The "Queen of Heaven" and Astarte
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 4:32 am
As a fan of Mariology found among the Eastern and Western Orthodox and Catholic Churches, I have always had a fascination for the beautiful designs, details and devotions to Saint Mary, the Mother of God. To the East we see her as Theotokos, the God-Bearer and the Ark of the Covenant, the one who holds the Law and articles of the Prophets. To the West we envision the Immaculate Conception, the untouched pure vessel only touched by the Perfect Spirit of God, and we also see the numerous visions worldwide who show a Mother of the Universe who looks over Her Children in compassion and sorrow.
I wish to focus on one of the Marian titles, the Queen of Heaven. Before the coming of the Christian era, Diana, Hera, Asherah, Astarte, Anat, Innana and Isis all were called by their worshipers and praised as the Queen of Heaven. There is even found among recent discoveries that Frigg also bore this title. The Hebrew Prophet Jeremiah wrote of Asherah(possibly Astarte)(v.7:18): "The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger." and also (v44:15-18)"Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, along with all the women who were present—a large assembly—and all the people living in Lower and Upper Egypt, said to Jeremiah, "We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD! We will certainly do everything we said we would: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our fathers, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no harm. But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine." Innana would call herself as the Queen of Heaven when announcing herself by title. Prayers to Isis are found to use this title in their praise to the Goddess. (Some info used from here)
So how did Mary, the Virgin who bore baby Jesus during the Roman occupation of the Levant, become another in the long list of the "Queen of Heaven" title? According to EWTN "That Kingdom ruled by God is the same as the Kingdom ruled eternally by the Son of David. It is not an earthly kingdom, though it is present on earth in the Church, but a heavenly kingdom, the Kingdom of God. The Queen of that Kingdom is the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Lord God Jesus Christ." However I prefer the original explanation they use on the same page just a couple paragraphs before, "The Canaanite worship of the "Queen of Heaven" condemned by the prophets is mentioned, as is the worship of Diana of the Ephesians, devotion to whom was exceeding popular before the Gospel arrived among the pagans. It is said that Catholicism at the Council of Ephesus restored this pagan devotion under the cover of devotion to Mary."
Thoughts?
I wish to focus on one of the Marian titles, the Queen of Heaven. Before the coming of the Christian era, Diana, Hera, Asherah, Astarte, Anat, Innana and Isis all were called by their worshipers and praised as the Queen of Heaven. There is even found among recent discoveries that Frigg also bore this title. The Hebrew Prophet Jeremiah wrote of Asherah(possibly Astarte)(v.7:18): "The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger." and also (v44:15-18)"Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, along with all the women who were present—a large assembly—and all the people living in Lower and Upper Egypt, said to Jeremiah, "We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD! We will certainly do everything we said we would: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our fathers, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no harm. But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine." Innana would call herself as the Queen of Heaven when announcing herself by title. Prayers to Isis are found to use this title in their praise to the Goddess. (Some info used from here)
So how did Mary, the Virgin who bore baby Jesus during the Roman occupation of the Levant, become another in the long list of the "Queen of Heaven" title? According to EWTN "That Kingdom ruled by God is the same as the Kingdom ruled eternally by the Son of David. It is not an earthly kingdom, though it is present on earth in the Church, but a heavenly kingdom, the Kingdom of God. The Queen of that Kingdom is the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Lord God Jesus Christ." However I prefer the original explanation they use on the same page just a couple paragraphs before, "The Canaanite worship of the "Queen of Heaven" condemned by the prophets is mentioned, as is the worship of Diana of the Ephesians, devotion to whom was exceeding popular before the Gospel arrived among the pagans. It is said that Catholicism at the Council of Ephesus restored this pagan devotion under the cover of devotion to Mary."
Thoughts?