Ivonne Montijo

Wisdom, Asherah, & The Tree of Life Ivonne Montijo

We have been led to believe that for the past 5000 years that the feminine has not been an active agent in the Judeo-Christian tradition. But many feminists will rightfully assert that we have been led astray. Just as the feminine was an active agent in the Near Eastern Traditions, the Egyptian, Greek and Hindu traditions she was also present in the Hebrew Tradition. It is through the lens of the feminist theologian employing feminist criticism and the hermeneutics of suspicion that I am going to explore the issue of the consort of Yahweh. I propose that Wisdom/Sophia as evidenced in the Hebrew Bible was the consort of Yahweh. In addition to this there is also a link from Wisdom/Sophia to Asherah as the consort of Yahweh in the Hebrew Bible. I further intend to demonstrate that the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden myth is in actuality symbolic of the divine feminine consort of Yahweh. In order to be able to construct a viable picture of the consort of Yahweh I will be exploring who is Yahweh?; who is Wisdom?; who is Asherah and the symbolism of sacred trees in her cult?, and finally how does the symbolism of the sacred trees of Asherah connect to the Tree of Knowledge in the Adam & Eve Myth.