Demons and Magic in the Rabbinic World

It was taught [in a baraita] that Abba Binyamin says: If the eye was given permission to see, no creature would be able to withstand demons. Abaye said: They are more numerous than we are and they stand over us like mounds of earth surrounding a pit. Rav Huna said: Each and every one of us has a thousand to his left and ten thousand to his right. Rava said: Crowding at the kallah [lectures] is from [demons]; tired knees are from [demons]; the Sages' clothing that wears out is from rubbing against [demons]; painful feet are from [demons]. One who seeks to know should place fine ashes around his bed, and in the morning [traces of demons] appear like chickens’ footprints. One who seeks to see them should take the afterbirth of a firstborn female black cat, born to a firstborn female black cat, burn it in the fire, grind it and place it in his eyes, and he will see them. [Then] place [the ashes] in an iron tube sealed with an iron seal, lest the demons steal it from him, and seal the opening so he will not be harmed. Rav Beivai bar Abaye performed this, saw, and was harmed; the Sages prayed for mercy on him and he was healed.

... [W]hen Rav Aḥa bar Yaakov sent his son Yaakov to Abaye, Yaakov came home, and his father saw that he hadn't learned much, and Rav Aḥa said: I could do better! You stay here so that I can go learn. And Abaye heard that Rav Aḥa was coming instead of his son.

Now, there was a certain demon in Abaye's study-hall, and even in the daytime it could harm [groups of only] two people when they entered the study-hall. So Abaye told everyone: Don't offer Rav Aḥa a place to stay overnight; maybe a miracle will happen for him.

Rav Aḥa arrived, entered, and spent the night in that study-hall. The demon appeared to him like a giant snake with seven heads, but Rav Aḥa stayed kneeling, and every time he bowed down, one of the demon's heads fell off. The next day Rav Aḥa told Abaye: If a miracle had not happened, you would have placed me in danger.

Rav Pappa said: Yosef the Demon said to me: [one who drinks] two [cups of wine], we kill; [one who drinks] four, we do not kill, but we harm. But this person who drank four, we harm him. [One who drinks] two, whether unintentionally or intentionally; [one who drinks] four, intentionally, yes; unintentionally, no. And if one forgets and it happens that he goes outside [after drinking an even number of cups], what is his remedy? He must take his right thumb in his left hand, and his left thumb in his right hand, and say: You [thumbs] and I are three. And if he hears a voice saying: You and I are four, he should say to it: You and I are five. And if he hears it say: You and I are six, he should say to it: You and I are seven. It once happened [that someone counted this way] until 101, and the demon burst.

Ameimar said: The head of the sorceresses said to me: One who encounters sorceresses should say this: Hot feces in torn date baskets in your mouth, sorceresses; may your hairs fall out; your crumbs should scatter; your spices should scatter; the wind should carry away the fresh saffron that you sorceresses hold.....

This is like what happened when a certain man divorced his wife. She went and married a shopkeeper. Every day, [the first husband] went to drink wine, and she would perform sorcery on him, and it would be ineffective for her on him because he was careful about [drinking in] pairs. One day he drank a lot, and did not know how much he drank; until sixteen, he was lucid and careful about himself, but from there onward he was not lucid or careful, and she caused him to leave after [drinking] a pair. As he walked, a certain Arab met him and said to him: It is a dead man who walks here. He went and hugged a palm tree; the palm tree dried out, and he burst.