Since ancient times, people have understood that in their lives they are surrounded not only by good spirits and angels, but also by evil entities, who were called evil spirits.
In the modern world, many do not believe in the existence of such forces, but only until they meet with them in reality. As a rule, the belief in the existence of evil spirits is more characteristic of the villagers, who have preserved many legends associated with otherworldly forces. For urban residents, this belief is somewhat weaker, although the manifestation of evil spirits in cities is not such a rarity.
The dark realm, where evil spirits dwell, occupies a significant place in the Christian belief system. Most of the spirits and gods from the national memory were erased under the influence of the new religion, but at the same time they were replaced by new demonological forces created by folk fantasy under the influence of the Christian religion.
For most people, evil spirits are mermaids, brownies, kikimors, devils, demons. But, in fact, there are much more otherworldly forces, and they all bring a person not only troubles and misfortunes, but also death.
If we talk about where the evil spirits come from, then there are two legends here. According to the first, the Lord himself created the evil spirit during the creation of the world, or Satan. The second legend says that evil spirits appear from the union of people from among the dead-suicides and evil spirits.
Uncleanness can be found everywhere, but most often they live in the so-called places of power, which have long been considered unclean: swamps, thickets, swamps, thickets. Many are interested in the question of how outwardly the evil spirits look in order to avoid meeting with it. As a rule, evil spirits are capable of assuming human form, but each of its representatives in a normal "state" has its own distinctive features.
In general, it should be noted that the whole world of demons is divided into three main groups: spirits of nature, house spirits and directly evil spirits.
The largest in number is the group of devils or demons.
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In ancient Greek mythology, a demon was a beast-like or human-like creature that possessed divine power. Demons appeared and disappeared suddenly, it was a force with which you cannot enter into any communication. Demons directly affect people, pushing them to commit certain actions, sending various feelings and thoughts, ominous dreams. Sometimes demons are equated with fate, since all the events of a person's life are under his influence. In ancient times, it was believed that there is a demon of birth, and certain demonic forces are manifested in the character of each person, each person has his own demon.
Demons are intermediaries between God and people. The Greeks explained everything incomprehensible, miraculous, fatal demonic influence. Demons were to blame for earthquakes, epidemics, high tides, droughts and storms. And in some Greek legends there is even a mention of the fact that people who lived in the Golden Age turned into demons and protect people.
Devils are already prominent representatives of Russian folklore. As a rule, evil spirits who brought trouble to people were called devils. Since the advent of the Christian religion, the devil has been identified with the devil. In order not to cause this evil spirits, they tried not to pronounce his name after sunset. In folklore, the devil is described as a humanoid creature that has horns, a tail, hooves, a nose instead of a nose, and the whole body is covered with hair. In addition, there is a belief that the devils are all lame, because they broke their legs when they fell from the sky. Devils live in hell, where they mock sinners in every possible way. In folklore, younger and older devils are mentioned. The oldest is Satan, who commands all devils.
And people are also sure that it was the devils who invented vodka, tobacco and card games.
Among the most common representatives of evil spirits, demons can also be noted. In ancient Slavic beliefs, these are evil spirits. With the same meaning, this word passed to Christianity, where it was used as a translation of the Greek concept of "demons".
The Christian religion says that demons are exclusively evil spirits, so no agreements can be concluded with them. This evil spirits send damage, filth and various diseases (in particular, mental disorders) to a person, push to bad deeds and instill bad thoughts. In addition, they hate marriage and do their best to ruin it.
According to legend, once in ancient times demons were angels, but they became apostates, for which they were overthrown from heaven. From their angelic past, the demons have preserved power and superhuman knowledge, which they use with malicious intent. Demons are able to move freely in space, they can control the elements, penetrate into human thoughts. They appear to people only when they themselves want it, moreover, they choose their appearance each time depending on the circumstances (they may appear in the guise of a bright angel or a loved one). Medieval folk fantasy paints him as a dark, horned, tailed creature with hooves.
Viy is also a representative of Slavic demonology - a character that has survived in fairy tales. He is often depicted as a mighty old man with large eyebrows and very long eyelashes. They are so thick that the old man can see nothing at all, and in order for him to look at the world, several strong men are needed to raise his eyebrows and eyelashes.
This creature is familiar to everyone who read Gogol, but the writer did not use all the features that popular rumor attributed to it. So, in legends, viya was portrayed as a great fighter who killed people with one glance, and turned cities and villages into ashes. Fortunately, his eyelids were raised only in those cases when it was necessary to destroy the enemy troops or burn down the enemy city.
Among domestic evil spirits, the most famous are the wicked and the kikimora. In East Slavic mythology, evil spirits were evil spirits who settled in houses behind the stove and did not bring anything but misfortune to the owners of the house. Sometimes the evil ones were presented as old ragged people of small stature, but it was generally believed that the evil ones were invisible.
These evil spirits doomed the family in whose house they settled to extreme poverty, and misfortunes pursued the family until the end of their lives, since it was believed that it was almost impossible to get rid of the evil ones. Those who managed to exterminate the evil ones got rich very quickly after that.
Kikimora was also considered a domestic evil spirit. According to East Slavic mythology, it was considered a type of brownie. And some scholars even suggest that this is the wife of a brownie.
In ancient times, the kikimora was considered a night deity who came in nightmares. It was believed that the kikimors were born from the Fiery Serpent, and then the evil spirits transported them to evil sorcerers beyond the distant lands, where they learned evil magic. Outwardly, the kikimors are small, thin, and live behind the stove. From there they go out at night, knock, whistle, confuse yarn, beat dishes. But it was believed that kikimora harms only careless and lazy housewives, and helps skillful ones.
In the demonology of the East Slavic peoples, there was also such an unclean force as Likho. It was the embodiment of grief, misfortune, misfortune. This is one of the most common heroes of folk tales, in which Dashing was portrayed as a stunted, bony, one-eyed woman, a meeting with whom can bring not only misfortune and misfortune, but also cause death. Very often this evil spirits were called the Dashing One-Eyed, since they do not choose their victims, but rushes at anyone.
In mythology, there was such a kind of evil as werewolves or ghouls. A werewolf was a person who possessed supernatural powers to turn into a wolf. In addition, it was believed that magicians and sorcerers could turn ordinary people into wolves. Werewolves can move almost with lightning speed, so it seems that they are simultaneously from several places at once. And their power can reach such a force that the process of transformation can cause lunar eclipses.
People attributed to werewolves and the ability to turn into vampires after death. Therefore, those deceased who were suspected of werewolf were put a coin in their mouths.
This is not a complete list of all the evil spirits that have existed and still exist in human fantasy. There is also such an unclean force that no one knows about.
Be that as it may, regardless of the presence or absence of faith in otherworldly evil forces, it is better to protect yourself and wear amulets and amulets, and best of all - a cross consecrated in the church.
Author: Andrey Kleshnev