Real Vampires, Night Stalkers and Creatures from the Darkside. Brad Steiger
Чтение книги онлайн.
Читать онлайн книгу Real Vampires, Night Stalkers and Creatures from the Darkside - Brad Steiger страница 6
In the Hebrew account of the Fall from Paradise, the Serpent was the king of beasts, walking on two legs. The Serpent became jealous when he saw how the angels honored Adam. For his part in the seduction of Eve, the Serpent was punished by having his limbs removed and being forced to crawl on his belly. In the Muslim tradition, it is Archangel Michael who chops off the serpent’s limbs with the sword of God.
In many Native American legends, the great hero Manabozho must battle many Serpent People to free his people from bondage. According to many tribal traditions, in the beginning of time humans and snakes could converse freely. It was believed that shamans and others who were powerfully attuned to the spirit level could still communicate with serpents and learn secrets about the future and powerful healing medicines.
Snakes appear in the mythology and legends of cultures worldwide, including the familiar biblical tale of the Garden of Eden. Could this commonality among ancient civilizations be a clue about creatures visiting early mankind?
Serpent People remain popular as shape-shifting entities in the local folklore of many areas around the world. Some cultures still believe that an underground race of reptilian beings secretly control all the major events of life on this planet. Certain UFO investigators have theorized that the Serpent People of prehistoric times are the same beings who today visit Earth in spaceships as Overlords surveying the evolution of humankind.
Beware of Demons in Disguise
The science of alchemy was introduced to the Western world at the beginning of the third century C.E. by Zosimus of Panapolis, a Greek-Egyptian alchemist and Gnostic mystic. Zosimus cited the familiar passage in Genesis as the origin of the arcane art: “The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair.” To this scriptural reference, Zosimus echoed the Book of Enoch in stating the tradition that in reward for their favors, the “sons of God” endowed these women with the knowledge of how to make jewels, colorful garments, and perfumes with which to enhance their earthly charms.
In the opinion of the clergy, the alchemists were being deceived by demons in disguise. Church Father Tertullian (c. 160–240 C.E.) argued that the “sons of God” referred to in Genesis were evil perverters of humans who bequeathed their wisdom to mortals with the sole intention of seducing them to mundane pleasures.
Ignoring the warnings of the clergy, alchemists believed that they could also acquire control over the Elementals, the unseen intelligences who inhabit the four basic elements of the material plane. The creatures of the air are known as sylphs; of the earth, gnomes; of fire, salamanders; and of water, the nymphs or undines.
According to ancient tradition, before the Fall, Adam had complete control over these entities. After the Fall from Grace in the Garden of Eden, Adam lost his command over the elementals, but he was still able to demand their obedience by means of certain incantations and spells. That same ancient tradition suggests that such communication with the unseen entities can be established by the sincere magician who seeks out the old spells.
The appearance of the elementals when discerned by the human eye is that of attractive males and beautiful females. Because they are created of the pure essences of their element, they may live for centuries; but because they were fashioned of terrestrial elements, their souls are not immortal, as are those of humans. If, however, an elemental should be joined in marriage to a human, their union can transform the creature’s soul into a spirit that may enjoy eternal life. Some of the greatest figures of antiquity such as Zoroaster, Alexander, and Merlin were reported to have been the children of elementary spirits.
While most traditions hold the elementals to be friendly to humans some authorities warn that each of the four elements contains a number of mischief makers and entities that tend more toward the demonic than the angelic.
Supernatural Shape-shifters from Parallel Dimensions
It is interesting to note that all of the world’s major religions speak of a duality of the gods or demigods that came to Earth—some to exploit; others to teach; some to enslave; others to free.
In Arabian and Muslim traditions, the Jinns are evil demons who possess a wide variety of supernatural powers. Some scholars declare the Jinns a bit lower than the angels, because they were created of smoke and fire. Their leader is Iblis, once hailed as Azazel, the Islamic counterpart of the Devil.
The Jinns are mentioned frequently in the Qur’an, but the entities were known before the Prophet Muhammad wrote of their existence. In pre-Islamic Arabia, the Jinns were revered as godlike beings who inhabited a world parallel to that of humans.
The Jinns are accomplished shape-shifters, capable of assuming any form in their avowed mission to work evil on humans. On the other hand, Jinns may also, on occasion, influence humans to do good, and they may also perform good deeds for those who have the power to summon them. According to some traditions, King Solomon possessed a ring that gave him the power to summon the Jinns to fight beside his soldiers in battle. In addition, it is said that Solomon’s temple was constructed with the help of the Jinns.
Primarily, though, the Jinns are feared as creatures who exist for the purpose of tormenting humans. Some old beliefs affirm that a human dying an unrepentant sinner may become a Jinn for a period of time.
Many scholars of mysticism and the esoteric declare one type of Rakshasas as the Hindu equivalent of the Nephilim, the giants of the Bible, who declared war on the greater gods. The evil Rakshasas most often appear as beautiful women who drink the blood and feed off the flesh of men and women. The Rakshasas also possess shape-shifting abilities, and they take great delight in possessing vulnerable human hosts and causing them to commit acts of violence until they are driven insane.
In appearance, the Rakshasas are most often described as being yellow, green, or blue in color with vertical slits for eyes. They are feared as blood-drinkers and detested for their penchant for animating the bodies of the dead and stalking new victims.
The great Hindu goddess Kali is herself a vampire, and it is said that her image manifests over battlefields, her long tongue lapping up the blood of the fallen.
In the Shinto traditions, there are millions of Kami, nature spirits that can do either good or evil to humans. Although the Kami are by no means angelic, neither is it their sole purpose to harm humans. They can be brutal or benevolent, depending upon the intent or the purpose of the individual. Even the Kappa, a bloodsucking demon that haunts the night and is generally considered the most evil of the Kami, can reverse its nature and single out individual humans to teach both medical and magical practices.
The idea of Jinns later evolved in Western culture as the “genie in the lamp,” but real Jinns are shape-shifters who are mentioned often in the holy Qur’an.
The