Weird Old Art: Aliens, Demons, and Sodomy

Caution: The following post is not appropriate for all audiences. Click the "read more" link only if you are not offended by mild references to sex acts.

Ancient astronaut theorists frequently claim that the gods, devils, and monsters of ancient mythology are true-to-life reports of extraterrestrial beings, whose motives can be reconstructed from creative interpretations of ancient myth. Demons, specifically, were linked to aliens in Eric Norman's Gods, Demons and Space Chariots (1970) and Gods and Devils from Outer Space (1973), and specific demonic creatures, such as Azazel from the Book of Enoch, have frequently been cited as examples of ancient astronauts, as in David Icke's Biggest Secret (1999).

So, if demons are aliens, and historical documents about demons are the chronicles of actual extraterrestrial intervention, what are we to make of this piece of weird, old art?

Image: Wikimedia Commons

This image from Francesco Mario Guazzo's Compedium maleficarum (1608) shows a satanic rite whereby a novice witch submits to Satan by kissing or licking the demon's anus. This image is relatively tame; many from the early modern period are much more graphic.

So, why do aliens want people to perform analingus on them? Are we to seriously imagine that the same demons who came to earth and "taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals 〈of the earth〉 and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all colouring tinctures" (1 Enoch 8:1) did so because they were really into butt sex? This simply can't be true! The Book of Enoch (8:2) does say that there was "much fornication" with the demons, but Enoch assures us (7:2) that this was conventional sex, leading to pregnancy and the birth of giants (cf. Genesis 6:4).

So, ancient astronaut theorists: Why are aliens into anal? Does this have something to do with modern UFO anal probes? If the ancient astronaut theory is scientific and true, it must have an answer. I'll be interested to see a very special episode of Ancient Aliens on "Aliens and Sodomy."