Empusa

Chthonia

This week we look at one of the "horrors of Hecate," the Empusa. Empusa is a shapeshifting daimon or ghost that is sometimes likened to a succubus, and sometimes a grotesque spirit that attacks men; she also attacks mystery cult initiates in an attempt to distract them from completing their initiation. She is sometimes portrayed with the leg of a donkey, giving her a relationship to the Testament of Solomon demon Onoskelis. What is very likely is that Empusa (or the Empusai) serve a function quite similar to that of the Furies--maintaining boundaries, though they challenge you to surpass those boundaries.