Posted on September 26, 2012 by inannamago | 3 Comments
Early Judaic and Islamic-based religions commonly denounced goddess worship. They simultaneously synchretized some of the same elements and locations associated with the pre-existing female deities they sought to defeat. The elder deities and sacred symbols were overlaid by patriarchal, male-dominated religions and have been held up as archetypes. I argue that these patriarchal patterns are better called “patriarchetypes” because they merely mask the true archetypes.
“He Who Dwelt in the Bush”: Thorn Trees in the Mosaic Tradition
Most people are familiar with the biblical accounts of Moses, the burning bush, and the Ark of the Covenant. Some may be aware that the Ark was made specifically out of shittim or acacia wood. What many people may not know is that acacias are thorn trees and that the burning-bush is also said to have been a thorn-bush. This is significant because not only were both considered to be the dwelling places of the Hebrew God, but even more so because in the ancient Middle and Near East thorn trees were first associated with and represented female deities.
The theophany of the burning-bush is found in Exodus 3:1-5 and again in Deuteronomy 33:16, where God is called “the Lord” and is referred to as “he who dwelt in the bush.” These references raise, yet do not answer, the question as to what kind of bush it was. To find the answer, we must look outside scripture. In “On the Life of Moses,” Philo wrote that the burning-bush “was a bush or briar, a very thorny plant,” and in the writings of the Roman historian Josephus, we find that “a fire fed upon a thorn bush.”
Later in Exodus, at Mt. Sinai, Yahweh instructed Moses to use acacia wood, a type of thorn tree, for the construction of the Ark of the Covenant, the sacred table, the tabernacle, and the altar. Where did this wood come from? According to Exodus 35:24, the Hebrews had it with them; “….every man, with whom was found shittim wood for any work of the service, brought it.” No other scriptural explanation is given regarding the source of the acacia wood. Rabbinical literature, however, does explain that, on the way to Egypt, Jacob went to Beersheba to cut down and harvest the groves that were planted there by Abraham. This act was not without great purpose, as we find much later that it was taboo to cut trees still growing there because they were consecrated only for the Ark.
She Who Resides within the Tree: the Thorn Tree in Arabic Tradition
The history of the ritualistic use of thorn trees is indicative of their significance and raises questions regarding their symbolic meaning. Clues to the answers to these questions survived into much later times, as we find in pre-Islamic Arabia.
There are many biblical references to the abolition of goddess worship, and according to the Koran, the foundation of Mohammed’s teachings in the seventh century CE also depended on this abolition. During this time he ordered acacia trees to be destroyed along with the shrines of the goddesses Al-Uzza, Al-Lat, and Manat. Al-Uzza was the goddess of the Quraysh tribe and also a deity of the Ghatfan tribe, who worshipped her in the form of an acacia tree. The Ghatfan constructed a temple called “Boss” over this tree, built so that it made a sound whenever someone entered. Under the instruction of Mohammed, in 629 CE Khalid Ibn Walid, a loyal follower, destroyed the tree and the temple and killed the priestess.
The gum of acacia trees was highly valued for several reasons, including the belief that it was a clot of the tree’s menstrual blood. This indicates that the tree was considered to be a woman. Within Islamic tradition this parallel has multiple meanings, as, according to the Koran, God created man from a clot of blood (96: 1-2). At birth, the gum of the acacia, or haid, was used as an amulet, rubbed on the heads of newborn babies to keep them safe from the jinn. In similar ceremonies, the shaved heads of newborns were typically daubed with the blood of a sacrificial animal, such as a sheep.
Mohammed had ordered the destruction of temples and acacia trees of the goddesses, yet he himself stood beneath such thorny branches as followers swore to him the “oaths of the tree.”