Demons and Sorcery

I've been thinking lately about sorcery and demons.

According to most religions, demons are spirits who picked the wrong side in the primordial conflict, and who are now trying in their various ways to deal with their unembodied situation. Demons have always been problematic to the living. Some are relatively harmless, like one I've treated who lived long enough with its human host to absorb a moral sense and to develop a philosophical interest in its own predicament, as well as taking on components of its host’s identity. Some demons, however, are just out to do major damage to all things human, like their titular head.

The difficult thing with demonic possession is to be sure it really is OK with the host. I wouldn’t choose it myself, but hosts sometimes welcome their demons. The demonic dyad allows both human and demon to experience what neither is capable of alone: material, corporeal existence, however brief, along with shared consciousness and uninterrupted metaphysical memory from before the beginning.

Demonic possession of other living creatures is problematic as well. I know of one family whose dog made prophecies, all of which came true. Difficulties arose because the prophecies were things of interest only to a dog, such as that a troublesome cat would soon be moving into the neighborhood, or that there would shortly be a change in his brand of dog chow. The family found it disconcerting enough to get rid of the dog; with Humane Society help he was successfully (and usefully) placed with the owner of a kennel. Disembodied demons can haunt a place, and sometimes it is hard to tell if the haunting is demonic or ghostly. Ghosts won’t possess a person or anything else. They are usually just hanging around trying to get something finished before they move on to the next phase.

Demons are much scarier than ghosts. Sorcerers invoke the demonic by offering corporeality as the bait and then attempting to control the powers they call through black magic. It isn’t the only magic they use, but it is what makes them by definition sorcerers rather than simply magicians or wizards. Sorcery is extremely dangerous and unpredictable. A sorcerer might spend weeks or months calling a particular demon, only to have it, or another, respond unexpectedly. If the demon called is malevolent—and most are—sorcery lays the way open for it to enter the natural, material world and wreak havoc.

No wonder sorcery is illegal.