Demonology vs Daemonolatry vs Daemonosophy

Although the word Demonology is old, the term Demonolatry is a fairly recent inclusion to the field, and Demonosophy even more recent. From what I can tell, the earliest use of the term Demonolatry was from S. Connolly’s books, the earliest published one being 1998 which was Modern Demonolatry, therefore it would have started to make its way into the mainstream around the mid to late 2000s. I can’t however pinpoint when Demonosophy first started being used, I only came across it myself when I saw someone else using the term and it peeked my curiosity.

Is there much a difference between Demonolatry and Demonosophy? Let’s take the words apart and have a look, then you can make your own mind up.

Before we do that, it should be mentioned that the two terms are also spelled with the English and the Latin, being Demonolatry and Daemonolatry, as well as Demonosophy and Daemonosophy. This obviously extends from the modern English word ‘demon’ originating from the Latin ‘daemon’, and the spellings are used interchangeably. I prefer to include the ‘a’.

Demonology

This is simply the study of demons, and we find that most people who are demonologists are Christian. They study the demons from Biblical texts and pass judgement on them. It is for this reason that people who work with the Daemons do not use this term to describe themselves or their practice. It should be noted however that every Daemonolator and Daemonosopher is also a demonologist because we obviously need to study the Daemons, however it is generally consider that this falls into the purview of the former mentioned practitioners of the Daemonic Artes.

Daemonolatry

This is the worship of Daemons. Now I believe this is why the term Daemonosopher came about, however that then suggests a misunderstanding of the word ‘worship’. The suffix itself, that being ‘-olatry’ means “worship of or devotion to”. Some would suggest that this suffix is a fanatical ‘worship of’, but let us have a look at the word ‘worship’ before we go onto the next term.

From etymonline.com we find the following:

“Old English worðscip, wurðscip (Anglian), weorðscipe (West Saxon) ’condition of being worthy, dignity, glory, distinction, honor, renown,’ from weorð ‘worthy’ (or worth) + –scipe (or -ship).”

What we find is a combination of the words ‘worth’ and the suffix ‘-ship’. If we have a look at the etymology of those we find that ‘worth’ is:

“Old English weorþ ‘significant, valuable, of value; valued, appreciated, highly thought-of, deserving, meriting; honorable, noble, of high rank; suitable for, proper, fit, capable.’”

And the suffix -ship meaning:

“quality, condition; act, power, skill; office, position; relation between.”

We can therefore say that to worship a Daemon is to consider that spirit to be worthy of its station or office, and therefore is worthy of our honor and that we value the interaction we have with that spirit. From the suffix -ship alone we can consider this to be a ‘relation between’ ourselves and the Daemonic.

This is not throwing ourselves at the mercy of a Daemon and asking them to make our lives better, as many consider this word worship to indicate. It is about working the Daemonic in order to make ourselves better, but we still need to do the work, they are just there to guide us and teach us. In fact just looking at the word ‘daemon’ or from the Greek ‘daimon’ by itself, this is a tutelary spirit, so the Daemons will teach, tutor and guide, not do things for us. Which brings us to…

Daemonosophy

Let’s have a look at the Satan and Suns website for a definition here (I could be wrong, but I have a feeling this is where the term originated): “Demonosophy meaning to work and walk with learning knowledge and wisdom from the Demons and Dark Lords, and working with Companion Demons and the Dark Lords to learn to leave [I assume this is a mistyping and should have been lead] an inspired and empowered life…Demonosophers invite demons to join us on this journey and are our guides and mentors.”

The etymology of the suffix -sophy in this case being a, “word-forming element meaning ‘knowledge’, from Old French, –sophie, from Latin –sophia, from Greek –sophia, from sophia ‘skill, wisdom, knowledge.”

So, taking all of that into consideration…can you see a difference? I can’t see a difference. The definition for Daemonosophy is the definition for Daemonolatry, when you take the time to understand the meaning of the singular word ‘worship’. That word is such a troublemaker.