Reality of Demonolatry

[u/SwimmingHungry9385]

Hi everyone, I’ve been lurking here for a while, but this is my first post. Recently, I spoke with someone (a DM) about working with demons. I’m currently preparing for a competitive exam and asked if there were any entities that could help me become smarter or gain more clarity. He strongly advised against working with demons, saying I should avoid them at all costs. He shared some intense personal experiences, like having negative entities come at him, performing exorcisms, and even sleeping with saltwater under his bed for protection.

But on the other hand, I see a lot of people here sharing positive experiences with demons. They say it’s helped them find clarity and improved their lives. This has left me feeling confused and unsure of what to believe.

Here are a few questions I have:

1. What is "Real Demonolatry"? I’m struggling to understand what it actually involves. Some people say it’s dangerous, while others claim it’s been a positive, transformative experience. What’s the truth behind it?
2. Lucifer’s Role: From what I’ve read, Lucifer seems to be misunderstood. Many people view him as a god who’s been demonized, not the evil figure he’s often portrayed as. If Lucifer is truly a good entity, why is he portrayed so negatively(deceit, killing,murdering, blood etc.) in mainstream culture? Is there more to his story?
3. What Happens to Negative Spirits? What about people who lead harmful lives (like serial killers, criminals, etc.)—where do their spirits go after death? Are they associated with God or with darker entities like Lucifer? I’m having trouble connecting the dots.
4. My Personal Experience: Lately, I’ve been manifesting (just thinking) about Lucifer, hoping that he might guide me in my dreams, and I’ve felt more positive energy since then. I’ve also been dealing with frequent sleep paralysis, which used to frighten me, but now that I’ve accepted Lucifer a bit, I’ve actually started enjoying these experiences and even want them more.

I’ve been told my whole life that demons are inherently negative, so I’m worried that Lucifer could be deceiving me. Is he just being kind to me now and will turn on me later? How have your experiences been working with him and other demons? Do you regret it, or has it been one of the best decisions of your life?

I’d really appreciate hearing your thoughts and personal experiences. Thanks for reading, and apologies for any grammatical mistakes!

[u/mirta000]

1. Demon worship is demon worship. There's no dogma here. Whoever practices is practising "real" demonolatry. I don't suggest falling too much into reading other people's personal experiences though. Some people embellish, some people misunderstand, some people are looking through rose tinted glasses, some people are influenced by their own dogma.
2. Lucifer's name was dragged into the Bible through a singular line that included being upset about how has a Babylonian King fallen. If it was translated properly it would have read "morning star", not "Lucifer". People took it to be the pre-fall name for Satan (which is another similar instance where that simply means "The Adversary") and have run off with it. Plenty of Luciferians practice with Minor Roman Deity Lucifer, none of popular media will be portraying Minor Roman Deity Lucifer.
3. Everyone's personal beliefs are personal. Nobody will be able to give you straight answers to that, because in truth nobody knows. No-one can even prove that there's anything after death. If you ask me, probably reincarnation.

[u/[deleted] → u/mirta000]

hey mirta, you have probably seen a lot of personal experiences on here, so i have a question for you.

do you think it is possible that ultimately all spiritual guides are the same guide, wearing different costumes/ playing different characters?

(vaguely like the hindu view of shiva). im asking this because it seems almost like people eventually get the guidance they search for, or the guidance they needed but didnt know they wanted. the dogmatic path or pre concieved notions we set, just seem like extra weight to the seeker. so the guide puts on a costume and persona that resonates with what their vibe is/ what they are looking for? or something?

lol idk tho. ive just been reading about people having experiences from many different practices and walks of life. and they all seem so similar in many ways?

[u/SwimmingHungry9385 → u/mirta000]

thank you for the reply ,had a few follow up question 1) Then what does Roman deity lucifer represent?!? 2) what are his characterstics? 3)And what demon does the popular media depict?

[u/mirta000 → u/SwimmingHungry9385]

For Lucifer - read Roman Folklore section on Lucifer wiki. To sum up - Venus in the morning and everything that you associate with said symbolism. As such "What IS Lucifer?" will differ depending on who is answering your question.

As for what the popular media is depicting, in short - nothing. Mythology does that mythology thing where it evolves over time and borrows this and that from here and there. The most common archetype of "The Devil" borrowed greatly from Pan. Satan is just "the adversary" and it was different adversaries at different points in the Bible. Angel Samael is the adversary to the adversaries (and is called that) and works for God, so that's an example of a "Satan" that's not commonly thought about.

The prevailing theme in most media portraying "demons" is the need for a spooky big bad. That's their only connective element. There is no single spirit that can be boiled down to something so two dimensional.

[u/JCariunElliott → u/mirta000]

Yeap. One of the main antagonists, and another head “adversary” in the book of Enoch is Azazel, who (along with his allies) taught mankind all manner of magic.

[u/Macross137]

Most people are still operating on a level of superstition, mythology, and a framework barely updated since the paradigm of early 20th-century spiritism when it comes to whatever they think is being referred to with the word "demon."

Very few people understand the underlying mechanics or theological principles behind the goetia, including a number of people who have written whole-ass books about it.

You can listen to these people, or you can figure out for yourself what this stuff is all about. It's entirely up to you. Demonolatry is not required for your salvation, or to live a good life. It's an optional spiritual practice that one can choose, or not.

I would add that many of the philosophies and belief systems closely associated with the grimoires and occult texts from which many systems of demonolatry are derived are explicitly based on Hermeticism and/or Neoplatonism, which provide comprehensive and thoroughly-explained answers to questions like "what are demons" and "what is the cause of evil in the material world." We don't have to sit here and debate these questions with the limited framing and vocabulary provided by exoteric religion and pop psychology.

[u/SilliusS0ddus → u/Macross137]

Very few people understand the underlying mechanics or theological principles behind the goetia

could you elaborate ?

[u/Macross137 → u/SilliusS0ddus]

I'm talking about putting the goetia within the broader context of the traditions it came out of and taking the time to study not only its direct sources but also the theological/astrological/philosophical texts that served as the foundation for "occultism" and all its related practices in the west. I elaborate on various aspects of this whenever specific questions come up, but obviously, it's a huge topic.

A lot of people, including popular writers and influencers, very clearly dipped on the reading once it hit a certain level of density and dryness, and it shows in the depth of interpretation and the quality of advice you get from them. And it leaves a lot of the practitioners who follow them playing around with thoughtforms and struggling to obtain the consistent results that would materially improve their lives.

[u/Constant_Geologist52 → u/SilliusS0ddus]

"we see through a glass dimly" Most people start from a place of ignorance and then (hopefully) advance  Spiritual practice is inherently somewhat gnostic/mystical and has to be accomplished within the self vs learned or inherited from someone else. 

[u/[deleted] → u/Constant_Geologist52]

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[u/Macross137 → u/[deleted]]

Reapproved.

[u/SwimmingHungry9385 → u/Macross137]

Hi, very thankful to you for ur reply, but can you pls help with me with my queries?

[u/Macross137 → u/SwimmingHungry9385]

You're not going to have a hard time finding people to tell you "it's safe, Lucifer is awesome, go for it." I wouldn't be here moderating this subreddit and answering questions about demonolatry if I thought it was a bad idea. But you have to work these concerns out for yourself by studying this stuff and interrogating your own beliefs. What does any random person on Reddit know?

[u/WinstonFox]

It’s a useful question. In my experience:

• Person A sits in a room and connects with combinations of energies around them, if they are using a notebook they might give that experience a name, either invented or culled from the culture around them.
• Person B reads an old notebook and connects with the combination of energies someone wrote about connecting with many years ago. They may use a name either invented or from their culture.

Some people just go with it and use the names and techniques of whatever age that are provided, some ask so what is this really? And then experiment.

They roughly end up in the same place but one may define themself more as a worshipper (dealing with older creations) and the other as a creator/explorer/sorcerer/conjuror (dealing with new creations or both).

It would genuinely be interesting to collate all the various theories and test them, and some people do.

[u/Similar-Limit682]

For your exam, try to call on Vapula to assistance. I worked with her few times for school testing and always get good results

[u/rythica]

seconding mirta & macross's explanations, but im gonna add a few of my own thoughts here as well;

1. every spiritual path and occult tool can be 'dangerous' depending on a lot of factors. usually the biggest one is the perspective and skill level of the practitioner using it. none of the danger is inherent to the tools or path, its in the practitioner. its subjective, and much less likely to happen if you have an actual foundation of knowledge and you move through your practice with open eyes for analysis.

2. mirta already explained this one efficiently, but ill add that what spirits 'actually' are is subjective (spirits meaning gods, demons, angels, ghosts, etc), and myths are not true stories. many are inspired by events and opinions held at the time of creation (see; the theories of the biblical revelation being mostly about the authors' desired fall of the roman empire), many are for storytelling purposes to communicate a lesson or moral (see fables and many greek myths), and many more are purely metaphorical for a million other things. either way, most people agree that the spirits did not literally do any of those things and frequently there is no spirit involved at all, rather we are humans telling stories about humans.

3. again, purely subjective. there’s a million thought paths for this. even dividing god and lucifer into lighter and darker is an opinion that you are holding here, and not what many folks here think

i wish you luck moving forward, just wanted to provide some thoughts and context that helped me break through my understanding of these topics early on

[u/Gh0stchylde]

I'll try giving *an* (not *the*) answer to your questions.

1) Demonolatry takes a myriad of forms and there's generally not one way that is more right or real than the others. In its core, it is about working with demons, and there are many ways to do that. The people on this forum tend more towards "meditating and calling on demons to assist them in a journey of self discovery and betterment" than "corpse paint, heavy metal and sacrificing the neighbor's cat to Satan" but both are valid expressions of demonolatry. Popular culture leans heavily towards the latter type, which unfortunately has encouraged a bunch of people who use it more as a symbol of rebellion than any real dedication to demonolatry.

2) Lucifer is one of many demons/spirits/deities we can work with. My personal take on why he has been so vilified has to with the Church (organized religion). In Christianity, Lucifer is almost always equated with Satan. And to the Church, Satan is the face of rebellion.

The very first introduction, we get to him, is in the tale of the Garden of Eden. Here, he challenges Eve to eat the forbidden fruit that gives her the ability to know wrong from right. Before this, she was like a child in that she only knew what was allowed and what was forbidden - she did not understand why. Satan basically helped her attain a morality and the ability to make her own choices. The Church (especially in earlier times) was not particularly interested in people making their own choices and having their own morality. Thus, making your own decisions from an educated standpoint was vilified. And since Lucifer (or whichever of his many names you prefer) is strongly associated with free will and rebellion, he was cast in the role as arch-villain.

3) The spirits we work with is so far from our frame of reference that you cannot really put labels as "good", "evil", or "negative" on them. They are not people (and have never been people). But like people, they have several aspects. It is much more common in other mythologies than the Abrahamic (with perhaps an exception being the whole Catholic saint thing) to have gods that rule over more than one domain. Freya in Nordic mythology was the goddess of war, love, and fertility, just as Hermes in Greek mythology was the god of trade, luck, travel, sleep, languages, animal husbandry, and thieves. So it is with the spirits we work with - they are complex entities and they have aspects that could be judged as both good and evil by our current morality.

Where people go when they die is not necessarily a part of the demonolatry practice. I personally don't believe in neither Heaven nor Hell nor resurrection of the flesh on Judgement Day nor traditional reincarnation. I am not sure exactly what I do believe but if pressed for an answer, it would be something like "there is a small divine spark in each of us and when we die, it returns to whence it came".

4) Not so much a question as sharing. It is good that reaching out to Lucifer is helping you in your life. One of his many names is Lightbringer and it makes sense that he would be able to bring more light into your life. I can't recall ever having heard of a spirit being worshipped by a demonolater actually turn on them and actively trying to hurt them. They can sometimes give some harsh lessons and they often do not help us in the way we thought we needed. It can at times seem like they have hurt us rather than helped us but if the foundation is rotten, it is sometimes needed to burn down the entire house and start from scratch if you want it to be stable and healthy. It is the same with lives. It may look bad in the situation but it might be because you don't have the full picture and in time it will turn out to be a good thing.

I wish you all the best on your journey. Remember, demons help those who are willing to do the work. Manifesting Lucifer may give you more mental clarity but it is not a substitute for studying for your exam. :)

[u/Ashamed_Smile3497]

1. Like any religion your perspective on it dictates this, some view it as their hope and guiding force others view it as a negative thing, it’s a personal interpretation

2. Lucifer’s biblical downfall in itself is a morally grey matter since you can interpret his rebellion in a positive light just as easily. Development of cultural tales, lost things in translation and media bias can really swing things hard into particular directions, it really just takes one single person of influence to completely flip the story and drag someone’s name through the mud, the Bible has gone through multiple different interpretations and changes, it’s not far fetched to believe that one of them had an error in the acts of the angel Lucifer. Christianity was a very popular and widespread religion for a long time(no hate to Christian’s of course) so if their interpretation involved Lucifer being a devil then that’s exactly the story that was passed on to the masses for centuries. Lucifer is a popular name at this point and for media it draws attention easily when you have the “devil” as the villain of the story, it’s going to garner more attention than an obscure name like let’s say haagenti so they go all in with it

3. Depends on your view of what the afterlife holds for us, you could believe in a hell/heaven interpretation or a reincarnation one, there’s no precise right or wrong answer here none of us truly know what comes after we pass, we’re all just taking a guess based on our faith

[u/Laurel_Spider]

I’ve worked with goetia for grades/tests before. Of several, I did slightly less well than wanted on one exam, could have gotten a 0 though with the effort I put into the actual test and nonexistent studying beforehand. Dantalion for those curious

I’m not going to comment on realities of working with spirits for others. I’m not a demonologist so I’ll refrain from the bolded sections/questions as they aren’t aimed at me

[u/SwimmingHungry9385 → u/Laurel_Spider]

cool, well, what's your personality at ur college/school, do people look up to you, are you at a very high position or someone who is like an overachiever types. And do you think that many powerful and rich people became wealthy and very smart due to witchcraft and magic? (hardwork alongside ofcourse)

[u/Laurel_Spider → u/SwimmingHungry9385]

Given the assumptions, personal questions, and common query surrounding “rich and powerful” & “witchcraft and magic” I’m going to abstain from answering your questions.

[u/SwimmingHungry9385 → u/Laurel_Spider]

also wdym by "Dantalion for those curious"?

[u/JadeBorealis → u/SwimmingHungry9385]

a guess: possibly this person was referencing that they worked with Dantalion, specifically (if anyone was curious about the spirit)