I’ve created a gallery of book covers that inspired the hell dimension in the second Demonic Diaries book Hellcrafter. Click the button below to see all of the awesome book covers from vintage Scifi Fantasy paperbacks!
The Elixir of Life is a mythical substance, found across cultures, that gives those who consume it immortality. In the Taoist Waidan branch of alchemy, the main ingredients were highly toxic: lead and mercury. Some emperors took the risk & paid with their life.
A better choice for an emperor trying to extend their life, would have been the “internal elixir of life” from Neidan branch of Taoist alchemy. The ingredients of this elixir included meditation, breathing, diet, and exercise. Image: Wellcome Library
Egyptian ram-headed Demon from a royal tomb in the Valley of the Kings, Thebes, Egypt, 1325 B.C.E. The hands probably held two snakes. Image: Jon Bodsworth
Depiction of a sorcerer’s lair from the chapter entitled “Inventory of the Sorcerer’s Arsenal” in the book “Le serpent de la Genèse” (The Serpent of Genesis) Volume 1, by Stanislas de Guaita, 1920. Source: Embassy of the Free Mind
The Apparatus of Ceremonial Cystallomancy is a white-magic divination tool that you gaze into, similar to the Mirror of Solomon. The crystal is mounted in a frame, made of polished ebony, ivory, or boxwood. The engraved candlesticks must be brass. From The Book of Black Magic and Pacts, A.E. Waite, 1910. Source: Embassy of the Free Mind
This Ritual Mask, currently housed in Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in Cornwall, belonged to Alex Sanders, also known as Verbius, who was an English occultist and High Priest in the Pagan religion of Wicca.
During his black magic period, he got a job at the John Rylands Library in Manchester. An accusation that he defecated in the library basement led to the discovery that stole pages from a 19th century edition of the S.L Mathers translation of the ‘Key of Solomon’. Image: Ethan Doyle White CC-BY-SA
Gamigin is a marquis of hell, and commands 130,000 lesser demons, or more. He has the power of necromancy, and can summons soul that drowned in the ocean, for sure-fire interrogation. He appears as a horse or a man. Image: karkemish00 on Deviant Art, CC-BY-NC-ND
Rusalkas are water spirits from Slavic folklore, who appear as a pretty young girls with long hair. In some versions of lore, Rusalkas are the souls of drowned women or unclean spirits who lure men into water, and drown them by entangling their body with their long red hair. Image: Ivan Bilibin
The Prophecies of Paracelsus is a book with 32 prophecies, each with a woodcut full of symbolism to expand on it. The prophecies are cryptic and vague, with much allegorical symbolism, and can be easily reinterpreted to apply to any situation. Source: Wellcome Library
El Tío (The Uncle) is the devil-like spirit who rules over the mines of Cerro Rico in Bolivia. Statues of this “Lord of the Underworld” can be found all throughout Cerro Ricco’s mines, with offerings like cigarettes, coca leaves, and alcohol left for protection and appeasement.
“Miners may be Christians when above ground, but when in the mine, El Tio is their only god.”
Images: SHIBUYA K, Erik Duinkerken, Jofrigerio, Harry en Marleen
The Prognosticon, or The Divining Disc of Pergamon, is a bronze amulet, found in Asia Minor in 1899CE, that was used by ancient magicians of Pergamon to tell the future. The disc seems to use a combination of magic systems, bearing characters from King Solomon amulets, Greek letters, Egyptian hieroglyphs and planetary symbols.
While the Prognosticon’s divination system is unknown, one theory is that the user was meant to gaze into it’s design, in order to enter an altered state of consciousness for divination. Some believe, that by merely possessing an amulet with its symbol, your insight, intuition, and imagination will be enhanced, and replicas of the artifact have been made for consumers. Image: Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, CC-BY-NC-SA
Pazuzu (𒀭𒅆𒊒𒍪𒍪) is the ancient Mesopotamian king of wind demons. He’s responsible for storms, drought, famine, and locusts. Though evil himself, Pazuzu is invoked on amulets to drive away other evil spirits, like the malicious goddess Lamashtu. He’s also the spirit that supposedly possessed Regan in the film, The Exorcist. Image: World Imaging/PHGCOM on Wikimedia Commons
