"Asherah was not entirely edited out of the Bible by its male editors," he added. "Traces of her remain, and based on those traces, archaeological evidence and references to her in texts from nations bordering Israel and Judah, we can reconstruct her role in the religions of the Southern Levant."
The association of Asherah with trees in the Hebrew Bible is very strong. For example, she is found under trees (1 Kings 14:23; 2 Kings 17:10) and is made of wood by human beings (1 Kings 14:15, 2 Kings 16:3–4).
The present article responds to Whitt's ingenious proposal that Hosea dramatizes, in the speech recorded in Hos 2, the divorce which ends the marriage between Yahweh, the god of Israel, and the goddess Asherah, of Canaanite fame.
God had a wife, Asherah, whom the Book of Kings suggests was worshipped alongside Yahweh in his temple in Israel, according to an Oxford scholar. In 1967, Raphael Patai was the first historian to mention that the ancient Israelites worshipped both Yahweh and Asherah.
The Hebrew Bible suggests that the poles were made of wood. In the sixth chapter of the Book of Judges, God is recorded as instructing the Israelite judge Gideon to cut down an Asherah pole that was next to an altar to Baal. The wood was to be used for a burnt offering.
Much of the discussion about Heavenly Mother consists of references to the logic of the relationship – if God is the father of our spirits, as Mormons believe, then there would need to be a mother.
Etymology and Biblical Connections
Gen 2:4b–3:24 may further suggest the association of Asherah with sacred trees, since the way that Eve, “the mother of all living” (3:20), is described in the Eden story mimics in certain respects the role of the Canaanite mother goddess Asherah.
The Bible mentions the Lilith only once, as a dweller in waste places (Isaiah 34:14), but the characterization of the Lilith or the lili (in the singular or plural) as a seducer or slayer of children has a long pre-history in ancient Babylonian religion.
Did you know? Asherah is particularly important in the Judeo-Christian tradition, where she is portrayed as a pagan deity whose images and sacred pillars must be rejected and destroyed.
Therefore, the first creation by God was the supreme archangel followed by other archangels, who are identified with lower Intellects. From these Intellects again, emanated lower angels or "moving spheres", from which in turn, emanated other Intellects until it reaches the Intellect, which reigns over the souls.
The goddesses Asherah, Anat, and Astarte first appear as distinct and separate deities in the tablets discovered in the ruins of the library of Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra, Syria). Most biblical scholars tend to regard these goddesses as one, especially under the title "Queen of heaven".
Many studies on Asherah in the Bible have concluded that Asherah was a popular and beloved Mother-Goddess in the religion of Israel. Asherah was regarded as a benevolent, divine kingship (also known as the “Queen of Heaven”) who bestows abundance and protection to the people.
Asherah, also known as the Queen of Heaven, is the mother goddess of the Canaanite religion, wife of the Most High God and the daughter of Dyēus and Dʰéǵʰōm, and is the mother of over 70 gods. She is the primeval goddess of Motherhood, Fertility, of Divinity, Lordship and transcendence.
As such, Baal designated the universal god of fertility, and in that capacity his title was Prince, Lord of the Earth. He was also called the Lord of Rain and Dew, the two forms of moisture that were indispensable for fertile soil in Canaan.
El was the name of the god of Israel in the Bronze Age and Yahweh becomes the proper name of the god of the Israelites in the Iron Age.
Asherah is also associated with biblical wisdom literature. Wisdom, a female, appears as the wife of God and represents life.
Asherah, ancient West Semitic goddess, consort of the supreme god.
Asherah is a Hebrew word for what was either a goddess or a cultic object or perhaps both.
Asherah was also worshiped as the goddess of love and war.
She was a moon god, folks.
Lilith is cited as having been "banished" from the Garden of Eden for not complying with and obeying Adam.
The Twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; This is why we first hear Mary Magdalene called Lilith—to characterize that she was possessed of evil spirits.
In rabbinic literature Lilith is variously depicted as the mother of Adam's demonic offspring following his separation from Eve or as his first wife. Whereas Eve was created from Adam's rib (Genesis 2:22), some accounts hold that Lilith was the woman implied in Genesis 1:27 and was made from the same soil as Adam.
Baal was the god of rain, wind, and fertility. Because Canaan depended on rain to grow crops and survive, he was numero uno. Asherah, another popular deity in Canaan, was the goddess of motherhood and fertility. Depending on the tradition, she was either Baal's mother, lover, or both.
Queen of Heaven (Latin: Regina Caeli) is one of many Queen titles used of Mary, mother of Jesus. The title derived in part from the ancient Catholic teaching that Mary, at the end of her earthly life, was bodily and spiritually assumed into heaven, and that she is there honored as Queen.
Asherah (or Ashtoreth), the Canaanite fertility goddess, was the mother of Baal—the supreme Canaanite god of fertility, sun, and storm.