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An incubus (nominal form constructed from the Latin verb, incubo, incubare, or "to lie upon") is a demon in male form who, according to a number of mythological and legendary traditions, lies upon sleepers, especially women, in order to have intercourse with them. Its female counterpart is the succubus. An incubus may pursue sexual relations with a woman in order to father a child, as in the legend of Merlin.^[1] Religious tradition holds that repeated intercourse with an incubus or succubus may result in the deterioration of health, or even death.^[2]

Medieval legend claims that demons, both male and female, sexually prey on human beings - generally during the night when the victim is sleeping.

Origins

Victims may have been experiencing waking dreams or sleep paralysis. Nocturnal arousal or nocturnal emission could be explained away by creatures causing otherwise guilt-producing behavior.^[3] Then again, victims of incubi could well have been the victims of real sexual assault. Rapists may have attributed the rapes of sleeping women to demons in order to escape punishment. A friend or relative is at the top of the list in such cases and would be kept secret by the intervention of 'spirits.' The victims and, in some cases, the magistrates,^[4] may have found it easier to explain the attack as supernatural rather than confront the idea that the attack came from someone in a position of trust.^{[citation needed]}

Ancient and religious descriptions

One of the earliest mentions of an incubus comes from Mesopotamia on the Sumerian King List, ca. 2400 BC, where the hero Gilgamesh's father is listed as Lilu.^[5] It is said that Lilu disturbs and seduces women in their sleep, while Lilitu, a female demon, appears to men in their erotic dreams.^[6] Two other corresponding demons appear as well: Ardat lili, who visits men by night and begets ghostly children from them, and Irdu lili, who is known as a male counterpart to Ardat lili and visits women by night and begets from them. These demons were originally storm demons, but they eventually became regarded as night demons due to mistaken etymology.^[7]

Debate about the demons began early in the Christian tradition. St. Augustine touched on the topic in De Civitate Dei, The City of God. There were too many attacks by incubi to deny them. He stated, "There is also a very general rumor. Many have verified it by their own experience and trustworthy persons have corroborated the experience others told, that sylvans and fauns, commonly called incubi, have often made wicked assaults upon women."^[8] Questions about the reproductive capabilities of the demons continued. 800 years later, Thomas Aquinas lend himself to the ongoing discussion, stating, "Still, if some are occasionally begotten from demons, it is not from the seed of such demons, nor from their assumed bodies, but from the seed of men, taken for the purpose; as when the demon assumes first the form of a woman, and afterwards of a man; just so they take the seed of other things for other generating purposes."^[9] It became generally accepted that incubi and succubi were the same demon, able to switch between male and female forms.^[10] A succubus would be able to sleep with a man and collect his sperm, and then transform into an incubus and use that seed on women. Even though sperm and egg came from humans originally, the spirits offspring were often thought of as supernatural .^[3]

Though many tales claim that the incubus is bisexual,^[11] others indicate that it is strictly heterosexual and finds attacking a male victim either unpleasant or detrimental.^[12] There are also numerous stories^[where?] involving the attempted exorcism of incubi or succubi who have taken refuge in, respectively, the bodies of men or women.^{[citation needed]}

Incubi are sometimes said to be able to conceive children. The half-human offspring of such a union is sometimes referred to as a cambion. The most famous legend of such a case includes that of Merlin, the famous wizard from Arthurian legend.^[4]

According to the Malleus Maleficarum, exorcism is one of the five ways to overcome the attacks of incubi, the others being Sacramental Confession, the Sign of the Cross (or recital of the Angelic Salutation), moving the afflicted to another location, and by excommunication of the attacking entity, "which is perhaps the same as exorcism."^[13] On the other hand, the Franciscan friar Ludovico Maria Sinistrari stated that incubi "do not obey exorcists, have no dread of exorcisms, show no reverence for holy things, at the approach of which they are not in the least overawed."^[4]

Regional variations

There are a number of variations on the incubus theme around the world. The alp of Teutonic or German folklore is one of the better known. In Zanzibar, Popo Bawa primarily attacks men and generally behind closed doors.^[14] "The Trauco," according to the traditional mythology of the Chiloé Province of Chile, is a hideous deformed dwarf who lulls nubile young women and seduces them. The Trauco is said to be responsible for unwanted pregnancies, especially in unmarried women. Perhaps another variation of this conception is the "Tintín" in Ecuador, a dwarf who is fond of abundant haired women and seduces them at night by playing the guitar outside their windows; a myth that researchers believe was created during the Colonial period of time to explain pregnancies in women who never left their houses without a chaperone, very likely covering incest or sexual abuse by one of the family's friends.^[15] In Hungary, a lidérc can be a Satanic lover that flies at night and appears as a fiery light (an ignis fatuus or will o' the wisp) or, in its more benign form as a featherless chicken.^[16]

In Brazil and the rainforests of the Amazon Basin, the Boto is a combination of siren and incubus, a very charming and beautiful man who seduces young women and takes them into the river.^[17] It is said to be responsible for disappearances and unwanted pregnancies,^[18] and it can never be seen by daylight, because it metamorphoses into a kind of river dolphin during those hours. According to legend the boto always wears a hat to disguise the breathing hole at the top of its head.^[19]

The Southern African incubus demon is the Tokolosh. Chaste women place their beds upon bricks to deter the rather short fellows from attaining their sleeping forms. They also share the hole in the head detail and water dwelling habits of the Boto.

It is a mistake to misinterpret the Bible and believe that since Jesus cast out demons and the 7 sons of Sceva (Acts 19:14) couldn't please note that THIS is the reason that the Bible points out: and is TRUE eternally. If a demon see's your spirit, (which they do) and you have something in common with them (I will explain what this means in a moment), it will get on you as you have allowed a "foothold", and they are too strong for you. The reason that Legion (Mark 5:9+ and Luke 8:30+) who were MANY DEMONS cutting and tearing the naked man in the tombs - He had tremendous strength and everyone was afraid of him - but when he saw Jesus he worshiped Him and FOUND NOTHING IN COMMON with Him - he was sinless - so Jesus could cast the demons out with His spoken word. YOU TOO can do this, if you live righteously and sinless. EVERY thought must come under subjection, everything you take internally (especially visually, by hearing, and by mouth, among other ways)- very important to monitor. EXAMPLE: If you even take Ambien to sleep occasionally, and you are trying to cast out a spirit of pharmakeia (pharmaceutical drugs), they will jump on you and these demons/spirits do not only run you off naked and "insane" as the Sons of Sceva but can kill you (or make you kill yourself). (Please see pharmakeia spirit*)

THESE SPIRITS ARE VERY REAL in our world today and for ALL ETERNITY. Like our spirits they are eternal. All of creation responds to God's spoken word - they HAVE TO. You MUST speak the words of God not your own, and say exactly what you want. These demons will cause erotic dreams and wet-dreams, they will attack predominantly when one is sleeping or in the early hours while awaking. (IT IS DANGEROUS TO CLAIM THEM AS "NATURAL" AND "EVERYONE DOES IT" OR "EVERYONE Experience's THIS" because you are actually dealing with very old and wise spirits that WANT you to think and believe this. Matthew 22:30: Jesus said demons are cast out by the spirit of God not by Beelzebub! (The same is with sickness or infirmity: Luke 13:11-16: Jesus explained that the affliction this believer had was the work of an infirm spirit. It wasn't called some congenital defect, or anything of that sort - it was a spirit of infirmity. Jesus demonstrated His Words by casting it out and she "became straight!" Luke 10:1 shows where Jesus sent out people - like YOU and ME - to DO this for others, and they returned all excited because they could also minister deliverance. It doesn't take an EXORCISM or a Priest or man or woman of God with a title - but someone who is only saved and has nothing IN COMMON with this spirit to cast it out. (They should be carefully cast into either "A place Jesus tells them to go", or "The abbess where there is and never will be any human activity for all eternity", or something like this - so they don't get on other people. II Corinthians 2:11 WARNS that if we remain ignorant of satan's devices he will get advantage of us. Ephesians 4:24-32 tells us to get rid of the things that satan and these spirits may find "in common" with us and give NO PLACE to the devil. If there is a common thing found in us we are giving a foothold to the devil - and if we entertain those thoughts (like people who become murders, and sexual deviants, etc...) these FOOTHOLDS become STRONGHOLDS and we end up thinking that's just the way people are - instead of the TRUE recognition that they have "hitchhiker demons" and can be TOTALLY DELIVERED from them!! (This is the GOOD NEWS) 1 Peter 5:8 advises us to "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour". You are required, by God your creator, to take evasive action against this enemy. The Spiritual Armour of God is Faith, Hope & Love - the GREATEST is Love. If you Love the person and HATE the demons, remain clean and righteous before The Only Living God your creator, He will (and does) enable you to cast these demons from yourself and from others and they will not return, because of the Blood Jesus shed for our salvation. If a person is an open vessel for these spirits they will come and bring their "friends" - DELIVERANCE through Jesus is the ONLY way to not only stop the manifestations but become truly Delivered.

Notes

^ Merlin's father was said to be an incubus in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae and many later tales. See Lacy, Norris J. (1991). "Merlin". In Norris J. Lacy, The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, p. 322. (New York: Garland, 1991). ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.
^ Stephens, Walter (2002), Demon Lovers, p. 23, The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-266-77261-6
^ ^a ^b Lewis, James R., Oliver, Evelyn Dorothy, Sisung Kelle S. (Editor) (1996), Angels A to Z, Entry: Incubi and Succubi, pp. 218, 219, Visible Ink Press, ISBN 0-7876-0652-9
^ ^a ^b ^c Masello, Robert (2004), Fallen Angels and Spirits of The Dark, p. 66, The Berkley Publishing Group, 200 Madison Ave. New York, NY 10016, ISBN 0-399-51889-4
^ Raphael Patai, p. 221, The Hebrew Goddess: Third Enlarged Edition, ISBN 978-0-8143-2271-0
^ Siegmund Hurwitz, Lilith: The First Eve ISBN 978-3-85630-522-2
^ Raphael Patai, p. 221 & 222, The Hebrew Goddess: Third Enlarged Edition, ISBN 978-0-8143-2271-0
^ Augustine (410), The City of God 15.23,'The City of God'
^ Aquinus, Thomas (1265–1274), "Summa Theologica", "Summa Theologica"
^ Carus, Paul (1900), The History of The Devil and The Idea of Evil From The Earliest Times to The Present Day, "The Devil's Prime," at sacred-texts.com
^ Russsel, Jeffrey Burton (1972), Witchcraft in The Middle Ages, p. 145, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London, ISBN 0-8014-0697-8
^ Stephens, Walter (2002), Demon Lovers, pp. 54, 55, 332, 333, The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-266-77261-6
^ Kramer, Heinrich and Sprenger, James (1486), Summers, Montague (translator – 1928), The Malleus Maleficarum, Part 2, Chapter 1, "The Remedies prescribed by the Holy Church against Incubus and Succubus Devils," at sacred-texts.com
^ Maclean, William (Reuters, May 16, 2005), "Belief in sex-mad demon tests nerves," on the World Wide Religious News (WWRN) website
^ "TIN TIN" A brief description of the myth at EDUFUTURO(in Spanish)
^ Mack, Dinah, Mack, Carol K. (1999), A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels and Other Subversive Spirits, p. 209, Henry Holt and Company, LLC, ISBN 0-8050-6270-X
^ "Whales and Dolphins" at ancientspiral.com
^ Boto at library.thinkquest.org
^ "The Dolphin Legend" at sumauma.net

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[1] Merlin's father was said to be an incubus in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae and many later tales. See Lacy, Norris J. (1991). "Merlin". In Norris J. Lacy, The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, p. 322. (New York: Garland, 1991). ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.

[2] Stephens, Walter (2002), Demon Lovers, p. 23, The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-266-77261-6

[AZ-3] Lewis, James R., Oliver, Evelyn Dorothy, Sisung Kelle S. (Editor) (1996), Angels A to Z, Entry: Incubi and Succubi, pp. 218, 219, Visible Ink Press, ISBN 0-7876-0652-9

[Masello-4] Masello, Robert (2004), Fallen Angels and Spirits of The Dark, p. 66, The Berkley Publishing Group, 200 Madison Ave. New York, NY 10016, ISBN 0-399-51889-4

[5] Raphael Patai, p. 221, The Hebrew Goddess: Third Enlarged Edition, ISBN 978-0-8143-2271-0

[6] Siegmund Hurwitz, Lilith: The First Eve ISBN 978-3-85630-522-2

[7] Raphael Patai, p. 221 & 222, The Hebrew Goddess: Third Enlarged Edition, ISBN 978-0-8143-2271-0

[8] Augustine (410), The City of God 15.23,'The City of God'

[9] Aquinus, Thomas (1265–1274), "Summa Theologica", "Summa Theologica"

[10] Carus, Paul (1900), The History of The Devil and The Idea of Evil From The Earliest Times to The Present Day, "The Devil's Prime," at sacred-texts.com

[wima-11] Russsel, Jeffrey Burton (1972), Witchcraft in The Middle Ages, p. 145, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London, ISBN 0-8014-0697-8

[12] Stephens, Walter (2002), Demon Lovers, pp. 54, 55, 332, 333, The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-266-77261-6

[13] Kramer, Heinrich and Sprenger, James (1486), Summers, Montague (translator – 1928), The Malleus Maleficarum, Part 2, Chapter 1, "The Remedies prescribed by the Holy Church against Incubus and Succubus Devils," at sacred-texts.com

[14] Maclean, William (Reuters, May 16, 2005), "Belief in sex-mad demon tests nerves," on the World Wide Religious News (WWRN) website

[15] "TIN TIN" A brief description of the myth at EDUFUTURO(in Spanish)

[16] Mack, Dinah, Mack, Carol K. (1999), A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels and Other Subversive Spirits, p. 209, Henry Holt and Company, LLC, ISBN 0-8050-6270-X

[17] "Whales and Dolphins" at ancientspiral.com

[18] Boto at library.thinkquest.org

[19] "The Dolphin Legend" at sumauma.net

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Revision as of 04:28, 29 November 2011

Origins

Ancient and religious descriptions

Regional variations

See also

Notes