Origins

Today I thought I’d talk about the origins of the system a lot of us long-time Daemonolaters use and whether or not one’s belief in its origins invalidates the system.

So the first thing people need to know is that initially the book Modern Demonolatry was written for a SPECIFIC group of people, not the general public. We hadn’t thought members of the general public would be interested in buying the book. Then, when people outside our group started purchasing the copies, I honestly did not stop to think that because my friends, including Dukante’s daughter, had given me information from their family works – specifically for the purpose of publishing the book for our group — that I would be throwing myself into an impossible position. I never thought that far ahead. Had I, I would have most certainly edited a lot of things out and just stated “unknown origins”, for which I STILL would have been criticized for.

Sure, I could have just taken credit for everything – the enns, the sigils, the hierarchy and all the stuff that wasn’t mine, but then that would have opened another can of worms. The people who knew where the material came from, would have accused me of appropriating their family or traditional information and claiming it as my own. I imagine at this point you can see what a precarious position I put myself in.

I was damned either way. The only way to have NOT made the mistake either way would have been to not publish the work at all. What’s done is done though.

Now that said – a LOT of what is in my books comes from my group or my own work. When it comes from another source, I cite that source, even if it’s unverifiable, because I believe in giving credit where credit is due. I am not going to take credit for someone else’s work like people want me to just because we need an origin point by which authenticity is gauged. It’s dishonest and I have no desire to lose friends by not citing my sources. Not to mention, I imagine that even if the Dukanté notebooks, or other information were in a library somewhere, my critics would STILL bitch and whine that it wasn’t authentic enough because some of it comes from 20th century people. There is a certain part of the occulture that doubts the authenticity of anything less than 500 years old.

It is what it is.

I also can’t help it if some of my sources would prefer to stay out of the public occulture. They’re the ones who, ultimately, have to choose to release *their* records to the public for scrutiny and judgement of “authenticity”. While I have permissions to use “some” of it (and all of that is mostly published in my books) — I do not have access or permission to take away people’s family records, notebooks, and journals and start handing them out. That would be stealing.

But, Steph, you ask — are you sure what these people gave you is authentic and historical? Maybe you were duped! Let’s just say that I have seen some of the journals, and notebooks. They’re not published material – folks. These are hand written, personal journals of people’s grandparents and family members. Yes, I suppose it is possible I could have been duped. However, if that is the case, then a lot of people went through great lengths to dupe me. Including getting their grandparents, parents, and kids in on it, and hiring book binders and hucksters to help them age paper or forge handwriting. If that is the case – then I am one of the most gullible people on the planet. But on the other hand — I also know that what I have is authentic because I’ve used the system and IT WORKS. It has worked better than all of the systems I’ve tried. Why would I question its authenticity? Because it’s not documented in a published 500 year old book somewhere?

So next, I am going to tell you a few things that may come as a shock.

1. Richard Dukante only put together a hierarchy. He did not create “Daemonolatry”. Guess what? His hierarchy was HIS personal gnosis. But a lot of people liked it and started using it. That is why it is so prevalent to many practitioners of Traditional Daemonolatry. There are also a lot of people who like the Goetic Hierarchy. There are also a lot of people who have created their own set of Daemons to work with. A hierarchy alone does not make one Daemonolater more or less authentic than another. If you’re not comfortable with the Dukanté hierarchy and it’s not authentic enough for you — don’t use it. It’s that simple. You have options!

2. Dukanté was a nom de plume. Richard Dukanté did not want his family thrust into the spotlight due to his occult practices. This is no different than what a lot of modern occult authors do with regard to pen names.

3. The biography of Dukanté printed in Modern Demonolatry and the later The Complete Book of Demonolatry was based on information I was given by his daughter. I know that using Dukanté’s real name would reveal that the biography is correct, but I cannot release that real name as that was one of the agreements I made so I could publish the information to begin with. Dukanté was a popular figure WITHIN traditional Daemonolatry – the people the book was originally written for. That was why the biography was originally included in the book at all. Now that Daemonolatry has grown beyond what it started as, the relevance of Dukanté outside the traditional groups is not nearly as important as it would be if ONLY traditional Daemonolaters were using the book.

4.I have explained in The Complete Book of Demonolatry and many other places online where the Enns and Sigils come from.  This has never been a secret, but my critics would have you believe it is.  Maybe they need to learn how to read. These sigils and invocations (enns) come from magicians like you and I, who have have the ability to go into the astral (via ascension practice) to get those sigils and enns from Daemons themselves. (How do you think ALL the grimoires came to be? Someone was the first person to write it down! Every published grimoire out there started as someone else’s PG.) Not everyone will find the sigils and enns gotten “Daemonolatry-style” will resonate with them. But a lot of people do. Why do you think my books are so popular and why I write about this particular form of Daemonolatry? Because IT WORKS and I love the Daemonic Divine. No other reasons.

“To me, the validity of any system is based on how well it works. Not who started it and/or how old their work is.” – S. Connolly

Please note that I’ve ALWAYS said in all of my books that you are welcome to take what works for you and leave the rest. I’ve never preached my books as gospel as I believe all books about spirituality are merely collections of ideas. I’m not anyone’s mother. I am not here to tell you what you should believe (as I believe you should find what works best for you), and I don’t want followers like some other occult personalities might.

“People can either ignore me, walk beside me, or get the fuck out of my way.” – S. Connolly

I don’t write the books I write for people who have no use for them. I write the books I write for the like-minded people who will be inspired by them and find them useful. If you’re not one of those folks – great, go find something else.

So yes – it is true – I cannot prove my sources because some of them have chosen to not come forward or release their personal family information. Perhaps some day in the future they will, at which time I bet the critics will still scream, “Inauthentic!” In the meantime there is nothing I can do about that. For all historical purposes, I will likely go down in history as the mother of modern Daemonolatry.  While I accept that, I will still continue giving credit to those magicians who contributed, whether they or their executors choose to speak up or to release their family records – or not.

If people don’t like that – too bad. I am not going to become an unethical, thieving oath-breaker just to pacify a few vocal critics. 

22 thoughts on “Origins

  1. Dr. R Howard

    Your books are incomparable and they do give full credit ! I have studied and practiced them , and I’m so pleased that you made the effort to put this out to the public .

    There’ll always be detractors .

  2. Severiano Dagon

    Age of Grimoire/grammar data is unimportant to me if properly vetted and vouched for. Nice to have mystery solved at the source.

  3. Piroska

    I sure am glad you published Modern Demonolotary for the general public as it given me insight into what I am. Prior to purchasing the book I had all the same ideas but did not know what I was. Then I found your book and it changed my life.

  4. Valerie

    What you can take credit for is being one of the pioneers whose work changed the way many magicians view and work with demons. Your work also gave voice to women magicians working with demons and brought demonolatry into the mainstream Occulture, paving the way for current authors on the subject. It’s a shame that some refuse the acknowledge those contributions and would prefer instead to squabble over minutia.

    1. William Briar

      Valerie could not have put it better. Stephanie’s post put it out plainly, and this response summed it up perfectly. What matters is the end is whether or not the system works. Squabbling over minutia only hinders our own progress.

  5. Michael Andersen

    Much respect and appreciation for all you put out.. The Dukante hierarchy is definitely valid

  6. Hillary S

    I think people who complain about things like this have too much free time and probably don’t like *you* Steph. Ignore them.

    Even if you remove the hierarchy and some of Richards rituals from Steph’s books, it’s still demonolatry. I have yet to meet someone outside the traditional crowd who buys her books or comes into demonolatry because of a hierarchy, meaning Dukante is not the selling point of her books and for a lot of people he’s irrelevant.

    I know Selinda and I have seen the notebooks too. Not that it matters because critics wouldn’t believe me anyway.

    1. S. Connolly Post author

      Yes – thank you! The hierarchy does not define all of Demonolatry. IF people read my books, they’ll find a lot of Daemons across a LOT of pantheons and hierarchies. Not just Dukante. I try to be inclusive for ALL Daemonolaters. Not always an easy task. 🙂

      1. LTC

        I am a bit concerned that the systems you have are incomplete, or that those who originally came up with them have a great disdain for modern daemonolaters because they don’t “get it.” Can you set my mind at ease on that a little?

        1. S. Connolly Post author

          LTC – Could you be more specfic about what you find incomplete? That would help me answer your question.

          As for the traditionalists who don’t hang out online, that’s probably more of a societal, age, or personal preference thing, and not so much about having “disdain” for Modern Daemonolaters.

          1. LTC

            Sure! The systems you have don’t seem incomplete, despite having a lot of room for personal tailoring. I’m just concerned that in using them I’m ignoring some sort of deeper tradition that might be increasingly important. For example, if the original demonolatry tradition didn’t believe in ever invoking Leviathan because he was too chaotic, but worked with him theoretically. Or if there is more to some of the rituals you have outlined that the average interpretation wouldn’t cover without that traditional backing.
            It’s more of a subtle paranoia nobody is sharing everything necessary than anything I can truly point to, given the origins are purposefully obfuscated to a degree (though nowhere near as much as most systems).

  7. Vlaad

    I have seen and done more with this system, than 29 years with the Kabbalah. It seems likely, you are being harrassed by armchair pretenders who will never have the courage to practice, much less shed blood for their practice. Can’t wait for another release. Have all but two books, and those are journals. Starting hardcover collection for my daughter some years from now. Thanx for your help and honesty. Hard attribute to find among the greedy in our “occulture.”

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