Asherah Abscondita Artist Book by Charlotte Scholl Shurtz
Handmade accordion book with poem and vine patterns. The poem was inspired by reading William Dever’s Did God Have a Wife? Archeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel.
Poem Text
We baked cakes for the Queen of Heaven,
poured libations to the Nursing Goddess,
made vows with the Subduer of the Seas,
sang of the Lion Lady,
planted trees and engraved poles.
The priests and prophet objected,
“You shall have no other gods before me.
I am the One and Only, says El.”
Revising and recreating his history,
no, our history and our theology.
But still, he was the prophet.
He commanded us to
cloak the consort to El,
mask the Mother God,
forget the Female.
So we disfigured the trees and destroyed the poles,
silenced our songs,
forsook our promises,
dried our offerings and our tears, and
crumbled the cakes
until She became
Asherah Abscondita.