Was Ashtaroth A Watcher? Options

Now here's a theory I was considering (another weird one). The watchers are known to have taught mankind all sorts of things, many of them bad (prostitution,sodomy, and bestiality were a few). Within this framework it would be consistent in viewing Ashtaroth as a demon who identifies himself as female (ie: he is homosexual, as were many of the watchers in the book of Enoch). It is my belief that the editors of the Key of Solomon and other Goetic texts knew full well who Ashtaroth claimed to be, but that they (rightly) placed him as male for the skilled magician to discern. Your thoughts?

This post has been edited by r9999: Nov 25 2006, 07:08 PM

Can you give us some sources as to this demon cross dressing? I would like to consider myself pretty well versed with Astaroth yet he has never appeared to me with a dress on,

I don’t know about cross dressing, but I think some confusion here with Astaroth is regarding the etymology of the name (as outlined in DeathStalker’s post). There is an organization in California called the O.T.A. (Order of the Temple of Astarte) that uses the Goetic sigil of Astaroth to evoke Astarte . They claim that with the advent of the monotheistic YHVH, the Hebrews perverted the image of the goddess into a “fowl smelling demon” and she was bound in this form into Solomon’s brass vessel.

This post has been edited by Faustopheles: Dec 8 2006, 03:55 AM