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On Angels and Demons by blackantlers
note: this was a comment on a tumblr thread on how weird angels look, especially in Biblical texts and whatnot
Sup, occultist here. I have mostly worked with Qabalistic/Kabbalistic rituals and operations such as the Goetia (legendary book of 72 demons) and the book of Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, which were integral in magickal orders such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn as well as Aleister Crowley’s Thelemic orders which I am a part of.
I feel like I have some things to contribute.
If you look at angels, demons, and deities from Jungian-psychological standpoint, they are achetypes, thoughtforms, and different frequencies of energy interpreted differently during visions filtered through your own mind, which were an important part of ancient mystical tradition. Visions can mean lots of things, but it doesn’t always mean ‘insanity’ as many materialist scientists will argue. Everything from dreams, trance state imagery, and so on, and even drug trips are valid in lifting the veil of human perception.
Most people only see things with a fraction of their mind, it would be like denying the theory of black/dark matter just because we currently can’t detect it.
A person’s interpretation of an angel will vary on their personal beliefs, expectations, previous lives, and so on. While on paper they may sound terrifying, there is really nothing to fear as long as you have provided necessary ritual precautions (this can be elaborate depending on what system you work with). and the belief that all beings are on equal grounds, including God.
In studying the art and science of magick, the Qabalistic diagram of the Tree of Life, a model which can consist of an infinite number of correspondences, there is the descent of ‘spirit’ or ‘divinity’ to matter, or life as we know it in the construction of known experience, which we can relate to ‘big bang theory’ and such.
Anyway, back to angels and demons, they are in short an independent energy frequency that is filtered through your sense of perception. I have seen beings that had countless limbs, eyes, wings, and multiple animal heads. To paraphrase legendary occult practitioner Eliphas Levi (creator of our modern concept of Baphomet), “when working with demons, only do good and fear nothing”. Same thing with angels. Obviously a first encounters with an angel or demon will provoke awe and terror, sublime in the true sense, you must remain in control of the situation (and yourself).
I’m not an authority on the subject of such things, just felt like contributing~
On Angels and Demons
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It didn't help that my arrogant roommate at the time claimed responsibility for that apparition. I now believe he's full of horseshit; that encounter was meant for me alone and it taught me some harsh lessons including what a clueless moron he was (claimed to be a theistic Satanist, acted more like a LaVeyan).
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Ah, LaVeyan satanists. :I That's silly. Unless your roommate was involved -with- the experience explicitly, if you performed a ritual and a demon appeared, of course it was meant for you to see only.
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Well, I didn't perform the ritual. It was more a matter of the being found me in a dream. Terrified me but now I understand what it was doing.
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Interesting! :O Yes, I wound up doing some stuff I didn't understand at the time, mostly by accident, too >>; I made archetypes and personal manifestations
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That was also around the time I started remembering some disturbing past lives, and the apartment had a sudden infestation of carpenter ants (there were none and then within an hour there were thousands of them). Thinking back, something really weird was going down in the late summer of 2012.
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And strangely enough, it was also around that time that I chose to call myself "Rose LaCroix" unaware of how that name could be interpreted (I got the "Lacroix" from my fiance Kobi LaCroix and was going to go by Rosemary but it was too old-fashioned).
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I really honestly cannot tell the difference between angels and demons. From my own personal experience, demons were more individualistic and anarchistic in nature, while angels were more communal and putting themselves down for the greater good. Though, I do not know if these perceptions are skewed. I have no background in anything occultist, but my experiences are many. Some clarity on the matter would be appreciated.
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Your experiences are about right to my own; demons are the shadowy side of things and can represent uncontrolled aspects of the self, thus the need for protection and constraint and command. Angels are more for guidance, protection, and general 'good advice' for lack of better words, though not always considerate of your limitations in resources (say they ask you to perform an elaborate ritual but you don't have any money).
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I have always been more wary of angels in general, but I worry that I am getting angels and demons mixed up. I lead a very chaotic life with no form and no schedule. I typically do what I want, when I want to do it. I worry that because of my nature, I am unable to perform anything that angels may request of me. For a long time I have been around demons and viewed them as more of a neutral entity.. but I receive a lot of guidance and protection. I have a lot of fear surrounding angels because of the christian indoctrination I had when I was a child. I wonder if it is actual demons protecting and guiding me and not angels... or if it is actually angels. If I am actually being guided by demons, am I in for trouble? Or are they both more of a neutral entitiy? I am pretty used to extreme polarizations with the two, but I'm not sure. Sorry for all the questions. If you dont want to reply or if you'd like to answer it in notes, that's fine too.
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Right on. Angels and Demons look very strange and honestly really similar, too. My vision of Beor (sp?) looked like a Buddhist bodhisattva to me, more saint-like or angelic than what I expected.
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Excellent, fascinating post.
Link
Threetails
Well, I've told you about my first encounter with a demon... it took time and maturity to realize that this vision and the frightening explosion of past lives that followed were telling me that I have a long way to go in taking these things in stride.