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    Ishtar and Easter

    Easter was originally a day meant to celebrate the goddess of love, Ashtoreth, who has many names: Astarte, Asherah, Inanna, Ishtar, Anat, Isis and even more. Though each name was used by a different culture; in such the story of each goddess is altered, however there are coinciding motifs and features of all these Goddesses/Goddess. Easter today has been altered and the principle heroine of the story has been replaced by, yet again, Jesus. The Christian story has many of the same principle features of the original, though it has been changed significantly. Some of the features stolen from the worship of Ashtoreth are: Martyrdom and resurrection. So how does a large rabbit hiding eggs in your house correspond to this? Well rabbits are known for their virility, and eggs obviously represent feminine fertility. Why these things though? Well the story of Easter, and the reason it corresponds roughly with the spring equinox, is one based on the concept of birth and fertility dying and returning to the world in the form of Ishtar. The translation can be read here:

    (can't post links, google Ishtar's decent into the underworld translation, and pick the sacred-text link for a good version.)

    So Ishtar goes into the underworld, dies, resurrects three days later, and her consort returns in her place. This is an explanation of winter and spring returning in ancient times. So always remember Ishtar on Easter because it is for her that we celebrate. Enjoy Easter for the reasons it was always meant to be celebrated for, enjoy family, love, and life; for the season of cold and death has ended and now is the time for rebirth, growth, and the return of Ishtar, beauty, to the land of the living.

    #2
    Re: Ishtar and Easter

    Easter and Ishtar have nothing to do with one another, in any way more significant than any other resurrection myth.
    Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
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      #3
      Re: Ishtar and Easter

      I always thought Easter was named for Eostre or Eostara, Teutonic goddess of fertility. Ostara or Spring Equinox is a time to celebrate the balance of light and dark as well as the fertility of the greening earth. Ishtar, being a goddess of love and fertility definitely does have a place within the symbolism of the Equinox, though I agree with Thalassa that the festival wasn't named or created solely for her? There are many underworld descent myths tied to goddesses of fertility and spring: Persephone and Freyja immediately come to mind. However your focus on the love, family and growth aspects of Easter/Ostara/Spring equinox is great and if you wish to honour Ishtar as the face of the festival then do so!
      sigpic

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        #4
        Re: Ishtar and Easter

        Originally posted by Artemisia View Post
        I always thought Easter was named for Eostre or Eostara, Teutonic goddess of fertility. Ostara or Spring Equinox is a time to celebrate the balance of light and dark as well as the fertility of the greening earth. Ishtar, being a goddess of love and fertility definitely does have a place within the symbolism of the Equinox, though I agree with Thalassa that the festival wasn't named or created solely for her? There are many underworld descent myths tied to goddesses of fertility and spring: Persephone and Freyja immediately come to mind. However your focus on the love, family and growth aspects of Easter/Ostara/Spring equinox is great and if you wish to honour Ishtar as the face of the festival then do so!
        Actually, there is some problem in attributing Easter to Eostre as a Germanic goddess...this is pretty interesting, and sums up some of the problems. This one lays out some of the problems with the now-popular Ishtar-Easter connection, though the OP didn't mention any of that stuff...
        Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
        sigpic

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          #5
          Re: Ishtar and Easter

          Yeah, I've been reading alot of that around lately, it is one of the reasons I celebrate the Equinox and spring rather than anything with a proper name. I like to mark the passage of time, and if existing traditions work for that, things I grew up loving to do, then they should be done! Or that's how I see it...
          http://catcrowsnow.blogspot.com/

          But they were doughnuts of darkness. Evil damned doughnuts, tainted by the spawn of darkness.... Which could obviously only be redeemed by passing through the fiery inferno of my digestive tract.
          ~Jim Butcher

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            #6
            Re: Ishtar and Easter

            This exact same post was posted on another Forum I am on by, I think, the same person with only this one post to their name.

            OP- I am confused as to why you are joining forums to post this? What is it that you want to achieve?
            http://thefeministpagan.blogspot.co.uk/

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              #7
              Re: Ishtar and Easter

              Originally posted by shadow1982 View Post
              This exact same post was posted on another Forum I am on by, I think, the same person with only this one post to their name.

              OP- I am confused as to why you are joining forums to post this? What is it that you want to achieve?
              How long have they been on the other forum with only one post to their name?
              life itself was a lightsaber in his hands; even in the face of treachery and death and hopes gone cold, he burned like a candle in the darkness. Like a star shining in the black eternity of space.

              Yoda: Dark Rendezvous

              "But those men who know anything at all about the Light also know that there is a fierceness to its power, like the bare sword of the law, or the white burning of the sun." Suddenly his voice sounded to Will very strong, and very Welsh. "At the very heart, that is. Other things, like humanity, and mercy, and charity, that most good men hold more precious than all else, they do not come first for the Light. Oh, sometimes they are there; often, indeed. But in the very long run the concern of you people is with the absolute good, ahead of all else..."

              John Rowlands, The Grey King by Susan Cooper

              "You come from the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve", said Aslan. "And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth; be content."

              Aslan, Prince Caspian by CS Lewis


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                #8
                Re: Ishtar and Easter

                Originally posted by MaskedOne View Post
                How long have they been on the other forum with only one post to their name?
                They joined on the day they made the post.
                http://thefeministpagan.blogspot.co.uk/

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                  #9
                  Re: Ishtar and Easter

                  So a couple days?

                  Cool, thanks.
                  life itself was a lightsaber in his hands; even in the face of treachery and death and hopes gone cold, he burned like a candle in the darkness. Like a star shining in the black eternity of space.

                  Yoda: Dark Rendezvous

                  "But those men who know anything at all about the Light also know that there is a fierceness to its power, like the bare sword of the law, or the white burning of the sun." Suddenly his voice sounded to Will very strong, and very Welsh. "At the very heart, that is. Other things, like humanity, and mercy, and charity, that most good men hold more precious than all else, they do not come first for the Light. Oh, sometimes they are there; often, indeed. But in the very long run the concern of you people is with the absolute good, ahead of all else..."

                  John Rowlands, The Grey King by Susan Cooper

                  "You come from the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve", said Aslan. "And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth; be content."

                  Aslan, Prince Caspian by CS Lewis


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                    #10
                    Re: Ishtar and Easter

                    If anyone is really keen on this particular problem of Eostre (not Ishtar) please pm me as I can send an interesting article (not one of mine!) about it.
                    www.thewolfenhowlepress.com


                    Phantom Turnips never die.... they just get stewed occasionally....

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                      #11
                      Re: Ishtar and Easter

                      I seem to recall that there is an association between rabbits and Easter (or at least Spring) in mainland Germanic folklore, not just English. I think the link downplays the case for rabbits or hares being sacred, and associated with Spring festivals. Event that though, doesn't necessarily mean they were specifically associated with the goddess Eostre.
                      If you want to be thought intelligent, just agree with everyone.

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                        #12
                        Re: Ishtar and Easter

                        It certainly seems reasonable to say that many Christian traditions, specifically Easter ones, came from pagan fertility celebrations. The main theme of Easter seems to be rebirth, and many, many faiths have a spring rebirth celebration. It is natural to assume that they would borrow from one another, because that is what makes tradition tradition; it always comes from somewhere. No doubt the name "Easter" also has its origins long before the writing of the new testament, but in the end it's of little consequence which facet of paganism it came from, isn't it? As Artemisia said, the main point is to celebrate love and rebirth. If Catholics want to celebrate it for Jesus's sake, let them. If some wish to dedicate their revelries to Ishtar, so be it. The main thing, I think some others will agree, is that we recognize the turning of the seasons and the joy and rebirth that comes with them, no matter which deity we choose to associate with the celebration.

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