In recent weeks, I have been researching the connections between Asherah, the Canaanite fertility goddess, and the ‘Queen of Heaven.’ Asherah, or some derivative (Asherim, Asheroth), is used about 40 times in the Tanak while the ‘Queen of Heaven‘ is only used by Jeremiah in 7:18 and 44:17, 18, 19, and 25 however ancient writings connect the two quite clearly. What is more interesting is that the ‘Queen of Heaven,’ the female consort of the regional deity, stretches from Semiramis, wife of Nimrod, to the Catholic Mother Mary.
Intermediate stops of this vindictive, controlling, jealous, fertility goddess include Isis in Egypt, Astarte, Ishtar, and Asherah in Canaan. Later steps in the constant morphing of this pagan bitc... er, witch, were the Greek and Roman deities of marriage and monogamy, Hera and Juno!
Modern pagans look back unabashedly to her as the ‘mother God’ who was unseated by patriarchal men who sought to control the superior feminine attributes. This thought process and ‘feminine theology’ was lionized by Merlin Stone in her 1976 title, When God Was a Woman. She is unapologetic in her claim that the authors of the Torah and actions of ancient Israel to destroy the Asherim were, in her estimation, an open attempt to destroy the greater feminine goddess and advance masculinity.
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