[Editor’s Note: This excerpt series is from Asherah: Roots of the Mother Tree ed by Claire Dorey, Janet Rudolph, Pat Daly, and Trista Hendren (Girl God Books, 2025).]
Asherah Lady of the Sea: Her Cultural Memory
Claire Dorey
[Author’s note: Because translations are under copyright, even though the ancient texts aren’t, I’ll be describing passages rather than quoting them. This piece isn’t intended to be a scholastic paper; it is a bystander’s observation.]
With the flick of a quill, Biblical scribes cast the Divine Female out of mythology, just as Eve and Adam were cast out of the Garden of Eden. Scholars observe that evolutions of mythology from the Ugaritic texts, dating from 1400 BCE, written centuries before the Bible, exist within the Old Testament. But what of Asherah? Are there traces of Her in biblical passages, other than those calling for Her destruction?
We can imagine how Asherah’s existence challenged the authoritarian aloneness of the godhead because the patriarchal scribes slash her with their pens. Even though it is fragmented, the Baal Cycle paints a portrait of a supreme and stable Mother Goddess. Journeying through the texts, it appears the cultural memory of the Mother Goddess Asherah lives on and may also be present in the New Testament.
Asherah, Athirat (in Ugarit), Elat, qdš “holiness,” qnyt ỉlm “Progenitress of the Gods,” “Fisherman Lady of the Sea,” Mother Goddess in the heavens, Queen Mother in the ethereal, glittering palace, with her consort and co-creator, the grey bearded, fertility god El, command a pantheon of deities. Asherah and El represent a divine pairing of female and male energies. It appears the Grey Beard archetype, El represents, became the benign face of monotheistic, patriarchal rule, once the Divine Female archetype was dropped.
Asherah has seventy children forming a pantheon of gods, described as sons in the translation, but there are references to “ewe-lamb goddesses,” “cow-goddesses,” and “chair goddesses.” There are many deities in the Ugarit pantheon. For my purposes I’m focusing on a few: Rider of the clouds, storm god of rain, hurricanes and thunderstorms, Ba’al (Hadad); personification of the deified sea, Yamm; torch of the gods, sun Goddess Shapash; god of wisdom Kothar; warrior and harbinger of destruction, Goddess Anat.
There are traces of storm god Ba’al in the vitriolic God of the Old Testament, who sent apocalyptic floods to destroy his “creation.” God’s battles for religious supremacy [over Asherah?] may mirror Ba’al vying for supremacy in the Baal Cycle, describing a cosmic battle between Ba’al and Yamm. Aided by Anat, Ba’al is victorious, knocking Yamm off his throne. Later, Ba’al battles Mot, god of death, who devours him. I’m not covering this part of the story here.
Casting my nets through just a few texts I’m catching more than fish. I’m catching twists and mirroring!
Nets
There is a passage in the Baal Cycle where Asherah asks the “fisherman of Asherah of the Sea” to cast his net into the sea, into El’s beloved Yamm (the sea as deity), into the depths of El (her consort).
At the Lake of Galilee, Jesus asks fisherman Simon Peter to,
“Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.” (Luke 5:4 KJV)
Ecclesiastes 9:12 talks of “evil nets.” I’m wondering if “evil nets” refers to nets cast by pagans and Asherah devotees to “catch” disciples.
A Feast of Fish
One fragment describes “Lady Asherah of the Sea” ceremonially descaling fish, throwing their skins into the deep, then heating a skillet upon coals, in preparation for a feast and possibly making offerings.
In John 21:9, Jesus makes breakfast for his disciples,
“[ ] they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.”
In Luke 9:16, Jesus prepares sacred fish for the 5,000, by blessing them.
Through the metaphor of fish, Asherah’s role as nurturer, provider and guru emerges. From my humble viewpoint, the role of Jesus, as a manifestation during the Age of Pisces, symbolized by the fish, embodies the very same female energy Asherah inspires, including kindness, compassion and love. Followers of Goddess know the Vesica Pisces (meaning “fish bladder”), a symbol the Divine Feminine, is a portal to knowledge. Open your eyes and you will see.
In an attempt to rebalance the chaotic masculine energy dominating the Old Testament, has the cultural memory of Asherah, representing the calm, nurturing presence of the Mother Goddess, permeated into the character of Jesus?
In the Bible, the fish metaphor is existential. References include: multitudes of fish and healed waters (Ezekiel 47:9); man having dominion over fish of the sea (Genesis 1:26); asking for fish, receiving a serpent (Luke 11:11)… and more… Did the Bible defer to Asherah of the Sea as a source of wisdom, reflecting her wisdom within its wisdom?
Fishermen, Followers and Guiding Stars
Jesus allegorizes “fishermen” to inspire his disciples.
“And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Mark 1:17 KJV)
One passage in the Ugaritic texts describes Qudšu-wa-Amrur, Asherah’s “fisherman,” saddling a donkey for Her. He lifts Asherah upon the donkey’s back, leading Her like a star from the front. Asherah’s “fisherman,” a minor, luminary god, was Her messenger and male attendant. Qudšu meaning “holiness” was a Canaanite name for Asherah.
It’s hard not to draw comparisons with the popular image of Mary riding a donkey towards Bethlehem. When Armur leads like a star, it is hard not to see similarities with the three Magi following the Star of Bethlehem.
“Fishers of men” and “Asherah’s fisherman” allude to loyal spiritual devotion.
Mary, a Drop in the Sea
One title Mary, Mother of Jesus, has been known by is stilla maris, “a drop of the sea.”[1] The Hebrew name Maryam (Miryam, Miriam) may have been derived from biblical words, mar “drop” (Isaiah 40:15) and yam “sea.”[2]
Once seen it is hard to unsee Ugarit god of the sea, Yamm, within the name “Maryam.” Once seen it is hard to unsee “Asherah Lady of the Sea” within the name “Mary Our Lady of the Sea.” Both Asherah and Mary embody the watery, sea-space of the primordial womb: tidal, celestial, menstrual. Both were mothers of the sons of gods.
Palaces built of Cedar wood
With the help of Anat and Asherah, Ba’al persuades El to procure him a fragrant, cedar-framed, herb-filled, lapis and gilded palace, upon Mount Zaphon. To illustrate the importance of high places its worth mentioning that Asherah followers continued to worship, at groves on the top of hills, in Biblical times.
It is to Asherah, the mediator (remember Ba’al conquered El’s beloved Yamm), that the invocations and offerings are made. Ba’al pays Asherah homage, professing his reverence and devotion to the “Progenitress of the gods,” so he can secure a palace and a court, similar to the one Asherah’s sons preside over.
“Ba’al’s Palace,” constructed from “precious trees from Lebanon, and cedarsfrom Siri[on],” maybe a metaphor for ascension to the realms of the cosmic deities, including founding a dynasty.
Both Ba’al and David ask their gods for “houses” which is probably a metaphor for bloodline.
“Why have ye not built Me a house of cedar?”
(2 Samuel 7.4-7 KJV)
[Worth noting: Both El and the covenant reside in tents, not in palaces.]
Patrilineal lineages are being formed in these stories. However it is worth mentioning that there are traces of Divine Female presence within the word “Shekhinah,” a Hebrew word, with a feminine ending, meaning “house of god.”
Asherah is associated with cedars, as is the Greek Artemis. Paghat the Ratgirl suggests “gates of cedar trees” could represent the gates to the Earth Mother’s womb.[3] Even today the Cedars of Lebanon represent divinity, eternity and peace, qualities Asherah embodies.
Cedars of Lebanon, a Battle for Ownership
In the Bible the Cedar tree is described as the “Lord’s tree, full of sap”; as the “first of trees,” and the “glory of Lebanon.” It appears somewhere along the line God decided to wage war against trees, possibly because they represented rebellious women, rival deities or non-compliant neighbours. In the Bible, Assyrian power is compared to a “Cedar in Lebanon.”
“O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!”
(Jeremiah 22:23 KJV)
This Biblical battle for ownership of and power over the trees extends beyond burning Asherah’s sacred groves,
“The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea,
The LORD breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.
The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire.”
(Psalms 29:4,5,7 KJV)
[Note: Ba’al’s cedar palace burns.]
Jeremiah 7:17–18 (KJV) paints a portrait of a jealous and petulant god, spinning a narrative of patriarchal victimization. He believes women in Judah and Jerusalem bake cakes for Asherah, the Queen of Heaven, to spite him!
A Palace, Two Rivers and Great Cedars
In the texts, Asherah is riding her donkey, making her way to El’s palace [a palatial tent], following Qadesh wa-Amrur, her shining star.
Wiggin’s describes El’s palatial tent as being at “the source of the rivers, in the midst of the confluence of the two deeps.”[4] Others describe El’s tent as being at the edge of the world where the cosmic waters of the heavens and earth meet, a windy place between two oceans, at the source of “two Floods.”
“Two Floods” may describe a flood plain rather than the Biblical flood narrative, where two floods may have merged into a single story. Are these rivers the Tigris and the Euphrates, or the river Kedesha running through Lebanon’s ancient cedar forest? Ezekial 31:7 (KJV) mentions Cedars being rooted in “great waters.”
Asherah as Tree, with Roots in the Water
Rather than texts, I’m deferring to ancient images to find out more about the roots of the Tree Goddess tapping into water. According to Elizabeth D. Van Buren[5] trees can be considered sacred when they stand upon a base or are in prominent positions.
In her essay, Great Asherah, the Tree of Life, Yvonne Owens, Ph.D.[6] flags up two images. One is on a cylinder seal, 2350 BCE, from Mari, Syria, pre-dating the Ugaritic texts, depicting an Amorite king/god sitting upon his mountain throne (his mons venus?). Two serpents flank the mountains. Two rivers flow from the serpent’s mouths, watering the roots of a pair of trees, whose trunks are drawn as human women, a precursor to the two olive trees in Revelations 11:4, representing God’s Truth, possibly two Asherahs? Her next image graces a coin from Tyre, Lebanon (4th C. BCE approx). It depicts a tree and an incense altar, beneath which there is a spring with two branches.
One illustration upon a Bronze Age Lachish (Canaanite) Ewer, has the word “Elat” written above an image of a tree, denoting Goddess. The Tree Goddess archetype has longevity, spanning time and geography, and in at least two images is associated with springs and rivers.
Perhaps “Two Rivers” symbolizes a shift in mind state from turbulent to calm. Perhaps “two springs” represent breast milk, arguably the foundation of civilization. The Revadim Asherah[7], depicts Asherah splaying her vulva, whilst feeding twins at her breasts (compare to images of Mother Goddess Hathor weaning civilization).
Seeing, Being Seen and Acts of Resistance
Ba’al asks the god Kothar not to install windows in his palace. He doesn’t want his nemesis Yamm spying upon the women inside. Ba’al’s palace becomes a prison for women.
Even today morality laws in Afghanistan, a form of gender segregation, ban the installation of windows in residential buildings to stop women from being seen (or seeing). If women had no hold over men, they would not put so much effort into silencing, erasing and building walls around them. Just like trees, without sunlight (without Shapash the sun Goddess) women wilt.
Windows and women’s relationship to them hold significance in the story of Jezebel, the Canaanite princess and follower of Asherah, who married an Israelite king.
This powerful female outsider was considered a threat to the Israelites and labelled the Whore of Ba’al. When Jehu, the general who murdered her son, came for Jezebel, she painted her face and jeered at him from her window (2 Kings 9:30 KJV). As punishment she was thrown out of the window. Her body was scavenged by dogs.
With Mother Goddess Asherah by her side, her back literally against the wall, Jezebel chose to paint her face [put her war paint on] and go down in flames, the ultimate act of resistance.
Mirroring Belief Systems
I hope I have done enough to show, in this short space, at least some the twists and mirroring of ancient mythologies within our foundational belief systems. No doubt, patriarchal reversal techniques [and violence] stole the power of the Divine Female. In these pivotal times, as women’s rights are being eroded once more, should we opt, like Jezebel, with Asherah at our side, to go down in flames, or should we recede into the forest, living to fight another day?
References
Ancient Near Eastern Texts, Relating to the Old Testament, Edited by James B. Pritchard. Myths of Baal and Yamm. Princeton. New Jersey. Princeton University Press. 1969. Ugaric Myths, Epics, and Legends. Translator: H.L. Ginsberg. Balyamm PDF. Marquette Edu. https://www.marquette.edu/maqom/baalyamm.pdf
“The Wings of the Dove are Covered with Silver: The (Absent) Presence of the Goddess in Psalm 68”. Ugarit-Forschungen. 47: 303. ISSN 0342-2356.
Smith, Mark, Dr. Pitard, Wayne. The Ugaritic Baal Cycle: Introduction with Text, Translation and Commentary of KTU/Cat 1.3-1.4 v. 2 (Vetus Testamentum Supplements) (Supplements to Vetus Testamentum)
Product Bundle – Brill. 15 Dec. 2008.
[1] Mary The Blessed Virgin. Catholic Encyclopedia.
[2] A. Maas, “The Name of Mary”, The Catholic Encyclopedia (1912), citing Franz von Hummelauer (in Exod. et Levit., Paris, 1897, p. 161).
[3] Myths of the Cedar of Lebanon. Paghat.com
[4] Wiggins, Steve (2007). A reassessment of Asherah: with further considerations of the goddess. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
[5] E. D. Van Buren, Symbols of the Gods in Mesopotamian Art (Rome- Pontifical Inst., 1945), p. 22. Walker, M. Justin (2016).
[6]Owens, Yvonne, Ph.D. Great Asherah, the Tree of Life,. Apr 1, 2024. yewtree2.medium.com. White Stone Cylinder Seal from Mari (2350–2150 BCE), after Keel, Symbolism, fig. 42. Bronze Coin (c. 3 cm diam. from Tyre, third-fourth cent. CE). After Keel, Symbolism, fig. 247.
[7] Beck, Pirhiya (1986). “A new Type of Female Figurine”. Insight Through Images: Studies in Honor of Edith Porada: 29–34.