SOURCE OF INFO: https://scottyonker.com/easter-ishtar-ashtoreth/
Posted on 18. Apr,
2014 by admin in Equipping the Saints
Is Easter related
to the pagan goddess Ishtar? Variations of the same name,
such as Astarte and Ashtoreth have direct
etymological relation to Ishtar, as well as characteristic relation; But is
Easter related in the same way? This question has set off a whirlwind of
opinions mixed with some truths and speculations of diverse
controversies. This article may bring some clarity in discerning facts
from assumptions.
First, we’ll start
with identifying the pagan Goddess Ishtar, defining her distinct
characteristics, and highlight the way her legend was taken with different
people throughout the world. Then we’ll look into Easter to see what kind
of relation there may be.
Ishtar | Astarte | Ashtoreth
Indeed, Ishtar,
Astarte, and Ashtoreth are all name-variations of the same female counterpart
of the Babylonian “Holy Trinity” (Baal, Ashtoreth & Tummuz). Anyone
familiar with sacred scripture has seen Baal & Ashtoreth repeatedly
mentioned in the negative, as Canaanite deities. These deities root to ancient
Babylon of King Nimrod, who’s legend morphed into Marduk – the sun-god, known by the
Canaanites as Baal; His Queen,
Semiramis, representing the moon goddess named Ishtar, known by the Canaanites as Ashtoreth; Last but not least is the immaculately
conceived “divine son” Tammuz, believed to be the reincarnation of the sun-god Baal.
The
“Divine Queen-Mother” moon-goddess, Ishtar, represents the grand goddess of love, sex, beauty &
fertility – according to the Morning Star, and according to the Evening Star – the goddess of war & hunting.
Known as Ashtart by the Phoenicians, and Ashtoreth by Canaanites. Asarte being
the Greek transliteration of Ashtart, which different Greek factions rendered
other variations such as Aphrodite and Dianna.
The scattering from
Babylon caused divisions of people with different languages to carry the same
deity-figures with different names and character variations which multiplied to
create polytheism. Even with the many variations among the different religious
systems, there still remained fundamental characteristics, symbolism &
themes which synchronized to keep a common thread. Hence, the various world
religions are just different renditions of the same Babylonian System.
See Mystery Babylon | The
Luciferian Legacy
Here are just some of
the different names of Ashtoreth:
o ISIS- by the Egyptians
o ISHTAR- by the Canaanites
o APHRODITE- by the Grecians
o VENUS- by the Romans
o DIANNA- by the Ephesians
o ATHTAR – by the Arabians
o KALI- by the Indians
o COLUMBIA- by North Americans
The different names
rendered by different people & languages do not necessarily have
etymological relation, but it’s the continuity of distinct theme &
characteristic relation of
this certain goddess, which is represented through different people of
different languages.
Ashtoreth,
the ‘moon goddess’ has also been referred to by certain nicknames such as:
o Divine Mother
o Mother Nature
o Mother of God
o Queen of Heaven
o Virgin Mother
Hmm, who else has been
called those names?…
Christian-Pagan Syncretism
Emperor Constantine
adopted the pagan Roman Catholic brand of “Christianity”, as the
state religion of Pagan Rome in the early 4th century. And Pagan Rome remained
pagan even with the so-called “Christian Reform” which converted to Christianity
merely in name, yet was still essentially pagan.
The combining of
different and contradicting concepts is termed as syncretism. Such an application served the
state interest to foster a more cohesive society with a diluted and altered
form of Christianity that was more inclusive and less demanding of complete
repentance and true conversion. Especially important to the pagan masses was
the familiarity of distinct pagan themes which carried through Roman
Catholicism.
For
example, the “Divine Mother & Son” theme of the Babylonian Mysteries was syncretized to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in
relation to His mother Mary. Many critics have indicted “Christianity” as a
plagiary of the ancient Mysteries, but taking his cue from the original promise
of the women’s Seed as
recorded in Genesis 3:15, it was
Satan who was already producing a counterfeit before the arrival of the genuine
article, as he then set out to mix-up and confuse the truth with a lie.
Jeremiah 44 is sufficient enough to see
how the “Queen of Heaven” is certainly not a figure who brings honor to the
true and living God. The true biblical account of Mary, mother of Jesus, has
been twisted into a Pagan deity figure and exalted as the “Queen of Heaven” by
the Roman Church. This deity figure is none other than that which has been
venerated as Ashtoreth.
So what are Ashtoreth
poles?
The Ashtoreth poles
referred to in the scriptures are obscene expressions of the sexual obsession
possessed by such Mystery Religions. It is a phallic symbol of sexual
intercourse between Baal & Ashtoreth. A monument of the sexual perversions
of the temple prostitute tradition.
Such obscene images
are not just a thing of the past, but are erected today in the most prominent
sites in the world, such as the Washington Monument and the Vatican Plaza
(Should that really surprise us when considering who the prince of
this world
is?).
A religious system
including “sexual freedom” was a lure which snagged the Israelites time after
time, to forsake the one true God, Yahweh. The following verses are just some
of the biblical accounts regarding the Baal & Ashtoreth poles which
provoked God to great wrath:
~ Exodus 34:13 ~ Deuteronomy 7:5, 12:3 ~Judges 2:12-14, 10:6
~ 1 Samuel 7:4, 12:10, 31:10 ~ 1 Kings 11:4-6, 11:33, 14:23
~ 2 Kings 23:13 ~ 2 Chronicles 14:3, 15:16, 31:1, 34:4
~ Jeremiah 43:13 ~ Isaiah 17:8, 27:9
~ 1 Samuel 7:4, 12:10, 31:10 ~ 1 Kings 11:4-6, 11:33, 14:23
~ 2 Kings 23:13 ~ 2 Chronicles 14:3, 15:16, 31:1, 34:4
~ Jeremiah 43:13 ~ Isaiah 17:8, 27:9
Of course this
activity would produce children, which reinforced the female counterpart of the
“god-head” as the ‘fertility goddess’. Any unwanted children were deemed a
“sacrifice” and given as a burnt offering to Baal, also known as Molech. One of
the traditions related to child-sacrifice is the dyeing of eggs red, which
symbolized the blood sacrifice of their offspring.
The Presumed Notion of Easter Transliterated from Ishtar
There is most
definitely an association between the Babylonian tradition of Ishtar and the
mainstream Easter tradition, such as fertility elements like eggs &
bunnies; But is the word-name Easter another variation of Ishtar? This
questions has been the theme of great controversy, some details which can be
certain and other details which are more difficult to assess.
One thing for certain,
Easter is a Saxon word and Ishtar is a Semitic word, and there is
no etymological relation. Furthermore, each word has different meaning so
there would be no translation nor transliteration between the two. The fact
that Easter and Ishtar are similar sounding is merely a coincidence.
At face value, it may
seem Easter would be a different name for Ishtar, especially with the pagan
parallels, and many have assumed so, including myself before, but further
probing makes it clear there is no direct etymological relation between
the two.
Is Easter Related to the Anglo Saxon Goddess Eostre?
The answer is yes, but
that does not mean the two word-names are synonymous. This is where too many
assumptions have been made – as soon as it’s found that there was a Saxon
fertility goddess named Eostre, the knee-jerk reaction most well-meaning
Christians do is jump to the conclusion that Easter is just a name variation of
the goddess Eostre. Lets go deeper before making that assumption.
The Venerable Bede
(672-735), in”Reckoning of Time” states the Saxon month for April was
named Eostre-monath:
“… Eostur-monath,
which now is translated to Paschal-month, was once called after a
goddess of theirs named Eostre, and whose name was celebrated in
the festival at that time. Now they dedicate that Paschal season by her name,
calling the joys of the new festival by the familiar ancient observance.”
With this source, we
can see the Saxon month for April, called Eostur-monath, was named after their
goddess Eostre, which was celebrated according to their pagan tradition
represented by her, but the name of the month was changed to Paschal-month
(Passover month). That change seems like a step in the right direction except that
it says,
“… Now they dedicate that Paschal season by her
name, calling the joys of the new festival by the familiar ancient observance.”
So they adopted a new
name and new festival, but it was “by her name” (Eostre), and “by the familiar
ancient observance.” This description of blending the Christian Passover with the
ancient pagan observance seems much like Roman Catholic syncretism to me.
In fact, it was; England had been Catholized at that time and the Venerable
Bede was himself a Catholic monk.
The only other primary
historical source about the Saxon goddess Eostre, is from Jacob Grimm (1785-1863),
authority on ancient Germanic tradition & language; In “Teutonic
Mythology”, Grimm tells us the Anglo-Saxon name Eostre is related to the Old High German
adverb ostar – expressing
movement toward the rising sun (eastward).
What Grimm says in the
following excerpt is quite telling on many levels. He says,
“Ostara, Eostre, seems
therefore to have been a divinity of the radiant dawn, of upspringing light,
whose meaning could easily be adapted to the resurrection-day of the
Christian’s God.”
First off, Grimm
describes Eostre as,
“… a divinity of
radiant dawn, of upspringing light”
Such is distinctive
quality which directly corresponds to Ishtar of the Morning
Star – the
grand-goddess of love, sex & fertility, who is venerated as springing forth with her radiant vitality of
the morning light – celebrated
during Spring Equinox. So while the name of the Saxon goddess
Eostre may not have any etymological relation to the name of Ishtar, there
is certainly theme & characteristic relation.
Secondly, Grimm says
of Eostre,
“whose meaning
could easily be adapted to
the resurrection-day of the Christian’s God.”
This suggestion from
Jacob Grimm seems to indicate he was not aware that the “Christian God” would have absolutely no share with any
kind of so-called pagan god, fables and traditions thereof. However, there was an
entity which was very interested in adapting such a pagan tradition to the
resurrection-day of the Christian God, which renders Grimm’s suggestion as
rather prophetic as to the unrelenting syncretism of the Roman Catholic Church.
And with such an
adaption so masterfully implemented & united abroad by the Universal Roman
Church, the Saxon goddess Eostre, has made a full circle connection to the
Semitic deity Ishtar with all the pagan Easter traditions we’ve become so
acquainted with!
However, this still does
not prove that Easter is the same
as Eostre. So now that we’ve
taken a closer look at what Eostreis, lets take a closer look at what Easter is.
Again referring to
Jacob Grimm’s point that the goddess name Eostre was derived from the Old
High German adverb oster which means
Eastward, or movement toward the rising sun. So the name Eostre may be pagan,
but that does not make the word it was derived from pagan. In fact, the German
word oster was
simply a word like the English word East, or Eastward.
Apparently, bible
translators like Martin Luther & William Tyndale saw nothing wrong with the
word oster; Luther’s German
translation rendered the Jewish & Christian Passover with the word oster,
and Tyndale’s English translation rendered the Passover with ester, which was just an Anglo-Saxon adaption of
the Germanic word oster, which later became easter. So while the Anglo-Saxon word Easter and the
pagan name Eostre are both derived from the same German word (oster), each word
has had a distinct & different meaning and application.
Now that we’ve
established that Easter simply means Eastward, or movement toward the rising
sun, which has been applied to the resurrection of Christ, whom the scriptures
declare as the Rising Sun, Morning Star, Dayspring (Luke 1:78, 2 Peter 1:19, Rev 22:16), we can simply leave it at
that and say “end of story”
However, the relentless
deception of Satan is ever before us, specifically targeting the Church of God
by twisting the genuine article into a blasphemous counterfeit. Thus, the New
Testament abounds with warnings against such insidious deception, and exhorts
the saints to exercise the utmost discernment.
The Real Twist
Remember when Jacob
Grimm said of the pagan goddess, Eostre, “… seems therefore to have been a
divinity of the radiant dawn, of upspringing light, whose meaning could easily
be adapted to the resurrection-day of the Christian’s God.”
Indeed the
resurrection of Jesus Christ can and has been twisted into pagan traditions of
old, whereby the worship of the Son of God has been supplanted by worship of the sun-god.
Remember the basic
meaning of Easter – expressing movement towards the rising sun – poised
Eastward. Eastward being the position of those bowing in worship of the sun-god
Baal. See here in Ezekiel’s vision:
“He said to me,
“Do you see this, son of man? Yet you will see still greater abominations than these. Then
He brought me into the inner court of the LORD’s house. And behold, at the
entrance to the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the
altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of
the LORD and their faces toward the east; and they were prostrating
themselves eastward toward the sun. – Ezekiel
8:15-16
To reinforce such an
abomination, the Catholic Church has positioned every sanctuary in the world,
with few exceptions, to be facing Eastward. The Roman Church may tell us this
position is to glorify the resurrected Son of God, but there is countless examples
showing the Roman Church is in fact engaged in pagan sun-worship. See just a
few of numerous examples below:
The word easter may
not be pagan in it of itself, but the Roman Church has certainly given the word
a pagan connotation & stigma by attaching endless pagan traditions.
The Real Morning Star
For ages the pagans
have exalted their sun-god, Baal, and venerated their “Queen of Heaven” as the
“Brilliant Morning Star” – which is exactly what the name Lucifer means (Isaiah 14:22). However, there is no brilliance
of the Luciferian stock which can even hold a candle next to the
preeminent Morning Star of the Most High! No devil which can spring forth in the same way Christ Jesus
rose-up from the dead to give a most severe blow to the head of that serpent of
old! And His saints will rise as He did on that great day!
“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of
David, the bright Morning Star” – Revelation 22:16
I am glad to know
there are many Christians out there who do not want the corrupted pagan
elements mixed with the celebration of the Resurrected Christ, who are zealous
for keeping themselves & their faith sanctified. Yet zealous drives can be
misguided with speculation & assumptions; so I exhort my fellows to do
their diligence in searching out things more thoroughly before drawing
conclusions.
As for me, I still
have my reservations about using the word easter to identify the Resurrection
of Christ, and to avoid any confusion & misunderstanding, I think it’s much
more clear and concise to call it Resurrection Day. I am not offended by anyone
calling it Easter, but I abhor the syncretistic practice of blending traditions
of Satan with celebrations of the LORD.
“…what fellowship has
righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?
And what accord has Christ with Belial?…” –2 Corinthians 6:14-15
Posted on 18. Apr, 2014 by admin in Equipping the Saints