Satanism Today - An Encyclopedia of Religion, Folklore and Popular ...

Apsaras 11
types of apparitions, from the assertion that they
are mental hallucinations to the notion of telepathy
from the dead to the living. Other theories refer
to astral or etheric bodies, an amalgam of personality
patterns, recording or imprints of vibrations,
projections of the human unconscious or will and
concentration, true spirits of the dead, and localized
phenomena with their own physicality,
directed by an intelligence or personality. One of
the most elaborate theories is that of “ideapatterns”
contained in G. N. M. Tyrell’s Apparitions
(1973), in which apparitions are believed to be
hallucinations on the part of a percipient based on
information received from the agent.
Science still has little knowledge about the
nature of apparitions, even though there have
been systematic studies since the late nineteenth
century inaugurated by the Society for Psychical
Research. Among its most important works are
the research about apparitions, the results of
which are reported in Phantasms of the Living
(1886), and the 1889 Census of Hallucinations,
about apparitional experiences of either the living
or the dead. Similar censuses were done in France,
Germany, and the United States.
For Further Reading:
Cavendish, Richard. The Encyclopedia of the
Unexplained. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967.
Green, Celia, and Charles McCreery. Apparitions.
London: Hamish Hamilton, 1975.
Gurney, Edmund, F. W. H. Myers, and Frank
Podmore. Phantasms of the Living. 1886. London:
Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., 1918.
Myers, Frederic W. H. Human Personality and Its
Survival of Bodily Death. Vols. 1 and 2. 1903. New
ed. New York: Longman’s, Green & Co., 1954.
Stevenson, Ian. “The Contribution of Apparitions
to the Evidence for Survival.” Journal of the
American Society for Psychical Research 76, no. 4
(October 1982): 341–356.
Tyrrell, G. N. M. Apparitions. 1943. Rev. 1953.
London: Society for Psychical Research, 1973.
Appolion
Appolion (also Appolyon and Apollyon), means
“destroyer.” He is the angel of hell’s bottomless pit.
As described in Revelation (9:1–11 and 20:1–8),
Appolion opened the shaft of this pit and let out
upon the earth a swarm of locusts with humanlike
faces. The locusts proceeded to torture those of
mankind who “have not the seal of God upon
their forehead” for five months. The locusts’
“king” Appolion later takes on an even greater
challenge than managing them, which is to seize
Satan, bind him, and then throw him in the
bottomless pit for a thousand years. Appolion
locks Satan away, so that “he should deceive the
nations no more, till the thousand years were
ended.” (After which Satan comes out for a little
while to try to entrap mankind once again.)
In the biblical references above, Appolion is a
good angel, servicing God, but in other writings
he has fallen and succumbed to evil. For example,
in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Appolion is
the Devil himself, with fire and smoke coming out
of his belly. In Hebrew, Appolion is known as
Abaddon and is the fallen Greek sun god Apollo,
living in hell as a serpent angel. The term Appolion
has also been used to mean hell itself as a place.
See also Demons; Satan
For Further Reading:
Godwin, Malcolm. Angels: An Endangered Species.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990.
Ronner, John. Know Your Angels. Murfreesboro, TN:
Mamre, 1993.
Apsaras
Apsaras, a word derived from the Sanskrit ap, which
means “water,” refers to a form of spiritual being
found in Hinduism and Buddhism. As the nymphs
of South Asia, they are best known for their inordinate
interest in sex. They are said to reside alternately
in the sky or in trees. The mistresses of the
gandharvas, they are shapeshifters who are fond of
bathing. The apsaras are also singers and dancing
girls. Alternately, in the Vedas, the most ancient religious
texts of Hinduism, the apsaras performed the
role of valkyries, escorting the valiant warriors slain
in battle to heaven. Unlike the valkyries, however,
the apsaras would—true to their nature—seduce
the heroes as they were flown to heaven.
Although in Hindu mythology the apsaras are
not demonic, they perform certain functions
reserved for demons in Western religions.
Specifically, they were often sent to earth to seduce
ascetics who seemed to be on the verge of break-