The customs celebrated today as "Easter" are historically and Scripturally identified with the abominable pagan sex goddess Astarte.
Astarte was known by many different names in different lands and cultures. Other names for this same goddess of Spring are:
However, most Biblical references to the name point to some object of wood, commonly set out in what is called "groves" where licentious activities took place in worship of this goddess. These wooden representatives were worshiped or cut down and burned according to a person's faithfulness (I Kings 15:13; II Kings 21:7). Her prophets are mentioned (I Kings 18:19) and the vessels used in her service referred to (II Kings 23:4). Her idol, whatever it was, was utterly detestable to faithful worshipers of Yahweh (I Kings 15:13) and was set up on the high places beside the ‘‘altars of incense’’ and the stone pillars. The stone pillars seem to have represented the male god Baal (cf. Judges 6:28), while the wooden idol of Astarte, probably a tree or pole, constituted a symbol of this goddess.
The word "grove" appears 40 times in the AV. The Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon gives this information:
842 Õasherah { ash-ay-raw’} or Õasheyrah { ash-ay-raw’}AV - grove 40; 40
Ashera(h) = “groves (for idol worship)”
1) a Babylonian (Astarte)-Canaanite goddess (of fortune and happiness), the supposed consort of Baal, her images1a) the goddess, goddesses1b) her images
1c) sacred trees or poles set up near an altar
In Ephesus from primitive times, this mother goddess was called Diana (Acts 19), who was worshiped as the Goddess of Virginity and Motherhood. She was said to represent the generative powers of nature, and so was pictured with many breasts. A tower shaped crown, symbolizing the Tower of Babylon, adorned her head.
Reading from Bible Manners And Customs, by James M. Freeman, 1972, page 451, we learn these facts about the "Mother" of all things:
‘‘The circle round her head denotes the nimbus (sin circle) of her glory, the griffins inside of which express its brilliancy. In her breasts are the twelve signs of the zodiac, of which those seen in front are the ram, bull, twins, crab, and lion; they are divided by the hours. Her necklace is composed of acorns, the primeval food of man. Lions are on her arms to denote her power, and her hands are stretched out to show that she is ready to receive all who come to her. Her body is covered with various breasts and monsters, as sirens, sphinxes, and griffins, to show that she is the source of nature, the mother of all things. Her head, hands, and feet are of bronze while the rest of the statue is of alabaster to denote the ever-varying light and shade of the moon’s figure... Like Rhea, she was crowned with turrets, to denote her dominion over terrestrial objects.’’
From page 103 of Two Babylons, by A. Hislop, 1959:
"Then look at Easter. What means the term Easter itself? It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than ‘‘Astarte’’, one of the titles of Beltis, ‘‘The Queen of Heaven’’ whose name, as ‘‘pronounced’’ by the people of Nineveh, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country. That ‘name’, as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is ‘‘Ishtar’’.
Compton’s Encyclopedia, 1956, Volume 4, says this about Easter:
‘‘Many Easter customs come from the Old World...colored eggs and rabbits have come from pagan antiquity as symbols of new life...our name ‘Easter’ comes from ‘Eostre’, an ancient Anglo Saxon goddess, originally of the dawn. In pagan times an annual spring festival was held in her honor. Some Easter customs have come from this and other pre-christian spring festivals.’’
Collier’s Encyclopedia, 1980, Volume 15, page 748:
"Ishtar, goddess of love and war, the most important goddess of the Sumero-Akkadian pantheon. Her name in Sumerian is Inanna (lady of heaven). She was sister of the sun god Shamash and daughter of the moon god Sin. Ishtar was equated with the planet Venus. Her symbol was a star inscribed in a circle. As goddess of war, she was often represented sitting upon a lion. As goddess of physical love, she was patron of the temple prostitutes. She was also considered the merciful mother who intercedes with the gods on behalf of her worshipers.
Reading on pages 412-413 of Unger’s Bible Dictionary, we find this information about Ashtoreth-Astarte:
"Ash'toreth (ash’to-reth), Astarte, a Canaanite goddess. In south Arabic the name is found as ‘Athtar (apparently from ‘athara, to be fertile, to irrigate), a god identified with the planet Venus. The name is cognate with Babylonian Ishtar, the goddess of sensual love, maternity and fertility. Licentious worship was conducted in honor of her. As Asherah and Anat of Ras Shamra she was the patroness of war as well as sex and is sometimes identified with these goddesses. The Amarna Letters present Ashtoreth as Ashtartu. In the Ras Shamra Tablets are found both the masculine form ‘Athtar and the feminine ‘Athtart. Ashtoreth worship was early entrenched at Sidon (I Kings 11:5, 33; II Kings 23:13). Her polluting cult even presented a danger to early Israel (Judg. 2:13; 10:6). Solomon succumbed to her voluptuous worship (I Kings 11:5; II Kings 23:13). The peculiar vocalization Ashtoreth instead of the more primitive Ashtaroth is evidently a deliberate alteration by the Hebrews to express their abhorrence for her cult by giving her the vowels of their word for ‘‘shame’’ (bosheth)."
We are struck with the hideousness of the appearance of this goddess found in illustrations in Two Babylons, encyclopedias and reference books. We see this goddess as flesh's "creation" of the degrading, filthy, woman consort of the man of sin. In contrast to the glorious beauty and purity of the woman Yahweh has created to be the bride of Christ, this goddess is especially repulsive and deformed - an apt manifestation of the mind of those who know not Yahweh and teach for doctrines the commandments of men.
The ways and ramifications of consorting with this apostate goddess are powerfully detailed in Proverbs chapter 6. Solomon knew well her insidiousness as he himself declined to her ways (I Kings 11:5; II Kings 23:13):
Proverbs 6:My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. 2Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. 3Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. 4Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman: 5That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.
6For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, 7And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, 8Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, 9In the twilight, in the evening , in the black and dark night: 10And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. 11(She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: [What a contrast to the beautiful Bride of Christ who is modestly attired, has a pure heart, a meek, quiet, submissive, teachable spirit, and is a "stayer at home"], 12Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.) 13So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, 14I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. 15Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. 16I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. 17I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. 18Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. 19For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey: 20He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. 21With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. 22He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; 23Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.
24Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. 25Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. 26For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. 27Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.
Bro Thomas picks up this same theme in Eureka:
Now, in prophetic style, all these sects of the Court of the Gentiles are termed “women,” whose favors lead to death. They are strange women, who flatter with their words; whose houses incline unto death, and their paths unto the dead. Their lips drop as a honeycomb, and their mouths are smoother than oil; but their end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Their feet go down to death; and their steps take hold on Sheol. The 144,000 have no fellowship with these unchaste women. Having come to the understanding and belief of “the things concerning the kingdom of the Deity, and the name of Jesus Christ,” they have obeyed the invitation. “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues”. Having faith to be healed, they obey the Apostolic command, “repent and be every one of you immersed for the name of Jesus Christ into remission of sins” (Acts 2:38). By this process, they are separated from the worshippers of the Beast, and washed, sanctified, and justified from all the defilement contracted in their days of ignorance and unbelief (1 Cor. 6:9–11). Thenceforth, they are no more to be found dangling and toying with these disreputable Mistresses of the Clergy. Being espoused to Christ, they have no more spiritual association with the impure; but, as wise virgins, keep their lamps trimmed, and their lights burning, that when the Bridegroom appears, they may be admitted to “the marriage supper of the Lamb.”