#evil spirit

[weirdlookindog]

Valère Bernard (1860-1936) - Esprit des ténèbres (Spirit of Darkness), c. 1920

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

'Demon' by Liga Klavina - Raiska

[one-time-i-dreamt]

An evil spirit haunted me and my friends until I agreed to go on a gender discovery journey, but at the end of the journey it turned out I was just a vampire with the flu.

[artsolarsash]

The final drawing of "Wanna make a deal?" If you want to make a deal with someone who wants to help you, think twice before it's too late

Inspiration from this song

[briefbestiary]

A mirror whose reflection is distorted with the reflections of the many evil spirits that have been reflected on its surface over its many years. If one were to look in, they might see a monstrous version of themself.

[laurasimonsdaughter]

Do you have any recommendations on good ways to find mythic/folkloric references? My untrained low-knowledge self currently only really uses what I find through search engines. That rarely lets me stumble upon niche sites that collate myths/folklore unless I already know the exact phrasing or name of the story the thing is from. If it helps, currently I'm trying to research banishment/containment devices for evil spirits, demons, etc. The demon sealing jar I've repeatedly come across in media especially intrigues me, though its origin seems to not exist???

I do have a post with my go-to websites for research, but I must admit those are better for finding folktales than specific mythological concepts.

For your specific research question I would advise you to pick a culture and if possible a time period to look into. It will be easier to find niche information if you are searching for something specific, rather than something general.

As for demons being sealed in jars, the concept of an malevolent spirit (as in supernatural entity, not ghost) being trapped in a bottle, jar or other container, is a tolerably widespread motif in folklore. In fact "The Spirit in the Bottle" has it's own tale type: ATU 331. It shows up in Europe from the Middle Ages onward, but while Stith Thompson (the T in ATU) was still uncertain whether it was originally European or Middle Eastern, Hans-Jörg Uther (the U in ATU) considers it to be of Jewish and Arabic origin.

Today the most well-known versions are probably these two:

The Fisherman and the Jinni, one of the stories in One Thousand and One Nights that was already present in its earliest known Arabic versions, from the 14th century. In it a fisherman catches a copper jar, sealed with lead that has the Seal of Solomon/Suleiman pressed into it. He opens it and an ifrit (powerful, malevolent jinn) emerges, who was imprisoned by Solomon. The jinn threatens to kill him, is tricked into going back into the jar, then released in return for pledging to help the fisherman.

The Spirit in the Glass Bottle, collected by the Grimms in Bökendorf, Germany, published in 1815. Here a malevolent spirit called Mercurius is trapped in a glass bottle stuck between the roots of a tree. He is freed by the kind protagonist, tricked into going back into the bottle after threatening to kill him, then freed again in return for a magical gift. How the bottle is able to contain the powerful spirit is not explained. (I grew up with a version of this story where the spirit is not released a second time.)

There are variants on the bottle/jar however, for example:

Virgilius the Sorcerer, a legend-like tale published in The Violet Fairy Book (1901) by Andrew Lang. Presumably written by him (or his wife), inspired by Medieval legends. Here the evil spirit is trapped in a small hole in the floor of a cave closed off with a bolt.

The legend of Paracelsus, a German tale published in English in 1892 in Folk-lore and Legends Germany. Its editor seems to be Charles John Tibbits, but no translators or sources are named. In this story the spirit has been trapped in a fir tree by a magician, which has a small stopper pushed into its trunk, sealed with three crosses.

(These might remind you of the Arthurian Merlin, sorcerer with demonic heritage, being imprisoned in a tree, cave, or stone by Niviane/Nimue/Viviane, first named in the Lancelot-Grail Cycle from the 13th century.)

Now, I prefer to stay in the realm of folktales rather than religious texts, but I will try to briefly explain the Jewish and Islamic foundations for this tale type - the link between King Solomon and controlling demons/jinn - under the cut:

The Tanakh describes King Solomon as the last to rule both Israel and Judah, son and successor to King David. He is considered a Jewish prophet, granted divine wisdom (I Kings 3:12). In the Talmud Solomon is described to have tricked Ashmedai/Asmodeus, the prince of the demons, into helping him to build the first temple. The text mentions a chain and a ring engraved with a sacred name of God, which are used to bind and then control the demon (Gittin 68a-b). (There is a Greek text of uncertain date and origin called The Testament of Solomon that says the ring has the seal of God on it.)

Solomon is considered an important prophet as well as ruler of the Israelites in the Quran, who is told to have had control over the wind and over many jinn (Quran 34:12, 38:36-37). A prevalent interpretation of the text states that this power is linked to Solomon possessing a ring that was given to him by Allah, and temporarily taken away as punishment (38.34 Jalal - Al-Jalalayn).

If you want a more historical, scholarly take on the folklore motif of imprisoning and controlling demons, take a look at this: Allegra Iafrate, ““Il demone nell’ampolla”: Solomon, Virgil, Aeolus, and the Long Metamorphosis of Rain Rituals and Wind-Taming Practices”, Revue de l’histoire des religions, 3 | 2017, 387-425.

I haven't read it in full, but it looks like it might give you some inspiration!

[karkats-longsleeves]

A motherfucker... (song I drew this to here )

[utaitemusic]

悪霊 / 初音ミク

[carebearscomfort]

CARE BEARS VILLAINS ART JUST DROPPED GANG HOW ARE MY FELLOW BADDIE ENJOYERS FEELING

[iubar12]

SPOILER ALERT!! (The uncanny counter)

THE HUG- I'M SCREAMINGGG ADJHFKSKFJSI

THIS SCENE 😭🫶🏻

I swear if the writers don't make them end up together even after THIS, then ISTG I'M GOING TO THROW HANDS. This ep was a roller coaster of emotions fr, personally I loved it. Only 3 eps left now :")

[weirdlookindog]

Tony Johannot (1803–1852) - Smarra, ou les démons de la nuit

from 'Contes de Charles Nodier', 1846

source

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

𝔑𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱 𝔬𝔫 𝔅𝔞𝔩𝔡 𝔐𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔱𝔞𝔦𝔫 - 𝔉𝔞𝔫𝔱𝔞𝔰𝔦𝔞 (յգկօ)

[conjureandreanimate]

THE BLOOD BROTHERS

1. ILL, The Terror of The Night Sky

Enigmatic in nature, ILL is the founder and leader of the group and is the most fearsome of them all. Despite it's status, folks often described ILL as a foolish hedonistic spirit, only seeking fun without a true goal, uncharacteristic for the supposed leader. However, a more experienced ghost knew that its outward appearance are merely a part of its deceitful nature...

2. BOND "AGES" WATERFALL, The Horror of the Deep Sea

Known for founding the infamous criminal group, TERMINA, AGES are feared and hated across the world. His tireless pursuit of finding the perfect partner is what drives him to create TERMINA. It is believed that he were the infamous Deutsch pirate who was sunken down to the bottom of the sea by the British empire. His soul now haunts the vast ocean, dragging any ship with its valuables to the unknown void that is The Bed of The Ocean.

3. HAYDAY "HAY" HAYWIRE, The Fright of the Far Lands

Also known as The Demon of Fall, HAY is the evil spirit who haunts the season of Fall, culminating his terror at the end of October. His power to control the weather has proven quite the trouble for the farmers, causing widespread famine. Eventually, at the end of the October, it will fully manifest itself, terrorizing any living being it sees. To prevent such terrible disaster to happen, mortals created Halloween, using sweets as offerings and wearing costumes to please HAY.

[viktoriathewitch]

༓࿇༓ 𝔱𝔶𝔭𝔢𝔰 𝔬𝔣 𝔥𝔞𝔯𝔪𝔣𝔲𝔩 𝔰𝔭𝔦𝔯𝔦𝔱𝔲𝔞𝔩 𝔠𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔱𝔲𝔯𝔢𝔰 ༓࿇༓

PART 1

(se você fala portugues BR, sinta-se livre para enviar DM ou pedir tradução de um post. boa parte vai estar em inglês, para facilitar minha vida e atingir mais pessoas.)

-`🕯 INTRO 🕯´-

This is based on my experience, the information I have gathered, and my personal take. This isn't a rule book, law, or scientific study. You can feel free to give your own opinions and experiences in the comments but make it respectful. Now, let's get ourselves on the same page: ❅ Spirits are conscious beings who no longer or never have possessed a biological residence, in other words, a body. They are condensed energy, in other words, they might reside in the material world, but not materially. ❅ Harmful Spiritual Creatures/Spirits are those who harm other spirits or living beings in general, whether they want to or not. Here, it is not taken different points of view as in the famous "it depends" to determine whether such actions are harmful or not, but rather the general consequences of their actions regardless of their motives or lack thereof. ❅ Witchcraft is the conscious manipulation of magic in the day-to-day life of a being. It doesn't have ethical or moral rules to follow, or a god that needs to be

-`🕯 THE LIST 🕯´-

❅ OBSESSORS is a term found in spiritism, a French-originated religion, that refers to spirits of either deceased humans or not who find themselves obsessed with a living person, place, or group of people to the point they provoke harm. Obsessors can be life-threatening, depending on their motives, origin, and power. In spiritism, different obsessors are determined by their motives, behavior, and origin. Personally, I use the term to refer to spirits who are just obsessed with a living being. Usually, they aren't the root cause of someone's problems, but rather the aggregation of someone's problems. ❅ ASTRAL LEECHES. Let me start off with I hate these bitches. My first and hopefully last encounter with them was horrible. They are so annoying and pretty much are leeches that reside in the astral realm (their name is perfect). In my experience, they target beings who find themselves in a vulnerable state in the astral realm. Leeches aren't strong enough to attack someone who's doing fine in the astral plane, so they target those who are scared, lost, feeling weak, in a nightmare-like situation, etc. Usually, people who have accidentally astral traveled to a not-so-nice place don't have their psychic abilities well developed in order to defend themselves. Sometimes, they work alongside other more powerful beings, are usually together in bigger groups, and tend to be larger than our material realm leeches. They can be burnt with astral fire. ❅ HAUNTERS is what most of you might already know, a haunting spirit. The name, just like obsessors, is associated with their behavior and not origin. Yet, although different, haunters can be seen as a sub-category of obsessors since they usually obsess over a place, person, or people. However, I wish to clarify that although the terminology can be traced back to the meaning of frequent presence, I am rather using the popular mouth-to-mouth slang of it, which is to disturb or distress; cause anxiety; trouble; worry. So, the difference between these categories here lies in the fact that haunters take things a step further by intensifying their harm which is fairly often intentional when compared to a regular obsessor. So, unlike their distant cousin, haunters will not care if they are harmful and will even try to harm their victim or anyone/anything that gets in the way of their goal. This is why in movies and real life cases, pets are the first to die in the family. Pets are almost all the time guardians of their family and pretty sensitive to other energetic/magnetic waves that we humans aren't. Similar to a robber, haunters will kill pets or silence them in a way that prevents them from getting caught or harmed. On top of that, just like abusers, haunters will do their best in order to weaken their victims so they are easier to gain control over. This can manifest in many ways, but usually, mental torment such as anxiety, depression, insomnia, and paranoia will be triggered. Also, social isolation is a route they take. Now, for how to get rid of them, honestly get in touch with a professional if you aren't a witch. If you are a witch and you don't know how to, then don't do it, because you don't have the abilities or knowledge to do it. If you know what to do then just do it but have someone to back you up.

link to part 2, link to part 3

[artsolarsash]

Sketch “Let’s make a deal”

[briefbestiary]

Sinister entities who appear outside when one is alone. It is unknown what exactly happens if they are allowed to enter.