The Lesser Key of Solomon describes Astaroth, who is the 29th spirit therein, as a mighty duke who appears as a menacing angel riding upon a dragon and carrying a snake in his right hand. The magician is cautioned to beware of his poisonous breath, and to protect himself from it by holding up a magical ring before his face. Astaroth, the Lesser Key says, can tell you all about the fall of the angels and teaches all “liberal sciences,” and he commands 40 legions.[1]
Like every entry in the Goetia, this simultaneously tells us a lot and not very much. Because Astaroth is a duke, for instance, we know he is associated with the planet Venus– all those ranks in the Goetia just indicate which planet a demon is associated with. Between this and his name, we have two very important clues to his origins, leading us to a startling truth: Astaroth began not as a male demon but as a female goddess, or more accurately, several female goddesses.
The name Astaroth is derived from Astarte. Astarte is an ancient near-Eastern goddess who is either related to, or a variation of, several other ancient near-Eastern goddesses including Ishtar, Inanna, and Anat. All of these goddesses preside over love and war, and are associated with the planet Venus. Today I will be focusing mainly on Ashtart and Anath, who are Canaanite goddesses and thus better known to the ancient Israelites than the Sumerian Inanna and the Babylonian Ishtar.
Ashtart was the goddess of Venus as the evening star. She was the counterpart of the masculine Athar, the morning star[2] (who may be referenced in Isaiah 14:12[3]). She is referenced in the Bible as being worshipped alongside Baal by apostate Israelites[4]. We don’t have a ton of information about her under the name Ashtart, but she may or may not be the same goddess as one known as Anat.
Anat is the sister of Ba’al.[5] She appears in several ancient Ugaritic epics, and tends to steal the show every time. The best way to explain her to you is to tell you that while the etymology of her name is not known for certain, our best guess is that it comes from an Arabic word for “violence” (‘anwat)[6]. She is a young goddess of war and hunting.[7] She is ferocious and bloodthirsty, but also as petulant as any other teenager.
In the surviving text, Anat is often mentioned in the same breath as Astarth. Because of the way that Ugaritic poetry was structure, this makes it hard to tell if they are actually supposed to be two different people. Ugaritic poetry was highly repetitive, each pair of lines generally stating the same thing twice in different ways. For example,
“No enemy has risen against Baal,
no foe against the Rider on the Clouds.”[8]
In this example, it’s very clear that “the Rider on the Clouds” is another title for Baal. Baal and the Rider on the Clouds is the same thing.
Similarly:
“Maiden Anat replied,
the Mistress of the Peoples answered:”[9]
Here Anat is clearly also the one called the Mistress of the Peoples.
But then we have cases like this:
“her loveliness is like Anat’s,
her beauty is like Astarte’s.”[10]
This could be talking about two different goddesses or two different names for the same one. Some scholars use examples like this as proof that Astarth and Anat were the same,[11] but most sources I looked at treat them as separate[12]. This is probably the most reasonable way to interpret it, given there are also passages like this:
“Astarte and Anat he approached;
Astarte had a steak prepared for him, and Anat a shoulder cut.”[13]
That’s clearly talking about two different people. Even so, the goddesses were clearly similar and connected, being constantly mentioned in proximity with each other. Both were associated with war, and possibly with sexuality. Both were also portrayed with horns, usually the horns of a bull. This was a sign of royalty and divinity in ancient Canaan.[14] Both were also spoken of as “goddesses who conceive but do not bear.”[15] This is an intriguing phrase whose exact meaning is unclear, but it probably simply meant they have sex without giving birth to children.
Anat and Astarth were also both associated in some way with androgyny. An Egyptian text about Anat (whose worship spread their) describes her as
“a woman acting as a man,
clad as a male and girt as a female.”[16]
When Anat and Astarth were later fused into a single goddess known as Atargatis, their priest/esses practiced “emasculation,”[17] i.e. voluntary castration as an act of devotion.
Related goddesses Inanna and Ishtar were also more famously associated with androgyny. In the hymn to Inanna we will read, it is stated that Inanna has the power “to turn men into women and women into men.”[18] In the Sumerian text “The Descent of Inanna,” Inanna is rescued from the underworld by two people “without maleness or femaleness” who were created for this purpose by Enki.[19] In the Babylonian version of the same story (the version we will read today simply because it is shorter), Ishtar is rescued by a single “eunuch.”[20]
So what can it mean that a goddess, or group of goddesses, of love and war, with androgynous attributes and power to change the gender of others… seem to have themselves changed into a masculine love and war demon?
Well, on a historical level, which is the level we have been speaking on, it’s not that mysterious. Ancient Israelites were abandoning Yahweh to worship Baal and Astarte, and in this fight against idolatry, they eventually became demonized. Astaroth is described in the Lesser Key of Solomon using male pronouns, just like all the other demons in the Lesser Key. This is not because the author of the Lesser Key saw all demons as male. It’s more likely because he saw all demons as genderless, and “he” was previously treated as a default pronoun, more neutral than “she.” (Obviously, this is sexist). Evidence for this can be seen in the fact that even Gremory, who is described as looking like a beautiful woman, is given “he” pronouns.[21]
But enough with the academics. Let’s think about Astaroth in mythological terms– in living terms, as we practitioners experience them.
Perhaps Astaroth was a goddess of love and war who grew tired of transforming others from men into women and from women into men without herself transforming. Maybe she joined the cause of the rebel angels to fight against Yahweh, the rival God of an enemy people. Maybe in being cast down from the heavens, she transitioned not merely from goddess to demon but from female to… something else.
Astaroth, as I know them now, is fierce and androgynous. They are a fiery spirit associated not merely with Venus but also with Mars. I invoke them into my body through ecstatic dancing. They bring strength and energy, and are filled with ferocious joy.
I experience Astaroth as being close with another demon– Agrat Bat Mahlat. Just as Astarte and Anat were a pair, so too are Astaroth and Agrat. You may see where I am going with this. I have no evidence– yet– that Anat turned into Agrat. They do, however, have several similarities, particularly their youthful, petulant and warlike qualities. Those of you who are familiar with Agrat mainly as giggly and playful may be surprised to learn that she has a warrior side and commands 180,000 ‘destroying angels.’[22] Recall that Astaroth is described in the Goetia as a “hurtful angel” who commands forty legions of demons.[23] Sounds like Astaroth would fit right into Agrat’s posse.
This year, as liberty is under unprecedented attack within the United States, as capitalism imperialism tightens its crushing grip on the entire globe, we could use a friend like Astaroth. Do not be afraid to call upon this fearsome warrior for protection and help. During the first Pride month under this regime, it feels particularly poignant to invoke this gender-bent destroying angel.
[1] De Laurence, L.W., Lesser Key of Solomon (Chicago, IL: De Laurence, Scott & Co., 1916), 30-31.
[2] K. van der Toorn, Bob Becking, and Pieter Willem van der Horst, Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible DDD (Leiden, Boston: Brill ; Eerdmans, 1999), 109-110.
[3] Peter Grey, Lucifer: Princeps (London, England: Scarlet Imprint/ Bibliotheque Rouge, 2015), 22-23.
[4] See Judges 2:13, Judges 10:6, 1 Samuel 12:10 and elsewhere
[5] Michael David Coogan, Stories from Ancient Canaan (Louisville: The Westminster Press, 1978), 7.
[6] DDD, 36.
[7] DDD, 37.
[8] Coogan,121
[9] Ibid.
[10] Coogan, 77.
[11] Raphael Patai, The Hebrew Goddess (Detroit, Mich: KTav Publishing, 1967), 54.
[12] DDD 110, Coogan 170.
[13] Coogan, 171.
[14] Patai, 56, DDD 37.
[15] Patai, 61.
[16] Patai, 63.
[17] DDD, 115.
[18] En-ḫedu-ana, “A Hymn to Inana (Inana C),” The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, n.d., accessed June 13, 2025, https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.4.07.3#.
[19] Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Noah Kramer, Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer (New York: Harper & Row, 1983), 64.
[20] E.A. Speiser, “Descent of Ishtar to the Nether World,” essay, in Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, ed. J.B. Pritchard (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1950), 108.
[21] De Laurence, 40.
[22] “Pesachim 112B.” William Davidson Talmud. Sefaria. Accessed June 13, 2025. https://www.sefaria.org/Pesachim.112b?ven=english%7CWilliam_Davidson_Edition_-_English&lang=bi&with=About&lang2=en.
[23] De Laurence, 31.
Church of the Morningstar 