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We stepped down a path well-worn by many feet through many seasons. It was soft, smooth under our bare feet and on either side the branches were heavy with blossom—almond trees planted by tender hands, long dead, lost dust but never forgotten, their stories told around the feasting table. Music too—a zither, a flute, the heartbeat of a drum.
“Our feet knew this path well. As children, we followed our mothers, our arms filled with loaves and sweet-smelling flowers or we held the hands of our grand-dams. From this old road, we entered into a clearing at the crest of the hill. The grove of our Oldest Mother waited for the women each month at the crescent Moon. Our Mother stood in a circle of almond trees, an image carved from a cedar tree.
She stood straight and tall, carved by women’s hands long ago and smeared with sacred milk and honey, and with holy blood. Her face was strange with large staring eyes that looked into the future and into the past. She was taller than the tallest village woman and stout, firmly set in the earth. Her arms were folded above her belly and they held new babies, wild tears, offerings of small stones and beads. She was strong and beautiful, our perfect Mother.
Sweet herbs and flowers were always strewn at the base of the wooden plinth and there were gifts among the stems—bowls of goat milk, shiny rocks, handfuls of dates. We would touch her with reverent fingertips, dusting the old wood with our kisses. The love that flowed through this grove sustained the women from moon to moon as the world changed around us. We drew comfort from ancient familiarity and unquestioning adoration. A place of wisdom, a place where our grief had a container but our joy was unbound. We danced, alone or in a tight circle, our hands around our sisters’ waists, our heads resting on soft shoulders, our floating hair scented with rose and frankincense.“
-H. Byron Ballard, excerpt from “The Grove of Earthly Delights” - Asherah: Roots of the Mother Tree.
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H. Byron Ballard