“Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.” (Revelations 2:20, King James Bible)

While alive, Jezebel was the wife of Ahab, king of North Israel. Many ancient texts refer to her as the evil power behind his throne and a major worshiper of Baal. It was her influence that allowed for the creation and royal patronage of the religion. After her husband’s death her son, Jehoram became king. Unfortunately for her, his reign came to a quick end after he was ran over by a war chariot. Jehu, the driver of the killing vehicle, becomes the new king and orders the eunuchs serving Jezebel to kill her by pushing her out of a high window and to let her corpse lie on the street for roaming dogs to eat. Before being pushed to her death, Jezebel convinced her eunuchs to give her a moment to apply her make-up and to dress up in her most beautiful finery.

After her death, Jezebel has become one of the busiest demons working today. Her spirit is often used by adherers of witchcraft and rebellion. Being a well known man-hater, she is one of the “controlling spirits” behind feminism. Her goal is to create disorder and spread evil by either tempting good men into temptation by sexual seduction or emasculating men by being gregarious, outspoken, highly visible, and modern.

Another name to describe Jezebel is “Satan’s woman.”  

In many creation myths Lilith is either depicted as the first woman, a moon goddess, or a storm demon. She will often be described as a seducer of men, a child-eater, or a screech owl.

In some Jewish folklore Lilith is believed to have been the twin sister and first wife of Adam. They lived very happily in the Garden of Eden until one day when Adam wanted to have sex. This caused a big argument. According to legend, Adam wanted to do it “missionary-style” while Lilith wanted to do it with herself on top or with the two of them side by side. Adam refused and Lilith left him for a more adventurous sexual partner. Depending on which tradition you follow she either hooked up with archangel Samael or Satan. And they had such a good time that they spawned many demons.

Some believe Lilith was a loving mother goddess who has been aggressively demonized by Judeo-Christian religions in order to replace her with patriarchal deities. In fact her popularity waned for many centuries before being rediscovered by Wiccans in the early 1950s. The conjuring up of Lilith plays a large part in rituals used in modern day Wicca. High Priestess Doreen Valiente cited Lilith as the presiding goddess of the Wiccan Craft: “the personification of erotic dreams, the suppressed desire for delights.”

Medea was a witch’s witch and definitely not one to be messed with, especially if you were a sailor or, worse yet, her own children. She was easily pissed off and would do just about anything to get revenge. Because of her pissed-off ways, she has been the inspiration of many poems, plays, paintings and pots. There have been so many famous versions of her story that the original one has become muddied beyond recognition. A few things that each story has in common are that she was married to Jason (of Jason and the Argonauts fame), they met when he was trying to take the Golden Fleece, and she killed their children when he left her for another woman.

In the 1970 film adaption of Medea by Pier Passolini she was portrayed by opera diva Maria Callas.

Circe was an enchantress living on the island of Aeaea during the time of the Greek myths. She was well known for changing her enemies, or those who pissed her off, into animals. She did this by using magical potions made using her knowledge of drugs and herbs and muttering weird incantations. In Homer’s Odyssey, she is described as living in a house in the woods surrounded by a guard of docile lions and wolves, former sailors changed by her magic. Circe invited Odysseus’ crew to feast with her. They ate a pottage of cheese and meal, sweetened with honey and wine (and unbeknownst to them magical drugs). To their surprise, after having finished eating, the crew discovered they were now pigs and would soon be fed to the lions and wolves. Eurylochus, who hadn’t eaten any of the witch’s food, snuck off to warn Odysseus. After hearing what had happened to his crew, Odysseus set off to save them. On his way through the woods to her house he was met by the god Hermes who advised him on how to deal with her. He said to first eat the herb moly to protect him from her potions and if he were inclined to bed with her that he should first have her swear by the names of all the gods that she would not take his manhood. Although the poem does not go into detail about this, it seems that Odysseus did just this. All of his men were freed. They then remained on the island for a full year feasting and drinking wine. Although it doesn’t say this I suspect they ate a lot of moly because they were never turned into pigs or lost their manhood ever again.

Nimue is the Lady of the Lake in the Arthurian legends. Besides giving King Arthur his sword Excalibur, she is also known to have turned the sorcerer Merlin into a tree trunk. The reason she did this, according to many sources, is because Merlin had a crush on her and she thought he was gross. She didn’t like that he had been raised by demons and was aging backwards. After he hit on her for the umpteenth time, she promised her love to him if he would teach her everything he knew. Even though he had the power of foresight and knew she would turn him into a tree trunk if he taught her how, he did it anyway. Makes one think twice about falling in love, don’t it?

Morgan le Fay is a sorceress most associated with the Arthurian legend. Depending on the story, her relationship to King Arthur and her motivations change drastically, but pretty much all of them portray her as being a nasty sort.  Some of the tales have her being a mystical being while others refer to her as a human with magic powers. Not only is she mentioned in early Brittanniae tales, but she is also exists in French and Italian folktales.  Fay is an Old French word for Faerie.

Actress Helen Mirren portrayed her in the 1981 movie, Excalibur.