[jordyn]

Since so may seem to be fascinated with combating demons, maybe an understanding of what they're dealing with will help them understand why it's generally a bad idea.

blood magick, sex magick, the promise of a soul in it's service. Fear, awe and fascination, offered by an animal with intelligence ruled by base needs of glory and power, easily swayed by thoughts and dreams. A society that's happier to engage in over indulgence, selfish needs and immediate gratification. People that live how demons and devils do. Preying on the weak, scaring the fragile and living off of their essence.

I was that person, a powerless female dealing with raging hormones and the draw of the power they can offer, spells, rites, rituals. Sliced arms with offerings of blood, debasing acts to deny humanity. Eons of worship in various guises, ancient gods that were offered children and still beating hearts. Unnameable spirits amped up by extreme and fundamental religions eager to unite everyone under their banner of good and evil still holding on to residual spiritualism from passing cultures. Offering anything, doing anything and destroying people to serve them.

I've turned from their influence years ago and even though i've sworn off my attachments, they're still there. In the inkling of needing a tarot reading, the desire to once again dust off the altar and retake up a dagger to feel the blood trickle into a chalice.

At that point i sit down, remember the truth of those times, the nightmares, the weird things happening, the people and energies that gathered around me...the people i hurt in my quest to control what i was never meant to control.  I accept that i'm a human that is able to balance my spiritual needs with the strength of humanity rather than giving over to the easy side of things and losing myself to the ethereal in the endeavor.

Demon hunting may be the cool thing now, empowered by a multitude of media outlets, from fact and fiction, to fantasy and imagination but when it's all said and done, it's the human doing it, not a spirit that without us would be nothing but the wind.

But please, if you feel the need to enforce their power and confirm their control, use symbols made of paper and metal, carved and designed fetishes to repel and defend from them, in the end it's just a mental crutch to embolden a human spirit to deal with inhuman energies, not of their own free will but through things made by man and given power from their belief, derived from the very things they're trying to drive away.

Honestly, I find it easier to sit back, enjoy my life and let the universe take care of things as they're meant to be. Karma offers better revenge and reward than i ever could with a pretty altar decorated with pretty things and some carefully chosen words on a specific day, chanted at a specific hour with the moon in a specific position and a variety of specific herbs, incense and colors dedicated to whatever called to my need and fancy at the time.

What happens when you give up too much of your soul?

i didn't do it myself, i was going to get rid of it for a friend of mine... who hasn't exactly told me about how it all happened... im just trying to get as much info as possible

[jordyn]

The more information you know about exactly what is vexing the person, you'll be better equipped.  Rather than seeking a way to be rid of it, understand why it's there and then you'll know better how to combat it. There's many ways and reasons they can become attached to a thing.

If it's there by invite, nothing you can do will make it go away. If the person can't make it go away themselves, then it'll always be there. Like an addiction...that's a very good comparison in my opinion. Once you start the pursuit it's always itching for control and being human can suck!

[Redfan45x]

i didn't do it myself, i was going to get rid of it for a friend of mine... who hasn't exactly told me about how it all happened... im just trying to get as much info as possible

How old are you?

i am twenty, but i was raised around the magicks of the world and have a basic understanding of demons, but not much... and my friend says they have attempted to get rid of the thing, but nothing has worked... but he doesn't know much about that stuff. and i was never informed of how the demon came attached to him.

[jordyn]

blood magick, sex magick, the promise of a soul in it's service. Fear, awe and fascination, offered by an animal with intelligence ruled by base needs of glory and power, easily swayed by thoughts and dreams. A society that's happier to engage in over indulgence, selfish needs and immediate gratification. People that live how demons and devils do. Preying on the weak, scaring the fragile and living off of their essence.

I was that person, a powerless female dealing with raging hormones and the draw of the power they can offer, spells, rites, rituals. Sliced arms with offerings of blood, debasing acts to deny humanity. Eons of worship in various guises, ancient gods that were offered children and still beating hearts. Unnameable spirits amped up by extreme and fundamental religions eager to unite everyone under their banner of good and evil still holding on to residual spiritualism from passing cultures. Offering anything, doing anything and destroying people to serve them.

Well, that's one, fairly poetic, way of putting it, I suppose.

Compare and contrast with how psychologist Rollo May defined 'the daimonic':

Any natural function which has the power to take over the whole person. Sex and eros, anger and rage, and the craving for power are examples. The daimonic can be either creative or destructive and is normally both. When this power goes awry, and one element usurps control over the total personality, we have "daimon possession," the traditional name through history for psychosis. The daimonic is obviously not an entity but refers to a fundamental, archetypal function of human experience – an existential reality.

Which is basically everything that you said, minus the superstitious belief that demons are separate, external entities. That's a distinction which can be - in general terms - applied to most supernatural phenomena: the urge to lay the blame at the feet of external forces, rather than accept our own deficiencies, to cope with our failings and frailties by enabling a fiction. Demons are simply convenient "scapegoats and repositories for all sorts of unacceptable, threatening human impulsions, such as anger, rage, guilt and sexuality."[2]  But to quote Conrad, "The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness."[3]

Of course, the problem isn't that we cope by enabling fictions. Most of the time our enabling fictions are true enough to make an otherwise overwhelming world more 'user friendly.' The problem for some is recognizing enabling fictions for what they are.[4]


[1] Leeming, David A.; Madden, Kathryn; Marlan, Stanton (Eds.) (2010) Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. p.198
[2] Diamond, Stephen A. (1996) Anger, Madness, and the Daimonic: The Psychological Genesis of Violence, Evil, and Creativity. p.62
[3] Conrad, Joseph (1911) Under Western Eyes.
[4] Farrell, Kirby (2012) "Waiter, There's a Demon In My Soup!" Psychology Today.

you know how i love my poetry...

I'm not going to disagree with you as i don't know where it all comes from, but wherever or whatever it is it's always been around me and no one is quite sure what the human mind is capable of, I like my superstitious, symbols and omen seeing self. 
 
psychosis is a questionable word to use though, there's nothing psychotic about me, chemical imbalance...I rather like my serotonin or would it be endorphins? 

I used to do some whacked out **it for those beliefs...and things happened outside of my own perception that were experienced by other people.  *shrugs Maybe i have some mass hypnosis or group psychosis inducing ability?  However those who are as serious about pursuing the path on either side should be made aware of exactly what other people can do for the belief. We have a lot of people popping in to hunt them, but what about the people who empower them?

self mutilation and a promiscuous personality are just minor offerings, and a zealous human denying their humanity is dangerous beast, no matter what drives them.

i am twenty, but i was raised around the magicks of the world and have a basic understanding of demons, but not much... and my friend says they have attempted to get rid of the thing, but nothing has worked... but he doesn't know much about that stuff. and i was never informed of how the demon came attached to him.

read over the monstropedia, demon section to get a better understanding as to what exactly drives demonology, there's a link to it in the board introduction, "knowing is half the battle."


what demon is it? Learning it's name is always the first step...