interesting correlation is the word "fey," which may be derived ultimately from the same Latin root and is now returning to mean the same as "fae." The Latin root fata, meaning fate in the sense of one of the Parcae, is an indication that fays have abilities associated with knowledge (foresight) and manipulation (luck, blessing, cursing) of fate, both of whic ...

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Fairy, Fairy - Etymology, Fairy - Nature, Fairy - Fairies in literature, Fairy - Fairies in visual arts, Fairy - Fairies in modern popular culture, Fairy - In Debates

Read more here: » Fairy: Encyclopedia II - Fairy - Etymology