I wasn't sure where to post this, so I hope it's ok here, but I'd like to get your views/opinions/beliefs on something, do you think demons and gods are the same thing?. For example, in the Goetia, a lot of people say Ashtaroth(sp?) is the same as the Canaanite goddess Asherah, and I know that Asherah was domonized at first by the Israelite leaders as they were enforcing their monotheism on the Israelite people (monotheism is rather a late development in the history of the Jewish people), and then by some Christians and some Muslims, but do you think Ashtaroth and Asherah (or for another example, the demon Ba'al and the Canaanite god Ba'al, etc) would really be the same being.

For myself, I don't, just 'cause their personalities don't seem to be the same (not to mention Ashtaroth is male and Asherah is a female).
I asked this on another board and one experienced occultist (who's not just an armchair occultist but a practical one too) said:



I see the demons (most anyway) in a similar way, I think that they may be related to some of the gods, but they aren't the "same", that Ashtaroth may have evolved from Asherah, but he's not the same being, or that the demonic Ba'al may have evolved from the god Ba'al but again they're not the same being (kind of like you're not the same person as your grandfather, although you may share similar traits).

I'd like to hear your opinions on this though.