#Ashtaroth

[dea-syria]

“I,” said a voice—“I am Desire. In Greece I am revered, and there I am Aphrodite. In Italy I am Venus; in Egypt, Hathor; in Armenia, Anaitis; in Persia, Anâhita; Tanit in Carthage; Baaltis in Byblus; Derceto in Ascalon; Atargatis in Hierapolis; Bilet in Babylon; Ashtaroth to the Sidonians; and Aschera in the glades of Judæa. And everywhere I am worshipped, and everywhere I am Love. I bring joy and torture, delight and pain. I appease and appal. It is I that create and undo. It is I that make heaven and people hell. I am the mistress of the world. Without me time would cease to be. I am the germ of stars, the essence of things. I am all that is, will be, and has been, and my robe no mortal has raised. I breathe, and nations are; in my parturitions are planets; my home is space. My lips are blissfuller than any bloom of bliss; my arms the opening gates of life. The Infinite is mine. Mary, come with me, and you shall measure it.”

--Edgar Saltus, "Mary Magdalen"

[sinatraaloof]

[murcielagatito]

if you get the reference… *debby ryan smirk*

[sandandlightning]

Ashtaroth | Ishtar Etymology

I have been wanting to do this post for a while! But have been putting it off because it's so detail intensive. >>

Astaroth, as is the most common romanization in modern works, is a goetic daemon with a fairly cut and dry pagan ancestry. The spelling Ashtaroth is closer to or more evocative of her etymology of origin- Astarte, which is another name for Ishtar or Inanna.

Ishtar, Astarte, and Inanna are all fairly ubiquitously agreed to be different names for the same goddess. Her cult was something extremely widespread across the near east in ancient times, with Ishtar being the Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian name, Inanna the Sumerian name, and Astarte the Phoenetian and Cannanite name.

I say these names refer to the ‘same’ goddess the same way many modern individuals view Zeus and Jupiter as wholly interchangeable- largely because it was not just one similar divinity but the entire pantheon and family structure shared between cultures with few differences besides names. However, as with any divinity who has been distinguished out to multiple identities, each name would still hold individualized minutia and slight specific connotations. I don't want that to get erased by trying to explore the broader spectrum of how this goddess or these goddesses have been connected and transformed as they have walked across cultures.

Astarte's name is the etymological origin of the Hebrew word astarot, meaning- and I say this tentatively as I am far from an expert on hebrew- progeny or increase, which comes from Astarte’s associations with fertility. Further, she is one of a handful of pagan gods directly referenced in the Bible. She is given as an example of an enemy god that is supporting enemy nations of the Bible's protagonists, in this case the Phoenicians.

Obviously, the nature of colloquial language doesn't seem to care about her bad reputation among Abrahamic religions. Despite being decried as a demon tempting man from the path of Yhwh, her name was shifted and adopted into the language. It's easier to see how ‘Astarot’, when carried through over the hundreds of years, was shifted into ‘Astaroth’ as occultists and priests tried to understand demons in the Bible.

Ishtar is, inherently, a very gender fucky individual, though despite this fluidity is very specifically a goddess and uses she/her pronouns in historic sources. Unfortunately it wasn't simple confusion, but rather the general rampant sexism of the time this research was being done that lead to Astaroth and every other demon in the Ars Goetia being demoted as male.

Ishtar’s holy symbol was an 8 pointed star, as she was associated with the heavenly body Venus, the morning star. (A friendly reminder the planets as we know them were considered as stars in ancient times, though they often held notable importance over other heavenly bodies further from us.) Similarly, the sigil for Ashtaroth prominently features a 5 pointed star, and is the only of the Goetic sigils to do so. So, it's easy to say that more than nearly any other entity Astaroth has the most direct and clearest tie to her pagan roots.

[caisdeships]

Miss Ashtaroth and her husband

The arrangement

Posting here late, but it still counts, right? Right.

[gameraboy2]

Ashtaroth by Boris Vallejo, 1993

[book-of-babel]

Duchess of Dreams (1984)

[elettraml]

𝕾𝖙𝖗𝖔𝖓𝖌𝖊𝖗

[dracoiaboli]

Side muses: 🇦‌🇸‌🇭‌🇹‌🇦‌🇷‌🇴‌🇹‌🇭‌ 🇦‌🇳‌🇩‌ 🇹‌🇭‌🇪‌ 🇪‌🇽‌🇪‌🇷‌🇨‌🇮‌🇹‌🇺‌🇸‌ 🇩‌🇷‌🇦‌🇨‌🇴‌🇳‌🇮‌🇸‌ The Exercitus Draconis(Host of the Dragon) are the hooded figures presented to us in Mastermind. They are Satan's personal army and Hell's police force, loyal to Satan and Satan alone. Within Wrath and other rings they functions in a similar capacity to and are the chief rivals of the Ars Goetia. They are a confederation of 40 legions once in the servive of Heaven before the fall, each member being a Heaven born angel similar to the angelic forces who make up the Heavenly host today. They did not initially side with Lucifer, so much as they fought for Satan against their kin. Some of them knew what was going on, others were caught up in it all. All fell from grace and became powerful demons. While the Exercitus are less in number then the goetia they are far more powerful on an individual level. The force gradually has grown in number over the years as various angels have fallen. They are considered the elite military force within Hell, capable of feats far grander then other demonic hosts, fully capable of standing against the strongest of Heaven's legions in a one on one battle. Their symbol is the upside down cross, often used in religious ceremonies of Hell's various races. The head of this satanic order is Ashtaroth, patron of executioners and master of battles and engagements. He is ancient evil just as old as the sins and goetia. A deity with his own cult behind him, even worshipped as the grim reaper by many despite not being the angel of death, he acts as Satan's chief lieutenant and personal executioner. If someone within Hell breaks the law and is sentenced to death it is Ashtaroth who carries out the execution. Many hellborn demons, sinners, and even the occasional goetic noble has met his axe over the millennia. In person he is a calming presence, showcasing the cold and disconnected form of wrath. Loyal only to Satan, with very little thought toward the other sins, he seeks to feed his weapon torrents of blood within the courtroom, and on the battlefield.

[agreenroad]

100 Bible Verses Around 7 Races Of Nephalim - 7 Nations Of Giant Dark Angel Human Genetic Hybrids

There are more than 100 Bible verses pointing to the fact that giants once existed as races on Earth. Archeological evidence recently discovered also points to the fact that these huge stone structures could only have been built by a race of giants, who had superior knowledge, strength and abilities, compared to ordinary humans as we know them today. This article goes into detail around Bible…

[hexehaus]

Highly Coveted Astaroth Oleum

One of my TOP sellers!!

Sweet Almond carrier oil

Cypress oil

Nutmeg oil

Cassia oil (NOT Cinnamon)

Not floral, not feminine one bit but SUPER powerful & Astaroth loves it. Be sure to add some Saffron to the bottle before adding oils and blood as per Astaroth's preference. Well, she loves blood offerings...😉

[leon-swedfinqs]

here is some more writing of the reverse au sillies umabel and ashtaroth...

god i love them so much theyre so fucking ridiculous

we've got more writing slowly in the works and i do apologize for not posting a lot here sofhsdfhs i sometimes forget tumblr exists LOL

[murcielagatito]

definitely need to know more about this lesbian demon priest, I’d watch consume any story abt this for sure

oh my god okay SO i cant talk about vritra without ashtaroth theyre two halves of a whole

they spent nearly all their time together and this was all before yknow lucifer had their little hissy fit and he and many other celestials fell.

what vritra didnt know tho was that ashtaroth felt the same as lucifer and there was tension between the celestials but vritra the sweet dumbass thought everything was fine.

and then the revolution happened. all hell broke loose in heaven and ambushes and allat shit and almsot every celestial that was in the place where vritra was at died and because they was the only survivor it was assumed it was his fault and ashtaroth being who they were was like "yeah its their fault" because they didnt wanna loose vritra bc ashtaroth wasnt gonna stay in heaven so their fate was sealed away with all the other fallen celestials and they were kicked from heaven.

ashtaroth thought that they would remain together because they would both be cast out of heaven but

BOY were they wrong

after that happened, ashtaroth and vritra spent a millennia without eachother, vritras anger festering in his heart for being betrayed by the one person they trusted and loved the most in the universe and ashtaroth longing for the day in which they could reconcile

so vritras whole shtick was well if i devote myself to returning to heaven maybe they will take me back. so they became a priest and being on sacred ground suppressed his anger and essentially controlled his powers. they spend a lot of time meditating and often go days just sitting there

meanwhile ashtaroth basically went into denial that the person they loved most in the universe wants nothing more than to see them dead and turned to pretty bad coping mechanisms and basically fell prey to becoming one of lucifers goons carrying out her will and doing demonly things and then later being betrayed by lucifer. one day after escaping from captivity, ashtaroth returned to the chagrin of vritra

any more and itd be spoilers for the main story!

[sandandlightning]

On Reverent Irreverence

Approaching deities can be intimidating. Religion as a whole often feels like it has to be very serious and stuffy. There are certainly entities that appreciate formality, but when your patron is a trickster with a sense of humor it's sort of a whole different ball game.

Dunno who needs to hear this, but it is 100% okay to approach your altar with the greeting ‘Ey what up it's me, ya boi,’ so long as you and whoever you're working with have an understanding. I speak to Set like this regularly, and if I get too formal he starts trolling me until I relax.

But this isn't how I approach every entity I work with. I most definitely don't communicate with Belial like this. Ashta | Ishtar or Anpu would find something like that funny on occasion for sure, but it's usually just Not The Vibe.

The point being you shouldn't let others tell you how to communicate with your divinity, and it will vary from God to God and from person to person. I have a habit of being very casual with and calling Lucifer Lulu or Luci. Other people might not be comfortable with that. He might not be comfortable with that with other people. It's not because I am any more or less close to him than another person, but rather his greater understanding of what an individual most needs from a relationship with him.

If you get more out of a religious experience by being formal then be formal! If it feels more natural to be loose and a bit silly, do that! It's your relationship with your gods, don't let anyone else tell you how to do things.

[caisdeships]

GO Miss Ashtaroth and her Husband

I´m in love with her. Art by me.

[murcielagatito]

Wow some of you are really mad at me. Probably b/c i maimed & killed your friends, brothers, fathers, and sons on the field of battle. Thats ok though. Im fated to die soon