The term ‘Demon’ gets tossed around frequently in the paranormal community, but the question of where do demons come from is rarely addressed.
My disclaimer for this article is that it will likely challenge any pre-conceived ideas you may have about demons and their origins. Read on at your own peril, and keep an open mind!
Definition of a demon
Most people would agree that a demon is a powerful malevolent spirit. Non-physical entities, they seem bent only on wreaking havoc and suffering in the mortal world. What is in question is the source of these malevolent spirits. Are demons fallen angels, Nephilim, Jinn, or something else
History of demons
Going back in history looking for where demons come from, things quickly become very muddy. Most people are complacent in modern day to stop with Sunday school level definitions of demons as Satan’s minions. Reviewing history paints a very different picture of demons.
Virtually every faith or religion has some form of evil spirit. In Mesopotamia they were referred to as Shedu. Hebrew mythology speaks of spirits from the nether-world that caused disease and ailments.
We see the first use of the word Daimon in ancient Greek writings and even then, they did not have a negative connotation. Looking at traditional Hebrew traditions we find few references to a demon. It isn’t until the advent of Christianity that the term demon takes root with a strong association with evil.
By the
While convenient, this social/political influence on the term demon speaks volumes to the weakness of human nature, but does nothing for understanding the source of where demons come from.
Divine source of demons
As we have seen, most of the entities labeled as demons in modern times, are spirits or minor deities that are not Christian. Much of our Christian mythology for demons comes from a combination of the concept of fallen angels and the poem Paradise Lost by Milton.
The earliest references to fallen Angels
Experience shows us that some powerful demons do exist, as does some form of existence after death, but nothing is conclusive from that as being a source of demons. While it seems likely that there are some ancient and powerful negative entities, their actual origins are entirely unclear.
Again we follow the threads of where do demons come from and find the trail going cold.
Human source of demons
With a divine source of demons looking less and less likely, we are left with two other potential sources of demons. The first, in this writer’s opinion is the most likely suspect, and that is humans ourselves.
Consider the concept that a human can be evil in life, amassing a good deal of negative energy that they take into the afterlife. If for whatever reason they don’t go wherever we are supposed to after death, they hang around. Perhaps their hatred or attachment to a location is so strong that they never fully leave the physical realm.
Initially this could be a negative haunting or “evil spirit” in a location. What if though, over time, by creating chaos it drained energy from the human realm and became stronger. It seems reasonable that it would steadily progress to a point where it could start exhibiting what we would call demonic traits.
Frequently people are warned about demonic attachments, meaning that a negative energy has attached itself to you. Could it not be assumed that a very strong negative entity could not just attach itself to you, but actually displace a victim’s own soul?
These extremely strong entities would explain many if not all of the possessions that have been recorded.
Old natural spirits
One class of entity that is often overlooked in the discussion of demons are the ones that are incredibly old, and that have a basis in nature itself.
Fans of the show The Dead Files will occasionally hear Amy Allen talking about evil entities that are non-human in origin. It is my assertion that there are very old Earth/nature spirits that inhabit our world.
The Gaia Hypothesis states that the Earth itself is a living entity. It could be that these spirits are manifestations of that greater force.
When through our actions, we poison these spirits, they can turn
One notable between these types of demons and what we classically think of as a demon is that they have little interest in possessing us physically and are more bent of revenge or lashing out at us for our collective crimes against them.
Final thoughts on where demons come from
Demonic entities exist. We know this from the experiences of many people. Some are minor, likely just at the beginning of their change from an angry human soul to something demonic, on up to very, very old evil entities that hate humanity.
Regardless of their origins, it is clear that we in our lives need to be aware that they can influence us, and to be aware of that. I don’t think we need to be in a state of constant fear of them though, as some religious leaders throughout time have tried to preach.
What is important is to do our best to embody positive energy and dissuade them from trying to interact with us as much as possible!
What are your thoughts on where demons come from?
Drop a comment below with your thoughts on where demons come from. If you have had an encounter with a demon or demonic entity we would love to hear about it. Send us a message telling us all about it
