Cosmetic Name Changes for Demons (lots of cool Occult Sources!)

[Orlin]

Okay, I know this is really nit-picky – and I’m not entirely sure why I’ve even decided to turn this into such a huge undertaking, but after reviewing the Cosmetic Changes for the angels of In Nomine, I suddenly realized that there were no demons on the list – and that was, of course, because In Nomine had already used the names of demons to construct the Princes. At first, the simple fact that I could wiki any of the Demon Princes and say “Oh! That demon was actually recognized by an occult source!” was enough.

But some of the names bothered me, and so I started digging, and every answer led to another question.

One of the first pieces of literature I came upon was the Philosophie Occulte – a transcription supposedly written by Solomon - which is Somewhere In This Massive Collection of Stuff. One of the chapters of the transcript (or the internet copy of the transcript which I can't link you to, but can PM the Word File that I used to copy it) described the natures of the Qlippoth (which pretty much says the same thing, but with what I'd guess to be more accurate translations -- if it ends in "-el" on the wiki article, they don't forget the "of God.")

If you’ve studied the Kabbalah, or you’ve ever done a google search for the word “Kabbalah,” you’ve probably come across the Tree of Life.

I don’t know what the Tree of Life is. I could probably write an essay about the Tree of Life and still not tell you what it is, but it is always represented as a collection of nodes, collectively known as the Sephiroth (Sefirot, Sephirot, Sefiroth…pick your transliteration.) Each node, or Sephirah, is an attribute or emanation of God. Some scholars have used the Tree of Life as a diagram of the human soul.

In Hasidic Judaism (?), angels are classified in a hierarchy that corresponds each “Order” with one of the Sephirah. Those of you who are interested should check it out – but don’t give yourself a headache. The strange contradictions and agreements between the Catholic Hierarchy and the Kabbalistic Hierarchy alone is enough to give me a headache. One site that will help you reconcile them is here.

Anyway, just as there is a Tree of Life that depicts the Sephiroth, so too is there a “Tree of Death” – so far as I know, it’s properly called the “Qlippothic Tree” – that depicts the opposite attribute. Just as each of the Sephirah on the Tree of Life corresponds with an angelic order, each of the Qlippoth corresponds with an Order of Fallen Angels. Many of these “Orders” are cited in other occult sources as individual figures, but the translations are fascinating nonetheless, and the demonic “Guides” or “Chiefs” of the Orders are equally interesting to read about.

From the Philosophie Occulte, I did some more digging. Solomon had a lot to say on the subject (or, at least, Samuel Liddel MacGreggor Mathers did), and many of the demons we see in the game guide can be found in the Lemegeton Clavicula Solomonus (‘The Lesser Key of Solomon -- but just Wiki them.’) All of these sources can be found, either in paraphrase or through direct transliteration on freaky cult websites, on the Internet. In some circumstances, the demons chosen for the word in question fit very neatly. In others…well, not so much.

So, after some tooling, I decided to take on a peculiar undertaking. Instead of leaving the demonic names as they are, I want to do some more cosmetic name changes – and just as I’ve changed the names of the Archangels according to their word (with some deviations from the original site), so too would I like to change the names of the demons according to their word.

I understand that many people would probably consider this to be a pointless undertaking, but I also figure that some people are bound to be at least a little interested. Those of you who have always wanted to change the naming schemes around a bit in order to fit a darker theme, or a theme more heavily lathered with Judeo-Christian overtones, should feel free to contribute, correct, or make suggestions as you see fit.

I was going to tack on an argument for each of the name changes, but that’d be too much of a pain. Instead, each name is linked to a corresponding website.

Andrealphus / Astarte (See Gamchicoth)

Asmodeus / Mephistopheles

Beleth / Epiales

Belial / Asmodeus (See Golachab)

Kobal / Belial*

Kronos / Samael (See Samael)

Saminga / Belphegor (see Thagirion; also see Belzebub)

* Of the suggestions I've cited, only Belial is remarkably out of place. This is because of a passage I've read in a wiki article that referred to him as "A man of arrogance, who seduces the proud." I've also often heard of him referenced as "Lord of Lies" even though the interpretation is probably inaccurate. Whatever the case, I felt it was important to keep this name in the scheme and had trouble placing it -- and making Kobal (who is the only demon I could not find any reference to) into a Balseraph who has convinced himself that it's all One Big Joke seemed...fascinating.

I'm taking other suggestions. So far, Epiales and Astarte have strong references to the Greek religion, which I find to be acceptable, but I'd prefer to keep Astarte as Astaroth, and find another, more Judeo-Christian sounding name for the demon of fear.

I'm not sure why I'd choose the name Mephistopheles over Asmodeus. I only know that the translation of Asmodeus as "He who is wreathed in fire," was appropriate for Fire, and that Mephistopheles is the first demon I think of when I conjure images of bartering, wheeling and dealing. In a way, Mephistopheles sort of played a game of his own with Faust, but the argument is weak. I'll gladly take other suggestions.

I’ll ask that you all pardon some of the manner in which these strange words have been transliterated. When you try to take a word that consists exclusively of Hebrew letters and twist it into a bunch of roman characters, what you usually get is a handful of possibilities. I just chose whichever transliteration I liked best and ran with it.