Asmodeus (Page 2)
Asmodeus also figures in the apocryphal Book of Tobit as the personal tormentor of Tobias' wife-to-be, Sarah, and causes the death of seven husbands in succession, each on his bridal night. He was finally driven into Egypt through a charm made by Tobias of the heart and liver of a fish burnt on perfumed ashes, as described by Milton in Paradise Lost (1667). Hence Asmodeus figures as the spirit of matrimonial jealousy or unhappiness.
"Better pleased Than Asmodeus with the fishy fume That drove him, though enamoured, from the spouse Of Tobit's son, and with a vengeance sent From Media post to Egypt, there fast bound." — Paradise Lost.
In the Testament of Solomon Asmodeus reveals himself as the demon pledged to plot against the newly wedded. In it Asmodeus answered King Solomon's question concerning his name and functions as follows:
"I am called Asmodeus among mortals, and my business is to plot against the newly wedded, so that they may not know one another. And I sever them utterly by many calamities; and I waste away the beauty of virgins and estrange their hearts. . . . I transport men into fits of madness and desire when they have wives of their own, so that they leave them and go off by night and day to others that belong to other men; with the result that they commit sin and fall into murderous deeds."
Solomon obtained the further information that it was the archangel Raphael who could render Asmodeus innocuous, and that the latter could be put to flight by smoke from a certain fish's gall. The king availed himself of this knowledge, and by means of the smoke from the liver and gall he frustrated the "unbearable malice" of this demon. Asmodeus then was compelled to help in the building of the Temple; and, fettered in chains, he worked clay with his reet, and drewwater. Solomon would not give him his liberty "because that fierce demon Asmodeus knew even the future."
Thus, in the Testament of Solomon, Asmodeus is connected on the one hand with the Asmodeus of Tobit, and possesses on the other many points of contact with the Ashmedai of rabbinical literature, especially in his relation to Solomon and the building of the Temple.
The Hebraic name Ashmedai (Destroyer, or "evil spirit") was probably from the Persian Aesham-dev or Aeshma, the demon of concupiscence and wrath. The term 'flight of Asmodeus' is derived from a work of literature by Alain René Lesage (Le Diable Boiteux, 1707) in which Asmodeus takes Don Cleofas for a night flight, and by magical means removes the roofs from the houses of a village to show him the secrets of what passes in private lives.
Asmodeus bios:
Rank: King
Adversary: John the Baptist
Sign: 10° - 20° Aquarius (January 30 - February 8)
Time of Day: Day
Planet: Sol (Sun)
Metal: Gold
Tarot Card: 6 of Swords
See Heptameron, Demonology, Demonomancy, Grimoires, Mystic Gifts and Charms - New Age Gift Shop & Wicca and Pagan Supplies, Love Spells -- Use these powerful love spells to help you find and keep your true love, The Tarot Store, Divination & Scrying Tools and Supplies, Unique Amulets, Talismans, Good Luck Charms, and Love Tokens, Powerful Witch Doctor Spell Kits, Powerful Spells - Cast by Andreika the Witch, Webmasters Make $$$, AzureGreen - Celebrating All Paths to the Divine, ISIS - Tools for Your Soul's Journey, and The Pyramid Collection - Myth, Magick, Fantasy and Romance.
 | | | | |
| | |
| |
Sources: (1) Masello, Robert, Fallen Angels. . . and Spirits of the Dark, The Berkley Publishing Group; (2) Spence, Lewis, An Encyclopedia of Occultism, Carol Publishing Group; (3) de Plancy, Collin, Dictionnaire Infernal, Editions; (4) Wier, Johann, De Praestigiis Daemonum, Pegasus; (5) Mathers, S. Liddell MacGregor, The Goetia, The Key of Solomon the King, The Book Tree; (6) Milton, John, Paradise Lost; (7) Lewis, James R., Angels A to Z, Visible Ink Press.
| | |
.
.
.
.
