The Encyclopedia Of Demons And Demonology

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uncertain whether they deserve well or ill. Who does not
see at a glance that this is a mere whirlpool sucking men
to moral destruction?
For, however wicked men have been, if they suppose
they shall become Larvae or divine Manes, they will
become the worse the more love they have for inflicting
injury; for, as the Larvae are hurtful demons made out
of wicked men, these men must suppose that after death
they will be invoked with sacrifices and divine honors
that they may inflict injuries. But this question we must
not pursue. He also states that the blessed are called in
Greek eudaimones, because they are good souls, that is
to say, good demons, confirming his opinion that the
souls of men are demons.
FURTHER READING:
Augustine. The City of God. Translated by Marcus Dods,
George Wilson and J. J. Smith; introduction by Thomas
Merton. New York: Modern Library, 1950.
Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits.
3rd ed. New York: Facts On File, 2007.
Ogden, Daniel. Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and
Roman Worlds: A Sourcebook. New York: Oxford University
Press, 2002.
LaVey, Anton Szandor
See SATANISM.
legion A unit of DEMONs. There are 6,666 demons per
legion. JOHANN WEYER cataloged demons, listing 72
princes who commanded legions totaling 7,405,926
underlings. The legions are organized in military fashion,
with ranks and specific duties assigned to each
demon. The legions attend their princes when summoned
by a magician. They are dispatched by SATAN to infest,
oppress, and possess victims.
Legion
lemures
See JESUS.
See LARVAE.
Lerajie (Leraie, Lerayou, Oray) FALLEN ANGEL and
14th of the 72 SPIRITS OF SOLOMON. Lerajie is a marquis
who appears as an archer, dressed in green and carrying
a bow and quiver. He causes great battles and makes
arrow wounds putrefy. He commands 30 LEGIONs of
DEMONs.
Leviathan In Hebrew lore, primordial monster DEMON
of the seas and king of beasts.
Leviathan is described in the book of Job as a huge
whalelike creature who is nearly invulnerable; spears do
no more than tickle him:
His back is made of rows of shields,
Shut up closely as with a seal. . . .
His sneezings flash forth light,
And his eyes are like eyelids of the dawn.
Out of the mouth go flaming torches;
Sparks of fire leap forth. . . .
In his neck abides strength,
And terror dances before him.
The book of Jonah tells about Jonah, who flees from
God’s wrath across the sea toward the city of Tarshish.
Along the way, God sends a tempest, and the ship’s crew
find out that Jonah is the cause. They throw him overboard
and he is swallowed by Leviathan. For three days,
he is imprisoned in the belly of the beast, and then God
forces Leviathan to vomit him up on land.
John Milton, in his epic poem Paradise Lost, describes
Leviathan as “the Arch-Fiend,” who lurks about the seas
around Scandinavia. He would rise to the surface and
fool sailors into thinking his huge bulk was actually land.
When the ships were close, he would drag them down
and sink them.
Leviathan was one of the possessing demons named in
the LOUDUN POSSESSIONS. He is ruler of Envy, the fourth
of the SEVEN DEADLY SINS.
In Hebrew lore, Leviathan has two aspects, male—
Leviathon, the Slant Serpent—and female—LILITH, the
Tortuous Serpent.
See BEHEMOTH.
FURTHER READING:
Hyatt, Victoria, and Joseph W. Charles. The Book of Demons.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1974.
Koltuv, Barbara Black. The Book of Lilith. Berwick, Me.: Nicolas-
Hays, 1986.
leyak In Balinese lore, a sorcerer who has the ability to
shape shift into a DEMON, causing death and destruction
to people, animals, and crops. The leyak also is the cause
of all bad events and misfortunes.
While the sorcerer sleeps, the leyak flies in the night
skies in the form of a mysterious light, a monkey, or a
bird. If the leyak is destroyed, its human form dies instantly
along with it. A leyak can remain disguised to fellow
human beings indefinitely. Usually, it is unmasked
only when it is killed in its shape-shifted form.
lezim
See KESILIM.
liderc Hungarian DEMON that shape shifts into three
guises: an INCUBUS, a household spirit, and a death omen
light.
The incubus liderc takes advantage of loneliness, masquerading
as long-absent lovers and dead husbands. Once
in its victim’s bed, it returns night after night and fornicates
with the victim, who has a wasting death. A giveaway
to the demon’s true nature is that it has one goose leg
and foot, which it keeps hidden in trousers and boots.
The household liderc takes the form of a featherless
chicken that suddenly appears or is hatched from an egg
carried in the armpit. It can never be banished once it has