"D&D
Vs.Witchcraft - Occult" -
A
fight to the death!
Okay... maybe that's not what they meant. Here begins a section on
comparisons between
Dungeons
& Dragons rules and text from books about the
occult, satanism, and witchcraft.
The purpose here is to show how similar the two are to each other, and
to cause grave concern at these similarities.
The comparisons are very tenuous, however. In the first case,
the text of the
Cacodemon
spell (which allows an evil magic user to summon demons and have them
do his/her bidding) is compared to two passages from
Dealing with the Devil,
by Daniel Cohen. The two red flags that appear here are the reference
to a threat of pain or torture if the demon does not do the summoner's
will, and that the demon is forced into obedience when it is summoned.
The
concept of summoning demons to do one's bidding is present in myths and
legends around the world, and has become a part of many stories in
fantasy literature, which were influential on the creation of
Dungeons & Dragons.
The
Daniel
Cohen
book cited here is one of the many books the author wrote on the
folklore of various subjects, including ghosts, UFOs, and creatures
like Bigfoot. Quoting his work only establishes that these similarities
are elements of the folklore of demons - not that these are the
time-honored traditions of
real
demon summoning.
The
second and third examples are more cases of common legend regarding
dealing with demons - the knowledge of a demon's name, without which
the summoning cannot take place, and the trapping of souls.
There are no real procedures for summoning demons or trapping souls in
the
Dungeons &
Dragons rulebooks,
nor are there names of real demons to summon. These things only exist
in the game as props and characters for a story..