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| Ashera from Goddesses and Heroines |
Exerpt from Goddess & Heroines by Patricia
Monaghan [Used by permission. This text is NOT included in the Goddess Oracle] |
From the root meaning "straight", this Caananite goddess derived a
name that implied not only the moral rectitude she demanded of her followers
but also the upright posts or living trees in which they perceived her essence.
In her temple, Asherah's image was non-human, merely an unshaped piece of wood
called by her name. But in private devotions she was represented by simple woman-shaped
clay figures with, instead of legs, a base for insertion into the soft earthen
floor of the home.She also appeared as a naked, curly-haired goddess riding
a sacred lion and holding lilies and serpents in upraised hands.
"Wet nurse of the gods" and "she who gives birth" to seventy
of them, Asherah was one of the Ugaritic mother goddesses. Not only did she
physically nurture the gods--and human rulers too--she offered spiritual sustenance
through her oracular wizards. She was the force of life, experienced as benevolent
and enduring, found in flocks of cattle and groves of trees, evoked in childbirth
and at planting time.
The character of "The Lady Asherah of the Sea" (her full name) is
vague and unclear, coming down as it does to us predominantly through the writings
of her sworn enemies, the patriarchal Hebrews who often, perhaps deliberately,
confused her with Astarte (which they spelled Ashtoreth). But this official
view often did not coincide with popular opinion. In the Old Testament we can
read the catalog of a centuries-long campaign against the joyfully orgiastic
rites of this benevolent goddess. Asherah would apparently be rooted out of
people's hearts, only to reemerge, giving rise to another wave of reforms. Queen
Maacah, mother of Asa and Jezebel, publicly worshipped her; Hebrew zealots,
however, took the life of Jezebel on the charge of "harlotry" during
festivals of the goddess. But so popular did the worship of Asherah remain that
there is substantial evidence she was worshipped, with all attendant public
pleasures, within the Jerusalem temple itself.
| Back to TOP | Published by Llewellyn, copyright 1997. Used by permission of the author. |
