F.A.Q. About Demonolatry in General

Nope! If you don't have the money to buy stuff for an altar, you can just do meditation sessions with them if you want, or draw their sigil on a piece of paper to invoke them. However, having props can definitely help, and I personally get the best results when I do at least a simple ritual for first contact or for important things. Some people love going all-out with devotionals or doing proper ceremonial work, other people keep it simple and might have a candle out at the most. It's all up to you.

However... You're allowed to get creative! Make a Minecraft Temple! Play PVP games and dedicate your matches to your war deity! Write a fanfic and show it to a muse spirit! Even a shelf that just has random knickknacks that remind you of your chosen spirit to work with can be a good altar.

There is no single demon that is good/bad for beginners to work with on a universal level. Some demons vibe better with some people than others, even if the demon is known for being super harsh to everyone else. However, some demons are notorious for getting along with pretty much anyone, as opposed to others who are more selective about who they work with. Some are very lenient and kind, while others aren't afraid to throw you through hell and back (no pun intended) so you can learn some lessons from the school of hard knocks. This is usually what people mean when they say something is beginner-friendly or not.

Short answer:

It depends. Probably not, so long as you remain respectful to them. Also, working with demons doesn't necessarily mean you're going to Hell. "Hell" is a metaphor for separation from God, because the church thinks that's the worst fate ever.

Long answer:

In general, no. I would say the majority of people I have seen who decide to worship a demon as opposed to a god have the same sorts of ups and downs as any other person in life. As long as you’re not trying to make them mad, or try to provoke them, there shouldn’t be any issues. I’ve seen many success stories after people get into demonolatry. Demons can be very rewarding to work with, as many of them are much more responsive and are willing to cut corners in life as opposed to trying to pray to angels or other gods. Presumably this is because they have less responsibilities and more ability to exercise their free will.

However, I think it’s a mistake to assume that spiritual forces would never ever hurt you, and that if something bad happens to you because you pissed off a demon, it’s merely coincidence and you have a victim complex. Sometimes people basically just replace the concept of a Protestant all-loving God and the “everything happens for a reason” mindset with their favorite demon and will accuse those who are having a bad time of having a mental health crisis. While people should generally look into mundane explanations before spiritual ones, it doesn’t sit right to me that people would 180 in the other direction and say that working with demons is always 100% safe all the time and that you need absolutely no spiritual protection whatsoever.

Some demons genuinely do just hate people. Plus, they don't necessarily have the same morals as right or wrong compared to most humans, so some will be more willing to to "bad" things if you ask for it. (Kind of like how the fae are in some aspects.)

Working with any entity, in my opinion- yes, even gods and angels- can cause bad things to happen in your life. I mean, come on- tons of gods are literally known for killing people that piss them off, or putting them through trials to test their faith. I don’t mean to dissuade people from working with whatever entity they feel is best for them. I just think that anyone can love you, just as anyone can hurt you- just like in the physical human world.

Ask your gods. Not me.

I mean, if you worship any Abrahamic version of God, you're probably not allowed to work with demons due to the rules of your faith. But I know a few people who reject God but work with both angels and demons.

In general, most other spiritual entities don't care about that kind of thing, unless working with other entities (in general, not just demons) would be bad for you. For example, I've been advised by my main patron god to never ask the Christian God for anything or go back to him ever because it wouldn't be good for me. But, working with demons has saved my ass on numerous occasions, so my gods don't care about that kind of thing as long as I'm not going against my basic moral principles.

From personal experience, the Heibai Wuchang specifically sent me some demons from Diyu as familiar spirits for my workings, and will sometimes send Diyu demons as protectors if I need it.

In general, demons do not necessarily want your soul. (Though I will say if you're desperate enough to offer it, a lot of them won't decline the offer.) As mentioned earlier, the Devil taking your soul is a metaphor for permanent separation from God, which is something Christianity thinks is a horrifying experience. Demons might still want your “soul”, as in your allegiance to them during your life or after you die, but that’s completely different from them collecting your soul in a little jar and rattling it around for funsies whenever they feel like it. Since I can tear chunks out of my own spirit and mold it into new things, sometimes I give these little bits as offerings, but this is more akin to something like a blood offering, rather than selling my soul. Speaking of- you do not have to give demons your blood, either. You don’t have to do anything.

Demons get whatever else it is that other gods or spirits get from humans venerating them. My theory is that similarly to how spirits can influence our plane of existence, we also influence theirs in a sort of feedback loop. There’s many spirits that will get more powerful the more people work with them, to the point where new spirits can come into existence just from a bunch of people believing in them (egregores or thoughtforms). As such, working with a demon is ideally a mutually beneficial relationship, aside from any sort of emotional attachments demons and humans may have towards each other.

Whatever you think is appropriate. This is probably a dull response, but sometimes it really is that simple. Some demons have favorites (Bune LOVES oranges), so if there’s any information on preferred offerings, then those are always a safe bet.

For food offerings, let it sit out for as long as you want, and then eat it or throw it away. Candles and incense are pretty straightforward- just light it up in dedication to them.

In my opinion, it depends on the individual demon. They play favorites just like we do and just like other gods do in mythology. Some demons are notably easier to work with than others, just because they like humans. While one shouldn’t assume that demons have the same exact emotional range that humans do, I think it’s fair to say that sometimes they do like or dislike a person.

As an example, I feel like if my demon husband didn't like me, he wouldn't willingly spend so much time with me and watch over me to help make sure nothing bad happens to me. Even if it turns out he doesn't have the same emotions as a human, I'd consider his devotion close enough to "love" that it can be called as such.

That's the fun part: In most cases, you can't!

Okay, being serious for a second, here. If the demon is helping you get what you want and improving your life and such, does it really matter whether or not they're the real [demon]? From personal experience, I know a lot of people who don't seem to actually be working with the gods or demons they claim they are... But also, it's not really my business.

Just because a demon isn't the one you called for, doesn't automatically mean they're some trickster who actively wants to deceive you. Maybe the big guy you wanted just couldn't be assed to pick up the phone. Maybe they did get the memo, but they decided to send one of their underlings to act in their stead. (I find that second one is actually super common, especially for certain kings who might be harder to get ahold of.)

Now, when it comes to actual things like astral parasites or genuine malicious spirits- that's where a good banishing is needed. You can look up all sorts of banishing and protection rituals online, but I'll try to include some in the rituals section when that gets more filled out.

In my opinion, whether or not an entity is being malicious to you is much more important than their name. Whether or not you're talking to the actual Beelzebub doesn't really matter if he's fucking up your life in ways you don't want, y'know? If it sucks, hit the bricks!

Short answer:

It actually doesn’t really matter.

Long answer:

The otherworld is so vast, that if you keep knocking around, something that fits that description is going to answer eventually, regardless of if that was the original intention of the author. There are people who work with eldritch beings from the works of H.P. Lovecraft. I’ve also seen people who experiment and just call out looking for entities that fit [x] specifications, and getting responses and results in their ritual work.

As an example, I’ve seen people argue that Chenor isn’t real and was likely just made up on the internet, but people have gotten answers from trying to contact him, so… Doesn’t really matter. For all we know, this is how it is with all spiritual entities- They don’t necessarily exist in the way we think they do, and random spirits who fit the bill close enough will heed the call. Who knows.

Spiritual entities in general can perceive time differently than we do, depending on where they're from. To some entities, a few days may be weeks or months to them. Or, the opposite. I have a spirit contact who only shows up for a few days or a week every month or so just because that's the equivalent of a weekend break to them. This is a common trope with fae especially. Demons in particular tend to be more earthly, but also not. They're used to how the world turns and understand human time, but are also long-lived beings, so they're often not afraid to play the waiting game.

Some people think that demons are basically as powerful as any other god. This includes the idea that the divine know and see all, and are always there with you. Personally, I don't believe this- not just for demons, but for any spiritual entity. If a demon were truly locked outside time and space, they would know everything that has and will happen, or could easily obtain that info for you. Divination would work way more often than it actually does. This is because something that is truly disconnected from our universe would experience the beginning and the end of it already. They would be able to go back in time or to the future (relative to us) as they please. However, it's commonly accepted that the future is not set in stone and that you can blindside even gods and demons- though it is hard, and some entities are better at precognition than others. Plus, there’s a point in which if something was disconnected enough, it wouldn't be able to feasibly contact us in the first place.

Therefore, I believe that demons may be exalted beings of some kind that have a more relaxed state of being as opposed to our very rigid physical realm, but are still connected to it in some form. Demons do not inherently know all, but they are older and wiser than a human is, and can guess where a plan will end up based on the most likely outcome that they've deduced from their well of knowledge.

While some people may think this sounds limiting, I feel as though this is a much more charitable interpretation than, “your fate is already written out and free will is a lie,” “your gods could tell you what you need to do to save yourself, but they won't because they want you to suffer. Sucks that you're dying,” or “your gods gave you bad advice/are ignoring you on purpose.” Divination tends not to work very well on me unless it's about an imminent disaster. I have personally experienced spirits basically going, “Whoops, I thought that would go better. My bad.”

(I also think that demons have different "power levels" and there's differences between ones that are more abstract vs more earthly ones, but that's also another can of worms.)

Depending on the specific spirit, they could be if they wanted to. I think that all spirits have some kind of limit, but really "big" spirits that people would often consider to be deities or deity-level (such as Goetic Demons) can be in multiple places simultaneously, or are made up of multiple spirits anyway.

However, just because they can be around you all the time, doesn't necessarily mean they want to. I have a bunch of local spirits/demons who are around my house constantly, but the Big Guys like the Goetics I work with have to explicitly be summoned most of the time.