Belphegor

In demonology, Belphegor (or Beelphegor, Lord of the Opening/Gap) is a demon, and one of the seven princes of Hell, who helps people make discoveries. He seduces people by suggesting to them ingenious inventions that will make them rich. Thus called the demon of discovery, invention, and riches.

Bishop and witch-hunter Peter Binsfeld believed that Belphegor tempts by means of laziness. Also, according to Peter Binsfeld's Binsfeld's Classification of Demons, Belphegor is the chief demon of the deadly sin known as Sloth.

Belphegor is a lieutenant from Hell, mentioned multiple times in the Bible, who had been dispatched to Earth on a mission by Satan. The mission was to discover if marital love was real, or a fallacy that could be taken advantage of by his minions. Belphegor searched far and wide, and reported to Satan that he could find none in his travels. What he did find was France, and in particular, Paris. He found a particular affinity for Paris, France. As a former deity of all debauchery, he apparently became enamored with the seedier side of the nation in general, and the city in particular. This is probably why, in addition to being an adversary of the 6th Sephiroth, he is considered to be an adversary to Mary Magdelene, who is a patron saint of France.

He is a shape shifter, delighting in using this ability to deceive mortals. His most common forms are polarized in their appearances. He will take the form of a beautiful woman to do weird stuff. He also appears as a terrible demon, with leathery flesh, huge horns, long sharp teeth and fingernails, and a gaping mouth.

Belphegor is one of the many demons with the attribute “Baal,” in this case Baal-Peor. As such, before he became known as Belphegor, he is mentioned in the Bible as the patron of Moab in Assyria, and was one of the false gods that Moses handed down the death penalty for worshiping.

As one of the fallen angels, Belphegor was originally a member of the order of principalities, and after his fall he became a demonic counterpart to one of the ten Sephiroth that oversee the Tree of Life.

As stated, Belphegor was the patron of the Moab, a kingdom known to have been along the shore of the Dead Sea, on the eastern side, in what is now Jordan.

Belphegor is invoked by persons who wish to find fame and wealth through invention, often with as little effort as possible. These wishes, as with almost any demonic invocation, are doomed to fail, because Belphegor’s true mission is to draw the lazy into the sin of Sloth. Through the failure of whatever Belphegor provided to the invoker, he draws them into procrastination and idle dreaming rather than producing, thus damning them.