Inanna

From the Great Above she opened her ear to the Great Below.

From the Great Above the goddess opened her ear to the Great Below.

From the Great Above Inanna opened her ear to the Great Below.

The calling to the Great Below. We all receive the calling in one chapter of our life or another.

The journey into the darkness often begins with a madness of sorts, something feels off, causing an incessant discomfort and orneriness. The persistence of this feeling leads to a point where you want to go deeper, you want to feel this deeper. You may recognize that the invitation to journey, to descend, never lightens. It remains a constant subtle energetic pulse in your awareness until you move into it and begin to move with it.

Inanna received this call, and she listened. Opening her ear to the Great Below meant she attuned to that subtle energetic impulse, it meant that she opened herself to receiving the journey.

The Sumerian Queen of Heaven and Earth abandoned Heaven and Earth to descend into the Underworld. Reflecting the belief that to enter the Underworld, this spiritual inner realm, you must relinquish your earthly powers. You must resign your ego. You must let go.

Before her descent, Inanna consults her faithful servant Ninshubur, directing her on what to do should Inanna die in the Underworld, unable to return. However, Ninshubur is more than simply a servant to Inanna. She is an advisor and a confidant. There is utmost trust placed in Ninshubur for Inanna to task her to bring her back from the depths if she is unable to do so herself.

Inanna prepares herself to descend by gathering the seven me, the holy laws of Heaven and Earth, and adorns herself with them in the form of the crown of the steppe, her lapis lazuli necklace, her double strand of beads draped over her breast, her breastplate, her golden bracelet, her lapis measuring rod and line, and her royal robes.

Because one cannot enter the Underworld without surrendering, Inanna’s slow and laborious descent through the seven gates to reach the Underworld results in her being stripped of her seven me, one item at a time with each passing gate. And with each loss, Inanna asks “What is this?” to which she is told “Quiet Inanna, the ways of the Underworld are perfect. They may not be questioned.” Through this iteration of her journey, Inanna enters the Underworld naked and bowed low.

In these depths of the Underworld, Inanna meets her sister Ereshkigal, Queen of the Underworld. Ereshkigal is a being who embodies the Dark Moon Lilith archetype in that she has no external protection, she is instinctual, she is rageful. She kills Inanna and hangs her corpse from a hook on the wall.

When Ninshubur realizes that Inanna has died in the Underworld, it is she who moves energy to bring her back.

Here let’s pause. If you’d like to read the full story, I recommend the book Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth, Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer by Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Noah Kramer.

 Now let us turn our awareness to unraveling the beautiful symbolism within our ancient story.

The idea of journeying into the Underworld reflects our journeying into our own inner depths. The Underworld is the Inner World. We move layer by layer, deeper into ourselves, releasing our intricately cultivated outer adornments. Refining ourselves back to our simple essence as we pass through each gate. An infinite journey that repeats herself in cyclical patterns throughout our lives and may feel new and surprising with each return while also feeling like an old friend.

When we reach the depth of the Inner World, we recognize our wholeness. We re-cognize our Wholeness. We cannot hold light without the dark. We cannot have the inhale without the exhale. We cannot expand without contracting. Like Yin and Yang, these entities exist because of one another, and they exist in opposition to one another while also existing within one another. In our story, Inanna and Ereshkigal are Lightness and Darkness. Ereshkigal allows Inanna to return to being Queen of Heaven and Earth. Darkness blending into light. Darkness turning inside out. Isn’t that being birthed?

We cannot stay in darkness, and we cannot stay only in the light. We are energy. We are cyclical. We need to move from the bright outer world into the deep, dark inner realms where we gather nourishment, wisdom, and medicine, and return to the world of light different than before. Ninshubur represents the Soul of Inanna. Ninshubur is the energy that brings Inanna back from her descent. Ninshubur is what ascends Inanna. Our Spirit, our Soul, our essence is what guides us in our journeys from dark to light and back again. In an eternal dance of the Soul.

It has taken well over a year for me to write this for you. It still feels unfinished, incomplete, imperfect. That is why I love the dark spheres. These spaces are wisps, felt but not brought into the light completely, unable to be brought into solid matter to physically hold and dissect, and eventually discard out of mind. No. Her heart beats in her wisdom and mystery, veiled in the darkness.

Darkness dances around us, she is woven throughout our essence and beingness as intricately as a spider web, in an elaborate cycle of being destroyed, eaten, and recreated.

Great blessings. May your journey be deeply felt.

*Note: for your safety, please do not listen to hypnosis or hypnotherapeutic-meditations while driving.