Belphegor

Who is Belphegor?

Belphegor is a lieutenant from Hell, mentioned multiple times in the Bible, who had been dispatched to Earth on a mission by Satan. In doing so, he found a particular affinity for Paris, France.

He is a shape shifter, delighting in using this ability to deceive mortals. His most common forms are polarized in their appearances. He will take the form of a beautiful woman, naked in all her glory, to seduce those who would fall for his wiles. He also appears as a terrible demon, with leathery flesh, huge horns, long sharp teeth and fingernails, and a gaping mouth.

Origin

Belphegor is one of the many demons with the attribute “Baal,” in this case Baal-Peor. As such, before he became known as Belphegor, he is mentioned in the Bible as the patron of Moab in Assyria, and was one of the false gods that Moses handed down the death penalty for worshiping.

As one of the fallen angels, Belphegor was originally a member of the order of principalities, and after his fall he became a demonic counterpart to one of the ten Sephiroth that oversee the Tree of Life.

History

As stated, Belphegor was the patron of the Moab, a kingdom known to have been along the shore of the Dead Sea, on the eastern side, in what is now Jordan. He was a phallic deity, associated with sex, orgies, and all forms of debauchery in general.

Belphegor, You’re My Idol

During the Exodus, still as Baal Peor, some factions of Israelites started making sacrifices to Belphegor. The reason for this is because they began having relations with the women of Moab, who seduced them to their local god. Regardless of the reason, these sacrifices enraged Moses so much that he began to condemn those who were worshiping Belphegor to death. By the time the sacrifices to Belphegor were eliminated, 24,000 people had been killed. The only thing disputed in this was whether they were actually slain, or whether Moses called down a plague upon them that caused their deaths.

He is the Biblical enemy of the 6th Sephiroth, the patron angel of beauty. As the Patron demon of dispute, perhaps their adversarial relationship exists because beauty should never be disputed, as it is in the eye of the beholder and some can find the beauty in everything. If Belphegor were to become too influential in the world, then the beauty of it all would become tainted, causing ruination.

I’m on a Mission From… Satan

In his form as a full-fledged demon and servant in Hell, Belphegor was sent to earth by Satan to discover if marital love was real, or a fallacy that could be taken advantage of by his minions. Belphegor searched far and wide, and reported to Satan that he could find none in his travels.

What he did find was France, and in particular, Paris. As a former deity of all debauchery, he apparently became enamored with the seedier side of the nation in general, and the city in particular. This is probably why, in addition to being an adversary of the 6th Sephiroth, he is considered to be an adversary to Mary Magdelene, who is a patron saint of France.

Current Influence

Belphegor is invoked by persons who wish to find fame and wealth through invention, often with as little effort as possible. These wishes, as with almost any demonic invocation, are doomed to fail, because Belphegor’s true mission is to draw the lazy into the sin of Sloth. Through the failure of whatever Belphegor provided to the invoker, he draws them into procrastination and idle dreaming rather than producing, thus damning them.