I love "Charmed" and watch it every week (my shameful vice!), but I groan in pain each time they say "Wicca". That show misrepresents reality as much as the other famous image of witches with green skin and warts. Demons simply aren't real in that kind of "objective reality" way. They don't have independent thought and malice, and they definitely don't have physical form. However, many people with newly awakening psychic gifts experience "demonic" energies as they slowly learn mastery of their gifts.
The chat rooms are full of new pagans who feel some powerful energy for the first time, and call it a demon. The high drama that this creates would be amusing if not for the genuine distress that is often experienced by those involved. Gradually, as people become more comfortable with these experiences, the experiences become less frightening, and miraculously, less "demonic".
The first psychic event most people experience often deals with ghosts from the spirit worlds. This is because the veil that separates that realm from ours is actually very thin, and it surrounds us all the time. We're constantly surrounded by the spirit world, but our awareness is usually closed. When someone experiences a genuine "entity" for the first time, it usually blasts them out of their comfort zone. Culturally, we're not taught to take that kind of thing seriously, so it's a big jolt for the psyche.
Generally speaking, ghosts are supremely uninterested in the living. Since ghosts generally freak us out (even when we've been working with the spirit worlds for a lifetime, there's still that instinctive adrenaline jolt...), we might easily perceive this energy or entity as "demonic" in nature.
Generally speaking, "Demons" are self-created.
They are manifested forms of intense psychic energy.
They are the products of unresolved, highly-charged emotions.
They are also created by our own expectations.
We often create the very thing we're looking for, by pouring the energy of our expectation into the idea. The "Evil Spirit" scenario is common, and often spirals out of control. If the intensity of an emotion is too much to handle, then it's pushed out, where it takes on an external form. The greater the emotional crisis, the more intense the psychic energy becomes.
Probably most people have created one of these vortexes of powerful psychic frenzy at one point or another in our lives. They are most commonly encountered by adolescents through early 20's, and at other times by people experiencing emotional crisis. With luck, as we work through the issue that's creating such problems for us, the "demon" loses energy and dissipates. However, when this external energy field is encountered by someone with newly awakening psychic gifts, this intense psychic energy is felt very vividly. It can feel very oppressive, and even evil. You can tell this thing is powerful, and that's a scary sensation.
I once knew someone who was seeking advice about this situation. She said: "I have a friend who has been feeling lately as though there is some sort of angry/negative spirit trying to get to her. She sees flashes of herself turning into a demon and often feels a lot of psychological pain coming at her." I think it's likely that this friend had some unresolved emotional pain that she was now perceiving as external. I suggested that she perform a banishing ritual to dissipate this energy and help her let go of it. It also allowed this “friend” to feel more in control of the situation, and reassure her.
Because whether you believe that demons are independent evil spirits or personal manifestations of our own fears and anxieties is a bit irrelevant in the end. Externalizing our dangerous emotions in this way is a coping technique, and one that can be used to help us heal. Once formed, this "demon" can certainly play hell with our lives until we confront it and deal with it. And banishing is a wonderfully effective method. Psychologically, it allows us to take control of our emotions again, and confront the fear that is feeding the "demon".
~Flame RavenHawk
May 9, 2003