Lessons from Asherah, God’s Secret Wife

Did you know that God once had a wife?

Asherah, an ancient Canaanite goddess associated with trees, was once worshiped alongside Yahweh, the named god of the Hebrew Bible. Her symbol, a stylized tree called an Asherah pole, was often found right beside Yahweh’s symbol—a stone—inside his temples. Ancient inscriptions read “Yahweh and His Asherah,” a phrase that also appears in the Hebrew Bible. It appears that Asherah and Yahweh were once worshiped together as the feminine and masculine aspects of God. Today, however, most people don’t even know her name.

So, how did this happen? Today, when we think of the god of the Bible, we think of the one and only. Modern Judaism and Christianity are monotheistic, holding the belief not only that the Biblical god is the God, but that there aren’t any other gods. And yet, this wasn’t always the case. In the Bible itself, God makes clear that he should be worshiped above any other god, because, as he states, “I am a jealous god.” So, who were these other gods he was so jealous of? And what happened to Asherah?

A Forgotten Mother Goddess

During the times recounted in the Hebrew Bible, most of the world was polytheistic: Many gods and goddesses were worshiped together, sometimes at the same time. Many cities had a favorite god, one who would preside over a specific area of land, but there was nothing wrong with worshiping multiple deities depending on what you needed. The gods also pretty much always had consorts—counterparts that presided over different aspects of life.

El was the father god of the Canaanite pantheon, and Asherah was his counterpart. In early parts of the Bible, God is referred to as “El” and his children were the “Elohim,” a word used later in the Bible to refer simply to the deity. In fact, the word “Israel,” along with the common names Samuel, Michael, Ishmael, Raphael, and Gabriel, all come from that root word: “of El,” of God.

El and Asherah had many children—Elohim—including Astarte, a beautiful goddess who bears great similarities to other famous goddesses, including Ishtar, Isis, and later, Aphrodite. Anat was a fierce warrior goddess who resembled the Hindu destroyer goddess Kali. Mot was the god of death, Yam was the god of the sea, and Baal was a storm god whose characteristics later merged with those of Yahweh. Baal was especially demonized in the Biblical stories. Yahweh may also have been a son of El and Asherah.

Feminine Balance to a Male God

Throughout the many trials and tribulations of the Israelites, some decided that the cause of their suffering was that they were continuing to worship these other gods alongside Yahweh. A long campaign of monotheism was introduced, eventually moving the other gods and goddesses into the shadows as Yahweh took primacy. While El and most of the others faded into the background, Asherah remained, now as the consort of Yahweh, who was once her son.

Even within the Bible itself, it’s clear that the people struggled to let her go. There is a passage in the Book of Jeremiah (44:18) where the prophet is trying to explain to the people that they must let go of their goddess, and one replies: “We’re going to go right on offering sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, keeping up the traditions set by our ancestors, our kings, and government leaders in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem in the good old days. […] the moment we quit sacrificing to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out offerings to her, everything fell apart. We’ve had nothing but massacres and starvation ever since.”

The Israelites were happy to take on Yahweh as their main deity, but they wanted a goddess, too—a feminine divinity who could balance out the masculine qualities of Yahweh.

By this time, Yahweh had taken on the characteristics of El and Baal, both storm gods (much like the Greek Zeus). It’s not completely clear who Yahweh is: The YHWH means something like “I am who I am.” The authors of the Hebrew bible avoid writing his full name, so it’s not clear if this god is the El of the earlier Bible taking on a new form, if it’s El’s son doing a power grab, or if it’s a new deity coming from, essentially, nowhere. To this day, there is a taboo in Jewish culture around naming God out loud or in writing.

The Ancient Divine Feminine, Remembered

Interestingly, in Hebrew mythology, Lilith was Adam’s first wife, the first creation by God (or El and Asherah, as some now believe). She wasn’t happy in the garden of Eden, especially when Adam tried to make her submit, so she escaped, in part because she somehow knew “the secret name of God.” This secret name isn’t revealed in this story, but some believe it’s actually the name of Amun, an Egyptian god who broke off from the Egyptian pantheon because he wanted to be worshiped alone, taking primacy over the other gods around him. In another story, the Egyptian goddess Isis learns Amun’s true name, which gives her power over him, so there may be some connection there.

But it’s Asherah’s name who became a secret. When the Latin and Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible were done, the word “Asherah” was changed to “wood” or “grove.” We’ve lost a lot about her, but we do know she was a goddess of trees. The region where she came from was dry and desert-like, and trees like the date palm were vital for the survival (and sweetness) of the people she sustained. Some believe she is also associated with psychedelic plant medicine, perhaps bringing people direct visions of the divine.

Asherah may represent the ancient divine feminine that is hidden within the pre-Judeo-Christian tradition. Some of the people—specifically, those who could read, write, and translate—decided that Asherah should be eradicated. It took a long time to completely erase Asherah from the Biblical narrative, and though it was eventually done successfully, she exists even now. Asherah was God’s wife, the goddess of the Hebrew people, outcast from the Bible—and we do know her name.

To learn more, read When God Had a Wife by Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince.

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