I recently stumbled across a site that listed a Hebrew Goddess in the original pantheon of the Semites. I had never heard of this before, and so I looked further throughout the web. I know that you cannot believe everything on the web, so I decided to tag a few sites and exerpts to see if any of you had heard of her. Here is some of what I found:

Here is an exerpt from, The Hebrew Goddess:
Asherah, the Shekinah, consort and beloved of Yahweh. God-the-Mother. Her sacred pillars or poles once stood right beside Yahweh's altar, embracing it. Moses and Aaron both carried one of these Asherah "poles" as a sacred staff of power. The Children of Israel were once dramatically healed simply by gazing at the staff with serpents suspended from it. This symbol, the snakes and the staff, has become the modern universal symbol for doctors and healers.* Asherah was also widely known in the Middle Eastern ancient world as a Goddess of Healing. Then She was removed forcibly from the Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures around 400 or 500 B.C. Her priestesses & priests, known by the headbands they wore, worshiped on hill-tops, such as Zion, Mount of Olives, Har Megiddo and countless others. Daughter of Zion, a term found numerous times in the Old Testament, was perhaps a term for a priestess of Asherah. As the "official" state worship became increasingly male oriented, and the establishment became hostile toward all forms of Asherah worship, a time of conflict and bloodshed lasting over a hundred years began. Those that still clung to Her worship paid the price with their lives at the hands of King Josiah and other rabid Yahwists. (Story in the Old Testament). But She could not be torn from the hearts and souls of Her people. (Go to the site to read more...)

Also, I found this reference to the Goddess online: Asherah was a goddess popular with the ancient Israelites, despite their priests' call to remain loyal to Yahweh. Biblical prophets condemn her repeatedly under the name Ashtoreth; it is the use of this name, a seeming combination of Asherah and Astarte, which has caused so much confusion for modern scholars. Click for Source.

Asherah and Ashtoreth:
The two names Asherah and Ashtoreth appear very similar in English translations, but differ rather more in the Hebrew. This page discusses some of the issues surrounding these names.

From The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001.:
Asherah or Asheroth, Canaanite fertility goddess and the wooden cult symbol that represented her. She is the consort of El in the Ugaritic texts. Several passages in the Bible may refer to the planting of a tree as a symbol of Asherah, or the setting up of a wooden object as an asherah--the Hebrew words for "tree" and "wood" are the same.

Another site on ´Athirat (Ugarit), ´Asherah (Hebrew).