You don't have to go to church every Sunday to still feel the grip of Christian hegemony, I'll say.
Demons. They really are something, aren't they? Whether they appear as the objects of our horror and morbid fascination, the things that creep around the very back corners of our subconscious minds, or the thing of apparent constant danger for the more evangelical crowd (who mistake simple rocks and pretty cards for demonic portals), demons are the constant talk of the town. Odd, honestly, to see such discussion coming from people who claim to have such ironclad faith in God.
As a Luciferian member of the #witchtok community once put it on one of my videos:
To be fair, [evangelicals] think the devil is a shape-shifting omnipresent god. That way, he's anything they want in the moment. (Not that they'd admit that.)
And frankly, I have to agree. The "devil" to those that claim to hate him so much is a wonder drug, a way to escape responsibility and prop their egos up against an "other," a villain they can cast all the blame on. A scapegoat, a one-note antagonist, a spiritual punching bag for all the drama and hate and rage over the state of their lives that, without said devil, they'd have no choice but to point at God.
But what about the people that not only don't fear "demonic influence" or "demonic possession"? Or, rather, what about the ones that take it a step further?
That actually worship and work with demons, rather than blindly working against them?
These demonolaters, as they're called, are a group of magical practitioners—from witches to ceremonial magicians—who actively work with and invoke demons in their regular religious and spiritual practice. Rather than seeing these entities as antagonists out to ruin innocent souls, demonolaters instead see these beings as the Infernal Divine—gods proper, who happen to simply operate in different ways compared to gods we're more familiar with and inhabit the places Christian folk might think of as "hell."
One such demonolater is Aziel, who, since beginning her work with her patron, the fallen Watcher Azazel, has had her eyes opened to a whole different world.
The Wonders of Witchcraft: Aziel's First Foray with Demons
Born and raised in Florida, Aziel grew up agnostic, with no set belief or religious background; her journey to witchcraft was one of trial and error, and by no means linear. As a teenager, her room had altars of witchy things for devotional space, her first steps forward into the craft informed by the religion of Wicca, but as she had little personal guidance in which way to shape her craft, she soon left it be. While she still enjoyed things like tarot, it wasn't until 2020 where she really began to ask herself what was behind the cards, sending the messages she received.
"It was around that time I got really freaked out about who might be there with me," Aziel notes. "I started getting back into witchcraft again, trying to learn more, and that's when I discovered Hekate. And my first thought was, 'there's a whole goddess for people like me?'"
"There's a whole goddess for people like me?"
So began a deeper dive into the craft, all with Greek goddess of magic, necromancy, night, and more. With Hekate guiding Aziel along—and her Danish and Lithuanian heritage leading her to engage with other gods, like Freyja and Ragana—Aziel began developing her practice in full, dedicating herself to growing both her magic and her worldview. The latter became all the more important when one day, Hekate steered Aziel in a direction she never thought she'd walk in: the direction of the Infernal Divine, or demons.
"Growing up agnostic didn't stop me from thinking that demons were dangerous things that would hurt me," Aziel admits. "I was afraid of them. It wasn't until Hekate pushed me that I decided to give demons a try, and it was @themadwitchh that identified Azazel as my patron."
And from there, the floodgates opened.
With One Demon Comes Several (and A Few Life Lessons)
Azazel is an interesting entity. Leader of the Watchers that went down to earth to take up human wives, he is mentioned a few times in especially the Jewish Bible (or what Christians might refer to as the Old Testament): typically, as the scapegoat. Specifically, the procedure for making sin offerings is listed here in Leviticus 16:6-10:
Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household. Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat. Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering. But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat.
While most Bibles will tell you that the Hebrew for scapegoat (Azazel) is "uncertain," we who know the Book of Enoch and can connect dots can guess that perhaps Azazel is the one eating up the goats sent running into the desert.
Anyone who has met Azazel, though—myself included—can tell you this: he's not a particularly easy entity to work with, at least not right away. After all, fallen or not, scapegoat or not, he is still an angel, and angels are notoriously tough, both with the amount of energy they put off and the harshness with which they can deliver their lessons. Azazel is no exception here. With him as Aziel's patron, she speaks about him on her Tiktok page, sharing pieces of her experience. For Aziel, this certainly hasn't been the smoothest road, but it's certainly been one worth taking.
"It was intense. I remember his energy came in so quickly, and it was terrifying; at some points, I even put his devotional items away because I was so overwhelmed," she admits. "But I came back, and I kept working, and it opened up even more opportunities for experiences with demons. I brought him back in at one point, and I asked Hekate to help me strengthen my psychic energy—and the next day, I felt a different energy in my space: King Paimon."
"Refusing help is disrespectful." —King Paimon
Like Azazel, King Paimon was yet another member of the Infernal Divine that could help Aziel continue to grow her strength and psychic power, but it didn't happen in a neat and linear way. It was an intense experience; it was work. As anyone with a supernatural, especially divine entity at their side might understand, nothing came easy, but the results spoke for themselves—and between it all, these infernal Kings showed that yes, they will help. They will build people into better versions of themselves; they will curate a human into exactly what they want to be, if we let them. But disrespect them, and then they're gone faster than they came.
Aziel has her own story to share of this, noting how, in one of her visions, she saw King Paimon and his entourage come through, as well as Lucifer, who she hadn't met before that moment. In this vision, King Paimon asked Aziel why she was so cruel to herself—and reminded her of basic etiquette, telling her: "Refusing help is disrespectful."
The Here and Now with Aziel and Her Infernal Team
It's been a couple years now since Aziel began her journey with the Infernal Divine. There have been trials, there have been errors, but above all, there has been a note of self expression and exploration that brought her to a new level of how she understood herself and her power in this world. The old fears and misconceptions around demons have been replaced with first hand experience with them, and she gladly shares what she's learned with other prospective initiates of what is commonly known as the Left Hand Path.
"Demons are a lot more complicated and morally grey than people think," Aziel explains. "I used to think they were dangerous things with no consciousness of their own that go around possessing people, but no: they're gods. Like any other god, they come with their own set of rules and have a very neutral perspective.
"It's like a surgeon removing a tumor. Will it hurt? Yes. Will the recovery be painful? Yes! But is it necessary to help in the long term? Also yes."
Now, Aziel performs her magic with full confidence, continously learning and growing with her guides and gods at her side. She's grown her magic, working it not only for herself, but for her loved ones and her community, helping them to remove obstacles and eliminate things in their lives that cause them harm, and she refuses to let fear stop her anymore.
Fear is a tricky thing, though. Where there was once fear of the demon kings themselves, Aziel finds herself battling a different set of concerns: fear over what her actions will look like as they impact others. Fear that good intentions will create grave consequences. Fear of the very depth of the action she's capable of with the magic—and self—she's journeyed to master all this time. But that's exactly what makes the Infernal Divine so powerful of a match.
"So long as you're willing to learn and grow, demons will guide you," Aziel says, "but it won't be easy. They'll make you look at your fear. They'll make you face it head on. There's no certain level you need to be at to start working with them, but there is a sense of personal responsibility that's important when asking for their help."
If that ain't the truth, then really, I don't know what is. As someone on the opposite side of the aisle (technically), with only a few choice interactions with the Infernal Divine, I can say that yeah, they're challenging—but anyone looking to master themselves can't do so without challenge. And of course, there's a longer, deeper conversation to be had here about what "good" vs. "evil" really means, and about who and what demons really are, and how one can stand in the middle between Traditional Godhood and Infernal Godhood and not just burst into flames.
But all that's for another time, I think. Today, we're thanking Aziel for taking the time to talk about what so many people still shy away from, and we're of course looking forward to all the content she continues to put out about these incredible entities. Follow her on Tiktok to keep up with all she shares for those looking to get into demonolatry!
Discovering Christian Witchcraft Updates:
Finally, finally, I can tell you this: chapter two is done! Clocking in at 16,470 words, the chapter all about what the Bible says about witchcraft is finally all done.
Now we can start working on the next sections: ones on why you'd want to call yourself a witch, what magic actually was being done at the time and what people were saying about it, and how the Divine Feminine exists in a place like Christianity (where we're told by men in power that it apparently doesn't exist).
Sara Raztresen is a Slovene-American writer, screenwriter, and Christian witch. Her fantasy works draw heavily on the wisdom she gathers from her own personal and spiritual experience, and her spiritual practice borrows much of the whimsy and wonder that modern society has relegated to fairy-and-folktale. Her goal is to help people regain their spiritual footing and discover God through a new (yet old) lens of mysticism.
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