Illustration of Leonard in the Infernal Dictionary of Jacques Auguste Simon Collin of Plancy by Louis Le Breton, 6th edition, 1863
Leonard or Master Leonard is a demon or spirit in the Dictionnaire Infernal, grand-master of the nocturnal orgies of demons. He is represented as a three-horned goat, with a black human face. He marks his initiates with one of his horns. Infernal powers obtained from the worship of Master Leonard range from metamorphosis into monstrous animals or men to flight as an incubus.
It may be possible that the goat-like figure is related to the ritual described in Leviticus 16:8 concerning Azazel:
Leviticus 16:8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.
9 And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD'S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering.
10 But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.
There is mention of a "Master Leonard" in the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (published 1898) in association with the alleged deity of the Templars, the Baphomet or "Goat of Mendes". Black banquets are thrown in Leonard's honor where aborted kid goats are eaten without salt and boiled with reptiles to sully the sinless nature of the clean meat.
Leonard has been known to take other forms, and there is some connection to the legend of the werewolf; he has been known to appear as a handsome soldier, a favourite of many demons. In this form he will seduce a young lady and take her to the wilderness where he will lie with her and ejaculate cold semen. Any child resulting from this union will be stillborn, an offering for sin, again echoing loosely the story of Aaron.
Resources
Delirium Web Site
A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels and Other Subversive Spirits, Carol K. Mack
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable entry on Master Leonard
Related Research Articles
According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of Moses. Information about Aaron comes exclusively from religious texts such as the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Quran.
The Book ofLeviticus is the third book of the Torah and of the Old Testament, also known as the Third Book of Moses. Many hypotheses presented by scholars as to its origins agree that it developed over a long period of time, reaching its present form during the Persian Period, from 538 to 332 BC, although this is disputed.
In the biblical books Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, Nadab and Abihu were the two oldest sons of Aaron. According to Leviticus 10, they offered a sacrifice with "foreign fire" before the LORD, disobeying his instructions, and were immediately consumed by God's fire.
A sin offering is a sacrificial offering described and commanded in the Torah ; it could be fine flour or a proper animal. A sin offering also occurs in 2 Chronicles 29:21 where seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs and seven he-goats were sacrificed on the command of King Hezekiah for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. Like all types of sacrifices offered on the altar, the flour had to be unscented and the animal had to be completely unblemished. This offered sacrifice accompanied the important required core means of atonement for the committing of an unintentional transgression of a prohibition, that either has brought guilt upon the 'community of Israel' or the individual. This offering is brought during or after atonement for those transgressions that had been committed inadvertently, or in ignorance: intentional transgressions could only be absolved by other forms of atonement, or in severe cases kareth. It was distinct from the biblical guilt offering.
In the Hebrew Bible, the name Azazel represents a desolate place where a scapegoat bearing the sins of the Jews was sent during Yom Kippur. During the late Second Temple period, Azazel came to be viewed as a fallen angel responsible for introducing humans to forbidden knowledge, as described in the Book of Enoch. His role as a fallen angel partly remains in Christian and Islamic traditions.
Cleromancy is a form of sortition in which an outcome is determined by means that normally would be considered random, such as the rolling of dice (astragalomancy), but that are sometimes believed to reveal the will of a deity.
In the Hebrew Bible, semicha refers to the priest's placing of his hands before the offering of a korban in the Temple in Jerusalem. This involved pressing firmly on the head of the sacrificial animal, thereby symbolically "transmitting" sins onto the animal or, in other interpretations, to transform the sacrifice into an offering acceptable to HaShem.
The Priestly Code is the name given, by academia, to the body of laws expressed in the Torah which do not form part of the Holiness Code, the Covenant Code, the Ritual Decalogue, or the Ethical Decalogue. The Priestly Code constitutes the majority of Leviticus, as well as some of the laws expressed in Numbers. The code forms a large portion, approximately one third, of the commandments of the Torah, and thus is a major source of Jewish law.
Parashat Vayikra, VaYikra, Va-yikra, Wayyiqra, or Wayyiqro is the 24th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the first in the Book of Leviticus. The parashah lays out the laws of sacrifices. It constitutes Leviticus 1:1–5:26.
Tzav, Tsav, Zav, Sav, or Ṣaw is the 25th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the second in the Book of Leviticus. The parashah teaches how the priests performed the sacrifices and describes the ordination of Aaron and his sons. The parashah constitutes Leviticus 6:1–8:36. The parashah is made up of 5,096 Hebrew letters, 1,353 Hebrew words, 97 verses, and 170 lines in a Torah scroll. Jews read it the 24th or 25th Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in the second half of March or the first half of April.
Shemini, Sh'mini, or Shmini is the 26th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the third in the Book of Leviticus. Parashah Shemini tells of the consecration of the Tabernacle, the deaths of Nadab and Abihu, and the dietary laws of kashrut. The parashah constitutes Leviticus 9:1–11:47. It is made up of 4,670 Hebrew letters, 1,238 Hebrew words, 91 verses, and 157 lines in a Torah Scroll.
Tazria, Thazria, Thazri'a, Sazria, or Ki Tazria' is the 27th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the fourth in the Book of Leviticus. The parashah deals with ritual impurity. It constitutes Leviticus 12:1–13:59. The parashah is made up of 3,667 Hebrew letters, 1,010 Hebrew words, 67 verses, and 128 lines in a Torah Scroll.
Acharei Mot is the 29th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. It is the sixth weekly portion in the Book of Leviticus, containing Leviticus 16:1–18:30. It is named after the fifth and sixth Hebrew words of the parashah, its first distinctive words.
Atonement in Judaism is the process of causing a sin to be forgiven or pardoned. Judaism describes various means of receiving atonement for sin, that is, reconciliation with God and release from punishment. The main method of atonement is via repentance. Other means may be involved in the atonement process, together with repentance.
The Scapegoat (1854–1856) is a painting by William Holman Hunt which depicts the "scapegoat" described in the Book of Leviticus. On the Day of Atonement, a goat would have its horns wrapped with a red cloth – representing the sins of the community – and be driven off.
Banishment or exile can be a form of punishment. It means to be away from one's home while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened by prison or death upon return. It is a common theme within the Bible, beginning with Adam and Eve. Below is a partial list of these exiles as referenced in the Bible.
Ba'al Zebub or Beelzebub, also spelled Beelzebul or Belzebuth, and occasionally known as the Lord of the Flies, is a name derived from a Philistine god, formerly worshipped in Ekron, and later adopted by some Abrahamic religions as a major demon. The name Beelzebub is associated with the Canaanite god Baal.
The Hebrew term kareth, or extirpation, is a form of punishment for sin, mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and later Jewish writings. The typical Biblical phrase used is "that soul shall be cut off from its people" or a slight variation of this. Several different suggestions have been made for the understanding of this punishment in the Bible and in rabbinic thought.
In the Bible, a scapegoat is one of a pair of kid goats that is released into the wilderness, taking with it all sins and impurities, while the other is sacrificed. The concept first appears in the Book of Leviticus, in which a goat is designated to be cast into the desert to carry away the sins of the community.
Then Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and sending it away into the wilderness by means of someone designated for the task. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a barren region; and the goat shall be set free in the wilderness.
In Judaism, the Yom Kippur Temple service was a special sacrificial service performed by the High Priest of Israel on the holiday of Yom Kippur, in the Temple in Jerusalem. Through this service, according to the Bible, the Jewish people would achieve atonement for their sins once each year. The service is notable as the only time in the year any person was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies, and is the source of the term scapegoat.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
