RE: Downside-Up Catlickism

 Ho> I have this book called "The Ecyclopedia of Symbology"... I decided to
 Ho> read about "devil" as I know they 'it'... So I did my reading and came
 Ho> across this illustration.. A woodcut from the 1600's, with the names of
 Ho> the nine princes of hell on it.. Lucifer, BelzŠbut, Astarot, LucifugŠ,
 Ho> Satanachia, Agaliarept, Fleurety, Sargatanas, Nebiros... along with two
 Ho> symbols of each one.. So I thought about it, and realized that one
 Ho> name was familiar (Lucifer).. While Belzebut (Baelzebum?) and Astarot
 Ho> were vaguely familiar.. While the other 6 I heard of somewhere but
 Ho> could not readily figure out where..

 Ho> Anyway, as I told a few people about this, I confronted one friend,
 Ho> and said "I have the names of the Nine Princes of Hell in my pocket.
 Ho> Can you think of any?".. And the person responded "Satan, Lucifer,
 Ho> Baelzebut, Leviathan, Cthulu, Tiamat, Loki, Hades...".. And I said no..
 Ho> And rattled off the names of them.. And we had a quick talk and were
 Ho> both thoroughly confused.. 

 Ho> Does anyone know about these Princes besides thier names.. Could
 Ho> anyone provide me with some more in-depth info on this to satisfy my
 Ho> hunger for the knowledge with leaves me ponderning?

Those who take this SERIOUSLY will tell you that mucking around with the
names of demons is dangerous and will do you no good.  G'luck.  Anyway,
according to my sources, the idea of a single devil is a Xian notion,
and pre-Diaspora Jewish tradition had no devil(s) or major demons.  But
Jewish mysticism of the middle ages evolved a demonology somewhat in
parallel with Xianity; and here are some of the main features:

There are four high princes, served by four sub-princes, served by many
other demons.  Their names, in no particular order, include:  Beelzebub,
a sub-prince; Alcanor, Diralisen, Ergamen, Lamalon, Tachan, Tromes,
Nominon, Amatia, Licanen, Gotifan, Igurim, Ikonok, Balfori, Iamia;
Habhi, Enaia, Plirok, Molin; Astarot, a sub-prince; Ethan, Buk, Semlin;
Amodeus, a sub-prince; Goleg, Pachei; Magot, a sub-prince; the four
high [dark] princes, Lucifer, Leviathan, Belial, Shaytan [Satan].

Note: I got those names from a strange source: David Saperstein, the
author of the popular book and movie COCOON, wrote a well-researched
but fantastic thriller, RED DEVIL [Berkley, 1989, ISBN 0-425-11408-2],
about Nazi/Communist Satanists (!!!)  Saperstein cites a number of
rabbis & researchers & priests, as well as various traditions that
I've confirmed in A HISTORY OF JEWISH MYSTICISM by Frank Mueller,
[East And West Library, 1946] and various other sources.

But there were/are several strains of Jewish mysticism; other traditions
name such demons as Asmodai Solomon's opponent], Lilith [Adam's first
wife], Dumah [angel of the stillness of death], Beliar [the contemptable],
Sorath [bearer of the number 666].  But throughout, we see that 1) along
with the pantheons of demons are greater ranks of angels, 2) angels and
demons are usually organized in groups of four, 3) there are always MORE
angels and demons, and 4) most of the demon's names are Persian.  These
show that Jewish mysticism was shaped by Babylonian and Persian magic.

Xian demonology is even more complex; not surprising, considering that
as the church evolved and splintered from Nazorene to Pauline, Semitic,
Heretic, Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant and other schisms, each faction
grew their own demons -- and different demonologists drew up different
lists of demons and their attributes [and continue to do so, even now].
For instance, let me quote from THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WITCHCRAFT AND
DEMONOLOGY by RH Robbins [Crown, 1959, LOC# 59-9155]:

"Alphonsus de Spina found ten varieties of demons: 1. Fates. 2. Polter-
 geists. 3. Incubi and Succubi. 4. Marching hosts. 5. Familiar demons.
 6. Nightmare demons. 7. Demons formed from semen and its odor when men
 and women copulate. 8. Deceptive demons. 9. Clean demons who assail only
 holy men. 10. Demons who deceive old women into thinking they fly...

"Other demonologists drew up a heirarchy of devils and ascribed to them
 power to provoke people to commit the seven deadly sins. Binsfeld (1589)
 for example, gave one such list: Lucifer - Pride; Mammon - Avarice;
 Asmodeus - Lechery; Satan - Anger; Beelzebub - Gluttony; Leviathan -
 Envy; Belphegor - Sloth.

"Barrett (1801) changed the roster of devils and sins.  Mammon became
 prince of tempters and ensnarers, Asmodeus of revengers and evil, Satan
 of deluders (serving conjurers and witches), and Beelzebub of false gods.
 In addition, Pytho was introduced as prince of the spirits of lies,
 Belial of vessels of iniquity (cards and dice), Merimim of spirits
 causing pestilence, Abaddan of evil war, and Astaroth as prince of
 accusers and inquisitors."

In the fourth centure CE, the Pseudo-Dionysius devised an "angelic court,
[which] consisted of nine orders of angels (three hierarchies each of
three orders): First Hierarchy: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrines; Second
Hierarchy: Dominions, Principalities, Powers; Third Hierarchy: Virtues,
Archangels, Angels."  The demons, as fallen angels, fit into this order:

"First Hierarchy: 1. Beelzebub was Prince of the Seraphim, and next unto
 Lucifer.  All the chiefs of the first choir of angels are fallen; and
 of the choir of Seraphim there fell the three first, Lucifer, Beelzebub
 and Leviathan, who did all revolt... Lucifer, when Christ decended into
 Hell, was ther chained up, where he commands all... Beelzebub tempts
 men with pride... 2. Leviathan is the ringleader of the heretics,
 tempting men with sins that are directly repugnant unto faith...

"3. Asmodeus burns with the desire to tempt men with his swine of
 luxoriousness, and is the prince of wantons.  4. Balberith tempts men
 to commit homicides, and to be quarrelsome, contentious and blasphemous.
 5. Astaroth, Prince of Thrones, is always desirous to sit idle and at
 ease.  He tempts men with idleness and sloth.  6. Verrine tempts men
 with impatience.  7. Gressil tempts men with impurity and uncleanness.
 8. Sonneillon tempts men with hatred against their enemies.

"Second Heirarchy: 9. Carreau, Prince of Powers, tempts men with hardness
 of heart.  10. Carnivean does tempt men to obscenity and shamelessness.
 11. Oeillet is a Prince of Dominions.  He tempts men to break the vow
 of poverty.  12. Rosier, by his sweet and sugared words, tempts men to
 fall in love.  13. Verrier tempts men against the vow of obedience, and
 makes the neck stiff and hard as iron, and incapable to stoop under the
 yoke of obedience.

"Third Heirarchy: 14. Belias, Prince of the order of Virtues, tempts men
 with arrogance.  He also tempts gentlewomen to prank up themselves with
 new-fangled attires, to make wantons of their children, and to prattle
 unto them while mass is saying, and so to divert from the service of
 God.  15. Olivier, Prince of the Archangels, tempts men with cruelty
 and mercilessness toward the poor.  [The Angel of Republicans, eh?]
 16. Iuvart is Prince of Angels [and there's no description of him]."

Anyway, there's many more lists & demons & demonologists, NONE of whom
agree with each other.  Consider the following, also from Robbins: 

"Alphonsus de Spina in 1459 thought one-third of the original angels
 became devils, specifically 133,306,668.  One sixteenth-century cyber-
 netician (1567) counted 66 princes commanding 6,660,000 devils. Another
 estimated more precisely 7,409,127 demons commanded by 79 infernal
 princes.  Johan Weyer corrected his figures to 7,405,926 demons and 72
 princes of hell.  A few years later, another researcher said the devils
 numbered more than half the population of the world."

Other students of deviltry hold that there's only ONE devil, who always
manifest himself in the form of animals.  Still others were more anal:

"Psellus elaborated on the kinds of devils and distinguished 6 varieties,
 according to their habitation, whether in the air or sea, etc.  To wit:
 The first is the fiery, because these dwell in the upper air and will
 never descend to the lower regions until the Day of Judgement, and they
 have no dealings on earth with men.

"The second is the aerial, because these dwell in the air around us.
 They can descend to hell, and, by forming bodies out of the air, can
 at times be visible to men. Very frequently, with God's permission,
 they agitate the air and raise storms and tempests, and all this they
 conspire to do for the destruction of mankind.

"The third is terrestial, and these were certainly cast from Heaven to
 earth for their sins.  Some of them live in woods and forests, and lay
 snares for hunters; some dwell in the fields and lead night travelers
 astray; some dwell in hidden places and caverns; while others delight
 to live in secret among men.

"The fourth is the aqueous, for these dwell under the water in rivers
 and lakes, and are full of anger, turbulent, unquiet, and deceitful.
 They raise storms at sea, sink ships in the ocean, and destroy life
 in the water.  When such devils appear, they are more often women
 than men, for they live in moist places and lead an easier life.  But
 those who live in harder and drier places are usually seen as males."
 [Do you note a certain misogynistic slant here?]

"The fifth is the subterranean, for these live in caves and caverns in
 the mountains.  They are of a very mean disposition, and chiefly molest
 those who work in pits or mines for treasure, and they are always ready
 to do harm.  They cause earthquakes and winds and fires, and shake the
 foundations of houses."  [Was San Andreas such a devil?]

"The sixth is the heliophobic, because they especially hate and detest
 the light, and never appear during daytime, nor can they assume a bodily
 form until night.  THese devils are completely inscrutable and of a
 character beyond human comprehension, because they are all dark within,
 shaken with icy passions, malicious, restless, and perturbed; and when
 they meet men at night they oppress them violently and, with God's
 permission, often kill them by some breath or touch... This kind of
 devil has no dealing with witches; neither can they be kept at bay
 with charms, for they shun the light and the voices of men and every
 sort of noise."  [Anti-noise activists, eh?]

This goes on and on.  So, ya want some in-depth info on demons and
devils?  Good fuckin' luck!  The deeper ya go, the murkier it gets.

 Ric "my thalamus made me do it" Carter, ric@sonic.net