Asherah The Queen of Heaven
By Baal Kadmon
Reading the bible on reads how the Canaanites were a
constant thorn in the side of the Israelites, both in terms of war and
theologically. The Canaanites were
constantly fighting with the Israelites and the Israelites were constantly
slipping into idolatry. Among the deities they worshipped were Baal and Asherah.
Asherah was the Queen of Heaven, mother of all and consort
to the Canaanite God, El. El means god in semitic religions. Her worship consisted of erecting trees or
poles on hilltops. In some reading of the bible one wonders if Asherah was a
class of fertility goddesses. Not only was her worship widespread in Canaan but
she was also worshipped in Egypt, Ugarit, Mesopotamia and Arabia.
In the standard mythology she was wife to El but often times
she sided with Baal the storm god of fertility. She has been known to advocate for
Baal after he defeated the sea god Yam. Eventually though as Baal increased in
popularity he eventually shoved El off the throne and took Ashera for himself.
Baal was immensely popular.
Asherah was also wife to Yahweh , she was his consort outside
of Deutronomist circles. There is an inscription in the Sinai desert of her and
Yahweh together. The Israelites used to call their God El and the El was used in
many of his epithets . Like El Elyon or El Shaddai. Around the same time that
Baal supplanted El the name Yahweh superseded the use of El. Kind of similar but
let us not forget that Israelites were former Canaanites and that proto Hebrew
is in fact a dialect of Canaanite speech.
Another nation that worshipped her were the Phoenicians.
They were essentially Canaanites who had city states in Lebanon and due to their
famed ability with ships they had colonies all over the Mediterranean. In Carthage
she was called Taanit and she was paired with Baal Haman. There were human
sacrifices made to these two in Carthage. In Ugarit she was called Athirat. and
in Mesopotamia she was called Ashirta and was paired with Amurru and was known
as the lady of the steps. In all cases she was usually paired with a bull god.
The First part of the book dealt with history, the second
part deals with 4 rituals. One of the things I liked about the rituals is that
they were short and simple leaving room for variation. The offering that Ashira
likes are cakes (Pound of baked) wine or water and incense. The Four rituals
are “Destruction of an Enemy”, “To Attain Love” “Gain Seductive power” and “Abundance”
For the rituals you will need an image or a pole just something to represent
the Goddess. The book says use an incense you love as any old will not do. For
Middle Deities I prefer Frankincense.
The structure of the spells or rituals is simple. Place an
image of the Goddess in the center of the alter. On one side is your candles
and on the other is your incense. In front of the image you will place the cake
and the drink offering. After that you say your prayer and focus on your goal and
let the essence of Asherah permeate your being. Then you lift the cake in front
of her and say her name three times. Finally you thank her in your own words.
Should your spell be successful then you should publicly thank her.
Black candle are used for cursing and can be used in the seduction
Ritual. Red is used in the seduction ritual as it is in attaining love. Gold is
the color for abundance.
Overall not a bad little book. Problem is that it is to short
and the author could have easily included more information on the Goddess. While her worship was not as world wide as
Isis still there is plenty of information out there that could have been put in
the bibliography.
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