The Story of Inanna / Ishtar
Upon the ancient land of Sumer (Mesopotamia), that is now southern Iraq, we get the first whispers of Inanna and the first recorded texts on any goddess. There are
several different names for Inanna that span the globe, the name Ishtar is acknowledged as interchangeable because her story almost identically replicates Inanna’s path. Artemis, Astarte, Aphrodite and Persephone or Proserpine - the list goes on and includes modern day expressions of this powerful Venusian energy - all seem to source from Inanna’s original template.
The eight pointed star that is closely tied to her lore is representative of Venus as well as an expression of the golden ratio - that which amplifies life’s ability to thrive. This connection exemplifies Inanna’s ability to expand Beauty and move along the evolutionary spiral. The symbol or rosette of the eight pointed star also portrays her bridge or conduit-like quality; brightly relaying intelligence between realms as the transcendent morning and evening star.
Ancient Akkadian cylindrical seal depicting winged Inanna with her foot on a lion & weapons on her back. Her Rosette; the eight pointed star, is also visible in the upper left corner, artist unknown.
Inanna was magnificent and adored - called the people’s queen. Folks from all walks of life knew her sanctity to be true. She would use her power to attend to the transitioning of our transgender ancestors as well as blessings for any age, gender, sexuality, sexual activity and sex work alike. Inanna was fearless in carrying out her intuition; the intelligence of her heart. This is represented by the lion figure close by which speaks to her thunderous power akin to the lion’s roar.
The symbolic language - similar to hieroglyphics - called cuneiform or conceptual ‘picture writing’ has the symbol of a hook shaped knot of reeds to represent Inanna as an emblem of fertility and often as the doorpost of a storehouse (the structure for preserving the harvest). The shape of the spiral holds that golden ratio that the Goddess and Beauty know as kin.
Ancient clay carving of a hook-shaped twisted knot of reeds, artist unknown.
Now we delve into the specific lore
around Inanna’s descent to and return from the Underworld. Originally composed as a 415 line poem inscribed in cuneiform around 1750 B.C.E., it was drawn over thirty tablets as a journey full of winding paths wherein the life/death/rebirth cycle is enacted and Inanna is found established in her wholeness.
It begins as Inanna attunes her mind to the Underworld and knows the call from Ereshkigal (who is both, Inanna’s older sister, Queen of the Underworld, and yet another aspect of Inanna) must be answered. She abandons her post as priestess to many temples, goes on to adorn herself in the seven Me (translates to divine decrees. Here they are an expression of Inanna’s praised relationship between humanity and the Holy or the heavenly gods/goddesses as she delivered the Holy Me to her city) in the physical form of vestments denoting her achievements and arranges for support. She instructed her trusted friend Ninshubur to seek the aid of her fathers had she not returned after three days and three nights as well as most importantly to allow grief to take over in her absence.
Then, off she went to conquer this realm on her own. Moving swiftly until face to face with Neti the gatekeeper at the threshold of the Underworld and demanded her orders to enter be obliged. Neti informs Ereshkigal of Inanna's presence and he is given a set of instructions to carry out. Neti allowed Inanna through each of the seven gates but only after collecting each of the seven Me physical adornments in exchange for entry. Inanna’s feet followed one after the other into the cold, dimly lit heart of the Underworld, nothing in her way any longer and nothing to cover her bare body. When her eyes met Ereshkigal's there was an immediate knowing; she was never exempt from the ways of the Underworld, her death was imminent. As Inanna became but a corpse, inanimate and hanging from a hook on the wall, all intimacy and fertility on earth came to a halt.
It was loyal Ninshubur who followed the goddess’ command and received the helpful gift from Inanna’s maternal grandfather Enki - God of Wisdom - of two galla (androgynous creatures), to aid in returning Inanna to the earth. Once in the heart of the Underworld, these galla empathically held Ereshkigal in her emotional turmoil.
The compassionate witnessing allowed for Inanna’s hidden aspect (her sister Ereshkigal who is rejected and deemed unacceptable to show onlookers; her shadow) to be reckoned with. The wisdom that each part bears were now able to be braided together as she established pathways of communication between the multiple facets that together form Inanna - in her wholeness.
In return for their actions, Inanna’s body was handed over, upon which the galla sprinkled the food of life, the water of life and she awoke.
Before allowing them to return Ereshkigal states the unavoidable truth that to come back from the Underworld unmarked or without one to fill the other’s spot is simply impossible. They were allowed through, accompanied by Ereshkigal’s demons who would capture the replacement. The demons went for anyone Inanna cared for, but those who cared for her during this journey, Ninshubur and Enki, were spared when she insistently refused.
It was Dumuzi/Tammuz, Inanna’s lover, who went on arrogantly partying, willfully separating himself from his lover’s death and the wisdom of her journey. For that very reason his sentence was decided - Inanna would not have him be any less than the best he could possibly become. The wisdom within the design of the Underworld was necessary. Dumuzi’s/Tammuz’s sister stepped in and made it so her brother and herself shared the eternal stay in the underworld equally. The incubation of the Winter season takes place when he is separated from Inanna, growth halts while reflection and rest take over for half the year.
In the end, we see that Ereshkigal, a rejected and hidden sister, is Inanna’s shadow - inseparable from the Goddess and the great poem concludes with reverent statements referencing Ereshkigal. There is space at last to acknowledge the totality of her expression. Through the total stripping of Inanna’s outer adornments, representing her achievements and evidence of her adoration, she is still, utterly there, in death; she is present. We find that her essence was all that was ever necessary to emit.
Inanna has lived this tale, come to honour the ways of the Underworld, and maybe we have too. By the end of the story, she was found reigning over all her aspects - the easily acceptable qualities as well as hidden faults, desires, and emotions. A more complete understanding of her essence made way for the wisdom in both life and death to come to the surface. We know a portion of her story now; rich in the empowerment of the multifaceted and commitment to witnessing all parts of ourselves. Highlighting the realest form of royalty, or sovereignty, remains inside us and is established further as circumstances challenge our ways of relating to ourselves and the outer world. With the foundation of her nature described here you may be able to use your imagination to connect the dots and share in the enriching, bountiful, and electric vision of Inanna in the mirror of our reality, in the flesh, stone, and breath. As the ever evolving organism we know ourselves to be.
