The Encyclopedia of Demons and Demonology Paperback – August 1, 2009

This is a very informative book but I wouldn't exactly call it light reading. Reading a book like this is more like research. It contains a lot of references to other interesting books also.This is a potentially very broad subject and I suspect it was difficult to decide what to include in the book. It talks about the demons themselves, exorcists and exorcisms, the Inquisition, Aleister Crowley, and other things.This is a rather morbid and dreary subject. The demons are foul, vile creatures who are filled with hate. The book contains drawings that depict the physical characteristics of the demons. These aren't the types of creatures you would like to meet up with in a dark alley.It's hard to know how much of what people believe about demons is true. The book quotes a lot from books that are associated with the biblical king Solomon who supposedly was able to control the demons with his magic ring. But according to the bible Solomon was lead astray by witches and rejected God.There are many other legends which may or may not be true such as Adam's first wife was the demon Lilith. I don't believe this.Aleister Crowley felt that some spirit was communicating messages to him from the Egyptian gods. This is undoubtedly untrue as Crowley turned everything into evil. I guess some people look up to Crowley as a highly evolved person but he was mainly a womanizer and drug addict.The book shows how accusations of witchcraft were used during the Middle Ages to get people killed. She talks a lot about one case in particular where a sexually frustrated nun in France accused a priest of cursing her after this priest rejected her affections.The forward was written by John Zaffis who is related to the late Ed Warren. John was involved with the famous 'Haunting In Connecticut' case:In a Dark PlaceI heard about this author when I saw her on an episode of the TV show 'The Haunted' about the energy vampire as I recall. The famous demonologist Carl Johnson also appears on that episode.Update 1/19/12:I guess I can mention here that I came under demonic attack in October of 2011. My life has not been the same ever since. In fact my life is for all intents and purposes basically over. They ruined any hope I had of being happy back in the mid 1990s but this was kept hidden from me until October.I made a terrible mistake when I wrote in letters about putting curses on people. Those words gave the demonic gods power over my life. This is something I'm going to have to live with for the rest of my life and far beyond I'm afraid. I have made the most serious of mistakes.Maybe Carl Johnson, John Zaffis, or the author of this book can help me. If yes please contact me.Jeff MarzanoThe Devil in ConnecticutFulcanelli: Master Alchemist: Le Mystere des Cathedrales, Esoteric Intrepretation of the Hermetic Symbols of The Great Work (Le Mystere Des ... of the Hermetic Symbols of Great Work)Haunting in Georgia / Haunting in Connecticut 2-DVD SetA Haunting - Seasons 1-4Paranormal State: The Complete Season One

Perfect collection of information, neatly put together. Keep in mind, for any of you who did internet searches to get your information in the past, there is a LOT of information here, about a lot of different of demons and items associated with demons, so in that sense you can find yourself reading for a while and still not past the 'A' section. In short, I only knew of maybe 50 or so demons from various religions. This book has hundreds more.It would be nice to see a book breaking demons down by 'type' but that could take forever and of course many function in different ways. I especially love that she has all of her resources after each entry.She also tries to remain neutral, which can be hard when you are writing about people faking that they are possessed to further their career. In addition, she acknowledges when a particular demon is viewed as a god by some and a demon to other religions.

This book is absolutely deserving of a shelf spot in your paranormal or magical library. It is a very detailed enyclopedia about the origin, names, famous people involved, where they come from, and further suggested reading collection. There are great pictures and the writing is fun not bland and boring. I own all of her encylopedias and this is one of my favorites. Plus I love the forward by John Zaffis the nephew of Ed Warren!

This book really goes into fantastic detail about demons, demonology, the devil, and way way more. I love this book and recommend it to anybody looking for information on this topic, this book is exquisite and very well written. I'm looking forward to reading the other books by this author and exploring all the topics they've written about. Overall, fantastic!

I'm not sure who i bought this from but i got it quickly and it was in great shape, so kudos to them for that. The book itself is a pretty good buy but not for someone just starting out on the topic of demonology as I am. I'd gather that it is better for someone who has studied demonology for a while, and when they get stuck trying to remember how many Aerial Spirits of Solomon there were, or whether Beelzebub looked like a fly or a spider, then this book is a good place to jog the memory. But for someone starting out, you won't get a clear coherent story. You'll start reading at A, encounter your first of Solomon's many demons, and then you'll flip to the section on Solomon. You'll be intrigued and find the whole thing interesting but you'll want more than is available.From what I've been reading, a lot of the information on a lot of the demons is limited even in the original texts in which they appeared. But still, it's an encyclopedia, so perhaps much of the information was just omitted. If you're looking for a good historical analysis of the origin of a demon, or how a "demon" evolved after its first appearance in the Old Testament, then you should look elsewhere.The book does have good "further reading" notes at the end of each section. The suggested books are likely the ones you'd want to read first. I'm eager to learn more about the history of the origins of these demons, how their stories evolved and their legends came to be throughout history. If that's what you're looking for, do a little more research and skip this one. But if you're just looking for a demonic freak show of sorts, or you're trying to come up with some baby names that'll piss off your religious parents, this is book is for you.

I always enjoy a good read about the occult and mythology, and this book provided that for me in great detail.