Thanks to Msgr James for sending this article link about God’s wife and his “divorce” from MotherGod. Â See my “theories” after the short article.
http://www.helium.com/items/2119975-god-had-a-wife
Religious scholar: God had a wife
by Terrence Aym, March 20, 2011
According to theologian and historian Francesca Stavrakopoulou, God had a wife and her name was Asherah.
Wikipedia states that Asherah is mentioned in the books of Exodus, Deuteronomy, Judges, the Books of Kings, the second Book of Chronicles, and the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Micah. She crosses many of the ancient cultures and the ancient Hebrews saw her as God’s wife or “the Queen of Heaven.” She’s generally considered identical with the Ugaritic goddess Athirat by most religious historians.
The Book of Jeremiah written about 628 BC refers to the “Queen of Heaven” and many believe it’s a reference to Asherah that was not expunged by heavy editing several hundred years later.
An Oxford scholar has argued that the Book of Kings reveals the Hebrews worshiped Asherah and Yahweh in Yahweh’s Israelite temple.
Although during the past decades many religious scholars, historians and some theologians have discussed Asherah and her relationship to the Hebrew God Yahweh, it’s generally recognized that the first to discover that the ancient Hebrews worshiped both deities equally was historian Raphael Patai.
Patai voiced the argument of God and His wife, and presented evidence, to the skeptical world of 1967.
Now, more than four decades later, the world is catching up to Patai’s milestone work thanks in large part to Stavrakopoulou’s research while at Oxford University and her continuing work as a senior lecturer in the department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter.
In a written statement to the British press accompanying a three-part series airing in Western European countries about her research, Stavrakopoulou stated, “You might know him as Yahweh, Allah or God. But on this fact, Jews, Muslims and Christians, the people of the great Abrahamic religions, are agreed: There is only one of Him. He is a solitary figure, a single, universal creator, not one God among many…or so we like to believe.”
But then she shared her bombshell finding with the media stating that “After years of research specializing in the history and religion of Israel, however, I have come to a colorful and what could seem, to some, uncomfortable conclusion that God had a wife.”
Evidence in scripture and artifacts
Her startling theory which flies in the face of modern organized religion is based on artifacts from the past and ancient texts. She points to many unambiguous artifacts—primarily amulets and figurines—that have been found by archaelogists over the years. Many are from the Ugarit, an ancient Canaanite coastal city located in what later became Assyria and then, Syria.
All of the artifacts, she argues, show that the goddess Asherah was a very powerful figure, linked strongly to Yahweh, as his wife, and as the powerful fertility goddess of Creation.
Agriculture, the first and most important invention of humans, was strongly influenced by such things as a fertility goddess. Because crops were a life or death issue to everyone, Asherah was pictured as being equal to Yahweh and, in fact, his loving bride.
Her link to the Hebrew God, Stavrakopoulou says, is equally evident from an inscription discovered on a section of 8th Century BC pottery recovered from a site in the Sinai desert—as well as within the text of the Hebrew version of the Old Testament.
While describing the importance of the pottery’s message, Stavrakopoulou explained, “The inscription is a petition for a blessing. Crucially, the inscription asks for a blessing from ‘Yahweh and his Asherah.’ Here was evidence that presented Yahweh and Asherah as a divine pair. And now a handful of similar inscriptions have since been found, all of which help to strengthen the case that the God of the Bible once had a wife.”
Ancient Israelites were polytheists
The director of the Bade Museum and an associate professor of Bible and archaeology at the Pacific School of Religion, Aaron Brody, believes that all the hard evidence reveals the ancient Israelites were polytheists.
Asherah fell into disfavor soon after some high-ranking Israelites were banished to Babylon. About that time the famous Temple of Jerusalem was razed. Brody thinks those events during 586 BC were followed by a purge in Judea among the worshipers of Asherah.
Eventually only one male God—without a wife—was accepted and preached and believed by people of all the countries of the world.
Thus it might be said that by the 5th Century BC, as far as the Israelites were concerned, God got a “divorce.”
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Even today whenever we try to start up churches that worship Mother God alongside Father God, we end up with so many nut-cases that only think with their hormones. There is always one or two who show up at our meetings and ruin it for everyone by doing things like hitting on the under-age daughters of participants, stalking adult female members, and worse. I have seen it again and again in various cities and towns all over this country the past 20 years as I have tried to start God-and-Goddess Judeo-Christian churches. It is easy to see how the ancients got tired of this unfortunate side effect regarding God’s female counterpart and decided to go to all-male deities. In those days you had bandits and even groups of soldiers who would “just for the fun of it” go raid Asherah worshippers, raping priestesses and devotees, murdering anyone who got in the way of their fun. Just think of the brothels in India, the Far East and Eastern Europe where sex slaves are abused daily, repeatedly to this day. Whenever we have a place of worship that centers around a Divine Union of God and God-ess, a large segment of the population fixates on the sexual aspect of that. Even some of the all-Goddess churches I have visited, worshipped with, or worked with have large lesbian memberships (and some have all-lesbian leadership) that frown on heterosexuality.
The hormones really come out whenever the Feminine Divine takes her veils off and gets human attention. For the same reason Mary Magdalene was kept hidden “veiled”, edited out of mainstream Christianity (she remained in Gnostic scriptures and in underground Christianity as evidenced by the stained-glass church window over a century old in Scotland). It’s easier to have a celibate god and a virgin non-sexual mother as we discuss in our Restoring the Goddess lessons based on Margaret Starbird’s wonderful work. The only females that are “safe” are asexual unnatural virgins or hyper-sexual prostitutes. Males like Jesus must be stripped of their sexuality, made celibate with no hint of human sexuality.
It’s sad, and I don’t know when we will finally get there, but at least here in the Western world we can discuss, Â study and have a web-based honoring of Her. In the Middle Eastern world we’d all hang…or be beheaded, stoned to death, etc. for blasphemy, apostasy and perversion. Yes, we would be the perverted ones. Not the people who “circumcise” their female population at the age of 7 or 8 so that 90 percent of (for example) Egyptian women cannot achieve climax during relations with their husbands. Why do they want marriages like that, the Egyptian men? It is baffling that Westerners are called sexually perverted. Even Allah had a wife named Allat (she’s the same as Asherah, but the Arabic version). But don’t bring Her up, either.
I cover all this evidence of God and Allah having a Divine Spouse in my online slide presentation God Has a Wife! here:
I am glad the author of the article mentioned Raphael Patai’s work. In our online study program we have a whole course on his famous book, The Hebrew Goddess. Very inspiring book, in a scholarly way. Here’s our (old) page on the Hebrew goddess. Remind me to update that old page and add this latest research findings and my pet theories. (smile)
*
Various organized religions continue to do an astounding job of brainwashing followers into believing in an Omni-present and all powerful patriarchal god-head example; Allah, Yahawah, Jehovah, etc., with zero emphases placed upon the importance of the balance found naturally between the masculine and feminine creative forces. The motive of course is simple to comprehend as this approach lends itself well to various light of darkness constructs for control and manipulation of the individual will.
Why should it be so hard to imagine that the Creative Source embodies the resonance associated with both polarities of masculine and feminine energies, essential to manifesting the range of diversity which is creation?
Why in turn should we not embrace and utilize the infinite potential found within this polarity of opposites in our own manifestation as co-creators?
The following excerpted from Nag Hammadi Fragment “The Sophia of Jesus Christâ€
The perfect Savior said: “Son of Man consented with Sophia, his consort, and revealed a great androgynous light. His male name is designated ‘Savior, Begetter of All Things’. His female name is designated ‘All-Begettress Sophia’. Some call her ‘Pistis’.
Hello Katia,
Please look at my blog (in french) about Mary Magdalene:
http://magdala.over-blog.net/
Regards,
Magdalene
Good article. I think it more than likely, and this may be worth pondering: the OT is a work of genius in redacting/ editing skill, whether or not we like the redaction. I’ve found that there is very little in there that isn’t there on purpose, and it is my highly unscholarly opinion that if whoever did the work didn’t want readers to know the importance of Asherah in ancient Hebrew tradition, it would have been easy enough to completely edit Her out. Instead, we’ve got a ton ‘o hints, left in on purpose, and some of them not all that subtle (1 & 2 Kings, for example). Somebody wanted readers to know that this was part of the tradition.
Great slide show.
I would like to take the course.
Thanks
Fascinating. The church in Scotland is mentioned here http://www.blackshouse.demon.co.uk/dervaig_magdalene.htm , along with much more comment on MM. Photos of the beautiful Kilmore Church, in Dervaig, Scotland, are on the page here http://www.northmullparishes.org/the-parish-of-kilninian-and-kilmore-dervaig/
My first scholarly exposure to Ashera was in Margaret Barker’s The Great High Preist, and I am currently reading Patai’s book now. I enjoyed your slideshow alot, and it helped me on an intuitive level to make some spiritual connections. I personally, however, didn’t care too much for Ms. Starbird’s Woman in the Alabaster Jar. I’ve only discovered Ms. Stavrakopoulou this week, but she has been facinating so far.
It is a shame that your experience with a more feminine form of Christianity has been so negative from the males. Does it seem to get better with time and exposure (as they get acclimated to the environment), or do you think that it is more an issue of the ‘wrong’ sort being attracted to the notion in the first place?
At the end of this article you will see that the Vatican has asked for information on “forms of feminism hostile to the Church.” What an attitude!
http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/vatican-asks-parish-level-input-synod-document
“God did have a wife, say religious scholars…”
Not only “did” God have a Wife — he *does* have a Divine Spouse and Their relationship will continue *forever*! Humanity’s denying Her Existence has hardly *removed* Her from Existence!
If anyone on the contemporary scene gets in *contact* with the Real God, *He’ll* even tell them so, if they sincerely seek His input upon it (*if* they’re able to “hear” Him); and i think *He’s* more of an “Authority” on this than even the religious scholars, themselves, *or* the Bible, or the Qur’an, or any *other* “holy book” that has gotten filtered thru patriarchal biases!
Before 2013 i “heard” (telepathically) from Heavenly Father *one* statement relative to His relationship with Sophia. He said, “Sophia and I are One; the relationship will turn some.”
Mainly i “hear” from Sophia, Yeshua and Mary Magdalene — but in 2013 Father actually “came thru” and clarified (at least *somewhat* for me) the nature of His relationship with His Lady (which was something i’d been wanting genuine information upon for *several* years, because, quite frankly, i was rather *confused* as to what Their relationship actually *is*).
These were the relevant words that were received, telepathically over the thought~waves (*not* in this particular order; i’ve pulled together this arrangement from amidst the ongoing chaos of the *all* that was “heard” and written down thruout the entirety of 2013, probably somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 words in all).
*
“I am God. I am 2,100 years away from now.”
“What will you do in My absence?”
“You’ll find Me, indeed, in the Pleroma.”
“My Lady descended as Heaven.”
“Wisdom & I speak the same language. We are but One.”
“When I was still thinking of refrains She was needed at the Point of Origin.”
[So Sophia appears to be the Activating Divine Force, like Shakti… and Heavenly Father the more *passive* Divine Force — like Shiva! — a *reverse* of the roles of the Taoist yinyang! Why was She “needed” at “the Point of Origin”? Probably to hold the Forces of Cosmic Genesis in *balance*.]
“Wisdom revitalizes mankind.”
“Shakti-within Whom this was written.”
“Love Wisdom unreservedly.”
“We are One, the Holy Spirit and I.”
“Goddess is alive forever & ever.”
“Therefore I exist, & not a correct explanation threaded thru ___ ___ ____ __ _____.”
[Unfortunately i didn’t “hear” what He said in those blank spaces — but *project* that He said something like thru “all the scriptures of the past”. That “*Therefore* I exist,” — because of *Goddess!* — turns patriarchal theology upside-down and inside-out! i dearly wish He’d explain what He meant by *that* considerably *further*!]
“The Savior is your Mother.”
[*That* was pretty radical to have heard from God, Himself! *Not* Jesus Christ after all! But if Sophia *incarnated* as “Jesus Christ”…]
“Herself is Their Person.”
[In reality it is *Goddess* who is the Entire Godhead?! Well, Yeshua *did* call Her “the Mother of the All”!]
“Guardian Good.”
“And protect.”
[i *do* feel like She *has* been protecting me…]
“Keeping Heaven alive for *your* sake.”
“Having eternal life receiving only from the Mother the Kingdom.”
[God’s *actual* words ran totally *contrary* to basic Christian theology! i think most *everybody* is gonna be in for some significant *Surprises*!]
“My *Gift*.”
[Sophia, the actual Holy Spirit, Goddess Herself is Father’s Ultimate Gift to womanity. How much *longer* is it going to take humankind to “wake up” and *receive* His *Greatest* Gift?! And be *grateful* for it! Yeshua once told me, “Goddess must be elevated for a thousand years.” So probably it’s going to take at least *that* long…]
“Those who judge me: You suffered because of the flesh.”
[Wow! It’s not *really* God Who has been (or *will* be) judging us, afterall! We’ve been judging *God* — and each other. And then those who want to *elevate* their own judgments over those of others *claim* it was “God’s judgment” — by putting *their* words into *His* mouth and writing “scriptures”! What Sophia once told me was, “God never spoke but with lips of gentle laughing.” Is there *anything* attributed to God — in the Bible or in the Qu’ran that was actually spoken “with lips of gentle laughing”?! Another time Sophia told me, “I judge each according to their own best interests.” Aren’t we *fortunate* that our Divine *Mother* is the *real* “Judge”!]
[i hardly expect anyone to *believe* me — that i actually “heard” the Voice of our real Heavenly Father; that kind of doubt intrinsically “goes with” any of us venturing into this kind of territory. i would doubt it *too* if anyone but me were writing this — but having been the “receiver” i know *differently*! Of course, most Christians, as with most atheists, can only view me as being wacko-delusional… and in the case of the more conservative Christians, as someone being deceived by *demons*! Little do they realize that *they* are the ones who have been *deceived* — by the very scriptures in which they’ve *believed*! — wynn manners]
*Cosmic Mother, Wisdom’s Lovers*
http://cosmicwind.net/800/Cmwl/SiteMap/CmwlSiteMap.html
7:10 a.m. 14.March.2019