Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Pagan
Jewish Witch: Finding Asherah

Jewish Witch: Finding Asherah

Last updated on: January 13, 2015 at 5:24 am by Asa West

Jewish Witch: Finding Asherah 2015-01-13T05:24:28+00:00 Asa West

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

“But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine.” (Jeremiah 44:18)

Disclaimer #1: I write this column from the perspective of a folk practitioner, not a religious scholar. Please forgive any errors or misrepresentations.

Disclaimer #2: I am a Jew, and a dedicant of the Morrigan. I need to write about Gaza. But if I’m going to say something about Gaza, I need to say it right, so I’m taking my time with that post. Sadly, I think it’ll still be timely in a couple of weeks (or months, or years, or decades).

Growing up, I always thought that the expulsion of the Goddess from organized religion among the ancient Israelites was done in one fell swoop. My ancestors took the land of Canaan, established the Temple of Yahweh, and presto! No more Goddess–except among the common folk, who needed to be continually corrected and controlled.

I later learned, though, that the process was much more gradual, full of negotiations and reversals. Each Jewish king had a different relationship to Asherah, the mother goddess of the Canaanites and Jews. One king would take all her images out of the temple, smash her altars and forbid her worship; the next king would haul in new ones and give the all-clear. Back and forth it went like this, for generations: out she went, and then back in, exiled and then pardoned. It breaks my heart whenever I hear modern Jews talk about the end of Israelite paganism with relief and back-patting, as if the worship of a beloved goddess were akin to alcoholism or online poker. Take, for example, this passage from Ellen Frankel’s The Five Books of Miriam, a book of feminist Jewish commentary on the Torah:

“Fighting idolatry proved to be a long, difficult battle….It took many centuries before we struggled free of paganism. Periodically, the people backslid and had to be wooed back to YHVH. We prophets, priests, and kings often had to resort to harsh threats and actions to expel idolatry from Israel’s midst.”

The passage is deliberately provocative (it’s written from the point of view of Huldah the prophetess), and Frankel later attempts to provide a counterpoint. But even that doesn’t stray very far from patriarchy:

“[Asherah] was obviously a beloved figure to the Israelite people, and her influence can be felt even today, in feminism’s intellectual flirtation with the goddess.”

That second line, by the way, is written from the point of view of “Lilith the Rebel.” How rebellious!

“Struggled to break free.” “Intellectual flirtation.” Asherah wasn’t a vice. She wasn’t a sin. She was our goddess. She was our goddess.

I cannot believe we did that to her. To ourselves.

So, who exactly was Asherah? Unfortunately, we don’t know quite as much about her as we do about other Near Eastern goddesses. She was the mother of the Canaanite pantheon. She was considered the wife of El or Baal, then Yahweh. She may have been referred to as the Queen of Heaven, although that title more likely went to Anath. Her full title was Lady Asherah of the Sea, and she was a goddess of motherhood, fertility, and childbirth. Her public altars consisted of wooden poles and figures that were erected next to images of her husband. Households used small clay figurines to represent her–and, tellingly, archaeologists haven’t found corresponding male figurines.

Now, the Goddess’s presence in Judaism didn’t end in the Temple era. The Shekhinah, originally the Talmudic term for “God’s dwelling place” and visually represented by pillars of smoke and fire, came into her own with the rise of Kabbalah and has morphed over the centuries into a mother goddess very similar to Asherah. Many Jews, including myself, see her not just as the feminine side of God, but God Herself: Big Mama, the Creatrix, the Star Goddess. I like to think that the Shekhinah is what Asherah might have become, had she had the benefit of millennia’s worth of theology and practice. Perhaps she’s even Asherah herself, patiently slipping into a new guise–like the savvy mother of an angry toddler, waiting for the tantrum to subside before coming in to comfort.

Or maybe not. In Israel, a small but growing Pagan community is honoring ancient Semitic deities. Here in the States, the Kohenet Institute published a Jewish prayer book that contains a prayer to Asherah:

Ashera, Queen and mother of the land of my mothers, and my mothers’ mothers. It is to you that we still offer honey cakes in gratitude for your sweetness….

-E. Sheva Melmed

Perhaps Asherah doesn’t need a new guise. Perhaps she and the Shekhinah are happily coexisting, each an aspect of the other, yet distinct.

Tarot is a big part of my practice, and I often use the cards as an oracle when talking to deities. The other night, I invited Asherah to my altar and asked if there was anything she wanted me to write in this column. I drew Strength, the Hanged Man, and the Knight of Swords, and here’s what she told me:

I gave my people strength. I gave them strength on the hills and under the trees, in the grasses and by the sea. When those in power took their strength away, I restored it. But my children froze themselves in time when they finally banished me, and are now unable to move forward. The prophets came so close to understanding justice–they came so close!–but, in the end, they sabotaged their own ideals.

Then I asked her what she wanted from modern-day Pagans, Jewish or otherwise. I drew the High Priestess.

I’ll leave that one for you to interpret.

May you feel Big Mama’s presence always. May your your heart be her dwelling place.

Jewish Witch is published on alternate Tuesdays. Subscribe via RSS or e-mail!

Previous Post

July 28, 2014

Birthing Hereditary Witchcraft: Mayan Connection - A Lesson on Important Dreams

Next Post

July 30, 2014 Druid Thoughts: Terribly Important Pagans

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A Lakeside Hearth Adventures in Wortcunning Alone In Her Presence Arts, Crafts & Cooking Birthing Hereditary Witchcraft Book of Blackbirds Book Reviews Born-Again Witch Cauldron, Sword, Spear, & Stone Cermony and Liturgy Columns Community Dandelion Seeds Dear Jasmine Druid Thoughts Editor's Picks Everyday Pagan Family & Household Practice Family Traditions Full Frontal Magic Gateway Goddess Guest Articles Happily Heathen Health and Wellness Hearth of Hellenism Heathen Woman Hills of the Horizon History Holidays Horse Goddesses Interfaith Interviews Irish-American Witchcraft Jewish Witch Lamp & Labyrinth Letters from Midgard Literature, Media, Film, Music Loop of Brighid Love, Sex & Relationships Magic or Magick Making Light Naturalistic Traditions Nature News Outside The Circle Pantheisticon Politics Prayers, Poems, Blessings & Stories Queer Femme Mystic Queer of Swords Recipes Ritual and Practice Science and Research Seekers and Guides Seeking the Grail Socially Responsible Magic Spear of Athena Star Made Witch Syncretic Electric Technology The Blooming Staff The Busy Witch The Cartomancer The Crow's Nest The Dance of Pagan Recovery The Hearth of Hellenism The Lady's Quill The Other Side of the Hedge The Path of She The Rantin' Raven The Witches Next Door The Zen Pagan Theology, Ethics, Philosophy Tree City Witch Urban Earthwitch Wayfaring Woman Witch on Fire Wyrd Words

Select a Month January 2026 March 2025 December 2024 June 2024 April 2024 March 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 August 2023 July 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What Christian group refers to their leaders as "General Superintendents"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Orthodox Nazarene Catholic Methodist