Ursi's Eso Garden

Apparently one evening an old woman was walking along this road with her grandson, when she turned to the boy and said, "A long time ago, a youkai called Aburasumashi lived here." But speak of the devil, no sooner had she said this than the very same little goblin ambled out of the undergrowth and informed the pair that he was still there!

The abura in this spectre's name means oil, and the sumashi refers to his unchanging facial expression, which always looks prim and unruffled. Aburasumashi and many other obake are said to be the transformed spirits of those who stole lamp oil, which in the days before electricity was a very valuable substance. Perhaps spirits are also drawn to oil because of their association with strange fires, and maybe they too need fuel to burn.

Kerakeraonna

For some people, nothing in life is worse than being laughed at, and for them the kerakeraonna must be the most terrifying youkai of all. Usually her victims hear her cackling first, before they wheel around, startled, only to meet the apparition of an enormous woman looming in the distance, her derisive laughter filling the whole sky. When they try to run, the haunting sound follows them everywhere they go.

Demon (Greek daimon and daimonion, Lat. daemonium).

The word demon is apparently derived from daio "to divide" or "apportion", originally meant a divine being; it was occasionally applied to the higher gods and goddesses, but was more generally used to denote spiritual beings of a lower order coming between gods and men. It is now practically restricted to the evil spirits. A similar change and deterioration of meaning has taken place in the Iranian languages in the case of the word daeva. Etymologically this is identical with the Sanskrit deva, by which it is rendered in Neriosengh's version of the Avesta.

The rich man being led to hell - Detail
David Teniers 1650

Magic, alchemy and the occult are thus keys that allow entry into certain zones of the Fantastic. More important, they drive the intellectual engine of the Fantastic; even as they wane, they preside over the gestation of science fiction. The grimoire of the Magus becomes the mad-scientist’s user’s manual. Our selections include depictions of witches and sorcerers, instruction pages from the classic work of secret sciences entitled The Magus, illustrations of alchemical workshops, cabalistic mappings of biblical passages, and cover illustrations from the first issues of Amazing Stories, Hugo Gernsbach’s celebrated pulp journal devoted to science and fantastic fiction.

Weird Science

Click the picture for a larger view

An extraordinary compilation where the paradigmatic struggle between observation and vision so crucial to the Fantastic is constantly played out. By the time of the early Enlightenment, the Bestiary, like its more recnent relative the Encyclopedia, participates in the totalizing intent of a catalogue whose purpose is the scientific understanding of the world. Empirical observation banishes from these increasingly imposing tomes any creatures that have not been observed in their environment. So the unicorn and the dragon, the griffon and the sea serpent, and all their relations take refuge in the annals of folklore, until the fantastic and its adjudant, surrealism, release them once more into literary discourse from the prisons where rational inquiry had consigned them.

The Bestiary

Astrology and theology

The religious feasts are the main contents of the Calendars of Psalters or Books of Hours. Its illustration shows the typical activities of the seasons of the year in the Labours of the Month and the passing of astronomical time in the Signs of the Zodiac.
Ever since man recognized some kind of regularity in the movement of stars and planets, he has believed that the celestial bodies influenced earthly events. Ideas, ultimately dating back to Babylonian times, persisted in the Middle Ages, and even today horoscopes continue to be drawn. In some regions of the world hardly a marriage is concluded without a serious look at the constellations.
Christian theologians were of course most familiar with the astrological ideas of the Graeco-Roman world.

Griffin

Forms of evil

As is shown here, the devil may take on different guises in the illuminations we find in these manuscripts, but there are three basic ingredients: man, animal, and pure phantasy. When he tries to tempt Christ in the desert, or when he fools a nobleman, he looks almost human. But the miniaturist makes sure he does not fool us: his feet are that of an animal, or his eyes are burning coals.
The pictures tell us, that he may turn himself into a cat. He may also be a pale, threatening creature taking souls to hell. The colourful monsters pestering saint Pachomius could have been designed by Bosch. Finally, the devil that seduces Theophilus to sell his soul, looks like one of the more malicious Muppets designed by Jim Henson.

Apollonia

The Creation of the World

The beginning of Genesis, the first book of the bible, has always given rise to reflection and debate. In the Middle Ages this debate remained of course within the boundaries of the Christian faith. The created universe was an accepted fact, not an opinion to be discussed. Since Darwin and the rise of evolutionary theory, the debate has received an added dimension, and it certainly has not lost its topicality. One only has to search the internet with the combined keywords 'evolution' and 'creation' to get an impression of the occasional intensity of the discussion. This gallery, obviously, is not a contribution to the debate. It merely serves to show how the creation was visualized in the Middle Ages.

When you begin to look within religions, you find many, many interpretations of what evil is and how it came to be in the world. Religions that have an omnipotent God, such as Judaism and Christianity, have some of the most elaborate constructions for the existence of evil, while religions such as Hinduism tend to have gods and goddesses with both positive and negative aspects. Native Americans personify the destructive qualities of nature, such as the whirlwind.

Demon FAQ

Asmodeus

Are you afraid of the number 666? If you were issued an automobile license plate or a telephone number that included a string of three sixes would you ask for a different number? Do you think the number 666 is inherently evil? Do you believe any number can in and of itself be evil?

"It’s like there’s a monster inside you from hell," says the 43-year-old mother of four. "It’s a type of suffering I can’t put into words, but it’s like a natural suffering — something hellish." She believes she was first cursed by a witch from Mesa in 1982 in connection with both of them dating the same man.

A Woman Possessed? by East Valley Tribune.
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