Astaroth

Astaroth may also be known by other names and faces around the world.

  • to the Canaanites as ASTARTE
  • to the Sumerians she was known as Inanna, Anatolian Kybele
  • to the Babylonians, she was known as Ishtar
  • to the Assyrians and the Akkadians, ASHTART, ASHTORETH, ASHERAH, and ASTORETH,
  • to the Egyptians, ISIS, ASHET, AND ASET,
  • to the Phoenicians, she was known as Asherat or Ashtoreth
  • to the Greek Astarte and, Anat, Aphrodite
  • In the Orisha legends of Africa, Yemayá originated in Egypt as the Goddess Isis. It is thought by some that the Nubian slaves who returned to different parts of Africa may have brought Isis with them under the new name of Yemayá.

Yemayá is the mother of all living things. She is the goddess of fertility who resides in the ocean and gave birth to the stars and moons. She rules over motherhood and owns the earth and waters.

She is known to be a protective, fruitful and nurturing mother but kills anyone who tries to harm her children. Orisha Yemaya gives children to the barren and offers support to those who worship her.

Yemayá goes by a number of different names including Queen of Witches, Mother of Fishes, The Constantly Changing Woman, The Ocean Mother, Mother of Dreams and Secrets, Mother of Pearl, and Yemayá-Olokun. Yemayá’s counterpart in Vodoun is called Lasiren, the mermaid.

Correspondences

  • Goetia Demon #29
  • Direction: West; North; Southwest “Astaroth is my north” – BWS
  • Zodiac Position: 10-20 degrees of Capricorn; Taurus 25-29
  • December 31st-January 9th ; May 15-20
  • Tarot Card:
    • 3 of Pentacles
    • *others say the Ace of Cups
    • Occult Tarot Deck – Justice Card
  • Planet: Venus
  • Candle Color:
    • Brown or Green
    • others say red & blue (1)
  • Animal: Cobra or Viper
  • Metal: Copper
  • Qlipha: Gamchicoth (Jupiter) (adverse forces) according to later Kabbalistic texts.
  • Element of Earth * (Some say South)
  • Rank:
    • Goetia – Grand Duke of the Western Regions of Hell;
    • “Crowned Princess”
    • Astaroth is one of the Three Superior Spirits along with Lucifer and Beelzebub.
  • Astaroth rules 40 legions of spirits, and each of these spirits may have hundreds of spirits under their command as well.
    • Inferiors: Lepaca, Apolhun, Nebiros, Amon, Pruslas, Sargatanas, Barbatos
  • Day Demon/ess
  • Astaroth is also The Treasurer of Hell
  • Country or Continent: America
  • Day: Wednesday

Suggested Offerings:

Ruby, Cinquefoil, Vervain, Mugwort, Emerald, Copper, Beryl, Lemon, Sandalwood, Dragon’s Wort, Mauve, Juniper

Ability/Skills/Gifts:

  • Astaroth is a Guidance Counselor for both Demons and humans.
  • Astaroth greatly assists with our human affairs

Goddess of love and war, embodied in the two aspects of the planet Venus—as Evening Star, She brings lovers to celebration and bed; and as the Morning Star, She brings the fiery sword of War.

In Love – As Goddess of love and sex, she is the force that draws mates together and brings fertility, both for humans and animals. She is Goddess of courtesans, and She Herself took many lovers.

Demonic Enn:

Tasa Alora Foren Astaroth

Astaroth’s Sigil

Astaroth – The clusters of three dots at the points of the star of her sigil are extremely ancient and denote her high spiritual rank.

Astaroth’s seal (according to The Lesser Key of Solomon)Her sigil also depicts important points of the human soul, as can be seen from the Venus glyph with the inverted cross symbolizing the all-important solar chakra and the pillars of the soul on each side.

Seal of Astaroth

In the Lesser Key of Solomon, the seal is always represented as such.

These days, some people prefer not to use the two circles around sigil, as some feel it represents Solomons’s containment of the Demon.

Appearance:

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 right hand a viper”

Male or Female?

The name Astaroth was ultimately derived from that of 2nd millennium BCE 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 her). 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.

Commonly you will read that Astaroth is a male demon. But don’t get yourself all worked up on this point. The name “Astaroth” as a male demon is first known from 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.

You will have your own experience with Astaroth and determine such matters for yourself. Some people will see or feel Astaroth as a male and some as a female.

Almost all of RGA members and students experience Astaroth as a female spirit. For those of us who work with Astaroth, we see the Goddess in her female form only, and not the evil or demonic profile depicted in the grimoires.

The traditional books in demonology will see Astaroth as a male demon

Astaroth (also Ashtaroth, Astarot and Asteroth), in demonology, is the Great Duke of Hell, in the first hierarchy with Beelzebub and Lucifer; he is part of the evil trinity.

Whatever influence led to the creation of the male demon Astaroth, thinkers of the 17th century were certainly aware of the paradox. John Selden wrote a meditation on the idea of Astaroth-Ashtoreth as a gender-fluid deity who could be worshipped as either sex(3).

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…”

Honoring Astaroth in Modern Magick

While there are many ways to honor a spirit, God, Goddess, deity, Demon, etc, the best way is to do so is publicly.

You don’t need to have custom talisman created to honor your demon.

Some people honor their spirit with poetry, writing blogs, creating amazing graphics, painting pictures, or even sculpture. You could do a video, and post it on YouTube!

If you’re not artistically inclined, or perhaps a little more introverted, don’t stress, as you can honor spirit by setting up an altar in your home, and give offerings that your spirit might enjoy.

If you don’t know what that is because you haven’t learned the art of connecting with the spirit yet, then simply have a sigil of the demon or spirit on the altar, have a candle that you etched the sigil of the Demon into the candle, and perhaps some flowers, or wine/water etc. And then talk to the spirit about how grateful you are!
Astaroth offering candle

This day and age we had endless possibilities to share the truth on who these ancient spirits are and what they can do to better our lives in the here and now.

Traditional Pagan Offerings to Astaroth

It is strictly a sexual offering which is required, however, I will not go into details as this is a public space, so I will quote you some historic passages and you will know what to do. These practices were exactly the offerings made to the gods at the time before the modern religious system took over eg 2000 years ago. Our pagan religions of the ancient near east shared a common feature – we worshiped a Mother goddess.

In Ashtoreth’s worship services, male worshipers had anal sex with priests and priestesses of the goddess. This was viewed as an offering to the fertility goddess. The priests and male prostitutes, who were consecrated to her cult were called qadesh, qedishim or sodomites

Anal sex between male and male worshipers and male and female worshipers was viewed as an offering to the goddess (Astaroth)

“Fertility rites were practised at the numerous shrines which dotted the land, as well as at the major sanctuaries… A characteristic feature of the fertility cult was sacral sexual intercourse by priests and priestesses and other specially consecrated persons, sacred prostitutes of both sexes… Child-sacrifice was also a feature of the rites…”

Working with Astaroth in Magick

If you still feel stuck on what to do, naturally we will advise you to take a course, and put some effort into learning about how to work with spirits. On the previous page, we provided a lot of information for you to begin your research. Our advice to you is to take your own notes on how to work with Astraroth and always determine what you’re expecting from the spirit before you begin working with that spirit.

  • Astaroth answers truly concerning past, present, and future
  • She discovers all secrets and is an excellent teacher of the liberal sciences
  • She causes one to have prophetic dreams or visions about the future and gives insight into the unknown.
  • She also counsels humans.
  • She obtains the friendship of those in power and represents luxury and ease.