CAKES FOR THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN

A Message for Oimelc

From Jeremiah 7:18 -- the words of Yahweh:  The children gather wood, the
fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes for the
Queen of Heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may
provoke me to anger."

And from Jeremiah 44:17-18:  But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of
our own mouth, to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and pour out drink
offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our
princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem.  For then we
had plenty of food, were well- off, and saw no trouble.  But since we stopped
burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her,
we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.

Long before there was a stern male god in Israel called Yahweh, "he was," the
Hebrew people worshipped a female goddess, called Asherah.  She was also called
simply Elath (or Goddess) and she was the wife of El (the god). She had a son
and a daughter.  The son was named "Hadd" but was usually called simply Baal
(Lord).  The daughter was named "Anath."

The ceremonies to Asherah were simple ones.  Cakes would be baked for her, and
given as offerings (and consumed by the people as well.)  Incense would be
burned for her. And wine would be poured out upon the earth -- to bring forth a
good harvest.

Asherah was an agricultural goddess.  She symbolized the earth itself and in
the cultures which honored her, the people respected and cared for the earth.
As they respected and cared for themselves and each other.

The pre-Yahweh days for the Hebrew people were days of peace and prosperity.
Women were accepted as the equals of men.  Population growth was held in check.
The land was tended carefully and not overplanted.  It was a time of plenty, as
Jeremiah writes:  "For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and saw no
trouble."

And then came the stern warrior clans invading from the desert, bringing with
them a new Hebrew god, an ancestor figure whose name meant simply "he was."
Yahweh's followers insisted that he was the only god worth worshipping and that
all other deities must be abandoned.

War and coercion became a way of life.  The Jews found themselves ruled by
theocrats, whether judges or kings, and the old peaceful ways were taken from
them.

Actually, as the Bible itself points out, the old ways lasted long into
Biblical times.  Until about 586 B.C.E., in fact, the worship of Asherah was
still predominant among the common people in ancient Israel.  Only the warrior
classes, the rulers and the priests, followed the new religion of Yahweh.

Savage persecutions of worshippers of the old religion were common throughout
the first half of the last millennium before the current era.  But when the
people gave up their old ways, they stopped caring for the land, and the crops
failed.  They stopped caring for each other, and morale faded.

As Jeremiah quotes the people saying:  "But since we stopped burning incense to
the Queen of Heaven...we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the
sword and by famine."

Finally, with the Babylonian captivity, the last traces of the old religion
faded, leaving behind nothing but a memory of the Goddess -- the Shekinah, or
"presence of God," which was seen as being always a feminine power.

This time of year, the pre-lenten, or pre-springtime season, has always been a
time for the baking of cakes. Whether cakes for Asherah, the Queen of Heaven,
or cakes for Brigid and Padrick in Anglo-Saxon times.  The custom is maintained
in the Hot Cross Buns of Christian times, in the arm-clasp form of the pretzel,
the ancient spring- time bread, or in the unleavened matzos of the Jewish seder.

The bread was symbolic of the gifts of the goddess, the gifts of grain which
made civilization possible.  Bread was baked and offered to the goddess in
thanks and in hopes of continued prosperity.

Bread would be eaten at this time of year in anticipation of a good crop-year
and a good harvest for the future.

Often, the cakes were formed in the shape of a male figure (the god -- Pan,
Robin, or Padrick) and burned in the fire, to symbolize the necessity for
sacrifice.  The sun, after all, must die each year at the winter's season, that
the soil may be prepared for another season's crops.  And the long grain stalks
(John Barleycorn) must be mulched back into the soil (buried) to enrich the
soil for another season.  John Barleycorn dies in another way as well:  the
grain is drowned in water and allowed to ferment to produce the beer which now
bears John Barleycorn's name.  The first beers, by the way, were made from
simple bread, much like we will be eating this morning.

The memories of cakes for the Queen of Heaven are memories of a more peaceful
time for human beings.  When the sword did not rule human affairs, and when
people cared both for each other and for the earth their Mother.

The Goddess is a more civilized deity for modern human beings.  She would
support no wars -- for whatever cause save self-defense.  She is concerned for
all her children, of whatever species and of whatever age or sex.

Prophets have come preaching the Goddess' love and peace, and they have been
destroyed and their dreams twisted.

Jesus the Nazarean preached love for all human beings, the equality of humans,
and the need for a pacifist response to all violence.  He was crucified and his
name used to create an even more violent religion than the one he attempted to
reform!

Joan of Arc preached equality of all peoples.  She led her people in
self-defense against the English invader -- and for her temerity she was burned
at the stake as a witch (which she was!)

Henry David Thoreau and Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., all
preached a peaceful approach to justice. Thoreau was imprisoned and Gandhi and
King assassinated.

In the Burning Times (the Inquisition), the peaceful farming people who baked
cakes for the Queen of Heaven and who tended their land and their families with
love and concern were tortured and burned at the stake -- millions of them.

Let us this morning offer cakes to the Queen of Heaven and offer ourselves as
examples of lives led in simplicity and in peace and in unity with our planet.
As you eat these small loaves, focus your mind on the need for peace, not only
in the middle east but throughout the entire world.

Don't be seduced by the lies of what Buckminster Fuller called the Robber
Barons who rule the world.  When the news reports tell of Americans dropping
napalm on enemy lines, they are really saying that thousands of human beings
are being burned alive.  When they say that Baghdad is without water and
electricity for nearly a month, they are saying that thousands of children are
suffering and facing a massive cholera epidemic.

These cakes are offerings for an older way of life, for a way of life in which
killing and violence are unacceptable.  For a religion based on love for the
earth and real love for all inhabitants of the earth, of whatever religion,
race, sex, age or species!

Blessed Be!

Rel Davis

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