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"A god ignored is a demon born."
- Liber Kaos
For me, one of the hardest concepts to grasp was that of the spirit. Gods, angels, demons, nature spirits, fey... they come in all shapes, sizes, and magnitudes. I learned the hermetic definitions of spirits early on but those definitions have grown and changed over the years. Western Mystery Tradition maintains a simple hierarchy of spirits running in magnitude from gods to archangels to angels to elementals then demons. Each of these 'ranks' consists of beings that act much like cosmic cogs expressing varying aspects of the oneness that is "all there is". Before I get into this, I should look at spirits from a broader view.
In Condensed Chaos, author Phil Hine describes four different models used in magic. The Spirit Model is the oldest and most adaptable model. It proposes that everything, from a rock to a planet, has a spirit, a conscious, thinking aspect that can communicate with humans. Shamans would heal by speaking to the spirit of a disease or assist in a hunt by asking the spirits of the land. In this model, gods exist and have a life independant from people. The next model is the Energy model, which came about through Chi Kung and Kundalini practices in the East and the work of Mesmer and Reich in the West. The energy model shapes the world in terms of energy flow, whether it's a ley line across a plain or a meridian that runs down the arm. Power comes from energy flow and disease can come from blockage of flow.
Modern society offers us two newer models. The older of the two found its birth in the works of Freud, Jung and their peers. In this model, the Otherworld is identified as the Unconscious where entities such as demons are manifestations of repressed memories or emotions, gods are masks of the racial archetypes and angels herald messages from the super-ego. This model is commonly accepted by the general public, expressed in the popular image of a person faced with a dilemma suddenly visited by an angel on one shoulder voicing his good side and a devil on the other shoulder to advise him of his evil thoughts. The newest model is called the Cybernetic model and it leans on quantum mechanics as its foundation, particularly the belief in a probabilistic universe. In the Cybernetic universe, neurological storms in the brain can have a cascade effect upon the universe, like the popularized Butterfly Effect. Many Chaos Magicians believe that the Cybernetic model loops back into the Spirit Model.
As an aside, I never truly grasped the Cybernetic Model but I did have an interesting insight after reading some books on layman's Quantum Theory. I envisioned a theory in which the quantum level of reality was composed of information, not truly far-fetched as it is a popular explanation of Bell's Theorem. At any rate, I envisioned a whole universe composed of information but in this universe, consciousness is mass and foci of sentience were the stars of this universe. It occured to me that bodies of consciousness may not necessarily be rooted to brains in the physical universe. Perhaps a natural phenomenon such as a river could be the spacetime root of a mass of consciousness; the result would be a sylph. Not to mention that if consciousness can be directed through activities like worship, the result would be similar to a binary star where one star takes mass from the other. In this model, gods would be artificial quantum stars of incredible mass... just a thought.
Back to the topic at hand, depending upon the model you use, spirits are internal, external, independant or simply mechanical. Personally, I'm inclined to identify angels and demons as personifications of virtues and vices within the individual personality. It fits well with the notion of elemental Equipoise, viewing angels as positive traits and demons as negative. Through simple techniques introduced by Donald Michael Kraig, angels can be invoked and demons may be banished, which can prove very effective when combined with other equipoise techniques such as autohypnosis. Unfortunately, this purely psychological model fails when faced with classical demon princes and archangels such as Beelzebub and Michael.
I wonder if the better map would require a combination of models. If our minds are open at the deepest levels, then perhaps spirits do exist on these levels. The names and images we give these spirits only serve to anthropomorphize them. Perhaps there is only one Mammon but he has influence over all sentient beings to a degree. Those who are greedy simply are more open to the vibration or influence of Mammon. The same can be said of all the demons and angels known to humanity, right down to the most minor of spirits. Now, at first glance, this appears to remove the onus of responsibility for negative traits but that's so obviously far from the truth. Part of finding equipoise is engaging in regular introspection to identify negative traits and removing them or inverting them to positive traits.
This brings to mind the notion in the Western Mystery Tradition that before a magician seeks to transcend the physical world, he needs to do his part to redeem the Qlipoth; in layman's terms, bring the light of the Godhood to the realms of the demons. This duty can be interpreted in so many ways. In my model, it could easily represent the necessary removal of all demonic influence in the personality. One could go one step farther and see the parallel with the Bodhisattva. If demons are independant entities who dwell in the Deep Mind, magicians can endeavour to redeem them, reducing their influence over all of humanity... a daunting task, if not purely fantastical.
In terms of gods, I've always believed that they're masks glued onto the faces of concepts like valour, death or light. Focussing the beliefs, wills and desires of thousands of people toward a single mental image is bound to give that image life on some level. In the psychological model, gods are cultural interpretations of the archetypes that live in the Collective Unconscious. In a sense, they are independant entities of great power.
Addendum (November 1, 2004): As it may or may not appear, this mini-essay is incomplete. My thought train derailed and never recovered. Perhaps I'll get to it, at some point...
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