I should admit that my understanding of archons is fuzzy at best. This is not my gnosis - I've only heard others speak on the topic. From what they've said, though, it seems like archons are more like computer programs running in your own mind than actual demons. They're "cosmic" (another very interesting term Paul used, in the same sentence, iirc) because the internal and external are part of one whole.

A way to look at it is from the angle of astrological houses. According to the principle of unus mundus, the houses are consistent because of the patterns in our lives - its a latinized version of 'as within ; without.' The planets don't have power over you in themselves - they're just lumps of rock. But life has recognizable patterns that repeat predictably, so you can tie that repetition to any other predictable repetition.

So what does this have to do with Christianity? Everything... Remember Jesus' multiplication of the loaves and fishes? (Interrupt! Plural of fish is still fish!) That event, with those specific numbers, is symbolic language. Two fish is the house of Pisces. The bread is Jesus himself. So, the story means that Jesus is the spiritual sustenance for this age. Astrology. But it can't be understood exoterically... The kingdom is within.

Back to archons. How much of the physical world are we aware of? Maybe 1%? Maybe 0.1%? Idk. Its not much. These archons, from what I've been told, are mental programs constructing the world we experience. In a way, they're proxies for physical laws. We're not aware of anything outside the scope of their construction. They mediate between the real/unseen world and our subjective experience. They're "demonic" in a sense because they maintain an illusion, and illusion isn't truth, and truth will set you free, and sin is slavery, and sin is a state of being where you're separated from God, and God is Truth and reality and everything. Kinda circular.