Editing Cacodemon (section)

{{Short description|Evil spirit or demon}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}}
{{Infobox mythical creature
|name          = Cacodemon
|AKA           = Cacodaemon
|image         = Ill dict infernal p0144-128 cacodemon.jpg
|image_size    = 
|caption       = [[Louis Le Breton]]'s illustration of a cacodemon from the ''[[Dictionnaire Infernal]]'' (1863)
|Folklore     = 
|Grouping      = [[Evil spirit]] 
|Sub_Grouping  = [[Demon]]
|Country       = 
|Region        = 
|Details       = 
|First_Attested = 
|Similar_entities = 
}}

A '''cacodemon''' (or '''cacodaemon''') is an evil spirit or (in the modern sense of the word) a [[demon]]. The opposite of a cacodemon is an ''[[agathodaemon]]'' or ''[[Eudaemon (mythology)|eudaemon]]'', a good spirit or [[angel]]. The word ''cacodemon'' comes through Latin from the Ancient Greek {{Lang|grc|κακοδαίμων}} {{Transliteration|grc|kakodaimōn}}, meaning an "evil spirit", whereas ''[[daemon (classical mythology)|daimon]]'' would be a neutral spirit in Greek. It is believed to be capable of [[shapeshifting]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Spence |first=Lewis |authorlink=Lewis Spence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nOcoAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA84 |title=An Encyclopædia of Occultism |place=Mineola, New York |publisher=Dover Publications |year=2003 |orig-year=1920 |page=84 |isbn=0-486-42613-0}}</ref> A cacodemon is also said to be a malevolent person, A Cacodaemon is depicted as a horned (or winged browed) youth with oversized genitalia trailing between his legs in greek mythology (source Theoi greek mythology)

In [[psychology]], cacodemonia (or [[wikt:cacodemonomania|cacodemonomania]]) is a form of [[insanity]] in which the patient believes that they are possessed by an evil spirit. The first known occurrence of the word ''cacodemon'' dates to 1593.<!-- OED: [1398 TREVISA Barth. De P.R. II. xix. (1495) 45 Plato in Cuneo callith the deuyll Cachodemon, that is to vnderstonde knowynge euyll.] --> 

In [[astrology]], the 12th [[house (astrology)|house]] was once called the Cacodemon for its association with evil.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wilson |first=James |url=https://archive.org/details/b29298180/page/12 |title=A Complete Dictionary of Astrology, in which Every Technical and Abstruse Term Belonging to the Science Is Minutely and Correctly Explained, and the Various Systems and Opinions of the Most Approved Authors Carefully Collected and Accurately Defined |place=London |publisher=Printed for William Hughes, Islington Green, and sold by Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, Paternoster-Row, and by all other booksellers|year=1819|page=13}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=de Vore |first=Nicholas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oV1t3g_HugYC&pg=PA36 |title=Encyclopedia of Astrology |place=Abingdon, Maryland |publisher=Astrology Classics |year=2005 |orig-year=1947 |page=36 |isbn=1-933303-09-3}}</ref> Defined as "a noise-making devil", Jane Davidson has noted an illustrated example of a cacodemon in editions of [[Ulisse Aldrovandi]]'s ''Monstrum Historia'' (Story of Monsters) as late as 1696.<ref>{{cite book |first=Jane |last=Davidson |title=Early Modern Supernatural: The Dark Side of European Culture, 1400-1700 |place=California |publisher=Praeger |year=2012 |page=44}}</ref>