Funny thing about Pazuzu, the demon in The Exorcist is that the amulets of him were used to ward off the far more sinister demon goddess Kamedme, better known by her Akkadian name, Lamashtu.
Oh, I was obsessed with exorcisms when I was younger. I know they have a complicated history NOW, but my Catholic child mind found the concept very fascinating. Thank you for the video, I love broadening my horizons
Wonderful video! A great tangent for this subject is to study an old text like, "The Munich Manual of Necromancy", which is my favorite, and slightly more accessible than others. It's a medieval book written for/by the practitioner. In the very challenging text, the anonymous author shows how to bind demons so they can basically be pack mules, and the like. It's fascinating to see the belief in demons from that perspective.
This was awesome. As an inclusive Heathen and neo Pagan, I love learning about the Pagan roots of Christian rituals and beliefs. I do think that people and places can be possessed by spirits although I think it is rare and requires an extraordinarily strong entity. In modern times our idea of evil is so intertwined with the Christian world view that it is hard to understand the world view of our distant ancestors. I’d love a deep dive into Greco-Roman ideas of demon/evil. Take care and thanks for such wonderful videos.
Fascinating topic and well presented. I love the lens of examining the origins of this concept and how the ancient world beliefs functioned. I always wondered about this concept of evil spirit and if it differed from our current conception of "demon".
Thank you so much for the video! I watch a lot of history of excorcism videos from religious perspectives, but you're right,seeing it from its Pagan origin is much more interesting
As always, it was a delight to see an upload from you, and I was excited to get home to watch. Wonderful topic. I never would have thought to research this, myself.
South Asian exorcisms are really fascinating too. I was a history and religious studies double major in college and took several classes on Indian/Hindu religion and culture, and the unit of study we did on demonic possession/exorcism was wild.
Sadly, "possession" needing an "exorcism" was the pre-scientific superstitious explanation for disease and mental illness. Often the "cure" for it didn't just end at a ritual (when it inevitably failed), but gave the affected person's caretakers the justification for abusing and harming them. Restraining them, beatings, and even killing.
Yeah I can't hear stories about "possession" without hearing that. I mean, people believed that *sneezes* were caused by demons at some point, so something like seisures, toerrettes, multiple personality disorder or schitzophrenia would no doubt require the services of a priest. And let's not forget "uppity" women who talk back, refuse to share their bed, or make demands. Demonic possession for sure.
Yes, we DO love a good spooky story! Thank you, Cinzia, for giving us some. (I am LOVING this new content btw. Glad to see you having fun, too.❤) Edited to add: I also saw The Exorcist way young! I think I was nine or ten. We kept bugging Mom and Would. Not. Shut.Up. about it despite her explaining to us that it was just too terrifying, so she figured fine, she'd teach us a lesson and let us watch it. Boy, did she.
Remember the first time when my kid sister and brother saw the original Exorcist the first time too. Mom was out that evening and we were supposed to got to bed at 9 PM. So, let's have a ball, we decided. We ended up dragging our matrasses to my sister's room, since we got scared out of our wits. Must have been somwhere early 1980ies. Later on became enticed by Iron Maiden's "Number of the Beast" and recently I listen to metal of for example Kreator, with songs like "Satan is real." No, not a satanist by any stretch of the imagination, but a metalhead ever since. Mainly for the music but also for the crowds during concerts. Those are among the most relaxed and loveable people you'll ever meet. The lyrics however.... Speaking of which, there's this British band called Carcass with a song called "The dance of Ixtub." Ixtub is supposed to be a demon of Maya or Aztec origing (not sure) who seduces men into hanging themselves. Maybe a new avenue for more sinister stories and myth?
Many modern people forget that most, if not all religions, had an array of similar core concepts. Religion in many cultures was also entwined with science and philosophy.
"In exorcism, a verbal argument can never do anything. You can't ever beat the entity in a verbal argument because that's what he wants. It's only through a confront, a non-verbal confront, that anything happens. It has to be non-verbal." -William S. Burroughs
Never considered it like this, but it makes so much sense! I have read/heard about Satan being a representation of Pan, this fits perfectly whit what you're saying here... I think. Looking forward to more videos. It would be great it you could speak a bit more slowly though ;-)
@@CinziaDuBois lol I know the feeling! I teach and needed to slow down, but I still some times accelerate in class. I only said it because it would make the video easier to follow, I believe. Also, your intonation improves when you slow down, at least in my experience. Not the most important thing anyway!
Girl! This should be a series! You could whole episodes delving into demonic possession or it's equivalent in different regions...especially when it involves feminine demons and spirits like Lamashtu, Kali, Lilith....
Your last point is super interesting and enlightening and connects to how Christians view evil/demons today-they usually take the form of deities or conceptions from other religions or mythologies
Remember that in the Greek world, a 'daimon' was just a spirit that could work for both good and evil, hene the positive possession of oracles, and the negative of the sick and insane...
You should look into modern Catholic exorcism (which is considered the “legitimate” kind, since they have the highest standards for performing them) and see where that came from and how it relates to what you’re talking about here.
I’ve never thought of it that way before, but looking at it through the lens of religious conflict makes much sense. Thanks so much for the awesome video, Cinzia!
Are you going to write a book? I would be very proud to be in print but I just can't seem to wing it. I spend my time with my guitar and books and can't devote myself to writing.
i saw the exorcist when i was eight or nine. i made it to the "pea soup projectile vomit" scene and ran away. had night terrors about it often up untill 14 or 15, and every time i had a night terror my parents would scream at me and strike me to try and wake me up, i thought i was literally possesed by the exorcist demon but no my parents were just abusive assholes.
Oh, by the way, my name is BYF is a lore master for Destiny 2. He has a similar accent. And a cool voice. Im sorry about the confusion in the comment last week 😅
Tho I think that there is a lot of cases that do parallel the concept you have, you do have to acknowledge that for most religions, especially outside of the greek and roman context, a spirit of a competing religion or belief was often defined as evil for the religion exorcising. Now whether the evil was merely relative or agreeable as such is somewhat of a separate discussion at times, perhaps, but something causing harm to a person or their family would likely always be such. The greeks and romans did see it all as spirit debate, and only concerned with the possession when it had that foulness of it, for the general populace it does seem they felt it an evil to take away a persons control of themselves. Other cultures that had more mixed concerns, where it was sometimes the mark of a shaman or similar themselves, had varying opinions from some rather questionable sources from my reading, butt it could be plausible I suppose. Tho most of this was not so much new info for myself, (aside from some of the terms used by egyptians, that was neat) I think you do cover a good few case pieces of the western book recorded cases for before christiandom. Would have made a cool collab point for some of the other mystic/metaphysics type channels around. but definitely a glad return to form.
I mean the exorcist was one of the reasons I got interested in the occult. I don't believe in any of it anymore but I do still enjoy thing related to it
What, no mention of Dennis Wheatley or Aleister 'The Beast' (I think that that was his wrestling name, yes?) Crowley so much disappointments! 😧 (🤭) (ignore the idiot) - a lovely overview. As ever, I look forward to the next!
Thanks for this video mate. wanted to tell you, your approach yields success! this intellectually atheist (but culturally Catholic) bloke with an enduring interest in exorcism and demonology esoterica is about to fall into another fascinating rabbit hole I suspect. One I'd overlooked that you've kindly just pointed out. Again, cheers! 😎
like the place where you cut it off, we all kind of have "institutional" knowledge of what Christians think of possession. Gives a broader context ... thank you!
So the distinction between "demons" and "gods" doesn't exist today either. There could be an argument made that the distinction today is between gods above, and gods below. Or at lest this is true among the major Yahwehist cults. Among Yahwehists there are two competing pantheons, one headed by Yahweh the other headed by "Satan" (if we are talking about the Christians, or Islam) among the Hebrews and Samaritans sects the answer gets a little (and by that I mean a lot) more complicated. Prior to the formation of the Torah (sometime in the 300's BCE probably in Alexandria) the Judeans were Judean Canaanites. By 250 BCE we know they had already formed the idea of a satan like figure (Enoch is wild). It would be cool for you to talk about the history of Angelic possession. It's often overlooked.
It's my understanding that the Greek daemon just meant spirit, but what they referred to as daemons are similar to what we call spirit guides. That being said, my personal belief is that most demons are nothing more than ancient deities that the church "demonized"
Funny thing about Pazuzu, the demon in The Exorcist is that the amulets of him were used to ward off the far more sinister demon goddess Kamedme, better known by her Akkadian name, Lamashtu.
I can’t help but here Dr. Farnsworth, “Pazuuuuuzuuuui!”
thanks for this!
This!!! I wrote my own comment before seeing this!
Pazuzu has been much maligned, and Dr Irving Finkel is quite angry at that :P
Nuke-u-ler, it's pronounced nuke-u-ler
Thanks for providing the pre- and non-Christian contexts!
I like the music you used in the background for this! Perfect audio levels, and suits the topic brilliantly :D
Thank you very much!
Yeah that was a great touch.
Oh, I was obsessed with exorcisms when I was younger. I know they have a complicated history NOW, but my Catholic child mind found the concept very fascinating. Thank you for the video, I love broadening my horizons
Check out the Pints with Aquinas interviews with Fr. Vincent Lampert and Carlos Martins. Very compelling!
Wonderful video! A great tangent for this subject is to study an old text like, "The Munich Manual of Necromancy", which is my favorite, and slightly more accessible than others. It's a medieval book written for/by the practitioner. In the very challenging text, the anonymous author shows how to bind demons so they can basically be pack mules, and the like. It's fascinating to see the belief in demons from that perspective.
I got super excited when I saw this pop up on my timeline. I am here watching now.
Me too
oh she's BACK BABY!!! This video was great :)
And I hope you're feeling better and doing good! Sending love from California.
This was fascinating and captivating from beginning to end, well done! You are so very good at these presentations! Wonderful!
This was awesome. As an inclusive Heathen and neo Pagan, I love learning about the Pagan roots of Christian rituals and beliefs. I do think that people and places can be possessed by spirits although I think it is rare and requires an extraordinarily strong entity. In modern times our idea of evil is so intertwined with the Christian world view that it is hard to understand the world view of our distant ancestors. I’d love a deep dive into Greco-Roman ideas of demon/evil. Take care and thanks for such wonderful videos.
Recently found your channel, very nice voice and delivery. I appreciate the way you get to the point.
Love these short videos keep it up. youre awsome
Fascinating topic and well presented. I love the lens of examining the origins of this concept and how the ancient world beliefs functioned. I always wondered about this concept of evil spirit and if it differed from our current conception of "demon".
Great video as always and a very interesting topic.
Glad you think so!
Can't beat a good ghost story Cinzia!
You're doing a wonderful work dear, keep at it please! 👍🏻🤗
Very interesting topic, I had never considered there was pagan origins to possession. Really cool! Thank you for the video.
You may want to look into Jewish Exorcism in the 1st Century CE, as that's where Legion is pulled from.
This was very interesting! Thank you so much!
Thanks for this fascinating video Cinzia!
Thank you so much for the video! I watch a lot of history of excorcism videos from religious perspectives, but you're right,seeing it from its Pagan origin is much more interesting
Very interesting video, thank you for posting it.
Another thoughtful and enlightening video. Thank you ❤
I found this topic quite informative!
As a pagan paranormal investigator, this was right up my alley. Thank you so much for your research and presentation!
@@derekgorman7939 I am a paranormal investigator who happens to be pagan.
Always nice to wake up to find a new video from you. I look forward to the next part.
This is such a cool topic for a video!
As always, it was a delight to see an upload from you, and I was excited to get home to watch. Wonderful topic. I never would have thought to research this, myself.
I absolutely love all of your videos they’re so informative and you have a really captivating way of talking. Thank you for all of your hard work 💕
You're fabulous. Keep it up
Fascinating ,wonderfully researched and thoroughly entertaining as per usual,thank you.
Oh Exciting ❣️ Thank you kind Lady❤❤❤
This is super interesting! Great video 💕
This was a great video
South Asian exorcisms are really fascinating too. I was a history and religious studies double major in college and took several classes on Indian/Hindu religion and culture, and the unit of study we did on demonic possession/exorcism was wild.
Sadly, "possession" needing an "exorcism" was the pre-scientific superstitious explanation for disease and mental illness. Often the "cure" for it didn't just end at a ritual (when it inevitably failed), but gave the affected person's caretakers the justification for abusing and harming them. Restraining them, beatings, and even killing.
🎯
Yeah I can't hear stories about "possession" without hearing that. I mean, people believed that *sneezes* were caused by demons at some point, so something like seisures, toerrettes, multiple personality disorder or schitzophrenia would no doubt require the services of a priest. And let's not forget "uppity" women who talk back, refuse to share their bed, or make demands. Demonic possession for sure.
As did fae abduction and many other things
To think supernatural evil doesn't exist is foolish.
@@Metal.Machine95 Why do we need supernatural evil to explain anything when regular human evil does a pretty good job?
This was so cool!
This is so fascinating. Great video
Fascinating!
That was an excellent summary.
Thanks! Love it!
thank you so so much!
I really enjoy your videos.
I appreciate that!
Yes, we DO love a good spooky story! Thank you, Cinzia, for giving us some. (I am LOVING this new content btw. Glad to see you having fun, too.❤)
Edited to add: I also saw The Exorcist way young! I think I was nine or ten. We kept bugging Mom and Would. Not. Shut.Up. about it despite her explaining to us that it was just too terrifying, so she figured fine, she'd teach us a lesson and let us watch it. Boy, did she.
Loved this video and very interesting analysis! A refreshing look at exorcism in general.
Oh, this is right up my alley!! 😍
Loved the video, like always
Another great video. Always something new to learn.
Now this is a topic im very interested in
Really love this Video
This was such an interesting video
Loved this video. Thank you.
This was so interesting!
Ooooh!
I was 6 or 7. But my brothers were watching it, and I watched it with them. It didn't bother me that much. But The Unnamable.. different story.
Remember the first time when my kid sister and brother saw the original Exorcist the first time too. Mom was out that evening and we were supposed to got to bed at 9 PM. So, let's have a ball, we decided. We ended up dragging our matrasses to my sister's room, since we got scared out of our wits. Must have been somwhere early 1980ies. Later on became enticed by Iron Maiden's "Number of the Beast" and recently I listen to metal of for example Kreator, with songs like "Satan is real."
No, not a satanist by any stretch of the imagination, but a metalhead ever since. Mainly for the music but also for the crowds during concerts. Those are among the most relaxed and loveable people you'll ever meet. The lyrics however....
Speaking of which, there's this British band called Carcass with a song called "The dance of Ixtub." Ixtub is supposed to be a demon of Maya or Aztec origing (not sure) who seduces men into hanging themselves.
Maybe a new avenue for more sinister stories and myth?
Many modern people forget that most, if not all religions, had an array of similar core concepts. Religion in many cultures was also entwined with science and philosophy.
this is a great video
"In exorcism, a verbal argument can never do anything. You can't ever beat the entity in a verbal argument because that's what he wants. It's only through a confront, a non-verbal confront, that anything happens. It has to be non-verbal."
-William S. Burroughs
Never considered it like this, but it makes so much sense! I have read/heard about Satan being a representation of Pan, this fits perfectly whit what you're saying here... I think. Looking forward to more videos. It would be great it you could speak a bit more slowly though ;-)
I am talking slowly lol. this is as slow as I can go I’m afraid, I talk MUCH faster normally
@@CinziaDuBois lol I know the feeling! I teach and needed to slow down, but I still some times accelerate in class. I only said it because it would make the video easier to follow, I believe. Also, your intonation improves when you slow down, at least in my experience. Not the most important thing anyway!
Girl! This should be a series! You could whole episodes delving into demonic possession or it's equivalent in different regions...especially when it involves feminine demons and spirits like Lamashtu, Kali, Lilith....
I got way to excited when I saw the title 😂
Very good video
Teacher✔️
Your last point is super interesting and enlightening and connects to how Christians view evil/demons today-they usually take the form of deities or conceptions from other religions or mythologies
Good stuff.
Thank you for more macabre content
This was a cool video.
Remember that in the Greek world, a 'daimon' was just a spirit that could work for both good and evil, hene the positive possession of oracles, and the negative of the sick and insane...
You should look into modern Catholic exorcism (which is considered the “legitimate” kind, since they have the highest standards for performing them) and see where that came from and how it relates to what you’re talking about here.
comment because this was interesting and I love you and your work
thank you!
I’ve never thought of it that way before, but looking at it through the lens of religious conflict makes much sense. Thanks so much for the awesome video, Cinzia!
Wow!
I wanted to give you a thumbs up
Since I worship some of the old gods, can Catholics exorcise me? How does one exorcise a Catholic?
Are you going to write a book? I would be very proud to be in print but I just can't seem to wing it. I spend my time with my guitar and books and can't devote myself to writing.
No, I doubt I'll ever write a book.
Okay, for that fascinating take on the I guess we’ll call it the philosophy of exorcism you get a like.
i saw the exorcist when i was eight or nine. i made it to the "pea soup projectile vomit" scene and ran away. had night terrors about it often up untill 14 or 15, and every time i had a night terror my parents would scream at me and strike me to try and wake me up, i thought i was literally possesed by the exorcist demon but no my parents were just abusive assholes.
damn this is such a comprehensive videos :)
Oooh, exorcisms!
Great video. Not as exciting as the human combustion video but few can top that, hahaha. Just as interesting, though.
Oh, by the way, my name is BYF is a lore master for Destiny 2. He has a similar accent. And a cool voice. Im sorry about the confusion in the comment last week 😅
I'm commenting for engagement but have nothing interesting to say. Thank you for the video!
Gospel of Mark was written in AD50
Gospel of Luke was written in AD70
Tho I think that there is a lot of cases that do parallel the concept you have, you do have to acknowledge that for most religions, especially outside of the greek and roman context, a spirit of a competing religion or belief was often defined as evil for the religion exorcising. Now whether the evil was merely relative or agreeable as such is somewhat of a separate discussion at times, perhaps, but something causing harm to a person or their family would likely always be such. The greeks and romans did see it all as spirit debate, and only concerned with the possession when it had that foulness of it, for the general populace it does seem they felt it an evil to take away a persons control of themselves. Other cultures that had more mixed concerns, where it was sometimes the mark of a shaman or similar themselves, had varying opinions from some rather questionable sources from my reading, butt it could be plausible I suppose. Tho most of this was not so much new info for myself, (aside from some of the terms used by egyptians, that was neat) I think you do cover a good few case pieces of the western book recorded cases for before christiandom. Would have made a cool collab point for some of the other mystic/metaphysics type channels around. but definitely a glad return to form.
I mean the exorcist was one of the reasons I got interested in the occult. I don't believe in any of it anymore but I do still enjoy thing related to it
Human fighting their inner demons is a never ending war. And if it ends we cease to be humans.
What, no mention of Dennis Wheatley
or Aleister 'The Beast' (I think that that was his wrestling name, yes?) Crowley so much disappointments! 😧
(🤭)
(ignore the idiot) - a lovely overview. As ever, I look forward to the next!
Thanks for this video mate. wanted to tell you, your approach yields success! this intellectually atheist (but culturally Catholic) bloke with an enduring interest in exorcism and demonology esoterica is about to fall into another fascinating rabbit hole I suspect. One I'd overlooked that you've kindly just pointed out. Again, cheers! 😎
Can't spell necromancer without romance (tips phrygian cap)
❤❤❤
like the place where you cut it off, we all kind of have "institutional" knowledge of what Christians think of possession. Gives a broader context ... thank you!
Under 9yo, flicking between itv and bbc to watch the film.
🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤
So the distinction between "demons" and "gods" doesn't exist today either. There could be an argument made that the distinction today is between gods above, and gods below. Or at lest this is true among the major Yahwehist cults. Among Yahwehists there are two competing pantheons, one headed by Yahweh the other headed by "Satan" (if we are talking about the Christians, or Islam) among the Hebrews and Samaritans sects the answer gets a little (and by that I mean a lot) more complicated. Prior to the formation of the Torah (sometime in the 300's BCE probably in Alexandria) the Judeans were Judean Canaanites. By 250 BCE we know they had already formed the idea of a satan like figure (Enoch is wild).
It would be cool for you to talk about the history of Angelic possession. It's often overlooked.
I, too, watched the Exorcist when too young.
Let's see some old gothic buildings .
👍
Daemon literally meant deity. Daemons are deities just as humans are people.
It's my understanding that the Greek daemon just meant spirit, but what they referred to as daemons are similar to what we call spirit guides. That being said, my personal belief is that most demons are nothing more than ancient deities that the church "demonized"
"That explains me" whats wrong with you? I think you seem wonderful. Also whats the song you are using here?
christianity borrowing from paganism??!! i am SHOCKED!! 😂
Making sweet little quails fight is just abominable.