"The Planets are Evil"
A Look at a Fringe yet Ancient Belief
Looking for psychological military science fiction? Read about the adventure of veteran Brendan Murphy as he tries to keep peace between Earth and a mysterious alien race known as the Sabia. Read the Fallen series today! Please remember to leave a review once you are done. Reviews are the lifeblood of independent creators
The Ancient Belief that the Planets are Evil
The Interpreter
During my first deployment to Afghanistan, one night I was standing on a ridge with my Afghan-American translator. We were gazing up at even higher mountains in the distance. A ruin was barely visible. That decrepit wall and husk of a building were once an observatory of the Ghaznavid Empire.
The Ghaznavids were ethnic Turkic but culturally Persian, ruling an empire around A.D. 1000 from western Iran to parts of India, with the capital in modern day Afghanistan. The empire’s most famous scientist, al-Biruni, is considered the founder of modern geodesy - the science of measuring the Earth - and the first astronomer to combine Indian, Islamic, and Greek astronomical thought into one. In his writings, he wrote how the science of astronomy was separate from the superstition of astrology; and his work helped perfect how praying Muslims worldwide determined the direction to Mecca.
So when I asked my interpreter what the local names for the constellations were, I was surprised that the response I got was, “No. We don’t look at the stars. That’s old women stuff.” When I inquired what he meant, he explained to me that “old women” would look at the stars to tell fortunes. The empire of science had fallen into the realm of superstition. It was another point of the decay of Afghanistan.
However, I later found out that some ancient cultures had beliefs beyond astrology about evil in the sky. Some of those cultures survive to this day, whether in their original group or through fringe theories. Among these beliefs is the idea that the planets themselves are evil.
The Ancient Israelites and the books of Enoch’s Prison Planets
The Book of Enoch has been surging in popularity with those who have overlapping interests in UFOs and fundamentalist Protestantism. These people believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible, the Bible being eternal as a living corpus vice an agreed upon canon, and ancient aliens-like ideas of human and alien/fallen angel hybrids.
The book - which only the Ethiopian Oriental Orthodox claim as scripture and even then not in a literal form - itself dates from around 200 BC, though it claims to be thousands upon thousands of years old and written by the great-grandfather of Noah, the ark builder. One of the first parts of the book deal with fallen angels having children with humans, making a race known as Nephilim, who were described in the Book of Genesis as “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.” (Genesis 6:4, Revised Standard Version).
Despite modern fringe groups’ significant focus on the Nephilim, the Book of Enoch includes astronomical statements. According to the book, God arranged the stars in constellations, overseen by celestial beings who direct their movement across the heavens. God uses the angel-led stars to mark time. Everything in the heavens that is ordered is godly.
Not so the planets, which ancients realized were something else because they moved differently from the “other” stars. The Book of Enoch’s author did not like how planets broke the orderly universe. These seven stars - the seven visible planets - are described in the book’s chapter 18.
I saw there seven stars like great burning mountains, and to me, when I inquired regarding them, The angel said: ‘This place is the end of heaven and earth: this has become a prison for the stars and the host of heaven. And the stars which roll over the fire are they which have transgressed the commandment of the Lord in the beginning of their rising, because they did not come forth at their appointed times. And He was wroth with them, and bound them till the time when their guilt should be consummated (even) for ten thousand years.’
The Book of Enoch depicts the planets as prisons for fallen angels and also a spiritual creature and/or angel itself that has sinned against God.
This ancient belief that the planets are either prisons for fallen angels or a sort of fallen angel itself has made its way to TikTok.
Interestingly enough, there is a Second Book of Enoch, written around AD 800. It features a classical understanding of the solar system and universe, to the point that God in the book uses the names of Roman gods for the planets. Meanwhile, the book lacks mention of the Nephilim. No modern day conspiracy theories seem based on the Second Book of Enoch.
The Mandaeans and the Evil Holy Spirit’s Children
From the swamps of southern Iraq to the diaspora in Australia, Sweden, and the United States, there is an ethnic group known as the Mandaeans. While there are competing theories of their origin, the leading one involves a group leaving Judah around AD 50 and settling in Iraq.
Their religion is fascinating as it is the closest living Gnostic rival to orthodox Christianity. The religion honors Adam, Noah, and John the Baptist as prophets. Abraham, the founder of the Jewish people, is viewed as a Mandaean priest who became a false prophet because of his claims that God commanded circumcision. However, the true hatred in the religion is aimed at Jesus. Mandaeans view Jesus as a person who tried to worm his way into the divine’s favor after the universe’s true evil seduced him. Mandaeans further claim John the Baptist denounced Jesus, and since then there has been a rivalry between the faiths.
In Mandaeism, God is referred to as the Hayyi Rabbi, aka The Great Life or King of Light. However, in the vast league of evil there is Ruha d-Qudsha - literally “Holy Spirit” - who is a female spirit who uses false prophets such as Jesus to lead people astray. Ruha also started mankind’s fall by seducing Adam in the Garden of Evil.
Ruha entered an incestuous union with her demon son who rules the underworld and gave birth to the planets. The planets form her entourage and are demons that govern the days of the week, impose fate, death, and astrological influences on man.
The Mandaean solar system is below
Sun - Rules Sundays - Mixed, long story horribly shortened is the Sun is a representation of Hayyi Rabbi’s life-giving light, but the Jewish God also made a physical sun to compete with Hayyi Rabbi.
Moon - Rules Mondays - Miscarriages, abnormal births, and imperfections.
Mars - Rules Tuesdays - War.
Mercury - Rules Wednesdays - Knowledege, supports Jesus.
Jupiter - Rules Thursday - Malevolent authority.
Venus (sometimes Ruha herself, sometimes her daughter Libat) - Rules Fridays - Evil seduction.
Saturn - Rules Saturdays - Restrictive fate, supports Jews.
Esoteric Christianity: Christianity Plus Magic Equals Evil Planets
There is a trend among some Christians to hold esoteric beliefs. These people combine traditional Christianity with a grab bag of ideas ranging from ancient magic to astrology to mystical Judaism and much more. As there is no one Esoteric Christian set of beliefs, I will sum up a particular set as stated by an Esoteric Christian who uses the pen name Ioannis Goldmouth.
In Goldmouth’s cosmology, planets are not merely inert celestial bodies but can be potentially malevolent entities intertwined with ancient cosmology, divine order, and demonic influences.
He writes how in ancient Greek thought, planets embodied harmonious orbits that mirrored divine reason and mathematical laws; they served as “secondary gods” or living creatures with souls, crafted by the divine to bridge the earthly realm with higher divine spheres.
In Christianity, these planets form part of the host of heaven, conscious beings capable of willful obedience to God, as evidenced by biblical events like the Sun and Moon halting during Joshua’s battle, aligning with Orthodox interpretations of them as celestial intelligences akin to angels.
However, in the medieval magic book known as the Testament of Solomon, where demons like Onoskelis are linked to planets such as Saturn, planets can be intermediaries for spiritual entities, with occult rituals done according to planetary orbits to summon demons.
Extending the present, Goldsmith ties this in with UFOs and “aliens,” stating phenomena like falling stars or orbs are demonic manifestations tied to these planet spirits. Goldsmith states Christians should be vigilant against “aliens” coming from planets that are ruled by demons.
Podcast Update
This past weekend I interviewed fellow science fiction author Schalk Holloway about the recent waves of End Times prophesies. While critical thinking skills were used in taking down the false prophets of doom, it goes heavily into a Christian point of view - me being a Catholic and Schalk being active in a Pentecostal network in South Africa. I didn’t send it out via email because it is more religious than science fiction, but for those interested you can watch or listen below.
Other Independent Book Promotions
Trapped Souls by RW Duder and Damien Richard - Free Book
I will gain power, no matter the cost. I will avenge my people.
My name is Sabine O’Reilly. Forty years ago, the witches of the Irish Isle were hunted and killed. Deceived by the church, the people were turned against the covens that had healed them, birthed them, and protected them from evil for centuries. Those who survived were forced south by ship to Africa. My parents were on that ship.
As the world nears the end of the 19th century, everything is changing. The Adepts openly wield magic in a bid to control the world while the insane Awakened threaten to tear it apart. The six-shooter ushers in a new age for gunslingers. The weapons are their only hope against the powerful magic-wielders. All the while, few know the secrets of witchcraft.
My coven left Africa to travel to America. In the great mountains of the Republic of California, I will face my first challenge. I must capture the soul of an animal and turn it into my guide. The natural world will rise up against me, but I must prevail. Only by passing this test will I take the first step toward real power. I will avenge my people.
Trapped Souls is a novella set in a warped-history fantasy series where gunslingers in the Old West clash with a world wrought with magic.
Fans of Charlaine Harris’ Gunnie Rose books or Stephen King’s Gunslinger series will love The Guns and Gates universe. Pick up your copy of Trapped Souls today!
Defiant Space - Infinite Void Book One by Richard Rimington - Free Book
A lone planet facing fiery destruction. A starship hunted by implacable enemies. Can a novice navigator’s mission to the darkness of space prevent the obliteration of his world?
Cal fears he will witness the death of everyone he’s ever known.
When a hostile fleet of warships arrives to conquer his native planet, Caladon Heit knows his peaceful existence with the woman he loves is abruptly over. A secret message leads the young academic to embark on a terrifying journey through the stars, seeking to prevent the devastating invasion of his homeworld.
Traveling with the crew of an experimental spacecraft, Cal searches with all his wits and knowledge for a path across the perilous depths of deep space. With ferocious marauders and deranged mutants prowling behind every moon and asteroid, Cal fights the urge to believe that his friends and his fiancé are already doomed.
Will the spacefarer and his fragile starship find a way to stop the catastrophe of planetary war, or will Cal and his homeworld be annihilated?
Defiant Space is the exhilarating first book in the Infinite Void space opera series. If you like hard sci-fi suspense, intrepid space exploration, and courage in the face of inhuman pressure, then you’ll love Richard Rimington’s sweeping cosmic adventure series.
The Oracle’s Bridge: Book 1 of The Bridges of Magic Series by Stacy Hall - Book for Sale for $2.99 or Free on Kindle Unlimited
Magic has been corrupted. The kingdom of Veltak lies in ruins, its royal family dead and the Magicians’ Guild reduced to ash, while the dark sorcerer Barok Tana rules with an army of undead and stone‑forged abominations.
Apprentice magician Stric Deamara survives the massacre, hurled twenty years into a ruined future by the Guild’s Grandmaster with a single, impossible quest.
Find the lost infant prince who was smuggled away the night the kingdom burned.
Guided by Talnar, an endlessly cynical book of ancient knowledge, Stric allies with Teela, a hardened survivor orphaned by Barok’s tyrannous rule. Their hunt for the missing heir leads them through ancient forests, hidden elven sanctuaries, and a closely guarded island of wormholes that hurls them into a terrifying modern world, where the true king has been locked away and gaslit into believing Veltak is only a delusion.
Bringing the king home is only the beginning. To tear down Barok’s rule, Stric must forge an unprecedented alliance between humans, elves, werewolves, fairies, and vampyres. He must awaken a rare power capable of harmonising all their magics through one fragile conduit.
If he fails, the Deathseed Crystal feeding Barok’s necromancy will consume Veltak forever, along with everyone he has come to call family.
Perfect for readers who love epic high fantasy with hard, rule‑driven magic systems and cinematic battles, found‑family bonds, slow‑burn, trauma‑aware character arcs, multi‑race alliances, and portal and time‑travel twists.
The Oracle’s Bridge is the first book in The Bridges of Magic Series, a sweeping epic about what it costs to heal a broken world when your greatest weapon is the power to bring divided peoples, and their magic, together.
A must‑read for fans of Jenn Lyons, James Islington, and Ryan Cahill.
Unit Next Time
Next time, I will start the two part short story series based on this topic: Captain Bolide and the Evil Planet!
As always, please leave a comment with any questions, reviews, thoughts, whatever about Fallen, Risen, Dormition, An Odd Pilgrimage, The Savannah Paranormal Detective Agency or whatever else I have discussed. I promise to reply!