Demons in Apotropaic Prayers and Incantations

Demons in Apotropaic Prayers and Incantations
Throughout history, many cultures and religions have utilized apotropaic prayers and incantations to “defend the sons of light from the forces of darkness within the cosmic conflict in which they were locked”. The Jewish community in the Second Temple Period is a perfect example of using these religious and magical tools for the purpose of protection from demons.
Apotropaic prayers that exalt God
An apotropaic prayer is a special type of prayer that people would chant to ask God for protection from demons. An example of one would be a charm or hymn. Many choose to talk about His powers over wickedness as a tool for scaring away potential demons, because they believed that a “solemn proclamation of God’s power will protect the community and its members from attacks by demons”. The extent of this pattern being shown in apotropaic prayers by Jews in the Second Temple Period has taught historians that the people were confident that demons’ powers were always inferior to those of God. The Qumran community during the Second Temple Period wrote this apotropaic prayer stating: “And, I the Sage, declare the grandeur of his radiance in order to frighten and terri all the spirits of the ravaging angels and the bastard spirits , demons, Liliths, owls” (Dead Sea Scrolls, "Songs of the Sage," Lines 4-5). These lines illustrate their belief for God’s superior powers.
Demons engender fear, and praise to a higher power through an apotropaic prayer may have dissipated some of that fear for people. Demons often represent destruction, and the Second Temple Period was a period of uneasiness for Jews as well as many other surrounding communities. It is comforting to blame destruction on something that can be stopped, such as a demon. The existence of apotropaic prayers can help people feel empowered against the forces of evil, as people have the choice to say or not say them.
Sacred practices to keep evil away
During the Second Temple Period, people engaged in traditional practices that were thought to scare demons away. Certain tasks were supposed to scare away demons from the home, while others were thought to scare them out of someone’s body. Some of these sacred practices would be used for healing. One example of incantations used for healing can be seen in Tobit: “Then the angel said to him: Take out the entrails of the fish, and lay up his heart, and his gall, and his liver for thee: for these are necessary for useful medicines. And when he had done so, he roasted the flesh thereof, and they took it with them in the way: the rest they salted as much as might serve them, till they came to Rages the city of the Medes. Then Tobias asked the angel, and said to him: I beseech thee, brother Azarias, tell me what remedies are these things good for, which thou hast bid me keep of the fish? And the angel, answering, said to him: If thou put a little piece of its heart upon coals, the smoke thereof driveth away all kind of devils, either from man or from woman, so that they come no more to them” (Tobit 6:5-8). These practices, as opposed to other medical practices, were used because “resorting to doctors would be considered unacceptable, as this could be thought to encroach upon a divine prerogative”.
Other incantations were used to ward off other kinds of evil spirits: “For they who in such manner receive matrimony, as to shut out God from themselves, and from their mind, and to give themselves to their lust, as the horse and mule, which have not understanding, over them the devil hath power. But thou when thou shalt take her, go into the chamber, and for three days keep thyself continent from her, and give thyself to nothing else but to prayers with her” (Tobit 17-18). These practices helped solve everyday problems with the help of the divine, the most reliable source to people of the time. Also this way, if misfortune was not averted, people would be able to validate the horrors in the world with the knowledge that “sickness and other misfortunes experienced by people are ultimately the result of human wrongdoing and transgression”. In essence, people could justify the evils of the world with the knowledge that if one was sick, he or she was probably engaging in evil activities or not humbling themselves to the Lord through the practice of incantations.

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