It was in the hot and dry month of Elul. Ashima the Goddess reborn was
weary and exhausted from all the healing she had done. But one night she woke up from an alluring feeling in her chest.
She went outside the inn. Out there, so many people in need waited for her help. But beyond them all stood
three women in long, billowing clothings of blue, and with the Holy symbol of Asherah Goddess around their
necks. They were priestesses from Asherah's temple. Ashima carefully approached the eldest of the pristesses. The priestess
held out the palm of her hand. And Ashima met it with hers. And they felt the power flew between them. And the priestess said
to young Ashima: "So it is true. Your are the Powerful. We are here to bring you with us to the Temple. And we will do so
now. For there are no other time than now. And you need us more than you ever imagine." Ashima was scared, and she hesitated
and said: "First I must tell Haniel." But the priestess said: "You must nothing else than follow us. Never let a man
slow your doings."
And Ashima came with them. And the priestess seemed to float on air. That
soft was the way that they walked. And they reached the Temple. And the Temple was glowing in the dark. And the elder
priestess said: "The Temple salutes you, Ashima the Chosen." And Ashima entered the Temple. And she went up to the Altar.
And she put her hands on it. She greeted it. And it greeted her. She let it fill her up with power and rested in it. Now the
Power was only for her. Everything around her filled her up with power. She was strong. And in tears she fell over the Altar.
Crying from relief. For she had come home at last.
And Haniel understood. She was gone, but she was also home now. He understood
in his heart that the priestesses had come for her. That she was in her temple now. It had been time.
In the temple there were only priestesses. But all priestesses were not women. But
all priestesses were female. For so say the Goddess, a female mind may dwell in a man's body, and a male mind may dwell in
in a woman's body. The gender of the mind and the physical appearance of body are two separate. And so there
were men who were priestesses. And through the halls of the Temple, beautiful singing was heard.
And three young women came to Ashima's room. And they bathed her. And
they dressed her up in blue clothing, and put her hair up as a beautiful crown. And they escorted Ashima to a building
beside the temple. There she met the older priestess from the day before. She sat down behind a simple table. And in front
of her laid three Holy items. It was a sphere of clearest crystal. It was a long staff made from minerals of
milky white. And it was a small plate of darkest obsidian. Each object lay upon a cloth of blue. "I am
Leah", said the priestess. And Ashima answered: "I am Ashima." They bowed at each other, with their hand over their
hearts. "We have know about you", the priestess said to Ashima. "Now you are here. And it is not one day too soon. We
have much to teach you." And the priestess said: "Every Priestess of Asherah has her own Sacred Item. Only a few
of us are capable of handling for than a single one. Maybe you will do one day. But for now, you must only choose
one. Do you know which to choose?" Ashima shook her head. And the priestess told her: "Come up to me. Hold your left hand
above each one of them. Feel which one that is speaking to you." And Ashima did as the pristess had told her. And she
felt the crystal ball vibrating. But it felt as in rest. And she felt the dark plate vibrating, but it felt heavy and
resistant. And she felt the white staff vibating of joy that spread through her body. And she chose the staff. And Leah
the Priestess said to her: "The staff is now yours. But do not touch it yet." And she then asked Ashima: "Do you know anything
about these items?" Ashima shook her head. And the priestess told her: The crystal ball brings you closer to the Divine.
It helps you see the truth within yourself as well as outside of yourself. And at occassions rare, it may see the past
and future. And with the black plate, you may come close to the dark and the Earthly. Through it, you may speak
to what the priests of Jehovah call Evil. But Dark and Evil is not the same. No, we do not bring on evil, but
we bring on that what is unloved. Through this plate, you may to some extent manage that what is dark and unloved, and also
manage the thoughts and feelings of other living beings, including human beings. And with the staff which you have chosen,
you may open gates to other places. With it you may shatter that what in whole, and heal that what is shattered. You may heal
and destroy from a long distance. Very long distances. Indeed, the staff is a very powerful tool. You may take it now.
It is yours. Always keep it safe." And the priestess gave to Ashima a long white sheath to always keep the
staff in when it was not in use, and said to her never take it out of the sheath if not for using it. And Leah
the Priestess then said to Ashima: "There are many here who are courious of you. Some see you as a threat, others
as a promise. There are some here who are afraid of you. Afraid that you will turn your powers against them. Others see you
as an incarnation of the Goddess herself." Ashima then said in protest: "I am no Goddess." But Leah said: "I do
not know who you are. And neither do I care. I see you as our most powerful student. So powerful that you may already
call yourself a Temple Maid. If you do wish to serve the Goddess that is." And Ashima said: "I do." And Leah
said to her then in a stern voice: "You know that you was about to put youself to death there at the inn when helping
all those people, don't you?" And Ashima said: "I know that I was very tired." And Leah said: "You were far beyond tired.
Do not lie to yourself. Never lie to yourself. But I will now help you to give from the Power without giving away that
which is your very own. I will teach you to see the Power. And the Power of your own soul has one colour, and the
power of the infinite Source of Life has another colour. And I will teach you to seperate them from each other.
Just open up yourself now, and let the Power of the Source of Life flow through you." Ashima did so. She let herself
be all filled up by the Power. By beauty. By joy. By light. By love. And she salvaged it. And she held her hands in front
of her and let it flow out of her. And Leah was stunned by what she saw. For she saw that the colour of Ashima's
own being and the colour of the Eternal Source of Life had the very same colour. And the Priestess burst out in
amazement: "Help me Goddess. Who are you?" And then she said to Ashima: "Now bring all your concentration toward
the force that is flowing through your head. Be there with your whole mind. And now let it wander down to your heart. Stay
inside your heart. Let it keep on glowing. Let is flow. Let it flow out through your arms. Do you feel it?
Do you feel the warmth within your heart? Do your feel your very own Power? And how it differs from the Power outside?
And do you see how much of the Power that is your very own? How much Power that you give! It is indeed nothing short of a
miracle that you are alive! And now, shut the Power inside your heart. Keep it there. Keep your own Power to yourself. That
Power, you may now only share with the ones that you love, and not with anyone else. And remember, always fill up on
that which you have emptied. Always fill up on your own source."
And the practice was over for the day. And Ashima was more happy than ever before
in her life. And Leah the Priestess fell down on her chair, exhausted and pale from what she had witnessed.
And days passed. Many days. And for every passing day Ashima learned more of the
teachings and ways of the Goddess. She learnt how to light fire and extinguish it. She learnt to go inside the mind of
another human and talk to the person's mind and influence them. And prevent others from entering her mind. She learnt
how to make plants grow and flourish. She learnt how to cure the ill. She learnt more in understanding animals of all
species and talk to them. She learnt about astrology and the ways of the stars and the planets and how they influence
our life. She learnt about the plants and herbs that can cure and heal. She learnt about all the miracles and all this
secrets of nature and of this world. And she learnt to always seek knowledge of that which she did not understand. To
Jehovah God, these teachings were nothing but magic, and magic was evil to Him. And knowledge was evil to Him.
For He was indeed the Almighty God, and He could not stand the thought that the humans could get by on their own without being
dependent on His will. That is why He expelled them from His Eden in Mesopotamia when they became knowledgable. He
did not want the humans to be able think for themselves. And so, He detested the teachings of Asherah Goddess. And His
priests harrassed the priestesses, or sometimes even worse.
But most important of all for a priestess of Asherah was love. Love for
the Goddess. And love for every being in the world.
And every day Ashima went on long walks all on her own. Up into the mountains.
Along the riverside. Through the valleys. And she saw all the beauty. And she loved it very much.
