FALLEN ANGELS

Fallen Angels.

Angels who fall from God’s grace and

are punished by banishment from heaven, becoming

DEMONs.

The three versions of the book of Enoch associate fallen

angels with the WATCHERS, 200 angels who descend from

heaven to cohabitate with women and corrupt humanity

and are severely punished by God. 2 Enoch speaks of four

grades of fallen angels:

1. SATANAIL, the prince of the fallen one. Satanail was

once a high angel who thought he could be greater

than God and thus was cast out of heaven on the

second day of creation. He is imprisoned in the

fi fth heaven.

2. The Watchers, who also are imprisoned in the fi fth

heaven, dejected and silent.

3. The apostate angels, the followers of Satanail who

plotted with him and turned away from God’s commandments.

They are imprisoned in the second

heaven, a place of “darkness greater than earthly

darkness.” There they hang under guard, waiting

for the “measureless judgment.” The fallen angels

are dark in appearance, and they weep unceasingly.

They ask Enoch to pray for them.

4. Angels—possibly some of the Watchers—who are

sentenced to be imprisoned “under the earth.”

In Christianity, LUCIFER is the arrogant, prideful angel

cast out of heaven, mentioned briefl y in Isaiah as “Son of

the Morning” or “Morning Star.” One-third of the heavenly

host fell with him—133,306,668 angels, according

to lore. They fell for nine days. Theologians have posited

that a portion of each of the nine orders of angels fell; some

said the fallen ones compose a tenth order. The fallen angels

become demons who seek to ruin men’s souls, a view

reinforced by the infl uential theologian St. Thomas Aquinas.

Lucifer later became identifi ed with SATAN.

falling stars DEMONs who have no way station in which

to rest and so fall from the sky.

In the Testament of Solomon the demon ORNIAS explains

to SOLOMON that demons have the capability of

fl ying up to heaven in order to eavesdrop on God and

learn his plans. But because they have no place to rest,

they become exhausted and fall to Earth like fl ashes of

lightning, burning fi elds, and cities. People think they are

falling stars.

Folklore traditions through history hold that falling

stars are the souls of those who have just died or who are

descending to Earth to be reborn.

familiar A spirit that maintains regular contact with a

person, sometimes acting in service or guardianship, or

providing information and instruction. The term familiar

is from the Latin term familiaris, meaning “of a household

or domestic.”

Familiars can be either good or evil in nature, and

they vary signifi cantly in intelligence and powers. They

assume many shapes, such as elementals, animals, birds

and insects, and even spirit lovers. The shapes assumed

refl ect the nature of the spirit, who may be intent on deceit.

Personal familiars sometimes attach themselves to a

family bloodline and serve generations. They can possess

people and animals and are capable of acting independently

of the people with whom they associate.

Familiars are summoned via magical ritual, given, appointed,

traded, bought, and sold, or they appear of their

own volition. They can be housed in bottles and rings.

They have been part of shamanic and SORCERY traditions

around the world.

Early Beliefs about Familiars

The Greeks and Romans believed in familiars called DAIMONEs,

which occupied homes, buildings, and other places

and attached themselves to people. Such spirits provided

advice and guidance, performed tasks, acted as servants,

and did guard duty. Socrates said daimones whispered

in his ear to warn him of danger and misfortune. Plotinus

also was said to have a familiar, who appeared when

summoned and obeyed him and was superior to lowerranking

spirits such as the genii, guardians of places.

Other early beliefs about familiars cross over into

the lore of FAIRIES, elves, brownies, gnomes, and trolls.

Spirits that work in mines and guard hidden treasures

are sometimes called familiars. The DJINN summoned by

King SOLOMON to build his Temple of Jerusalem are comparable

to familiars.

Familiars in Magic and Witchcraft

Familiars can be conjured magically for a variety of

purposes. In esoteric lore, they are the constant attendants

and servants of magicians, wizards, spell casters,

and healers. Low familiars are inanimate objects,

such as magical books that mysteriously appear. The

English magician John Dee acquired a scrying (divining)

crystal inhabited by a familiar spirit, which he and

his assistant, Edward Kelley, used to communicate with

angels and spirits. High familiars assume plant, animal,

and human shape. Some familiars assume whatever

shape is needed for their purposes. Dee had another familiar,

Madimi, who appeared as either a young girl or

an adult. She even appeared naked when dealing with

a sexual matter.

According to tradition, familiars can be magically

locked in bottles, rings, and stones and sometimes sold as

CHARMs for success in gambling, love, and business.

In witchcraft lore, familiars are low-ranking DEMONs

or IMPs given by the DEVIL to those who commit to PACTs

with him. Or witches inherited familiars from other

witches. Demonic familiars were said by witch hunters

to serve witches in all ways, even sexually. They carried

out spells and bewitchments. Most witch familiars were

believed to be in animal form; some were spirits kept in

bottles and fl asks. Even FAIRIES were said to be familiars.

A witch could have multiple familiars. Cats, especially

black, were the favored forms. The fear that all cats were

witches’ familiars led to cat massacres in Europe.

The witch hunter Pierre de Lancre said the highestranking

witches have familiars in the shape of horne

frogs that sit on their left shoulder and are invisible to

everyone but other witches. Some witches had familiars

in human form.

Other common witches’ familiars were dogs, toads,

mice, ferrets, weasels, birds, wasps, bees, moths, hedgehogs,

rabbits, and farm animals, as well as monstrous hybrid

creatures. For example, the accused English witch

Elizabeth Clark (17th century) confessed to having fi ve

familiars, including Vinegar Tom, a creature that looked

like a greyhound with an ox’s head and could shape shift

into a headless child.

Familiars all supposedly had grotesque names that

gave away their true demonic identities. Elizabeth Francis,

an accused witch in the Chelmsford, England, trials

of 1556, had a white spotted cat named Sathan. Other

names recorded at witch trials were Verd-Joli, Verdelet,

Ilemanzar, Greedigut, Jezebel, Abrahel, Grissell, Martinet,

Blackman, and Pyewackett.

Witches who were arrested and imprisoned were

watched secretly to see whether their familiars came to

their aid. Even a fl y, ant, or cockroach that went toward

a witch was called a familiar. Guards had to watch carefully

that familiars—believed to be assassins dispatched

by the Devil—did not kill an accused witch before she

could be tried.

Witches were said to take great care of their familiars,

suckling them with their own BLOOD through “witch’s

marks,” small teats, discolorations, and welts upon their

bodies.

Having a familiar was suffi cient to condemn a witch

to death. In England, the Witchcraft Act of 1604 made it a

felony to “consult, covenant with, entertain, employ, feed,

or reward any evil and wicked spirit to or for any intent

or purpose.”

In contrast to the familiars of the witch trials, the literary

MEPHISTOPHELES is an elegant familiar, usually assuming

the form of a tall man in black who attends his

victim, FAUST, in order to subvert his soul. Faust also was

accompanied by a black dog familiar.

Many modern Witches, Wiccans, and Pagans have familiars

as magical helpers. Many are animals (often cats)

whose psychic attunement makes them ideal partners in

magic. Some Witches turn pets into familiars, and others

send out “calls” on the psychic planes to draw in the

right animal. Others create familiars from astral thought

forms.

Familiars attend rituals and protect against negative

spirits. They are sensitive to psychic vibrations and power

and are welcome partners inside the magic circle for the

raising of power, the casting of spells, scrying, spirit contact,

and other magical work. They also serve as psychic

radar, reacting visibly to the presence of any negative or

evil energy, whether it be an unseen force or a person who

dabbles in the wrong kind of magic. Familiars are given

psychic protection by their witches.

Sexual Familiars

Spirits enjoy human sexual intercourse, either by drawing

energy from people engaged in it or by assuming or

possessing a human form in order to participate in sex

directly. Depending on the nature of a familiar, it enjoys

the higher spiritual nature of sex or the lustful physical

nature of it. A familiar might try to infl uence a sexual

encounter by prolonging it as long as possible. It usually

presses on top of a person or lies alongside him or her.

A person feels a sexual encounter with a familiar as intense

waves of physical pleasure. Familiars can engage in

sex by possessing a person’s body and generating internal

sensations of pleasure, by possessing a person’s human

lover to manipulate his or her hands and body, and by

causing erotic dreams.

The low, demonic types of spirit sexual encounters

are with an INCUBUS (male demon) or SUCCUBUS (female

demon). During the witch hysteria, witches were said to

copulate with demon lovers, and demons masquerading

as seductive humans attacked sleeping people at night

and raped them.

Problems with Familiars

Frequent contact with familiars can result in nightmares,

physical injuries caused by familiars, and also OBSESSION,

in which a person sees, hears, and feels an infl uencing

spirit, and POSSESSION, in which the familiar completely

takes over a person.

Also, spirits do not always distinguish between truth

and falsehood, and so discernment must be applied to

whatever information they impart. Familiars can manifest

as voices in the head that cause compulsive, aberrant

behavior, including self-infl icted wounds, suicide, and

violence toward others. Excessive and draining contact

with them can create mental, emotional, and physical

strain and breakdown.

Familiars that create problems can be banished by

ending all engagement with them or, if necessary, by ritual

banishment.