Astaroth

Great

Duke of Hell

Fallen Angel

Astaroth

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astaroth

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Astaroth (also Ashtaroth, Astarot and Asteroth), in demonology, is known to be the Great Duke of Hell in the first hierarchy with Beelzebub and Lucifer; he is part of the evil trinity. He is known to be a male (or female) figure most likely named after the Near Eastern goddess Astarte.

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First seen as a male demon in The Book of Abramelin, Astaroth appears in many subsequent occult grimoires. He's described as a strong duke, often depicted as a foul angel riding a dragon, and associated with the adverse forces known as the Qliphoth in Kabbalistic texts.

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The demon's attacks against humans are reportedly strongest in August, and he is said to tempt people through laziness, self-doubt, and rationalized philosophies. Astaroth has made numerous appearances in literature and film, such as Larry Correia's Monster Hunter International and the 1971 Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

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The name Astaroth was ultimately derived from that of 2nd millennium BC Phoenician goddess Astarte, an equivalent of the Babylonian Ishtar, and the earlier Sumerian Inanna. She is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in the forms Ashtoreth (singular) and Ashtaroth (plural, in reference to multiple statues of it). This latter form was directly transliterated in the early Greek and Latin versions of the Bible, where it was less apparent that it had been a plural feminine in Hebrew.

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The name "Astaroth" as a male demon is first seen in The Book of Abramelin, purportedly written in Hebrew c. 1458, and recurred in most occult grimoires of the following centuries. Astaroth also features as an archdemon associated with the Qliphoth (adverse forces) according to later Kabbalistic texts, as he rules over the Qlipha of Jupiter, known as Gha'agsheblah.

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Dutch demonologist Johann Weyer also described Astaroth in his Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (1577) thus: "Astaroth is a great and a strong duke, coming forth in the shape of a foul angel, sitting upon an infernal dragon, and carrying on his left hand a viper", who also claimed to rule 40 legions.

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Also, he had to be approached by the conjurer with a magical ring on account of his stinking breath. He is similarly referred to in the 17th-century work The Lesser Key of Solomon. He also makes an appearance in the notorious "Grimorium Verum" (True Grimoire), as the infernal principality which rules the Americas.

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According to some demonologists of the 16th century, August is the month during which this demon's attacks against man are strongest. According to Sebastien Michaelis, he is a demon of the First Hierarchy, who seduces by means of laziness, self-doubt, and rationalized philosophies. His adversary is St. Bartholomew, who can protect against him for he has resisted Astaroth's "temptations". To others, he teaches mathematical sciences and handicrafts, can make men invisible and lead them to hidden treasures, and answers every question formulated to him. He was also said to give to mortal beings the power over serpents.

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According to Francis Barrett (c. 1801), Astaroth is the prince of accusers and inquisitors. In art, in the Dictionnaire Infernal (1818), Astaroth is depicted as a nude man with feathered wings, wearing a crown, holding a serpent in one hand, and riding a beast with dragon-like wings and a serpent-like tail.

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Astaroth: from Female Deity to Male Demon

Source: https://thedevilsdavenport.wordpress.com/2018/04/30/astaroth-from-female-deity-to-male-demon/

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Just as ‘God’ isn’t the actual name of the Christian god, linguist and historian H S Grey argues that the word ‘Ashtaroth’ started its life as a generic word for many female deities, probably coming from the early Syrio-Phoenician language. Other researchers, such as A L Frothingham, agree, stating that Baalim and Ashtaroth signify plurals, just as ‘Ishtarati’ signified any female gods in the Assyrian language, and El/Elohim were used to signify Gods and Goddesses in Hebrew.

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In fact, in line with the Christian tradition of calling their deity only ‘God’ the name Baal itself seems to be used synonymously for meanings such as ‘husband’ and ‘lord.’

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Early Life of an Archdemon

The Ur-deity who would become Ashtoreth seems to have started life as Ishtar in Babylonia and Assyria, with the eldest traces of her worship being found in Erech and Agade. Even here, Grey feels that the Ishtar developed from an earlier form pronounced ‘Ashtar.’

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The earliest Syrio-Phoenician worshippers of Ishtar/Ashtar/Ashtoreth (who I will refer to as ‘Ashtoreth’ from now on unless it’s a really specific mention) seem to have worshipped Baal and Astarte as the active and passive principals of nature.

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This early Ashtoreth was polygamous, going through a succession of husbands and lovers without any attention being paid to separation or divorce. In Agade Ashtoreth was worshipped as ‘Malkatu’, meaning ‘Queen’, and held to be the wife of both Any and Shamash.

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In Babylon itself she was Ishtar, and her nature was equated with the star Venus. A surviving inscription tells us:

“The star Dilbad (Venus) at the rising of the sun is the Ishtar of Agade, and the setting of the sun the Ishtar of Erech; at the rising of the sun, Dilbad is the Ishtar of the stars, and at the setting of the sun the queen of the gods.”

At other times, in Babylon, she was worshipped as Nana, and later as Zarpanit – the wife of Bill-Marduk. The Suti Ishtar cult of Eastern Babylonia worshipped her as ‘The Ishtar of the Lions’, while in the west she became called Ashtoreth.

In Assyria, she was initially worshiped as Nineveh, daughter of the moon god Sin. Here, rather than being a wife, she was the sister of the sun god Bil. It was this version of Ashtoreth who ventured for the first time into the underworld. At Arbela, she was worshipped from the times of Sennacherib as a war goddess, although she did not become prominent until the times of Esarhaddon. It was here that she had a daughter, Asshur.

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Ashtoreth was named Ashtoreth most in Phoenica, where the writings of Phylo of Byblos, Lycian, Sozomen, Zosimus, Porphyry and Pausanias confirm her as Ashtoreth or Ashtart. Equivalents existed in North Africa – where she was worshipped as Tanith. Evidence from digs of the Carthaginian cemetery Bord-el-Djedid even shows the two goddesses being worshipped side by side: archaeologists found a tablet inscribed, “To the goddesses Ashtoreth and Tanith of Lebanon, two new sanctuaries.”

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In several of her forms, she was addressed in concert with Baal – a tradition we can see in the habitual pairing of male and female gods through the Near East: Ninlil and Enlil of the Sumerian pantheon, Ishtar/Chemosh of the Moabites, and the Semitic equating of Baal with a female counterpart Baalah.

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Certainly, in certain Phoenician cults, the evocation of either Ashtoreth or Tanith (who were at some point worshipped simultaneously, as we have seen from the Bord-el-Djedid inscription) held equivalent weight with a direct invocation of Baal, with one inscription being most naturally read, “Ashtoreth, Name of Baal” and another, “Tanith, Face of Baal.”

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As late as 9 BCE, an inscription states that amongst the semi-monotheistic Moabites, the only god worshipped apart from Chemosh was, by then, the male Ashtoreth analogue Ashtar – about whom we shall read more later.

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Certainly, in Biblical sources, Ashtoreth and Baal are counterparts. They are classed together in Judges 2:13 and 1 Samuel 7:4 where the Isrealites abandon God and take up – then abandon – the tradition of Baal-Ashtoreth worship… although, as previously mentioned, some of these references may refer to gods and goddesses in general, rather than those deities themselves.

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Amongst the Isrealites themselves, 2 Kings describes statues to Ashtoreth outside the high places in Judah. Ashtoreth was also a goddess to the Zidonians/Sidonians, with Isrealites joining her cult by the period of the book of Judges. They faded in and out of Yahweh worship, with Solomon’s temple to Ashtoreth surviving until the time of Josiah – and her worship continuing until the time of Ezekiel or possibly Isiah.

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Early versions of Ashtoreth and Baal were worshipped as gods of nature. 2 Kings 18:4 describes the statues above Judah as being made out to Asterah, a fertility Goddess. Certainly, the male Ashtoreth analogue Ashtar (worshipped in pre-Islamic Arabia) was a fertility god: associated with the supply of water and bounty of crops.

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Ishtar/Ashtoreth as a Goddess of Sexuality

While later versions of Ashtoreth also usurped her mythological father’s portfolio of being a moon deity, one of the most noted is as a goddess of love and sexuality. We see this in two works of Ancient Near Eastern literature: The Epic of Gilgamesh, and The Epic of Ishtar and Izdubar.

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In both epics we see Ishtar in her form as a goddess of love and sex. In both she is tempestuous and frightening: when refused, she unleashes the Bull of Heaven on Gilgamesh, and sends Izdubar on a series of increasingly trying adventures, all the while hurling horrors at him. In the Epic of Ishtar and Izdubar she is described in especial detail as being beautiful, sexually proficient and uncommonly aggressive.

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Whether true or not, there is certainly a tradition of male authors portraying the worship of Ashtoreth/Ishtar as involving sacred sex. Both Heroditas and Strabo wrote that Babylonian women would go to the temple of ‘Aphrodite’ “to have intercourse with some stranger.” We see the same thing depicted amongst worshippers of Babylonian gods in Jeremiah 42 and 43.

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Other contemporary writers follow the same trend: Lucian describes both conventional games and religio-erotic unions taking place at Byblos after the ceremonial funeral of Adonis. Hosea 4:13 tells us:

“They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under the oaks and poplars and terebinths, because the shadow is good; wherefore your daughters commit whoredom, and your brides commit adultery.”

Even when Augustine wrote of obscene rituals in de Civitate Dei, he was possibly describing North African rituals connected with Tanith: men and women acting out ‘obscene speeches and actions’ before the celestial virgin and the mother of gods, Berecynthia. Similar descriptions of rites can be found in the writings of Efrem Syrus, who describes the ancient ‘Ashtoreth’ cultists playing games and engaging in rites of sacred sex.

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Interestingly a Phoenician inscription depicts not only women involved in sexually liberated activities, but also men. While this isn’t something I have yet had time to look into, it does remind me of 2 Kings 23:7 on the practises that had to be rooted out of Yaweh worship: “…and he brake down the house of the sodomites that were in the house of Yahwe, where the women wove hangings for the Ashera.”

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To close this section, though, I feel it worth restating that having studied the Witch Trials for a sizable portion of my adult life, it makes me uneasy to accept the idea of Ashtoreth cults as places of free sexuality. Evidence certainly exists for feminine mystery religions and possible ritual eroticism – sites in Crete, Cyprus and Sicily where archaeological investigations are ongoing – but the liable of promiscuity and sexual deviancy has been used to stigmatize and disempower the ‘other’ since humanities’ very dawning.

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Ashtoreth to Astaroth

Both the name ‘Astaroth’ and the idea of Ashtoreth as a male deity seem to have existed since long before the demon Astaroth began appearing in magical books. The Yale Genesis Fragment, a papyrus section of the Book of Genesis from no later than 100 CE describes a place called Astaroth: “They cut down the giants in Astaroth Carnain…”

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Also, male Ashtaroth (that being the plural of Ashtoreth) are nothing new. As previously mentioned, the Moabite Ashtor was ostensibly male, as was the Ancient Arab Ashtar.

Where, then, did Ashtoreth become Astaroth?

Certainly, by the 15th century, depictions of a male figure using the name ‘Astaroth’ existed. The 1350s Czech Play of the Merry Magdalane depicted Astaroth as the demon prince of the West. The 15th century Czech ‘Infernal Novel’ Sud Astarotov pitted the demon Astaroth as the Devil’s advocate in a trial against humanity. The same male demon appears other Czech works such as Solfernus and Belial.

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In other 15th and early 16th century works, Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy depict Astaroth as the name of a demon, although Agrippa does seem aware of Astaroth being a place name, in addition to including the demon ‘Astarath’ as prince over the eighth order of evil spirits.

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Magical books seem a popular source of the demon name Astaroth. Both the Vulgate Bible and the Luther Bible referred to her as Ashtoreth, with Wycliffe’s incomplete English Bible calling her Astarte.

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In contrast, manuscripts from the ‘Keys of Solomon’ family cleave to the name Astaroth. The name is present through most versions of the Hygromanteia group: starting with the English 15th century Harleianus 5596, and continuing through Atheniensis 1265 and older, 16th to 17th century versions of the book. In the Keys of Solomon themselves, even the newly translated Hebrew edition, Ashtoreth is Astaroth.

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Where, then, does the name Astaroth come from? Certainly, it made enough of an impression that the 1530 Coverdale Bible – dedicated to Henry VIII – used the name Astaroth, which possibly gave the name a reason for continued usage in any manuscript before the reign of Mary Tudor (although Ashtoreth returns for the King James Bible.)

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One possible explanation is de Voragine’s The Golden Legend, a collection of saints’ lives written in 1275, translated into English in the 15th century. The most popular book in Europe until 1530, de Voragine’s ‘Life of St. Bartholomew’ depicted the monk journeying to India, where locals worshipped a demon named ‘Astaroth’ who took residence in a statue and performed ‘lying miracles.’

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Whatever influence led to the creation of the male demon Astaroth, thinkers of the 17th century were certainly aware of the paradox. In a letter to Ben Jonson, John Selden wrote a meditation on the idea of Astaroth-Ashtoreth as a gender-fluid deity who could be worshipped as either sex. Something echoed by Milton in Paradise Lost:

“Of Baalim and Ashtaroth those male,
These Feminine. For Spirits when they please
Can either Sex assume, or both…
Came Astoreth, whom Phoenicians call’d
Astarte, Queen of Heav’n, with crescent Horns;
To whose bright Image nightly by the Moon
Sidonian Virgins paid thir Vows and Songs,
In Sion also not unsung, where stood
Her Temple on th’ offensive Mountain, built
By that Uxorious King, whose heart though large,
Beguil’d by fair Idolatresses, fell
To idols foul…”

Ice Dragon - Astaroth

Lyrics

Seven horns on head

Seven eyes on face

We lay beneath the stone

of your most holy place

Through all time reborn

There must always be a witness

As we are unleashed

To spread our hate and sickness

HERE I STAND

ON INVERTED CROSS

MY NAME IS ASTAROTH

CALL TO PRIESTS

AND CALL TO GODS

MY NAME IS ASTAROTH

Two-thousand years ago

Trapped in their dimension

A cross laid upon our heads

To guard from our ascension

In your quest for power

You shall release us from the grave

Then you shall kneel before us

Forced to speak our master's name

HERE I STAND

ON INVERTED CROSS

MY NAME IS ASTAROTH

CALL TO PRIESTS

AND CALL TO GODS

MY NAME IS ASTAROTH.

Black Funeral - Devourers Of Spirit - Chesed (Astaroth) Gamchicoth Jupiter Outer Form "Order Of Azariel Azryal - The Blinding Ones”

Lyrics

Crossroads, path of the Luciferian spirit

Known in the darkness of the mind

I stretch my limbs out from the grave

Rising as shadow born again

Drink deep here of the knowledge

Forbidden fruit is really the spirit awakened

Devour without mercy

The prey shalt always be prey

The wolf shalt howl again by the night

Spirits with hunger eternal, rise again

Never to withstand

Those God fearing find spirits empty

Knowing nothingness awaits

Unless you have taken within the black flame

Rising up to devour the strong

Pictures Videos Music and Additional Reading

Astaroth Great Duke of Hell Fallen Angel

Astaroth illustration from the Dictionnaire Infernal (1818)

Meditation. Chapter VII - 'The Smiters' journey into the qlipha Gash Khalah/Gha'agsheblah - (Astaroth/Astarte)

Seal of Astaroth, as depicted in The Lesser Key of Solomon

Astaroth

Source: https://occult-world.com/astaroth/

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A male Demon who evolved from the ancient Phoenician mother goddess of fertility, Astarte or Ashtoreth. Astaroth is also a Fallen Angel and 29th of 72 Spirits of Solomon. According to Judaic lore, he was a high-ranking Angel, either one of the Seraphim or or a prince of thrones, prior to his fall.

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Astaroth is a grand duke and treasurer of Hell and commands 40 Legions of Demons. He is one of the three supreme evil Demons, with Beelzebub and Lucifer, in the Grimoire Verum and Grand Grimoire, which date from about the 18th century.

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In the Lemegeton, he appears as either a beautiful or an ugly angel, riding a dragon and holding a viper. He possesses a powerful stench and stinking breath. Magicians who desire to conjure him must hold a magical ring in front of their faces to protect themselves against his smell.

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Astaroth teaches all the sciences and is keeper of the secrets of the past, present, and future. He is invoked in necromantic rituals of divination. When conjured in magical rites, which must be performed on Wednesday nights between 10:00 and 11:00, he will give true answers to questions about the past, present, and future. He discovers secrets and is skilled in liberal sciences. He encourages slothfulness and laziness.

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The Demon is said to instigate cases of Demonic Possession, most notably that of the Loudun nuns in France in the 16th century. The nuns accused a priest, Father Urbain Grandier, of causing their possession. At Grandier’s trial, a hand written “confession” of his was produced detailing his Pact with the Devil, witnessed and signed by Astaroth and several other Demons.

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Astaroth loves to talk about the Creation and the Fall, and the faults of angels. He believes he was punished unjustly by God, and that someday he will be restored to his rightful place in heaven. Astaroth can be thwarted by calling upon Saint Bartholomew for help.

By Pauline De Hoe

Source: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/J9ZgYz

Goddess Astaroth 🌺 Enn Chanting with Solfeggio Frequencies 528hz, and 639hz.

Astaroth

Source: https://astronlogia.com/occult/demons/astaroth/

Astaroth spent centuries worshipped as a goddess of the ancient Phoenicians known as Astarte. In fact mention of her can be found in ancient Sumarian and Hebrew texts that were later translated into Greek and Latin. It wasn’t until the medieval period when she was transitioned from a female goddess into a male demon.

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Astaroth the male demon, also known as Ashtaroth, Astarot, and Asteroth is the ‘chaos god’ of time and space and a crowned prince of Jinnestan. Astaroth is a fallen angel that feels he has been unfairly judged by God and believes that there will come a time when he is restored to his rightful place in heaven; as one of the angels he is believed to have been fairly high ranking as one of the Seraphimor or a Prince of Thrones.

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Where the goddess was always a creature of beauty, Astaroth the demon is often seen as a hideous multi-breasted angel righting a dragon and holding a viper. He is believed to command 40 legions of demons and is most powerful between the tenth and eleventh hours of the night.

Source: https://beautifulbizarre.net/2016/03/04/leilani-bustamante-diabolica-megan-buccere-oil-dust-modern-eden-gallery/

Necrophobic - Astaroth

Lyrics

Gha'agsheblah Hell salamanders

Midst a furious storm, up blazing wind

Thy darkness infringe hither upon us

The arrival of thee devouring prince

Whither thou goest, we shalt go

Chief rebel governor, first hierarchy

Fowled angel with black feathered wings

Holdeth viper majestic dragon beast carried

Within circle ceremonial let be revealed

Whither thou goest, we shalt go

Imperium magnum infernalis

Ash-Taroth Ash-Taroth

Thou was one of the seven princes of hell

That on earth paid a visit to Faust

One of the celestial angels that fell

Rebelling the dissidents cause

Now times of vengeance has reached us at last

The wind turns our way into rage

United we stand in a circle of death

To welcome this new darkened age

Now answereth truly the matters

Of future, the present and past

Ye provider of liberal sciences

Ars goetian daemon bombast

Whither thou goest, we shalt go

Hurtful angel poisonous cometh

Alongside disease and cold death

Followed by forty legions of spirits

Stunning immense with noisome breath

Whither thou goest, we shalt go

Imperium magnum infernalis

Ash-Taroth Ash-Taroth

We summon thee our fallen prince

We study the knowledge thou teach

To master the past and the future we claim

In exchange we give in our full loyalty

We kneel thy majestic arrival

Lord of all fortune and wealth

Commander of legions infernal

Master of silence and stealth

Whither thou goest, we shalt go

Infatuate with your presence

We drown in your infinitive eyes

Treasurer of hell, chaos born

Let kingdom of Astaroth rise...

Whither thou goest, we shalt go

Imperium magnum infernalis

Ash-Taroth Ash-Taroth

Thou was one of the seven princes of hell

That on earth paid a visit to Faust

One of the celestial angels that fell

Rebelling the dissidents cause

Now times of vengeance has reached us at last

The wind turns our way into rage

United we stand in a circle of death

To welcome this new darkened age.

Diabolicum - The Void of Astaroth

Lyrics

Hang the nooses from the streetlights

Abandon all hope and compassion

Tear the laws asunder

Crush the rotten heart of man

Our god is the world eating pit

and the sea of perdition

And there are no flesh nor order

that deserves to be spared

From the void of blood it's rising

calling from the kingdom of the ever dead

The hatecrowned star of evil wander

until the beast of hatred is forever fed

Forever kept in sacred hands

the seed of fire blazes in the somber skies

Ash shall pour from heaven

as the mother moans and all of her creation dies

From death comes only salvation

no second chance and no forgiveness

No more chained to the wheel of decay

In a world of thorns and venom

This is the void of Astaroth.