Monday, June 23, 2008

Goddess Judaism and Jewitchery



I'm really rather interested in Goddess Judaism and Jewitchery - not that I'm Jewish, I'm not, but I am interested in ancient Israelite religion, Near Eastern goddesses, that sort of thing. One interesting goddess is the Biblical Asherah - when she's not simply being a wooden pole ('asherah') that must be smashed of course! Check the Hebrew Bible for more on that if you're confused. Anyway, some of the sites I think are interesting are Peel-a-Pom, which is a blog, Shuv Tamid, an online temple of Asherah, Mishkan Shekhinah, a goddess temple, Kohenet, the Hebrew Priestess Institute, Tel Shemesh, an Earth-based Judaism page, The Lilith Institute, the Women in Judaism journal, and of course The Lilith Shrine (for uppity Jewish [and Gentile] women). If I *was* Jewish, I'd be doing Goddess Judaism for sure! Hey, while you're at it, also check out PaleoJudaica.

5 comments:

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  2. Thanks for the shout-out Caroline! You should also add www.shuvtamid.org to your list! That's D'vorah K'lilah, one of my Kohenet sisters' site. She is highly focused on near eastern goddesses. I think her work is incredibly innovative.

    p.s. I hit delete by mistake. That was really stupid.

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  3. Interesting. You haven't met Trista from my f-list on facebook have you? You'd likely love having a nice, deep, detailed discussion with her. I do.
    Oh as I recall Asherim were measuring rods, but the use of them as representatives suggests that Ashera/Astarte would have been seen as the embodiment of the World Tree, much as in the identifications of the stang in TIW.

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  4. Thanks for all the links, Caroline.

    Trystn: "Asherim" as measuring rods was one theory, but more and more mainstream anthropologists and archeologists are confirming that Asherah was a Goddess honored by the ancient Hebrews. You (and others) may be interested in one of the more recent books, by archeologist William G. Dever: Did God Have a Wife: Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel. I reviewed in on medusacoils.blogspot.com

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