THEY, A Biblical Tale of Secret Genders by Janet Mason (an excerpt)
Genre: LGBT Literature or Fiction
The following is excerpted (Chapter Five) from THEY, a biblical tale of secret genders by Janet Mason (Adelaide Books ñ New York/Lisbon) the novel of which LGBTQ icon and Biblical scholar, Amos Lassen, has written:
THEY is a groundbreaker and I am sure that the author will agree with me that attempting to add new meaning to given bible stories is tantamount to heresy. I have no doubt that she will suffer repercussions from those who do not agree with her approach. Personally, I found her story to not only be wonderfully written but charming and liberating to us who have lived in a binary world for too long.
“Close your eyes and imagine the long ago city of Babylon, in a land called Mesopotamia, near the mighty Tigris. A gentle wind blew. There was a beautiful Goddess named Ishtar. She was also known as the Queen of the Night,” said Tamar.
“Which night, Auntie?” asked Pharez, sitting on the floor of Tamar’s tent, playing with one of the figurines. Zerah crawled toward the camel Aziz.
“Zerah, look at Pharez’s doll. See how pretty? Here’s another one just like it.” Tamar grabbed a clay figurine from the woven basket. Zerah came crawling back.
“Ishtar was called the Queen of the Night because she was known as the goddess of love and … well of love,” said Tamar.
Ishtar was the goddess of love, war, fertility, and sexuality. And she may have been a sacred prostitute. Tamar felt protective of the twins. They were too young to hear about war and sex.
“What did the goddess look like, Auntie?” Zerah looked up at her with big brown eyes under long thick lashes. The child was sitting cross legged.
“She was tall and beautiful and she had wings,” answered Tamar. “She had a face like… well a goddess … with wide set eyes shaped like almonds and a high forehead under a crown that was piled very high with ridges like a fancy temple. She held her arms up. Her hands grasped two
loops of rope that also may have been hand mirrors. Her two pet owls were usually by her side.”
“Ooooh owls! Do you have an etching?” Pharez dropped the figurine.
“I have one that we can look at later, but first I want to tell you the story of someone “That’s what happens to us eventually. We cease to exist. But don’t worry. It won’t happen for a long, long time. And if you meet a spirit guide like Asushunamir it might not happen at all.”
Tamar told herself that lying was okay if it made people feel better — especially children.
“How did the spirit guide save the goddess?”
Tamar could tell now that it was Pharez who was asking the questions. Pharez’s nose was a little
more snub than Zerah’s. They had the same oval faces ending in pointy chins.
“I was just about to tell you that,” continued Tamar.
“Ishtar wanted to go somewhere new and she had never gone to the underworld where her evil sister, Ereshkigal, ruled.”
“Ha. Ha.” Zerah covered hir mouth with a small hand.
“Evil sister,” repeated Pharez. “It sounds like you and mama.”
Zerah shot Pharez a look.
The twins were silent. Both looked down. The fringe of their long lashes covered their secrets.
Tamar wondered what Tabitha had told them. Her sister had left the twins while she went shopping at the market. She said she would be back this afternoon. They had agreed not to tell the twins that they were sisters, so that they wouldn’t have to worry about one of them blurting it out around Judah. They told them that Tamar was a good friend of their mother’s. The twins called her “Auntie.”
Unless she was busy, Tamar always watched the twins. Sometimes it felt like they were her children. She loved them that much.
“Ishtar wanted to go to the underworld. But first she had to ask the other gods if she could go. They ignored her so she asked again and then again. Finally, they said she could go.”
Tamar paused.
“The underworld had many gates,” she continued. “There were seven in total. Ishtar came to the first gate and rang the bell. Claaanggg. There was one ring for the first gate and two for the second gate and so on. Ishtar rang the bell and waited. She tapped her foot. Finally, the gatekeeper came, but he did not open the gate. Like most goddesses, Ishtar had a temper.
Janet Mason, author 