Asenath: Subconscious Receptivity and Manifested Fruit

In Genesis 41:38-57, Joseph’s symbolic journey, his union with Asenath marks a pivotal moment. As the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On (a centre of solar worship), Asenath represents the subconscious mind—receptive, fertile, and capable of manifesting what is consciously assumed. According to Neville Goddard, it is only through this union of conscious assumption and subconscious acceptance that manifestation becomes possible.

Potiphera, whose name relates to “he whom Ra (the sun god) gave,” symbolises the disciplined, illumined conscious mind—the priest or guide who directs awareness. His city, On, denotes illumination. This positions Potiphera as a symbol of the directed conscious thought that must precede subconscious impression. Asenath, his daughter, thus signifies the fertile subconscious mind belonging to the awareness that guides it.

Joseph’s marriage to Asenath is more than narrative detail—it is a mystical marriage of assumption and receptivity. In Neville’s terms, Joseph (the imagination and conscious awareness) impresses his desire (his assumption of rulership and fruitfulness) upon Asenath (the subconscious mind). Their children, Manasseh (“making to forget”) and Ephraim (“fruitfulness”), reflect the process of manifestation itself.

• Manasseh signifies the forgetting of former states—an essential step in Goddard’s teachings. One cannot serve two masters: the new assumption must replace the old. To persist in assuming the wish fulfilled is to relinquish all previous identifications.

• Ephraim signifies the result of successful assumption: outward fruitfulness, or the visible evidence of the inner assumption having taken root.

The entire episode encapsulates a cycle: the conscious assumption of the desired state (Joseph), its acceptance by the subconscious (Asenath), and the eventual outpicturing in form (Manasseh and Ephraim). It affirms Neville’s core principle: what we unite ourselves to in imagination—when felt to be true and impressed upon the subconscious—must be born into our world.

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Selected Readings for Reflection

“And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potiphera priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.”
—Genesis 41:45

“And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potiphera priest of On bare unto him. And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house. And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
—Genesis 41:50–52