DAEMONOLATRIA

H

Haborym

A Duke of Hell, commander of twenty-six legions. He is the demon of fire and holocausts. Depicted as a three-headed monster - a cat, a man and a snake - sitting astride a viper and brandishing a torch.

Hagenti

A great president, appears in the shape of a gigantic bull with the wings of a griffin, but will duly put on human form. He gives wisdom, transmutes metals into gold, and turns wine into water.

Halpas

A great earl, appears in the form of a stockdove, speaking with a hoarse voice. He 'burns towns,' visits the wicked with the sword, and can send men to fields of war or to other places.

Ham

According to Norwegian legend, Ham was a storm-fiend in the shape of an eagle with black wings, sent by Helgi to engulf Frithjof as he sailed for the island of Yarl Angantyr. This story is told in the Saga Grettir.

Hantu Penyardin

The Malayan vampire.

Hantu Pusaka

A Malay demon.

Hariti

A monstrous demon from India, who abducted little children and devoured them, until the Great Buddha converted her. She then became Kishimo-jin, the patron goddess of little children.

Hecate

The Greeks often called Hecate, Agriope, which means 'savage face.' She is said to have three faces, which symbolized her powers over the underworld, earth, and air. She is known as the lady of the underworld, of chthonic rites, and of black magic. Her Hebrew name was Sheol, and the Egyptians knew her as Nepthys. She was the daughter of the titan Perses and of Asteria, although sometimes it is said that Zeus himself fathered her. The Thracians were the first people to worship her in the moon-goddess aspect, though soon her worship spread to the Greeks, who linked her with the moon-goddesses Artemis and Selene. She was also associated with Lucina and Diana. At times she was benign and motherly and would act as midwife, wet-nurse, and foster-mother, while keeping an eye on flocks and crops. Greek kings asked for her help in administering justice, knowing that with Hecate on their side they would attain victory and glory in battle.

But the other side of her nature, most apparent when the moon was dark, gradually superseded her kinder side. Although Homer did not mention her in his poems, by the time Hesiod was chronicling the events of his world, her powers were already very great. She had become an infernal deity, a snake goddess with three heads: a dog's, a horse's, and a lion's. She was portrayed with her three bodies, back to back, carrying a spear, a sacrificial cup, and a torch.

Having witnessed the rape of Persephone, torch-bearing Hecate was sent by Zeus to help Demeter find her. When they found Persephone in Hades, Hecate remained there as her companion. During her stay in the underworld, Hecate wore a single brazen sandal, and she was the protector and teacher of sorceresses and enchanters. Her high priestess was Medea, who was worthy of her mistress, and cruelly murdered her own two children after her husband left her for another woman.

Hecate's influence was long lasting, and the medieval witches worshipped the willow tree which was sacred to her. The same root word which gave 'willow' and 'wicker,' also gave 'witch' and 'wicked.'

Thus Hecate became key-holder of hell and queen of the departed, dispatching phantoms from the underworld. At night she left Hades and would roam on earth, bringing terror to the hearts of those who heard her approach. She was accompanied by her hounds and by the bleak souls of the dead. She appeared as a gigantic woman bearing a sword and a torch, her feet and hair bristling with snakes, her voice like that of a howling dog. Her favourite nocturnal retreat was near a lake called Amarantiam Phasis, 'the lake of murders.'

To placate her, the people erected statues at crossroads. There, under the full moon, feasts called 'Hecate's suppers' were served. Dogs, eggs, honey, milk, and particularly black ewes were sacrificed at that time. The most powerful magic incantations of antiquity were connected with Hecate, and her rites were described at length by Apollonius Rhodus in his Argonautica:

 

    '...and he kindled the logs, placing the fire beneath, and poured over them the mingled

     libations, calling on Hecate Brimo to aid him in the contest, And when he had called on

     her he drew back: and she heard him, the dreaded goddess, from the uttermost depths

     and came to the sacrifice of Aeson's son; and round her horrible serpents twined

     themselves among the oak boughs; and there was the gleam of countless torches; and

     sharply howled around her the hounds of hell. All the meadows trembled at her step,

     and the nymphs that haunt the marsh and the river shrieked, all who dance round that

     meadow of Amarantiam Phasis.'

 

In one of her incarnations she was Hecuba, the wife of Priam, King of Troy, and mother of

Cassandra, Hector, Helenus, and Paris. While pregnant with Paris, she had a dream in which she gave birth to a flaming torch which consumed Troy. Understanding the awesome foreboding of this omen, she left the infant exposed on Mount Ida. But the Fates had ordained differently, and years later Paris returned to Troy, bringing with him the war that was to be the end of that great city.

When Polymnestor, a Thracian king, murdered her son Polydorus, her vengeance was terrible: she slew Polymnestor's two children and gouged his eyes out. Although acquitted by the Greeks, she was changed into a dog at which the Thracians threw stones. Trying to escape her punishment, she jumped into the sea at Cynossema, which in translation means 'tomb of the dog.'

Hecate, powerful in heaven, earth and hell, possessed all the great dark knowledges, and is rightfully called the mother of witches. She was the great goddess of magic, and she outstripped Circe, her daughter, in importance. Yet another of her daughters also achieved hellish fame:

 

     '...and let them not fall in their helplessness into Charybdis lest she swallow them at one

     gulp, or approach the hideous lair of Scylla, Ausonian Scylla, Scylla the deadly, whom

     night-wandering Hecate, who is called Crataeis, bare to Phorcys...'

 

The extent of her powers can be judged by the great numbers of animals, plants and emblems that were sacred to her. Weasels were her attendants. So were owls in their silent flight, with the carrion-smell of their nests and their eyes shining in the dark. Hound, knife, lotus, rope, and sword are other emblems of Hecate. Shakespeare knew that hemlock and the yew tree were sacred to her. In Macbeth, 'slips of yew sliver'd in the Moon's eclipse' were contained in the witches' cauldron. The yew, sacred to the goddess of the underworld, still grows in cemeteries.

Hedammu

A Hurrian snake-like demon which lives in the sea. The creature is insatiable.

Herodias

See Bensozia.

Heyd

A Norwegian sea-witch or storm-fiend in the shape of a white bear, alluded to in the Frithjof Saga. With the other storm-fiend Ham, she was sent by Helgi to engulf Frithjof as he sailed for the island of Yarl Angantyr.

Hiisi

Finnish mythology abounds with limitless classes of evil spirits and demons which bring troubles and miseries upon mankind. In the icy polar regions, bordering the South of Lapland, lay the Pohjola, where the dead found their home. It was governed by the severe Tuoni, the chief deity of the underworld.

The Pohjola was a region 'which devours men and swallows heroes,' as one ancient Finnish poem says.

There, the most wicked sorcerers loved to dwell and lay in ambush to watch men. It was the cradle of all demons. Born in eternal darkness and cold, they would scatter over the whole universe to mislead hunters, cause diseases and disturb the silence of the night.

Chief among these demons was Hiisi, a fearful giant who seems to have originally been a

personification of the icy and fatal North wind. Hiisi had a wife and children, horses, dogs, cars, and servants; all as hideous and wicked as he himself. An evil tribal chief, he was followed at all times by his complete household.

With the help of his large family, he extended his influence everywhere. His servant,

Hiisi-hejmolainen, reigned over the mountains, while another servant, Wesi-Hiisi, was the lord of the waters. His bird, Hiiden-Lintu, carried evil through the air, and Hiisi's horse, Hiiden-Ruuna, sped across the plains and the deserts, spreading illness and death. The sound of its hooves, hammering the frozen steppes at night, was a sign of imminent disaster which struck every Finn's heart with terror. Hiiden-kissa, as Hiisi's cat was called, was also fearsome, though at times she forced thieves to confess and so turned her wicked actions to a good purpose.

Hmin Nat

A Burmese evil spirit of ague.

Hsu Hao

The strange tale of this demon, well documented in the ample chronicles of the ancient Chinese empire, was told in the Tang dynasty period, during the reign of emperor Ming Huang.

While leading a military expedition to Mount Li in Shensi, the emperor fell prey to a malignant fever. Semi-delirious and unable to get any refreshing sleep, he tossed all night on his cot. Ming Huang suddenly caught a glimpse of a small figure, darting around his palace. The creature was dressed in red trousers, and wore no shoes. Ming Huang grew angry and asked him who he was. 'Your humble servant' replied the demon, 'I am called Hsu Hao. Hsu means 'to desire emptiness,' because in emptiness one can fly as one wishes, while Hao means 'desolation' and changes people's joy to sadness.'

The emperor, enraged by the demon's insolence, was about to call his guard, when suddenly a larger creature appeared; a genii wearing a tattered hat and robe, a horn clasp on his belt, and an official's boots on his feet. He grabbed the small demon, tore out one of his eyes and ate it. Ming Huang, startled by these wondrous proceedings, questioned the newcomer. 'Your humble servant,' this one replied, 'is Chung Kuei, physician of Chung-nan Shan in Shensi. In the reign of emperor Kao Tsu, I committed suicide on the steps of his palace, because I was unjustly denied a public office I was seeking. The emperor took pity and buried me in the robe of his own clan. Out of gratitude, I swore to protect the sovereign for ever against the demon Hsu Hao.'

At these words the emperor sat up and found that the fever had left him. Chung Kuei became known as the 'protector against evil spirits,' and is still honoured as such.

Hutjin

The demonic ambassador to Italy.

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