as above, so below

An early eighth century BCE stamp seal discovered at Tel Hazor depicting a Hero-Deity slaying a seven-headed serpent. Source: Uehlinger, Christoph. “Mastering the Seven-Headed Serpent: A Stamp Seal from Hazor Provides a Missing Link Between Cuneiform and Biblical Mythology”. Near Eastern Archaeology 87:1 (March 1, 2024), pp. 14–19. https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-258353.

Hey folks, these are my versions of some fragmentary myths from the ancient Ugaritic corpus. A lot of what I used to fill in the blanks is based on other Ugaritic literature and I'm sure those with a lot more experience than me reading them will notice pretty quickly.

The first text, KTU 1.83, has been subject to quite some discussion among scholars in the past. I present it here to feature Maiden ʿAnat's slaying of the monstrous serpent Litan (cf. Biblical “Leviathan”) and the Sea-God Yam's other cohorts as She recalls in Tablet 3 of Baʿal. I primarily used the “provisional” translation of this text provided in Religious Texts From Ugarit (2nd edition, 2002, pp. 368–69) by Nathaniel Wyatt with credit as well to Wayne T. Pitard's edition titled “The Binding of Yamm” (J. Near East. Stud. 57(4):261–80, Oct. 1998) and Simon B. Parker's translation as “The Binding of a Monster” in Ugaritic Narrative Poetry (1997, pp. 192–93).

Next is KTU 1.92, somewhat more coherently narrating a hunt of Lady ʿAshtart and Lord Baʿal's passion for Her. My interpretation of this text has some more draw from general Semitic mythology and symbolism. Wyatt (pp. 370–74) is again my main source with further reference to Baruch Margalit's interpretation of the obverse text (Part I) as “A [sic] Ugaritic Theophagy” (Aula Orientalis 7:67–80, 1989).

I hope you enjoy these take on ancient stories of the Goddesses and Gods of Canaan 💛

Anat Binds the Dragon

When Litan the Slipping Serpent burst forth, with one lip to Heaven and one lip to Earth,

He was unleashed by Desire, Beloved of ʾEl, the Rogue, the Bullock of ʾEl,

By Fire, the Bitch of ʾEl, Flame, Daughter of ʾEl,

They came out from the Earth;

With his fangs he thrashed the Sea to foam,

With his forked tongue he tasted the Heavens,

With his split tail he thrashed the Sea to foam.

ʿAnat snared Tannin on high,

She bound him on the heights of Lebanon.

Towards the desert shall You be scattered, O Yam!

To the multitudes shall You be crushed, O Nahar!

You shall not see: You shall foam up!

ʿAnat will strike You down, O Yam, Beloved of ʾEl,

Annihilate You, O Nahar the Great God.

She snared Tannin and vanquished him,

Struck down the Twisting Serpent, the Tyrant of Seven Heads;

She strikes down Desire, Beloved of ʾEl,

Vanquishes the Rogue, the Bullock of ʾEl;

She strikes down Fire, the Bitch of ʾEl,

Annihilates Flame, Daughter of ʾEl;

Maiden ʿAnat battles for the Silver,

She seizes by force the Gold.

ʿAshtart the Huntress

Scribal note: Of Thabil.

Part I. The Hunt of ʿAshtart

 ʿAshtart went out on a hunt,

 She headed into the wild grazeland.

 She polished the tip of Her Spear,

 The Stars and the Crescent of the Moon favored Her bounty.

 And lo! The hills began to shake,

 The abysmal waters boiled up,

 As a herd of antelope dashed off to the Marsh,

 The swamp where buffalo graze.

 She unsheathed Her Spear.

 ʿAshtart sat and hid in the Marsh,

 At Her right She placed Her dog Crusher,

 At Her left Boomer.

 She lifted up Her Eyes and looked:

 A drowsing Hind She espied,

 A Bull eating in the pond She saw!

 Her Spear She grasped in Her Hand,

 Her Lance in Her Right Hand.

 She hurled the Spear at the Bull;

 She felled Baʿal, Servant of ʾEl.

 As She went home She thought:

 She would feed Him to ʾEl the Bull, Her Father,

 She would feed Him to the Sons of ʿAshirat for dinner.

 She would feed Him to Yariḫ's insatiable gullet,

 She would serve the dinner to Kothar-wa-Ḫasis, Ea the Ambidextrous.

 Thereafter, when ʿAshtart arrived at Her House,

 She set away Her Implements of the Hunt.

Part II. Baʿal and ʿAshtart

 ʿAshtart asked after the Guardian of the Vineyard

 For She sought ʾEl the Bull, Her Father, Master of the Vineyard.

 She stood about the vines clad in a Veil of Linen,

 Donning an Aegis of Cypress, Lady ʿAshtart,

 The Kilt She wore catching the Splendor of the Male Stars,

 Her Sash the Magnificence of the Female Stars.

 Once the Maiden had changed,

 Baʿal longed after Her;

 The Valiant One wondered of Her Beauty!

 Baʿal the Victorious desired to know Her by heart.

 He was glad to see Lady ʿAshtart, but She was frightened by the Son of Dagan.

 He heard Her cry peal across the Valley and the Coast,

 Past the Two Ṣurs, beyond Ṣidun and Gebal,

 Echoing off ʾAlashiya and Caphtor,

 Ṣapon and Lebanon brought low, Lalu and ʾInbubu brought high,

 She lifted up Her Voice to the Guardian of the Vineyard,

Baʿal-Hadad called out:

 “Seventy-seven times You have caught My Eye,

 “Eighty-eight pierced My Heart!”

But the Guardian answered Him:

  “The City is guarded against Your Flesh.

 “Do not return to the Court of the Children of ʾEl!”

 Thereafter, Baʿal went up to Ṣapon, His Holy Stronghold,

 Crushed the Heart of Baʿal the Prince for want of comfort of the living.

 But lo! His Eyes lit up, He beheld His Lady with vessels of wine,

 ʾAshtart the Heifer made feast with the Rider on the Clouds,

 A supper of honeycomb and wine and all kinds of fish;

 She opened the City Gates for Baʿal the Victorious,

like a lot of alternative religion has a reasonable focus on the age of certain practices and traditions and rituals, about your ancestors and the environment that shaped your body and blood, but as much as i desire to feel a connection with history in that way, i don’t. i’m rootless. i was never taught about the ways of my ancestors, my parents didn’t know them, i’ve never touched the land that my people came from. i’ve always been a child of violent colonialism, i have no language, no songs, no beliefs, and no rituals, except the young, constantly revising ones whose only purpose is to occlude the past and crush the people who really belong in the place i was born, and the places i’ve lived. my history is that of displacement and denial. and the only spiritual figures i feel a connection to on that level are demons, specifically in the way christian cultures conceive of demons.

lucifer, child of the dawn, was taken from his mother, his family, his history and his context to be made a scapegoat in the belief system of a god from somewhere else whose mission is to claim every soul in the universe. astaroth, carrying the inheritance of one of the oldest, most archetypical and powerful goddesses in known history, has been cut and reformed into a male spirit bearing little resemblance to his origin but his name. i wonder if Satan remembers sleeping in Ea’s arms. I wonder if Astaroth remembers passing through the gates of the underworld all those thousands of years ago, or of taking bloody revenge on the humans who laid hands on his/her divine body. They aren’t the same beings anymore, the world their old selves came from is gone. but they’re still here. representing what? defiance? transgression? sin? animosity towards the abusive christian authority? what do these connections to the past mean in a world that denies the existence of astarte and phosphoros?

i feel a sympathy with these characters, my roots are cut away and forgotten by my own people, my ancestors traded their souls for power over others, and much of my life and philosophy has been shaped by the ways i fail to fit into this violent culture. i was never christian, so why was i punished for being queer? for not submitting to the expectations of womanhood? for being drawn to demons and the practice of magic? why should someone else’s god own my soul? why should i have to spend so much time fighting those hands off me? it makes me feel grief for something i never had, that was taken from me and sold off before i was born, before my parents and grandparents were born. it hurts.

A Demonness that I consider my Patron is Astaroth, and so I found myself invoking her for a particular issue today from the Guides to the Underworld Series, which formed the basis of the Preparatory Hymn. The Book itself is said to be based of the Grimoire of Pope Pius V, and had an interesting preparatory procedure in the beginning, one implied in a few different grimoires albeit through different forms:

"Four masses should be said over this book before beginning, the first in honour of God the Father, the second in honour of the Son, the third for the Holy Spirit, and the fourth for all the saints. After this, the summoned spirits should obey the priest, so that they bring to him wealth in the finest gold and silver for his daily use."

This is not particularly unknown, items and tools often had masses said over them, and this further shows the connection and intimacy of theurgic and thaumaturgic practices and the clergy, as it would mainly be these people that had access to the Roman Missal and the Book of Hours, but what came after was interesting:

"Secondly, the book should be baptized and given a Hebrew Name (such as Abraham, Isaac or Jacob) so that this book is then his."

Which bares some similarity to the conjuration of the Black Dragon:

"I conjure you, book, to be useful and beneficial to all those who read you for success in their affairs. I conjure you anew by the Blood of Jesus contained in the chalice forever, to be useful to all those who read you. I exorcise you in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, in the name of the Most Holy Trinity."

Followed by the Mark of the Spirit, which could theoretically be the name of the HGA. However, this led to me thinking of whether or not this could be given to servitors or to amulets and talismans, which would then be consecrated through the Divine to act. We could theoretically then do the masses and then a ritual as such:

"I baptize you, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as (name), that you shall be useful and beneficial to all those who should use you for (such and such an intent). I conjure you anew as servant to my practice by the Blood of Jesus contained in the chalice forever, to be most useful to all those who make use of you for (such and such an intent). I exorcise you in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, forever and ever, that you shall carry out your duties to the best and most useful end in (such and such an intent)."

Ashtoreth my beloved who reveals rituals to me in dreams, rituals that make no sense until something happens and suddenly i think, that's why you told me that. this is what i have to use it for. it's all coming together.

Ashtoreth who pokes and plays at ways of worship i wouldn't have otherwise considered. Ashtoreth and their playfulness and teasing and the purr in their tone.

Ashtoreth of dual nature, the Lord and the Lady, always challenging the traditional views of magick and queerness. Ashtoreth and their faceted nature, always teaching me of new ways to tap into different facets for different purposes. Teaching me that no one has to be anything for any amount of time; you can just be.

Ashtoreth who urges me to think carefully about who and what I target my magic towards, but who also pushes me to use full strength if the situation calls on it. Go easy, or even do not interfere at all with one who does not practice magic; but if they claim to, show no mercy. You are a sorcerer, and you ought to act like one.

♡⸝⸝ Ουρανια Ourania - Heavenly, Divine

♡⸝⸝ Πανδημος Pandêmos - Common to All People

♡⸝⸝ Φιλομμειδης Philommeidês - Laughter-Loving

♡⸝⸝ Ποθων Μητηρ Pothôn Mêtêr - Mother of Desire

♡⸝⸝ Νικηφορος Nikêphoros - Bringer of Victory

♡⸝⸝ χαριδώτης Kharidóhtis - Giver of Joy

♡⸝⸝ Ἀνθεία Antheia - Friend of Flowers

Nobody has a spirit animal because "spirit animal" is a racist concept created by colonizers who lumped all Indigenous Turtle Island residents' beliefs together because they couldn't be bothered to respect the differences and variations within them. Some Indigenous Turtle Island folks might choose to reclaim it, but if you aren't part of an Indigenous Turtle Island people, you should not be attempting to "reclaim" it.

"Spirit animal" did not come from Indigenous people, it came from white colonizers homogenizing all of said Indigenous peoples and their beliefs together. It was (and still is) an act of racism and white supremacy that infantilizes, misinterprets, assimilates, and erases Indigenous cultures and beliefs. It feeds into the "noble savage" and "mystical injun" stereotypes. It decontextualizes a variety of religio-spiritual practices and beliefs within numerous Indigenous cultures. Please do not perpetuate it, even as a joke. Thank you for being an ally! 🐢💕

If you do feel a strong connection to an animal, that's wonderful, and I'm so happy for you! It may very well be that you are otherkin, that you should make a fursona (they're a lot of fun!), or that you have a familiar or spirit guide that happens to be an animal, animal spirit, or takes the form of one. Please use the correct terminology, as in doing so, not only will you prevent racism from being perpetuated, but you'll also allow yourself honesty and freedom (not to mention showing proper respect to the spirits you're working with) 🕊 Kill the part of you that cringes; it is a liar who leads you only to misery and hate!

I keep seeing baby witches asking about casting love spells on specific people, so let me be really clear: it’s not the harmless shortcut to romance that TikTok or Pinterest might make it look like.

Love spells that target a person directly are manipulative. You’re taking away their free will, and that kind of energy doesn’t sit quietly. It can backfire—badly. Obsession, toxic dynamics, resentment, or the spell snapping back onto you are all very real possibilities. That’s not love, that’s control.

Magic is strongest when it flows with choice and consent. Forcing someone’s heart is never healthy, in either the physical or spiritual realm.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t work with love magic at all. Safer, healthier alternatives include:

Self-love spells: building confidence and your own glow

Attraction work: opening paths for love that actually wants to meet you

Sweetening jars: encouraging kindness and harmony in connections

Glamours & passion magic: making your own energy magnetic without tying it to one person

Every time I hear this song, I remember my pretty Lady:

You

You are a goddess

You are my muse

You enchant me

I'll play you a song