Mass Media of Adramelech

As we have already said, the basis of the “masculine” Pillar of Mercy of the Tree of sefirot is to a large extent formed by the “feminine” sefirah Netzach, while at the foundation of the Pillar of Severity lies the sefirah Hod, which is androgynous in nature. The name Hod (ancient Hebrew הוד, ChVD) is rendered as “Grandeur” or “Glory” and is formed from a root meaning “beauty,” “glory,” “grandeur.”

Just as the unity of Binah, passing through Tiferet, is reflected in the mirror of Netzach, so the aggregate of ideas, the supreme wisdom of Chokhmah, is reflected in the form of the sefirah Hod. This kind of “mirror-like” reflection that takes place beneath the Veils is expressed by the medieval image of Baphomet with crossed legs, among whose symbolic content is this very transformation, a change in the balance of forces. Hence the general idea of this sefirah is associated with intelligence, understanding — as an instrument of personal understanding that acts as a restraining force in relation to the integrative aspects of Netzach. Let us note again that Hod expresses precisely “practical reason,” the ability “to find methods and approaches” of solving problems; it is the “lower” manifestation of the eidetic nature of Chokhmah, as the Sefer Yetzirah also says: “The eighth path is called the Absolute or Perfect Intelligence, for it is the instrument of the Primordial“.

The shadow of Hod’s “understanding” is the qliphah Smal (Falsehood), which appears when intelligence passes through Shaarimot (“Gates of Death”). Through these gates — defects in intelligence — destructive forces relating to the “informational” component penetrate the mind, and therefore the name of the leader of the demonic sphere “Samael” — “the poison of God,” “Falsehood” — indicates that often it is a conscious or unconscious substitution of concepts, a distortion of ideas and concepts, that underlies the destruction of consciousness. Samael is the great biblical serpent-tempter, tempting with knowledge. His activity, however, is expressed primarily on the emotional level; his “propensity for falsehood” is instinctive and arises from distorted drives for self-preservation and self-assertion.

In the realm of intelligence, the distorted qualities of Hod manifest as another widely known demonic figure — Adramelech. This demon, whose name means “King of Glory” or “Glorious King” (Heb. ‏אַדְרַמֶּלֶךְ‏‎; Gr. Αδραμελεχ, Adramelekh; Lat. Adramelech), is a distortion of the divine principle of creation, of that very practical knowledge that the energy of Hod supplies.

According to biblical traditions, Adramelech was one of the deities to whom human sacrifices were offered (“The Sepharvites burned their sons in the fire to Adramelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim” (4 Kings 17:31)), and “the burning of sons,” as in other cases, signifies precisely the destruction of the human creative and sustaining capacity.

The well-known demonologist Collin de Plancy (1794–1881), basing himself on Talmudic traditions, thought the demon’s name was composed of words meaning “to carry” and “king,” i.e., it meant “carrier of kings” or “King of carriers,” and on that basis asserted that Adramelech was depicted in the form of (or with the head of) a mule (possibly a horse). According to another interpretation, “Adramelech” means “King of Ornaments,” hence the demon was also ascribed the form of a peacock. On this basis, in his “Infernal Dictionary,” de Plancy portrayed Adramelech with the body of a man, the head of a mule, and the tail of a peacock.

Both translations can be used in interpreting the functions of the demon of the Black Mercury. On the one hand, the rendering “King of Glory” refers back to the sefirah Hod itself and Adramelech’s link with its shadow. “Glory” in the demonic sense is precisely external tinsel, gilded sheen, apparent grandeur arising from distorted/false understanding. The “peacock” aspect of the “King of Ornaments” speaks to the same drive to construct deceptively attractive informational constructs. In this sense Adramelech is a demon of manipulation, forgery of information, and the use of half-truths or artfully twisted data to gain an advantage, and one could say that the entire modern mass media system is completely under Adramelech’s sway.

The association with “transfer” indicates the method of such manipulation employed by the demon — the shifting of emphasis, the shifting semantic weight from more important details to less important ones, the rearrangement of facts, and thereby creating a false picture.

If Samael blocks cognitive activity with an “illusion of knowledge” — getting stuck in duality, scholasticism and hollow logic — Adramelech does it by introducing false understanding, by the proud feeling “I alone know how things really are,” by avoiding self-scrutiny and diminishing self-criticism. In both cases, the result is “falsehood,” “poison,” that is — “poisoned” knowledge that leads one off the Way and impedes development.

The idea of media fame, hype, achieved by any means (more often unrelated to honesty) as an imposed value brings Adramelech close to another demonic king — Paimon, the “king of glamour,” and the illusion of possessing knowledge associates him with other demons from Astaroth‘s retinue — Gusion and Stolas — while the contempt for understanding links him with the retinue of Asmodeus — Purson, Batin, Marax and Sabnock.

However, unlike these “particular” underminers, Adramelech expresses the principle of manipulating information itself, regardless of aims and motives. Of course, as a demon of the intellect, he is calculating and not averse to logic, but his main motive is to exalt himself by presenting “exclusive information,” even if it has nothing to do with the truth.

A person falls under Adramelech’s sway whenever they begin to invent clever evasions either to prove they are right or to avoid accusations of error, whenever they seek to use scraps of information that have come into their possession for personal gain without thinking about how this will affect others.

The race for news, scandals, gossip — so characteristic of modern mass media — is a typical manifestation of Adramelech’s activity.

Resistance to Adramelech, of course, consists primarily in honesty, a responsible attitude toward information — both in terms of its sources and its consumers — the democratization of knowledge and its broad dissemination for common benefit.