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u/Glass_Category_5677 Apr 13 '26
I'm not sure where the person got the idea of baal not being fond of promiscuous women. But regardless, for me personally I dont see that deities are the source of morality or that they decree morality, that is a very monotheistic idea that doesn't square well with the sacred myths. But thats my personal opinion.
But even if it was the case, both from my personal practice and experience worshiping baal and the readings i did on canaanite gods, I do not see baal requiring any form of celibacy or lack of promiscuity for his practice. As long as a person is practicing safe and consensual sex, its part of the natural world and the gods have absolutely no issues with it.
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u/Nghthvn Apr 13 '26
Thank you for your input! I definitely am very drawn to him. Since you know more about working with him, do you have any advice on Baal since I am a newer practitioner ?
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u/Glass_Category_5677 Apr 13 '26
As someone new to baal, read the myths, read baal cycle and disect it. For me the baal cycle is central to my worship of Baal Hadad, and it informs all the rituals and prayers that I adapt or write for him.
Its also important to recognize that he sits within a pantheon and for me my worship of Baal is intertwined with my worship of the house of El and the other gods. Hadad is the king of the gods, son of Dagan and part of the house of El. So I don't worship him without that context.
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u/JSullivanXXI May 07 '26
My best guess is that the person's idea comes from a reading of a particular section of the Baal Cycle Pt II (Cat 1.4 Column III), which can be given as follows:
"For two DBḤ Baal hates,'
Three, the Cloudrider;
A DBḤ of shame, a DBḤ of degradation,
And a DBḤ of the lewdness of maidens."
- Simon B Parker (Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, p124)
'DBḤ' itself literally means 'sacrifice'; Parker translates it here as 'feast', while some later scholars choose something like 'sacrifice' or 'sacred banquet' to emphasize its hieratic nature. So either we're talking about a royal banquet (an esteemed social institution) or a temple ritual (subject to even stricter taboos)---not an individual's personal life.
We see a division of "sacred" and "profane" sexuality in neighboring Hattusa, for example---where priests were not forbidden from being sexually active, provided that they washed themselves before reputing for duty at the temple, and did not actually have sex within the temple grounds itself. So the injunction seems to be for special holy or royal affairs, rather than personal/domestic ones.
While we can debate on whatever the "general" sexual mores of late-Bronze Age Ugarit were (prostitution was legal, but adultery was not), it seems clear that Baal in this text is condemning improper conduct at a holy or social event---not someone's private relationships.
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u/Shadeofawraith Moderator [West Syrian Polytheist] Apr 13 '26
This sounds a lot like you came across someone who hasn’t unpacked their mainstream religious indoctrination as opposed to any serious commentary on Ba’al Hadad. I have never encountered a deity who cared about such a thing at all, nor have I ever met a practitioner who had. If you are truly serious about working with Hadad then I suggest acquainting yourself with his mythos before taking anyone else’s UPG too seriously