#ashtoreth

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so there is a LOT of debate over who Crowley was before The Fall. I have seen a lot of headcanons going around the place saying he was Raphael or Kokabiel or Baraqiel.

I mean this is the Exhibit A for saying that Crowley is Baraqiel. I think NOT.

Because this is a handbook written by demons for demons. The title is literally (if my memory serves me right) a guide to angelic beings that walk the earth. SO Crowley is not That..

Other than the red hair thing, no other physical characteristic matches. This Baraqiel guy sounds like an absolute gremlin. grisly slug, occasionally damp. NOT CROWLEY. I mean she's the most dashing thing around.

NO. #3 It says CROWLEY one line above the name Baraqiel. If Crowley is Baraqiel then why would his demon name appear right under that?????

But this is all beside the point. What I'm trying to say is that too much has been said about who Crowley was before he fell. There is very little, if not none, that has been said about who he was After.

Some say that he's an insignificant demon or some loser guy in Hell or whatever the equivalent of an angel principality deputy on Earth is.

I BEG TO DIFFER.

He is Important. Just look at the kind of assignments he's given. Original Sin, Major Historical Temptations and Evil Acts, Delivering the Antichrist and bringing about Armageddidn't.

But who is he exactly??????????

So canonically we're never told what Crowley's rank in Hell is. But there are more that enough hints for us to figure that out for ourselves.

But where does one place him when the hierarchy is so complex and varying across different historical and theological sources.

Such as here:

I have been thinking about this and I have two current theories

Crowley is Astaroth

Crowley is The Leviathan

I'll discuss only one in this post. I'll save the other for the next post.

Now book!Omens clearly tells us that Crowley or Crawley is not his real demonic name. For those who haven't read the book this happens when Hastur Lavista and Ligur come to hand over the antichrist to Crowley in the churchyard and as he's about to sign his name as "Crowley" they tell him to sign his real demonic name.

Are you with me?!!!!!

NANNY ASHTORETH!

Why did she use this particular name for her nanny disguise. What if...... what if this IS her real demon name.

A lot of my real life friends are annoyed beyond measure by my constant ranting about etymologies, origin and construction of discourse and epistemology, especially when it comes to presenting my thesis over how all Abrahamic religions and their symbology and iconography is, how do I put it, inspired from pagan religions that they expunged. I mean the concept of angles, the man shaped being with wings that is actually just a ball of fire or eyes or hale discs or sth is a pagan Persian concept.

Back to the matter at hand.

Ashtoreth, Astaroth, Astarte, Ishtar, are all the same name in different dialects and languages. All of these refer to a certain Babylonian goddess. When the People of God probably cleansed off all the infidels they decided to literally demonize their god and name a demon after her. In Milton's Paradise Lost Astaroth is one of the three princes or Grand Dukes of Hell alongside Beelz and Lucifer. If this theory might be true Crowley is a Prince/Grand Duke of Hell.

Now this gets even more interesting. Ashtoreth, Astarte, whatever you may, is a goddess of fertility and is associated with childcare. I mean at this point I just stopped to marvel at the attention to detail that Mr. Gaiman's work hold, the smallest hidden meanings in the storytelling.

Another thing. The Babylonians built these temples called ziggurats to worship Astarte and they looked something like this

and this

they were also known as sky temples.

Because Astaroth was first and foremost the goddess of stars and the Babylonians were stargazers and the temples were constructed as a stairway to heaven to take them closer to the stars and functioned as an observatory at times.

I'm just imagining Crowley turning up in ancient Babylon and with her other-worldly looks, knowledge of the stars and compassion for children they just..... started to worship her.

Before the Christians came and declared them pagans and the rest is history.

Obsessed with

Her

Close up & reference below

Ashtoreth : (Astarte in Greek) from 'Ashtoret', the Hebrew form of the name of a Phoenician and Canaanite goddess of love, fertility and war. Her name is cognate, (meaning has cousin words that evolved simultaneously in other languages) to that of the East Semitic goddess Ishtar.

Ishtar : Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of love, fertility and war. She was also identified with the Sumerian goddess Inanna.

Inanna : possibly derived from Sumerian nin-an-a(k) meaning "lady of the heavens/sky". Inanna was the Sumerian goddess of love, fertility and war. She descended into the underworld where the ruler of that place, her sister Ereshkigal, had her killed. The god Enki intercedes, and Inanna was allowed to leave the underworld as long as her husband Dumuzi took her place. (Or she went to rescue her lover? Depending...)

Now, the motif of a heavenly being striving for the highest seat of heaven only to be cast down to the underworld has its origins in the motions of the planet Venus.

Venus : one of the brightest objects in the sky, Venus was the first planet to have its motions plotted across the sky, as early as the second millennium BC. Known as the "Morning Star" it becomes part of the narrative of many mythologies. It's regular rising and falling movements associated with Inanna's story. It's name belonging to the Roman goddess of beauty, and fertility who assimilated aspects of Astarte and Ishtar. The Greeks had two names for it, one, Phōsphoros meaning "light-bringer" spawned the name Lucifer via poor translation.

Lucifer: due to the unique movements and discontinuous appearances of Venus in the sky, mythology surrounding the various figures associated with the planet often involved a fall from the heavens to earth or the underworld. Interpretations of a similar term (one meaning "Morning Star" or "Shining One") in the Hebrew Bible, translated in the King James Version as the proper name "Lucifer" led to a Christian tradition of applying the name Lucifer, and its associated stories to ... Satan.

From here things get real complicated...

Satan : satan, the word, just means "accuser", but the character of The Devil, himself, is a great accumulation of names and traits associated with all manner of evil over many millennia. (Almost like he spent a lot of time purposely taking credit for stuff whether or not he actually did any of it.) Famous for tempting Eve, "Satan" may or may not even be the Serpent Of Eden because Samael meaning 'Venom of God, Poison of God' is found in the same exact Garden of Eden role with most of the same traits.

Samael : debatably either a Fallen Angel or an angel who didn't so much Fall as end up in the position of fulfilling God's Plan by doing all the really hellish work. Samael might have planted the Tree Of Knowledge, possibly by order of God, and it seems he takes Lilith as his wife, thus necessitating the creation of Eve who he then has some part in tempting to eating the apple. He isn't himself a serpent, but apparently rides one into The Garden. And is credited with doing all sorts of dark work that is often ultimately in accordance with God's will.

... If you squint it just might be.

GO writing Prompt:

After the body swap, it isn't AziraCrow that return to Earth. It's another Demon and Angel. AziraCrow are imprisoned in heaven and hell respectively. They are in the pits of each. Forgotten or more likely ignored and left to rot or lose themselves.

The demon and angel sent back in their respective corporations know that they had switched and will need to switch back. That they will be living in the corporation of the other for an indeterminate time. 

They must attempt to capture the traitor by pretending to be a traitor themselves. So, we meet Raphael and Ashtoreth* for the first time. And they meet each other, unknowingly. After all, neither ever met Aziraphale or Crowley. They don't have a clue that each isn't precisely who they claim to be. 

This is the story of Raphael and Ashtoreth figuring out who is actually inhabiting the corporation they're interacting with daily. This is the story of Ashtoreth and Raphael's own relationship. This is neither a slow burn (Aziracrow), nor a quick seeming fast fall (BeeGees), but a steady almost human speed falling in love story (Raphtoreth? Ashphael?). The eventual determination of Ashtoreth to see the Real Aziraphale and Crowley freed versus Raphael's desire to stay in these corporations and be together themselves. Ashtoreth's eventual trip to heaven as Aziraphale while Raph is left to take the position of a bureaucratic denizen of hell with the small hope that they will be able to free the angel and demon they owe their love to and somehow, impossibly, not be caught themselves. 

*The real one, thank you very much. They'd very much like to meet this Crowley who had the audacity to use their name for their own ends. But having incorporated both bodies and names eventually, they realize they really don't have a case anymore. 

(The stipulations of the corporations are never expressly stated. Nor are there any details as to the ability to switch corporations between an angel and a demon. I'm basing the being caught aspect on the vagary of their respective exits from heaven and hell and what may have happened. We know that prior to the Aziracrow body swap, neither of them was aware of it being attempted because of the conversation about possession in the bar on the day of Armageddidn't. But, having been caught, heaven and hell are now aware of the possibility and immediately act to catch their own wayward traitors. Thus, Ashtoreth believes they are meeting Crowley at the swap and Raphael assumes Aziraphale is inhabiting Crowley's corporation. The lingering scents of heaven and hell would obscure the scents of an individual angel or demon in the immediate aftermath. How long before they figure out that there's an angel in a demon's body and a demon in an angel's body and neither is the one the other is sent to capture?

How long must they keep up the ruse? How long must they outwardly pretend to be ethereal and occult beings they're not? Because heaven wants answers and so does hell. Where are the traitors? Raphael must pretend to be Crowley for hell and themself for heaven. Ashtoreth must be themself to hell and Aziraphale to heaven. 

Meanwhile, Ashtoreth is somehow also devising a plot to free the real traitors and Raphael, unable to convince them not to go with Metatron, is left in Crowley's corporation, to do their part (because they are as whipped as Crowley, apparently. Maybe there's something about these corporations after all?)

Oh, yeah, and the second coming is well, coming.

Ashtoreth, also known as Astarte, was a prominent goddess in the Canaanite and Phoenician pantheons. She was associated with love, fertility, and war, and was often paired with Baal, the male deity of the same cultures. Ashtoreth's worship spread along the seacoast and into other cultures, including Babylonia and Assyria, where she was known as Ishtar. 

Here's a more detailed look at Ashtoreth: 

Worship and Associations:Ashtoreth was a powerful figure, often associated with love, sexuality, and fertility. Her worship extended beyond the Canaanite and Phoenician cultures, being adopted by other civilizations like the Babylonians and Assyrians, where she was known as Ishtar. 

Paired with Baal:In the Canaanite pantheon, Ashtoreth was frequently paired with Baal, who was associated with the sun and storms. This pairing reflected a belief in the duality of nature, with Baal representing the active, masculine principle and Ashtoreth the passive, feminine principle. 

Variations and Identities:Ashtoreth's name and representation varied depending on the region and culture. In Assyria, she was known as Ishtar, and in Greece, she was associated with Aphrodite. She was also linked to Isis and Hathor in Egyptian mythology. 

Sacred Symbols:The dove was a sacred symbol of Ashtoreth, as was the fish, especially in Ashkelon, where she was worshipped as Atargatis. 

Biblical References:The Hebrew Bible mentions Ashtoreth and Ashtaroth (the plural form, referring to multiple statues), and she was often paired with Baal in passages condemning idolatry.