The prophet's dictionary guide to the supernatural

in their severed body parts and blood. The priests of the goddess were not above eating the parts that were slaughtered in this manner. 113. Ashes—In prophetic experiences, ashes may appear in dreams for a number of reasons. Since they are the leftovers of something burned in a fire, the reason and source of the ash is important. In religious lore, ashes were often applied to worshippers, especially to the forehead, to signify their connection with the sacrifice that was burnt and devotion to their god. The idea of having died and been burnt in the fire was to convey that the worshipper ceased to live as their former self. The ash on the forehead was a sign that they were marked by the god who destroyed them, and sentenced to live only by the power of their faith. Another example is the ashes of the red heifer that Yahweh required His people to wash themselves with for purification from sin. See Numbers 19:17– 19. Lastly, the appearances of ashes in a dream or vision signify the destruction of something and its residue being worthless. To be ashy or ashen is to be tied to the dead or a disciple of a death cult, or gripped by fear. 114. Ashtoreth—A Canaanite goddess identified with Venus and the Babylonian goddess Ishtar. This Phoenician lunar deity was synonymous with pregnancy, sensual love, and fertility. She required licentious worship and was a patron goddess of war and sex. Often Ashtoreth was represented by obscene wooden images that signified her ritual requirement for orgiastic worship under the trees she supposedly represented. Athaliah, Ahab’s daughter presumably by Jezebel, from whom she no doubt learned her godless rituals, was a powerful adherent of the worship of the ashtoroths. The Bible phrases their rites and observances of whoring or fornicating as “under every green tree and on every [high] hill.” Tree and high hill used interchangeably referred primarily to the worship of this deity. 115. Ashur—Black. 116. Asia—Easter, place of the chief or arch. 117. Assignment—A work, project, task, or duty initially given to one person but transferred or delegated to another for the sake of expediency and/or excellence. 1 Chronicles 9:23 (nkjv), 16:4 (tlb), and 23:11 (niv). 118. Assyria—A) Ancient Syria. Also called Asshur, a dwelling place of ancient Semites and Mittannians. B) A great center of ancient Ishtar worship and the country of the infamous city, Nineveh, to which the prophet Jonah was sent. C) Spiritually, Assyria was a symbol of brutality and bullying instigated by