She defines and defies time.
Watching the British ceremonial drama unfold as the Queen is gradually replaced by a King, in anthem, blessings, and on coins, no matter how civilized and mournful the process, brings to mind other historical transitions in which new regimes replaced prior ones with much more violence. At some point in our Hebraic history, the Queen of Heaven wasn’t just replaced by the religions and political authorities - she was brutally canceled. Although the takeover eventually succeeded - the attempts to do so took generations and even centuries, with much opposition from stubborn loyal fans. She and many of us still resist patriarchal power. Now more than ever.
Today’s chapter of the Book of Words repeats the warnings about mixing with the locals, forbidding marriages with indigenous people and putting up walls against cultural exchange so that the law - and land - of Israel will not be diluted by foreign affairs. To make sure that temptations are removed the following instructions are provided by Moses, echoing the many times he’s had to deal with his people’s passions for worshiping the Goddess and the other local deities:
כִּֽי־אִם־כֹּ֤ה תַעֲשׂוּ֙ לָהֶ֔ם מִזְבְּחֹתֵיהֶ֣ם תִּתֹּ֔צוּ וּמַצֵּבֹתָ֖ם תְּשַׁבֵּ֑רוּ וַאֲשֵֽׁירֵהֶם֙ תְּגַדֵּע֔וּן וּפְסִילֵיהֶ֖ם תִּשְׂרְפ֥וּן בָּאֵֽשׁ׃
“This is what you shall do to them: Tear down their altars, smash their pillars, cut down their sacred posts, and consign their images to the fire.” Dv 7:5
The religious violence is palpable, reminding us of awful purges in the name of so-called gods, authoritarian rulers and mobs. The term ‘Sacred posts’ is lost in translation. The Hebrew used is “Asherim” - directly related to Ashera, the Mother Goddess of Canaan, often depicted as a tree. The tree of life.
Asherim were sometimes stylized wooden pillars, shaped like trees, and were often actual sacred ancient trees, oaks or terebinthus (called ‘Ella’ in Hebrew, as in ‘Goddess’), grown at altar sites, towering over clearings where people gathered to celebrate nature and the cycles of life.
Asherah, along with Astarte and Anath, was one of the three great goddesses of the Canaanite pantheon. Israel’s association of Asherah with sacred trees is repeated over thirty times in the Hebrew Bible, often in the context of her demise. But despite these repeated condemnations archaeological discoveries reveal that she was worshiped widely, often alongside her husband - YHWH Himself.
In the 1970’s archaeologists digging at the site of Kuntillet ‘Ajrud, in the eastern Sinai, came upon three 9th or 8th Century B.C.E. inscriptions that mention YHWH and “his Asherah” - The Queen Consort. An 8th-century B.C.E. inscription from Khirbet el-Qom, about 25 miles outside Jerusalem, contains similar language, indicating the legitimacy and antiquity of such popular worship. Although the Semitic patriarchy of later generations did all it can to obliterate the Goddess, her sacred trees and the popular worship - many of her symbols survived. Remember Eve who ate from the tree of Knowledge, right there alongside the Tree of Life? She lives on in our liturgy as the Torah Scroll, or as Wisdom - the Tree of Life. She has gone through multiple revisions, hiding under the radar in plain view, some masks more obvious, some subtle, all enduring. The poles we use today to handle the Torah scrolls are also known as ‘trees of life’, perhaps a wink to the ancient pillars and posts cherished upon the altars, where the sacred stories were blessed by Her eternal presence?
The hostility and harmful attitude towards Mother Nature that defines so much of today’s stubbornly toxic anti-environmental corporate culture is the legacy of these patriarchal attitudes, prioritizing man-made profit and power, culture over nature, violence and greed. The warnings in our book are understood in their context - beware of any temptation that will get us off the path. But at what cost to our wellbeing were these sacred trees not only cut down but also hidden in translation, in an attempt to forget where we come from, and how we are woven with every leaf and branch and rustle of the endless tree of life?
Image: Ashera/Sacred Tree, White Stone Cylinder Seal from Mari (2350-2150 BCE)
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I found this edition of the Bible Belt on post-patriarchy illuminating and uplifting and makes me thankful for mother trees.
Thankfully, something survives the violent takeover of others’ lands and civilizations. Long live the Queen (Asherah)!