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Anamelech
Also spelled Anammelech.
In Christian
demonology, an obscure demon,
said to be a bearer of ill news.
Anamelech was worshipped at Sepharvaim, an Assyrian
town. The Serphavites burned their children as offerings on his and
Adramelech's altars, believing that both gods were responsible for
the health and welfare of their cattle.
Anamelech
was usually represented
under the shape of a quail, but some Rabbins also depicted him as a mule.
His name signified "gentle king," or "good
king." Authorities declare that, for the Serphavites, this demon was the moon,
as Adramelech was the sun.
Anamelech was the minion Satan
charged with the task of recruiting Cain's soul. To accomplish this Anamalech
sends Cain a vision in which he sees his children
toiling in pain, while Abel's children enjoy luxury and ease. By the end of the
vision the former have become the servants and slaves of the latter.
Awakening from this terrifying
dream, Cain fiercely confronts Abel
who, seeking mercy, wraps himself around Cain's feet. Anamelech again
intervenes, causing Cain to be reminded of a deadly serpent as he sees his
brother in this posture. Cain then murders Abel and, immediately overwhelmed
with despair and anguish, flees into the wilderness.
Later, Anamelech further tortures Cain by
tricking him, appearing several times as Abel's ghost,
and thus causing him to be remorseful.
This was done out of contempt for Satan, to whom Anamelech had fallen in
disfavor.
After having lived his whole life racked by remorse caused by these ghostly
visions, Cain finally seems to achieve some redemption by rushing to rescue a
woman and some children from a tiger's attack in the wilderness — a group that turned out to be his
own family.
See
Heptameron,
Demonology,
Demonomancy,
Grimoires,
Casting Black Magic Spells,
Commanding Spirits,
The Tarot Store and
Divination & Scrying Tools and
Supplies.
Sources: (1) Spence, Lewis,
An Encyclopedia of
Occultism, Carol Publishing Group; (2) Johnston,
Kenneth R.,
The Hidden Wordsworth: Poet, Lover, Rebel, Spy,
W. W. Norton & Company; (3)
Bell, John, Bell's New Pantheon or Historical Dictionary of the Gods, Demi Gods, Heroes and Fabulous Personages of Antiquity,
Kessinger Publishing; (4) Fliegelman, Jay, Prodigals And Pilgrims,
Cambridge University Press.
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