The Encyclopedia Of Demons And Demonology

170 mazziqin
Aaron. His demons lead the sons of Noah astray to commit
sin, idolatry, and pollution.
One legend holds that Mastema asked God to give him
some demons so that he might have power over humankind;
God gave him one-tenth of the fallen ones to be
under his command.
FURTHER READING:
Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. 2nd ed. Edited by
Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, and Pieter W. van der
Horst. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 1999.
mazziqin In Jewish lore, evil spirits who injure. The
mazziqin are divided into two classes. One class comprises
FALLEN ANGELs who are led by SATAN. The second
class are half-spirit and half-human hybrids, divided into
two subclasses. One subclass includes the night terrors
such as LILITH and her hordes. The second class is the
SHEDIM, the offspring of Lilith or a SUCCUBUS and men.
McKenna, Bishop Robert (1927– ) Dominican bishop
at Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel in Monroe, Connecticut.
Bishop Robert McKenna has performed EXORCISMs,
including at the haunted house known as the SMURL
HAUNTING in Pennsylvania, and in Warren, Massachusetts,
featured in the book Satan’s Harvest (1990). He has
worked with ED AND LORRAINE WARREN, JOHN ZAFFIS, and
other lay demonologists. McKenna was ordained a priest
in 1958 and a bishop in 1986. He has said that many officials
in the church do not wish to believe that the DEVIL
exists, or, if they do believe, they do not want to become
involved with him. McKenna has retired from performing
exorcisms.
Menadiel DEMON and wandering duke of the air. Menadiel
has 20 dukes and 100 companions under his command,
plus many other servants. The demons must be
summoned according to planetary hours. Six chiefs
dukes are Larmol, Drasiel, Clamor, Benodiel, Charsiel,
and Samyel. The six lesser dukes are Barchiel, Amasiel,
Baruch, Nedriel, Curasin, and Tharson.
Menghi, Girolamo (1529–1609) Franciscan friar and
leading EXORCIST of the Italian Renaissance. Girolamo
Menghi wrote extensively on demonology and EXORCISM
prior to the codification of exorcism rites in Pope Paul
V’s RITUALE ROMANUM in 1614.
Menghi was born in 1529 in Viadana, Mantua, Italy.
At age 20, he entered the Franciscan order of the Frati
dell’Osservanza in Bologna, where he studied theology.
He became famous as a preacher and was named superior
of a Franciscan province in 1598.
An excellent scholar and writer, he authored numerous
theological books, the most famous of which were on
DEMONs and exorcism: Flagellum daemonum (The Devil’s
Scourge), 1576; Compendio dell’arte essorcistica, 1576; Remedia
probatissima in lamignos spiritus expellendos (1579);
and Fustis daemonum (Club against demons), 1584. His
books were immediately successful, especially Compendio
and Flagellum. Menghi considered the battle against
demons to be extremely important.
Characteristics of Demons
Menghi supported the view that the DEVIL was originally
created good and chose evil. However, the Devil was not
the principle of evil itself. The Devil and demons were
created as beings superior to humans, with perfect intellect,
memory, and will. They are able to see into humans,
know their weaknesses, and know their future actions.
Demons are clever and crafty and know the truth of all
things by experience, revelation, and nature. However,
they cannot force humans into sin but only tempt and
persuade them to make sinful choices.
Demons can dominate matter through possession and
can appear in human form, even in the guise of beautiful
men and women and saints. They engage in sexual
intercourse with humans and are capable of producing
children from such unions. They will eat and drink as
humans, but they do not digest any of it; whatever they
consume dissolves into its preexisting matter.
Orders of Demons
Menghi was influenced by the works of MICHAEL PSELLUS
and envisioned a hierarchy of demons according to functions,
spheres of activity, and habits, in much the same
way that angels were arranged in hierarchies.
The lowest types of demons are elflike demons
(l’infimo choro) who appear at night to play tricks to harm
people and the incubi and succubi who tempt people into
sexual activities. All of these demons are harmful but not
malevolent.
According to Menghi, the first order of demons are the
“fiery ones” (Leliureon), who inhabit the air near the Sun.
The second order is that of demons of the air (Aerea), who
live in the air nearest to humans. The Aerea are vain and
constantly compare themselves to God. They push people
to be conceited and vain. The third order is that of earth
demons (Terreo), who tempt people to immorality and put
filthy thoughts into their heads.
The worst and most dangerous demons are in the
fourth through sixth orders. The fourth order is that of
water demons (Acquatile or Marino), who live in lakes,
seas, and rivers, where they like to cause storms and sink
ships. The fifth order includes subterranean demons (Sotterranei),
who torment miners, cause earthquakes, destabilize
the world, and throw stones. They are cruel and
enjoy tormenting people. The Sotteranei disguise themselves
as servants of magicians and sorcerers (see FAMIL-
IAR). Last and most deadly are the Lucifogo, who are dark
and mysterious and avoid light. They will kill people in
cold blood and should be avoided at all costs.
Demonic Pacts
Menghi wrote extensively on demonic pacts made by
witches, or LAMIAE. The witches had sex with demonic