The Encyclopedia Of Demons And Demonology

Mastema 169
refuses to let her in. Mary, loaded with heavy parcels, is
in despair. She cries out that she cares not whether God
or the Devil will help her.
The Devil answers her call. He appears in the guise of
an ugly, one-eyed young man. The Devil cannot embody
perfection but must be defective in some way. He introduces
himself to Mary as a “man of many sciences.” If she
will promise to be his paramour, he will teach her all his
knowledge, as well as shower her with gifts of gold and
silver and love her above all women. In addition, she must
give up her name, because “for one Mary [the Blessed Virgin]
I and all my fellowship fare the worse,” he tells her.
Mary agrees, effectively making a PACT with the Devil.
She asks also to be taught magic and spell casting so that
she can raise spirits, but the Devil dissuades her from
this.
She becomes known as Emmekyn. She takes up with
the Devil, and they go to different cities, including Antwerp.
Emmekyn dazzles people with the knowledge
she has been given, and men vie for her favor, even killing
each other in their rivalries. Emmekyn enjoys it all,
but she never loses her connection to her namesake, the
Blessed Virgin Mary.
Meanwhile, the aunt, in a fit of temper influenced by
the Devil, self-administers punishment for turning her
niece away and cuts her own throat and dies.
After seven years of a dissipated lifestyle, Emmekyn
grows bored and persuades the Devil to leave Antwerp
and return to Nemmegen. They arrive on the day of a traditional
procession and pageant for the Blessed Virgin.
The sight of it causes Emmekyn to repent.
The Devil carries her high up into the air and casts
her down, hoping to break her neck. But God does not allow
it. Emmekyn falls into the street before many people,
including her uncle, a priest, to whom she makes confession.
He tells her, “There is nobody lost without the fall
in despair.” She then has an audience with the pope to
seek absolution. Interestingly, she confesses only to her
material sins and not to the desire to have learning and
knowledge.
The pope gives her a heavy penance: She must wear
three iron rings around her neck and arms. After two
years, the rings miraculously fall away, showing that God
has indeed forgiven her.
In a Dutch dramatic version of the story, an inset of the
PROCESSUS SATHANE play is added. Masscheroen, the advocate
for the Devil, petitions God for justice, arguing that
the sinfulness of humankind should be judged the same as
that of the FALLEN ANGELs. He says that God has become
too lenient, and people have become increasingly wicked.
God acknowledges that he may be right, and Masscheroen
claims the right for the Devil to act as God’s avenger. The
Virgin Mary intervenes and makes a compassionate appeal
to God for mercy. Mary wins the case.
Mary of Nemeggen shows that no matter how far one
falls from grace, there is always the hope of redemption
and God’s forgiveness. Faust, on the other hand, is
doomed to HELL beyond all hope once he makes his pact
and falls into sin.
FURTHER READING:
De Bruyn, Lucy. Woman and the Devil in Sixteenth-Century
Literature. Tisbury, England: Bear Book/The Compton
Press, 1979.
Maseriel DEMON among the 31 AERIAL SPIRITS OF SOLO-
MON. Maseriel serves CASPIEL and rules in the west. He
has a great number of servants both day and night, each
of whom has 30 servants. Maseriel’s 12 major daytime
dukes are Mahue, Roriel, Earviel, Zeriel, Atniel, Vessur,
Azimel, Chasor, Patiel, Assuel, Aliel, and Espoel. The 12
major nighttime dukes are Arach, Maras, Noguiel, Saemiet,
Amoyr, Bachile, Baros, Ellet, Earos, Rabiel, Atriel,
and Salvor.
maskim Seven Sumerian DEMONs who are great princes
of HELL or princes of the abyss, considered to be among
the most powerful of all. Maskim means “ensnarer” or
“layers of ambush.” Azza, AZAZEL, and MEPHISTOPHELES
are among the maskim.
Sumerian descriptions of the maskim say they are
neither male nor female, they take no wives and have no
children, they are “strangers to benevolence,” and they
pay no attention to prayers or wishes. They live either on
mountaintops or in the bowels of the earth.
The maskim have the power to affect the earth and the
cosmic order. They can cause earthquakes and alter the
courses of the stars in the sky. They do not like humans
and attack them with the most severe evil and spells.
Masscheroen
See PROCESSUS SATHANE.
Mastema (Mastemah, Mansemat) ANGEL of evil, hostility,
adversity, and destruction; the accuser; a prince of
DEMONs and injustice. The proper name Mastema has the
same root as the Hebrew noun that means “hostility,” its
use in two references in the Old Testament (Hosea 9:7–8).
According to lore, Mastema once was the Angel of the
Lord who delivered the punishments of the Lord and became
demonized.
In 10 references in Qumran texts, Mastema is equated
with BELIAL, whose purpose is to destroy. He also is described
as existing between the Prince of Light and the
Angel of Darkness and ruling the children of falsehood.
He leads the children of righteousness astray.
In Jubilees, Mastema is the only angel named and is
equated with the Angel of Hostility. His origins are not
explained, though he is equated with SATAN and is the
prince of evil beings who menace and harass humankind.
As a SATAN, Mastema urges God to test Abraham
with the sacrifice of his son, Isaac. Mastema also aids the
Egyptians in opposition to Moses and tries to kill him. He
helps the pharaoh’s magicians compete with Moses and