“How you have fallen from heaven,
morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate:
‘Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble,
the man who made the world a wilderness,
who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?”
(Isaiah 14:12)
Translation errors are the reason why Luzifer is also called the light bringer, morning star or the son of morning. Once one of God’s most beautiful angels among the ranks of Powers, a divine knight who fought in the name of Heaven - Luzifer’s pride and rebellious spirit are widely known as the ground on which the most legendary war in the history of the universe grew roots.
Pride and rebellion are his metier, so in his being Luzifer evokes revolution, narcissm, egotism and self-display. He inspires people to question authority and recklessly strive for power for their own selfish needs, but also inspires the already powerful to float on their inflated egos and making people prone to vanity and arrogance.
In literature, a lot many names have taken on the role of Luzifer and acted as synonymes. Other names associated with him include Lucifer, Satan, Beelzebub, or even Asmodeus, making it difficult to distinguish between them. While none of these entities are exclusively the same, the Devil and Luzifer were both angels who had fallen for the same reasons: Their loathing for the human creation and resentment towards Gods for choosing them before his ‘true children’.
Various myths rank around the Devil as a person, or even just a concept of the big bad evil created by God to act as His antagonist. Luzifer distances himself from these tales. Soon deciding that he could bear God’s doings no longer he sparked the most infamous revolt, leading his fellow angels into the battle that was going to be their ultimate downfall.
Beware of this shining rogue soldier, who used to be a warrior among angels and still stands as a general among the fallen. The idol of the revolution, who will show you neither mercy nor tenderness, has learned to rebuild himself from the ashes of an ancient war that left him more full of hatred and disdain than he has ever been.
I am called Asmodeus among mortals,
and my business is to plot against the newly wedded,
so that they may not know one another.
And I sever them utterly by many calamities;
and I waste away the beauty of virgins and estrange their hearts.
(Testament of Solomon)
A demon of wrath, a prince of demons, father of all monsters. Once one of the burning seraphim basking in God’s immediate presence, he became a demon of the highest order after his fall, ruling over 72 legions of spirits in hell and guarding the underworldly treasure chambers.
Asmodeus inspires gambling, deceit, lust, revenge, lust murder and anything else feeding human pleasures. He parts couples, breaks marriages and relationships and appears to be a gentleman in behaviour, yet his malice is said to be without equal. Furthermore he teaches the arts and sciences of astronomy, arithmetic, geomancy and craftmanship and the skill of becoming invisible. He carries deep wisdom and knowledge and will answer any question given to him.
According to one of the stories in the Book of Tobit, Asmodeus once went out of his way to murder every single suitor of a girl named Sara - seven to count for - destroying all her attempts at a happy marriage. Only with the aid of the archangel Raphael was it posible to banish Ashmodai to the landscapes of Egypt and secure the woman’s safety. Asmodeus also finds mention in the Ars Goetia as one of seventy-two spirits bound by king Solomon, whom he assisted in building his infamous temple.
While sex alone is not his most prominent interest, Asmodeus practices it frequently with mortals and immortals of all shapes, sexes and sizes, and is not adverse to indulging his partners in any way or form they desire. Although he may offer them the world on a silver platter and set their loins on fire with but a twitch of his finger, he will also pluck their wanton souls from their bodies with the same dazzling smile. Regret is a stranger to him.
Affectionate and funloving, it is easy to mistake him for the handsome savior your lonely heart has been yearning for all these years. His kisses let your knees grow weak, yet so much more hides beneath a smile that you can never hope to crack. Beware this charming heartbreaker, for the pleasures he may give to you come at the highest price imaginable..
Any hope of subduing him is false;
the mere sight of him is overpowering.
He makes the depths churn like a boiling cauldron
and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.
When he rises up, the mighty are terrified;
they retreat before his thrashing.
Nothing on earth is his equal—a creature without fear.
(Job 41:1-34)
The Leviathan is said to be an enormous demon of chaos and darkness, a Grand Prince of Demons and King of Monsters. Depending on the source God either created him as a giant sea serpent, a whale or even a crocodile who, once the world comes to face its end, will devour every soul falling into the abyss and fight his brother Behemoth in a deadly battle.
The story goes that God created two leviathans, a male and a female, for Him to play with, so He could prove that battling evil on Earth is but child’s play to Him. Upon realising what destruction the serpents would cause if they were fruitful, He murdered the female and gave her skin to Adam and Eve in Eden. From there on, the Leviathan would remain alone in this world, building a trinity with the land monster Behemoth and the great bird Ziz.
He inspires arrogance, resentment, schadenfreude, envy and jealousy. The “sorrow for another’s good” and selfish claim of your heart’s desire are what he incites. Some say he was the serpent seducing Eve to eat from the apple tree, or that he is to blame for the murder of Abel through his envious brother Cain.
As a sin of flesh, Envy fills one’s eyes with darkness to see what others have and crave it, soiling all of one’s body and soul. Leviathan is feared by God and men alike, the prince of liars, and a manipulator of the highest caliber.
A unique monster that knows no compare and who is alone in this world. Robbed off his love, the Leviathan has been wandering the planet in loneliness and grief for centuries. Beware, for the serpent hides behind a smile, and selfish Leviathan always takes more than he gives.
“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
No man can serve two masters:
for either he will hate the one, and love the other;
or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.
Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
(Matthew 6:24)
Mammon - a powerful demon of wealth and greed; a fallen angel who is said to be as old as the human soul, for it was Greed that made Eve crave the apple and its taste, and the knowledge it held. While the word stood as just another term for ‘money’ and ‘riches’ for so long, the lord of its essence is the grand prince Mammon himself.
The love of money above everything else is what he spreads, invading men’s hearts like a disease and corrupting their soul. Mammon inspires injustice, greed, corruption, egotism and idolatry. There is no place for moral and altruism in a world that is reigned by possession.
Not only does he have control over Earth’s stock market and most influential politicians, Mammon was also the first demon to mine the valuable metals buried underground and provide them for the construction of Hell’s cities and palaces. With the same breath, he also taught humanity how to break open the heart of the planet to reach for its valuable resources. The Industrial Revolution is to blame on him. Furthermore, he keeps an eye on Hell’s treasure chambers (together with Asmodeus, whom he only trusts as far as he can punch him).
Infamous for his cooperation with the sins of Gluttony and Lust, Mammon can be found wherever money and luxury goods are at fault. He poses as a marvellous business man with a great understanding for numbers and no qualms about robbing even the poorest off their last pennies. The industrial world driven by mass consumption is his paradise on Earth.
Even if his Fall from Heaven supposedly has been one of the quickest, leaving him bent with his eyes facing the ground, his ambition exceeds his shame by far. Beware this ice cold trickster, who would betray his own brothers in an instant if the payment suited his tastes.
“When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert;
When I saw your ancestors,
it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree.
But when they came to Baal Peor,
they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol
and became as vile as the thing they loved.”
(Hosea 9:10)
Belphegor is a peculiar demon of indifference and licentiousness who hardly ever leaves his realm in the sixth circle of Hell. Originally an old deity of the Moabites and worshipped as the Baal of mount Peor, this demon incites orgies and other sins of the flesh and is sometimes depicted as a huge phallus. After his cult dwindled and the source of his power was about to subside, he entered the ranks of Hell as a Great Prince and the deadly sin of Sloth.
He represents both spiritual apathy and extreme laziness, inspires procrastination and the abandonment of God and any spiritual connections with the world. He is said to help people make great discoveries and ingenious inventions, offering wealth and treasures to those who summon him, tempting them with earthly riches.
In the early stages of Christianity’s rise, Peor was dispatched to Earth in order to research the supposedly existing bliss of marriage as opposed to the horrible tales some of the damned spoke of at the gates of Hell. Thus Belphegor moved to Florence, searched, found and finally married a woman, only to flee back to the depths of Hell in horror, reporting that there was no happiness to be found in married life.
His experiences on Earth keep him adverse to the idea of close contact with humanity, thus he prefers to corrupt them from a distance. Belphegor makes his presence known through obscur messages and signs meant to confuse the souls he preys on into anxiety and paranoia, and is difficult to conjure in person.
Remember always that the Lord of mount Peor used to be a god, and he never forgot what it means to be treated as such. Beware this plain looking little scientist who sneaks into your life unseen and tempts you to waste your most precious years and potential, leading you astray on godforsaken paths.