I already posted a scholarly article from the 1960s proving that Asherah was tied to the kundalini snake energy from the earth. ...so here we go: Israelites considered asherah to be a kind of “power for felicity,”
The “goddess” figurines.
These figurines have been found both in Egypt and in the Levant. They represent a naked female facing front. The legs may be separated, with the feet turned sideways. The goddess may be wearing a “Hathor” style headdress and be holding lotus plants or snakes. They may be standing on horses or lions. As the lion is often associated with Asherah,
Queen of Heaven from 1800 BCE to 600 BCEAsherah likely originates from the Sumerian or Akkadian root ashru, meaning “sanctuary” or “place of happiness.”• In Ugaritic texts (c. 1400 BCE), she is referred to as Athirat and described as the consort of El, the chief god of the Canaanite pantheon.• She bore 70 divine sons, including Baal, the storm god, indicating her supreme maternal status in the divine hierarchy.
AI says:
- Early Syncretism: Archaeological finds (like inscriptions from Kuntillet 'Ajrud) and biblical passages (like 1 Kings 18:19) suggest some ancient Israelites worshipped Yahweh and Asherah together, viewing her as a divine consort.
- Fertility Goddess: Asherah was a major Canaanite mother goddess associated with trees, fertility, and motherhood, aspects highly valued but seen as dangerous in ancient Israel.
- Monotheistic Reforms: Later prophets and kings (like Josiah) sought to establish strict monotheism, destroying Asherah symbols (poles, shrines) and condemning her worship as idolatry.
- Textual Redaction: Scribes edited the texts to reflect these reforms, removing her direct references and substituting them with generic terms, or describing "asherah poles" (cultic symbols) as "groves" or "trees".
- The Translation Gap: By the time the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek (Septuagint) and later into Latin (Vulgate), the concept of Asherah as a goddess had been almost entirely erased from official Jewish tradition.
- Linguistic Shift: The Hebrew word asherah (goddess) and asherim (cult poles/shrines) was translated into Greek as alsos (grove, sacred place) or similar terms, losing the reference to the specific deity.
- Patriarchal Monotheism: The shift to a purely patriarchal, monotheistic faith left no room for a prominent goddess, solidifying her erasure from subsequent biblical canons and interpretations.
Asherah, she is mother of 70 children (this relates to the Jewish idea of the 70 guardian angels of the nations). Arguments have been made that Asherah is a figure in Egyptian, Hittite, Philistine and Arabic texts. Egyptian representations of “Qudshu” (potentially the Egyptian name for Asherah) show her naked with snakes and flowers, sometimes standing on a lion. Whether this should be interpreted as Asherah is contested and thus should be viewed with caution. Another suggestion is Asherah is also the Hittite goddess Asertu, who is married to Elkunirsa, the storm god (she is often viewed in connection with the regional storm god).
As Athirat in Arabian inscriptions there is a possibility that she is seen as a sun goddess (this is perhaps a connection in Ugaritic literature as well). In Phoenician, she is the mother goddess, which is different from Astarte, the fertility goddess; there is some debate regarding a confusion of the two relating to 1 Kings 18:19. In Akkadian, she might be Asratum, the consort of Amurru (chief deity of early Babylon). The connection is made because the Akkadian kingship (early 14th century B.C.E.) takes the title “servant of Asherah.”
In Babylon, a goddess Ašratum, partner to the god Amurru, was worshiped in the period between ca. 1830-1531 BCE. She is known there as “the Lady of the Steppe” (bēlet sēri); “bride of the king of heaven” kallat šar šamī, and “mistress of sexual vigor and rejoicing” (bēlet kuzbi u ulsi). These titles appear to connect Ašratum with “Amorites,” who came from the north-west of Babylon.
In the texts from Mari, 1830-1760 BCE, most of the population seems to be “Amorite,” and a “land of the Amurru” is mentioned.
Lipiński (1972, pp. 101-3) discusses several South-Arabian inscriptions, a North-Arabian stele, and a few Thamudic personal names, which bear witness to the goddess Athirat in Arabia in the middle of the first millenium BCE.
Ugarit
From the Ugaritic literature, the myths and legends of 14th century Ugarit, known from the tablets found at Ras es-Shamra, we know that Athirat (as Asherah was then pronounced) was the chief goddess of the city state. She was the wife of the high god, El.
https://qetesh-iseum.co.uk/qeteshkadesh/qetesh-johanna-stuckey/
in the Ugaritic texts, Asherah was called “Lion Lady” (Wiggins 1991).[6]
Primarily, however, some scholars think that some of the Ugaritic texts
referred to Asherah as the “Holy One,” Qadesh(ah)[7](Binger 1997: 54;
Pettey 1990: 29; Cross 1973:33). And they use as additional evidence a
group of Egyptianized images usually called Qudshu plaques.
The close resemblance of the Egyptian goddess to the obviously very
popular Levantine goddess (Anat / Astarte / Asherah) is extremely
striking. What is more, several of these Egyptianized plaques bear
inscriptions giving the goddess a name: Qudshu or Qodshu, also Qedeshet
and Qetesh, the “Holy or Sacred One.” Clearly, the Egyptians of the Late
Bronze Age (ca.1550-ca.1200 BCE) worshipped this goddess both at home
and abroad. As we shall see, she probably originated in the
Syro-Canaanite part of the Egyptian empire[8] and seemingly was adopted
into Egyptian religion during the Ramesside Age (1300-1200 BCE).
the double
symbolic use of the snake: it is a snake who attempts to block the nocturnal trip of the sun. It’s a
snake in the depth of the cave from which comes the beneicial Nile lood, guiding the cycle of life,
death and rebirth, the balance and time. And the demiurge is a snake
Each moulting of the snake corresponds to a completed temporal cycle21, that should be
seen within the context of the diferent stages of cultural development, which participate in the
blossoming of one’s vital energy, known to the ancient Egyptians by the term ka22.
he ka plays a critical role in the expression of individual and royal energy. his is transmitted
by the goddess Renenutet who is present at the origin of the production and the abundance of
(food-)kau, as is attested by the epithet, “Lady of (food-)ka(u)”, a term by which she is most
commonly known, especially on jar-stamps (where it occurs in a shortened form). he goddess is
thus the guarantor of harvests and of prosperity
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