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Azazel
Alternatively called
Azazil.
In demonology,
an evil spirit, specifically a
demon
of the second order, guardian of the goat,
described by Milton as the standard bearer
of rebellious angels by this name (Paradise Lost,
1, 534).
In Islamic
demonology Azazel is a
Djin, who is cast from heaven for refusing to
worship Adam and for lusting after mortal maidens. His name was changed to Eblis,
which means 'despair'.
Some say that Azazel
was simply a place near the city of
Jerusalem, or an arch-demon who dwelled
in the desert. Others mention that he was the king of the Seirim, an
ancient species of goat-like spirits. The great Jewish scholar
Rashi
asserted it to be the name of a mountain with a precipice, implying that the
scapegoat (Leviticus 16:8) was driven over a cliff in sacrifice.
According to the
Book of Enoch and the
Kabbalistic text
The Zohar, Azazel
was one of the leaders of the fallen angels who came to earth to mate with mortal women.
He supposedly taught men the art of making weapons and introduced women to cosmetics, thus
encouraging vanity. For revealing these secrets to humankind, God sent
angels to bind and imprison Azazel in the desert — in a place called
Dudael — where he is to remain until the Final Judgment.
"And Azazel
taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and
made known to them the metals (of the earth) and the art of working them,
and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying
of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all colouring
tinctures"
(Book of Enoch 8:1).
In the Koran, Azazel was
cast out of of heaven when he refused God's command that he worship Adam,
saying:
"Why should the son of fire fall down before a son of
clay?"
Leviticus 16:8 tells how Aaron —
the first high priest of the Israelites and Moses brother — was to cast, as an
atonement, lots on two goats:
"one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat."
'Scapegoat' in this case is a mistranslation of Azazel, who was actually the demonic being
to whom the scapegoat was to be sent. At the feast of expiation, celebrated by the Jews on
the tenth day of the seventh month, two goats were led to the High Priest, who drew lots
for them, one for the Lord and the other for Azazel. The one on which the Lord's lot fell
was sacrificed, and its blood served for expiation. The priest then put his hands on the
head of the other goat, confessed his and the people's sins, and charged the animal with
them. The goat was then led into the desert and set free, for Azazel.
See
Heptameron,
Demonology,
Demonomancy,
Grimoires,
Casting Black Magic Spells,
Commanding Spirits,
The Tarot Store and
Divination & Scrying Tools and
Supplies.
Sources: (1) Masello, Robert,
Fallen Angels. . . and Spirits of the Dark,
The Berkley Publishing Group; (2) Bailey, Nancy,
The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Spells and Magic,
Sterling; (3) Spence,
Lewis,
An Encyclopedia of
Occultism, Carol Publishing Group; (4)
Dictionary of the
Occult, Caxton
Publishing; (5) de Plancy, Colin, Dictionnaire Infernal,
Editions.
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