Astaroth-Astarte...Isis? Options

In the book "Modern Magick" I read of Astaroth being Astarte, or Isis..True? I haven't worked with any of the goetics, and don't plan to do so soon, but this was bugging me, lol...And if so, then can Bael/Baal be called as..Osiris? Since Re, and Horus are in the goetia, I wouldn't be suprised if Astaroth/Astarte, and Bael/baal can be called as Isis, and Osiris...Hell, it'll help my little egyptian pantheon shrine in the future, king, parents, and son. Any info? Thank you in advance for any information.

.::Sempre Bene::..::Chris::.
-Fiat Lux

This post has been edited by SangueDiNapoli: Mar 8 2006, 05:59 PM

Greetings!
I think that I shall preface this with the ultimate disclaimer, IMHO...
There is a growing movement in certain occult circles to say that all the spirits/demons of the Goetia are merely representations of older gods. There is evidence (and speculation) that some of the Goetia correspond to ancient Sumerian and Egyptian gods. I advise caution here. Check the bibliographies and the sources of your information. The Goetic Amon does not equate with Ra/Re! Perhaps the netjer Amun but not Ra. It has been suggested that Flauros/Hauros is another name for Horus. I, myself, have problems with that. Heru the Elder or Heru the Younger? Hmmmm.....maybe not at all! There was a Canaanite god by the name of Baal, Osiris has absolutely nothing to do with this! The Goetic Astaroth may be, in deed, Astarte or Ashtoreth but with a gender change and a huge difference in magical current (alright you Magicians...invoke Astaroth then Astarte and see if you see the difference!) Isis has a similar role in Egypt but is not the same as Ishtar, Astarte, etc. of Babylonian/Sumerian fame.
In this super computerized age of (mis)information and smaller global community we are falling into the trap of Homogenization (and I'm not talking about gay rights!)- the blurring/blending of the lines. In our infinite need to have everything neatly packaged we have decided that Monotheism applies to all the older polytheistic pantheons. As much as the Christian/Muslims would have us believe, All Gods and Goddesses are NOT one. The Christians/Muslims would group old gods together and call them demons to frighten the followers of these religons into turning to their own god. (Yahweh, btw, was one of a number of gods worshipped in the area of the Black Sea/Dead Sea....the movement overthrowing the worship of the feminine principle and another agricultural diety in lieu of their war god, Yahweh/Jehovah) I cite the Dead Sea Scrolls as the documents. Why this rant?
Believe what you want. But PLEASE check your source material and don't blindly believe what is written on this flaming internet! Make informed choices. Even disregard the ranting of this old man...as long as you really research your material. My ravings come from the Egyptian 'shaman' that I'm striving to be and reacting very badly to the incredible crap I keep stepping in. Granted, a new pair of glasses and bothering to look beforehand will cut down on my crappy shoe stains. *sigh* The Netjers are awake and it is an eye opener! Let me close with this mollified stance: I am glad you have belief in something, even if it is historically altered by time and perspective. As long as you continue to seek your higher self and purpose in this wonderful multiverse you will know saeity. Be happy and be well! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blablabla.gif)

I suspect that this kind of paralleling comes from a general trend that I have noticed has become increasingly popular over the last decade.

I like bym's word for it - homogenization.
The general gist of it goes something like this:

x and y are two different ways for referencing the same thing: z

So x and y are not meaningfully different compared to each other.
Any distinctions that differentiate x and y compared to each other are insignificant.

xand y are the same.

**********

For example:

Jehovah and Allah are two different ways for referencing the same thing: God.

So Jehovah and Allah are not meaningfully different compared to each other.
Any distinctions that differentiate Jehovah and Allah compared to each other are insignificant.

Jehovah and Allah are the same.

(Where by Jehovah I specifically mean the God of the Bible's New Testament )

***********

I have also seen some people expand this kind of "reasoning" and thus apply it to all Gods from every religion - such that the claim is that all Gods are just really just the same God viewed from different perspectives.

I suspect that what is happening here with the Goetic entities in relation to others.

And I am very, very wary of this - because it really seems to encourage people to blind their eyes from recognizing and comprehending crucial differences that both distinguish the uniqueness of identity, and that are the basis for important variations of behaviour, merely because whatever is being compared together have some similarities.

Most often, the tendancy is for those who do this to say "Well, there are much more similarities than differences!" Which might indeed be accurate - however - a larger amount of similarities than differences do not negate uniqueness of identity distinguished by differences.

Just because it "looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck" does not mean that it necessarily is a duck - because it could be a decoy whose other differences from a real duck are crucial.

**********

One of the broadest - and most infamous and notorious - applications of this homogenization happens by some people who run around proclaiming "We are all one!", who by that mean that we are not meaningfully different from each other - that any distinctions that differentiate us compared to each other are insignificant - and/or that we are the same.

This post has been edited by Praxis: Mar 8 2006, 09:20 PM