Demonolatry

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Demonolatry is the worship of demons.

Although the word "demonolatry" is old, it was originally used (like the label Satanism) as a term of abuse to refer to a variety of different religions against which the early Church fought.^{[citation needed]}This may have been due to the belief of the early Church fathers that pagan gods were in fact demons. It was not adopted as a term of self-reference until the late 1950s or early 1960s.^{[citation needed]}

Some practitioners also use the spelling daemons to refer to their objects of worship.^{[citation needed]}

Demonolaters worship one or more demons or archdemons, typically other than Satan (Worship of Satan primarily or exclusively is called Theistic Satanism.) Some Satanists, or Satanic Demonolaters, also worship demons, but this is secondary to their worship of Satan.

In some forms of demonolatry, Satan is referred to as the "fifth element", or the source of all other energies. In other words, Satan is the "whole" and every other demon is simply a part of the whole. Each person, animal, plant and thing that exists in nature is a part of the whole as well.^{[citation needed]}Some other traditions of demonolatry treat Satan as just one of many demons available for worship.

Some demonolators say that their form of demonolatry is a tradition, often familial, that is not related to the modern religious and philosopical movements collectively referred to as Satanism.

Ceremonial magic that employs evocation is often mistaken for demonolatry. But practitioners of ceremonial magic do not necessarily worship demons, instead attempting to constrain and command demons to do their bidding, using methods such as the Goetia. Most demonolators would consider this very disrespectful towards the demons, and possibly dangerous for the operator. They instead use forms of prayer, magick and ritual which petition the demons, asking for their aid rather than commanding them.