"Mother God"

ASHERAH

"You shall not plant any tree as a sacred pole beside the altar that you make for the LORD your God; nor shall you set up a stone pillar - things that the LORD your God hates" (Deuteronomy 16:21,22).

I really wish you all could see me right now.  I am smiling as mischievously as I did when I was a young girl and Mama or one of my aunts made the mistake of bending over in front of me.  It is also not lost on me that this particular post is coming immediately after my Father's Day post.  It's the kind of "stuff," my father would have gotten a great laugh out of.  He would have thought it to be utterly hilarious and fitting that I present the following information and yes, that his daughter, is one of the folks trying to introduce it into mainstream - you know, where regular ole "common" folk, the people, the masses, would be able to access it.  So as I, we delve further into the book of Deuteronomy, we encounter the aforementioned scriptural text.  It is a scriptural text that many of you might not have ever paid any particular attention to, but one that actually introduces us to a particularly particular character and name that does and does not exist in the Bible.  A name synonymous with the "sacred pole," and an "almond tree" designed with divine specifications.  It is a character with a name that brings home the three main selling points in real estate - location, location, location.

Yes, location IS everything!  And where the "sacred pole" and the stylized "almond tree" was "located" in the Tabernacle - within the "Holy of Holies" - is everything too.  For you see, there you will find or shall I say, there you would have found ASHERAH - God's (YHWH's) beloved wife, consort, and co-creator.  I say "would have found" her if a full scale rewriting of the sacred text had not taken place under the direction of King Josiah during the Babylonian Exile.  But of course, we won't get into that until 2 Kings.  But for now, know this, a full fledged campaign went into destroying Her image and all manner of reverence and worship of Her.  It was all a part of what would set Israel apart from other peoples and their Gods - Monotheism (The doctrine or belief in one God).  In contrast, Polytheism (The doctrine and/or belief in more than one God or Gods) was the usual religious practice of neighboring peoples in Canaan.  And, quiet as it's kept, Israel was no exception.  They, too, worshiped, burnt incense and made offerings of raisin cakes to ASHERAH, also known as the "Queen of Heaven" (Jeremiah 44:15-19).  And while we may have been given her name in Deuteronomy, I don't believe this to be the first time we've encountered her.

Back in the book of Numbers, another peculiar event takes place in the history of Israel and it goes a little sumptn like this:  When setting out from the Mount of Hor, "The people, spoke against God and Moses, 'Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?  For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.'  Then the LORD sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died..."  I don't need to tell you the people got themselves right together after that and cried out to Moses, confessing their sin against him and God and asked him to pray for them, asking God to take away the serpents.  Being a gracious and compassionate God, the LORD instructed Moses to "Make a poisonous (Fiery) serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.  So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live" (Numbers 21:4-9).  At this point, there are two things that I feel I should not have to tell you...  First, yes, it is no real stretch to connect the dots to the caduceus of Hermes (the image of two snakes intertwined around a staff ) that eventually became associated with the practice of medicine.  The second thing I should not have to tell you is that throughout ancient Near Eastern culture, ASHERAH was known as the "Goddess of Healing," fertility, and immortality.

Surely you know this is only the beginning of our "getting to know" our Mother God, ASHERAH.  While King Josiah and his scriveners, along with a whole host of very creative and very determined men, tried as they might, to eradicate the presence, knowledge and importance of our Mother God, She is there and available to us.  And in this age of Truth, Understanding, Revelation and Liberation, all we have to do is to desire to know Her, seek Her and dare to speak of Her.  For if we do, She will surely be found - out.

"Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelation
And the mind's true liberation..." 

     (James Rado, Gerome Ragni, Galt MacDermot) 

© Dorinda G. Henry, 2011

THEOLOGIA HABITUS EST!