ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that the Hebrew religion contains a female divine figure, Asherah, who may have been the consort of God, Yhwh, and also was interchangeable with the Tree of Life. This latter is represented by the Menorah, the seven branched candlestick, a religious symbol in Judaism whose connection with the female aspect of divinity has been lost. The biblical writers lived with the evidences around them of sacred fertility rituals on every high hill and under every green tree in honour of the goddess Asherah. Wallace's identification of Eve, with Asherah and with the Tree of Life, may be deemed by some to be a walk along the wild side of speculation, yet its resonances with the polemics of the material are strong. An account of the mythology of the sacred tree is given by Yarden who connects it closely with the Menorah.
