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Lhamo, Lha-mo In Tibetan Bon religion, she was originally a female demon. Later she became the patron goddess of Lamaism. Lahash In abinic lore, a great angel who, with the aid of Zakun, led 184 myriads of spirits to snatch away the prayer of Moses before it could reach God. For this attempt at interference with the divine will, the two angels were punished with ”sixty blows [lashes] of fire.” In Fallen Angels is cited another form of the same legend wherein it is Sammael who metes out the punishment on Lahash by ”binding him with fiery chains, flogging him with seventy stripes of fire, and expelling him from the divine presence.” Laila(h), Leliel, Lailahel, Layla The name is said to derive from the rabbinic exegesis of the word ”lailah” (meaning night) in Job 3:3. According to The Zohar he is ”an angel appointed to guard the spirits at their birth.” In Jewish legendary lore, he is a demonic angel of night, the ’prince of conception,” to be compared with Lilith, demoness of conception. However, in Genesis Rabba 417 and in Sanhedrin96a the story is that he fought for Abraham when the patriarch battled kings—which would make him a good, rather than a wicked angel. Leviathan Hebrew ”that which gathers itself together in folds” In the Enoch parables, Leviathan is the primitive female sea-dragon and monster of evil; in rabbinical writings she (or he) is identified with Rahab, angel of the primordial deep, and associated with Behemoth. Both are said to have been created on the 5th day (Greek Apocalypse of Baruch). In the system of Justinus, Leviathan is ”a bad angel.” In the Journal of Biblical Literature Leviathan is ”a Hebrew name for the Babylonian Tiamat.” In Job 41:1, Leviathan is the great whale. In Psalm 74:14 he is the hippopotamus or crocodile, or is so intended. In Isaiah 27:1 Leviathan is called ”that crooked serpent”, an epithet which recalls Revelation 12:9, where Satan is dubbed ”that old serpent”. In Mandaean lore, the final end for all but the purified souls is to be swallowed up by Leviathan. Lilith In Jewish tradition, where she originated, Lilith is a female demon, enemy of infants, bride of the evil angel Sammael (Satan). She predated Eve, had marital relations with Adam, and must thus be regarded as Adam’s 1st wife. According to The Book of Adam and Eve, Lilith bore Adam every day 100 children. The Zohar describes Lilith as ”a hot fiery female who at first cohabited with man” but, when Eve was created, ”flew to the cities of the sea coast,” where she is ”still trying to ensnare mankind.” She has been identified (incorrectly) with the screech owl in Isaiah 34:14. In the cabala she is the demon of Friday and is represented as a naked woman whose body terminates in a serpent’s tail. While commonly regarded as the creation of the rabbis of the early Middle Ages (the first traceable mention of Lilith occurs in a 10th-century folktale called the Alphabet of Ben Sira), Lilith is in fact drawn from the lili, female demonic spirits in Mesopotamian demonology, and known as ardat lili. The rabbis read Lilith into Scripture as the 1st temptress, as Adam’s demon wife, and as the mother of Cain. In Talmudic lore, as also in the cabala, most demons are mortal, but Lilith and two other notorious female spirits of evil (Naamah and Agrat bat Mahlat) will ”continue to exists and plague man until the Messianic day, when God will finally extirpate uncleanliness and evil from the face of the earth.” Lilith and Sammael are said to have ”emanated from beneath the throne of Divine Glory, the legs of which were somewhat shaken by their activity.” It is known that Sammael (Satan) was once a familiar figure in Heaven, but not that Lilith was up there also, assisting him. Lilith went by a score of names, 17 of which she revealed to Elijah when she was forced to do so by him. Los (Lucifer?) The agent of divine providence, ”the laborer of ages.” Since his fall, he has spent 6,000 years trying to give form to the world: I am that shadowy Prophet who, 6,000 years ago/Fell from my station in the Eternal bosom.”, Vala (The Four Zoas) and Jerusalem. Lucifer ”light giver” Erroneously equated with the fallen angel (Satan) due to a misreading of Isaiah 14:12; ”How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning,” an apostrophe which applied to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. It should be pointed out that the authors of the books of the Old Testament knew nothing of fallen or evil angels, and do not mention them, although, at times, as in Job 4:18, the Lord ”put no trust” in his angels and ”charged them with folly”, which would indicate that angels were not all that they should be. The name Lucifer was applied to Satan by St. Jerome and other Church Fathers. Actually, Lucifer connotes star, and applies (or originally meant to apply) to the morning or evening star (Venus). Demons Main Page
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