The Encyclopedia Of Demons And Demonology

86 fallen angels
and also became “demonic” hunchbacks. Then she was
advised by a wise woman to put a sprig of boxwood
blessed by a priest in the cradle, and the fairies would be
repelled. She did so for her fourth child, and it was not
affected.
The idea of changelings might have explained problems
in infants that were not apparent at birth but developed
later and even “crib death” or sudden infant death
syndrome (SIDS). The affected infants were not unrecognizable
or completely different, but they were changed for
the worse in noticeable ways.
Possession and Exorcism
Changelings result from possession: An entity steals a
soul during sleep. The changelings were thus “fairy-possessed.”
As the preceding account shows, a changeling
had “demonic” characteristics much as a person possessed
by a demon does: an altered personality, evil tendencies
and acts, supernormal abilities (prophecy), and
an altered physical appearance. The hunchback is even
called “a veritable demon.”
In the case of changelings, the possession was usually
permanent. Exorcism remedies exist in fairy lore; how
effective they were probably depended on the nature of
the problem affecting the infant. One remedy in French
lore, for example, was to leave a changeling outdoors. The
fairies would hear it cry and take it back, leaving the true
child in its rightful place.
Fairies were well known for bewitching milk, and
exorcisms of milk once were common in folklore practices.
The vessel for containing the milk was exorcized
and blessed, and so was the milk poured into it. Demons
as well as fairies possessed milk; sometimes little or no
distinction was made between one and the other.
The biography of the Irish patron saint Columba, who
lived in the sixth century, tells a story about the saint’s
exorcism of milk. The Vita Columbae was written by Adamnan,
the abbot of Iona. One day a youth named Columban
did the milking and took the pail to St. Columba
for exorcism. The saint made the sign of the cross in the
air, but the lid flew off and most of the milk spilled. Columba
said, “Thou has done carelessly in thy work today;
for thou has not cast out the demon that was lurking
in the bottom of the empty pail, by tracing on it, before
pouring in the milk, the sign of the Lord’s cross; and now
not enduring, thou seest, the virtue of the sign, he has
quickly fled away in terror, while at the same time the
whole of the vessel has been violently shaken, and the
milk spilled.” Columba then ordered a half-full pail to be
carried to him for exorcism. When he blessed it, the pail
miraculously filled with milk.
One old folk custom in Brittany, France, called for the
burning of green branches on the summer solstice. Domestic
farm animals were passed through the smoke, which
exorcized all evil spirits and fairies and protected them
from bewitchment and possession. In the case of cows, it
especially guaranteed the abundant supply of milk.
Fairies in Contemporary Lore
Since Victorian times, fairies have been increasingly
stripped of their formidable powers and trivialized as little
beings with wings, or female ballerinalike figures with
wands. The fictitious Tinkerbell, created by the Scottish
novelist J. M. Barrie around the turn of the 20th century
as part of the Peter Pan stories, also added to the degrading
of fairies to inconsequential, little creatures. The continuing
portrayal of fairies in popular media is of cute,
magical little beings with no demonic associations. The
“tooth fairy” who leaves money in exchange for teeth left
underneath a pillow is still popular with small children.
FURTHER READING:
Briggs, Katherine. The Vanishing People. New York: Pantheon
Books, 1978.
Evans-Wentz, W. Y. The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries. 1911.
Reprint, New York: Carroll, 1990.
Stewart, R. J. The Living World of Faery. Lake Toxaway, N.C.:
Mercury, 1995.
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
fifth heaven.
2. The Watchers, who also are imprisoned in the fifth
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 briefly 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 influential theologian St. Thomas Aquinas.
Lucifer later became identified with SATAN.