The Encyclopedia Of Demons And Demonology

144 Lahmu
FURTHER READING:
Certeau, Michel de. The Possession at Loudun. Translated by
Michael B. Smith. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
2000.
Ferber, Sarah. Demonic Possession and Exorcism in Early Modern
France. London: Routledge, 2004.
Huxley, Aldous. The Devils of Loudun. New York: Harper and
Brothers, 1952.
Lahmu Benevolent Assyrian god who protects against
evil DEMONs. Lahmu means “hairy,” a description of the
god’s long hair and beard. Statues of Lahmu were placed
in house and building foundations to ward off evil.
Lam
See CROWLEY, ALEISTER.
Lamastu Babylonian and Assyrian goddess who practices
evil for its own sake. Lamastu is usually translated
as “demonness.” She is hideous in appearance, having
the head of a lion, the teeth of a donkey, a hairy body,
naked breasts, blood-stained hands with long fingers and
fingernails, and the feet of a bird. Sometimes she is
shown with donkey ears. She suckles pigs and holds SER-
PENTs. She floats in a boat in the river of the underworld.
Lamastu causes disease in all humans. As does LIL-
ITH, she especially preys upon pregnant women, women
in childbed, and newborn infants. Lamatsu goes into
homes at night. She kills pregnant women by tapping on
their bellies seven times. She steals infants from their wet
nurses.
The DEMON god PAZUZU has power over her and can
force her back into the underworld. Women protected
themselves against her by wearing AMULETs made of
bronze and fashioned as the head of Pazuzu. Offerings of
centipedes and brooches were made to tempt her away.
FURTHER READING:
Black, Jeremy, and Anthony Green. Gods, Demons and Symbols
of Ancient Mesopotamia. London: British Museum
Press, 1992.
lamiae Monstrous female birth DEMONs found in Middle
Eastern and Greek lore. The lamiae are named after
Lamme, a destroyer deity in Babylonian and Assyrian
lore, and Lamia, who was the mistress of Zeus.
Lamia was the beautiful daughter of Belus, the king of
Libya, who caught Zeus’ eye. In exchange for her sexual
favors, Zeus gave her the power to pluck out the eyes of
people and replace them. She had several children. Hera,
the wife of Zeus, was so enraged by the liaison that she
killed all the offspring who resulted from the union. She
condemned Lamia to give birth only to stillborn infants.
In revenge, Lamia became a demon and swore to kill
the children of others. She joined the EMPOUSAI, female
demons similar to the SUCCUBUS. Lamia bore a large family
of children, all female demons, who became known as
the lamiae. They have deformed lower limbs (often depicted
as SERPENTs) and the face and breasts of beautiful
women. They prey upon newborns, drinking their BLOOD
and consuming their flesh.
In Hebrew lore, lamiae are the lilim, the demonic children-killing
offspring of LILITH, Adam’s first wife.
JOHANN WEYER used the term lamia to describe female
witches who had entered into a deceptive or imaginary
PACT with the DEVIL in order to perpetrate evil.
larvae In Roman lore, evil spirits that harm and
frighten the living. Larvae, also known as lemurs, are
demonic ghosts of the dead who, because of their misdeeds
in life, are punished in the afterlife by being sentenced
to exile and eternal wandering without a home.
They do not bother good men, but they harass men of evil
intent. The counterpart of the larvae are lares, benevolent
ghosts of the dead who guard people, homes, and places.
Apuleius described both of these types of spirits in De
deo Socratis:
There is also another species of daemons, according to
a second signification, and this is a human soul, which,
after its departure from the present life, does not enter
into another body. I find that souls of this kind are called
in the ancient Latin tongue Lemures. Of these Lemures,
therefore, he who, being allotted the guardianship of
his posterity, dwells in a house with an appeased and
tranquil power, is called a familiar [or domestic] Lar. But
those are for the most part called Larvae, who, having
no proper habitation, are punished with an uncertain
wandering, as with a certain exile, on account of the evil
deeds of their life, and become a vain terror to good, and
are noxious to bad men.
Romans observed a festival in May called Lemuria, for
appeasing the spirits of the dead, exorcising them from
households, and preventing them from causing trouble.
Businesses and temples closed. The most important ritual
took place on the last night of the festival, when the larvae
or lemures were exorcised. The homeowner or head
of the household washed his hands three times, placed
black beans in his mouth, and walked barefoot through
the house, making the sign of the horns with his hands
(see EVIL EYE), tossing black beans over his shoulder, and
saying, “With these beans I do redeem me and mine.”
This incantation was repeated nine times without looking
backward. The evil ghosts who followed would pick
up the beans and depart, leaving the residents alone until
the following year’s festival.
The Greeks had a similar festival, observed in February
or March.
In The City of God, St. Augustine commented on larvae,
believing them to be wicked demons, in reference to
comments made by Plotinus:
He [Plotinus] says, indeed, that the souls of men are
demons, and that men become Lares if they are good,
Lemures or Larvae if they are bad, and Manes if it is