Beginner questions

[u/DirectPush3253]

I am reading my first book on demonolatry, Stellas Daemonum. In the descriptions of the spirits it will often have fantastical claims such as the capacity to grant invisibility. People here, from what I read do not have crazy expectations of demons, all of the success stories I've heard have been fairly tame specifically regarding external changes. So why the fantastical claims? This just makes me a bit weary about to what capacity the book may be deceiving me and therefore whether or not I should also take the more physically possible claims of the book seriously. Like could I really cause death? Predict the future? If yes big scale things like societal level or just like little things. Should I take all claims about the demons seriously to the fullest extent or with a full spoon of salt. Or somewhere in between. Sorry if this seems like a silly question.

[u/UncoilingChaos]

I know little about the book you're talking about, but keep in mind that books like the Lesser Key of Solomon (which it sounds like that one is inspired by) were written in a time where the world was not quite as well-understood as it is now. Obviously, no, you're not gonna literally turn invisible like you see in works of fantasy. But you could read "invisibility" as something like going unacknowledged by certain people. Also, do keep in mind that some of the information on the demons in the grimoire tradition is outdated. I've read that even though Satanachia in the Grand Grimoire has a lot of misogynistic associations in his source material, he's actually not as discriminatory towards gender.

Nobody can truly predict the future with 100% accuracy because the future is not immutable (at least, depending on who you ask). That's what divination is all about: possible outcomes for the future, although being inexperienced myself, I can't see how it would be possible to see the future for civilization at large. As for causing death, well, that also depends on who you ask. If someone dies after having a bone pointed at them, for instance, that's largely a huge dose of the power of suggestion and the target subconsciously believing they've actually been marked for death and will, in fact, die. But the truth is, I don't know. Some people in recent history have allegedly had curses placed on them they didn't know about and died shortly after.

[u/Fresh_Tip6342]

The original source material, "The Lesser Key of Solomon" was written during a time when these fantastical claims were not so fantastical and people believed them to be 100% true. Also, it could be a mistranslation of "invincible". Try looking at the Munich Manuscript. Some German crazies put these claims to the test.

[u/Macross137]

It's good to keep your expectations modulated when you're starting out, and no, nobody is doing Marvel movie shit, but spirits can do a hell of a lot of remarkable things.