INANNA’S DESCENT:
Our Summer 2023 Dance Coven Embodiment Series
Our dance portrayal of Inanna / Ishtar – the Sumerian & Babylonian goddess of Love & War will be a symbolic unveiling of the inner mysteries. An intentional shedding of old skins, alchemical metamorphosis and triumphant rebirth. Like a phoenix who symbolically rises from their own ashes – there must always be a death before inevitable renewal.
This is going to be a very potent journey into the underworld and back.
THE TIME HAS COME TO ACQUIRE YOUR RITUAL VEIL.
Please make sure you are fully prepared for our symbolic entry into the gates of the underworld by following the New Moon Cancer Power Prompts that are available to you in this months Conjure Companion. On July 20th, with reverential hearts, we will metaphorically dance our arrival and entry into the first gate.
To understand the cycle of Venus, including her retrograde phase, the Sumerians told the story of Inanna, Queen of Heaven, who ruled over love, fertility, sensuality, procreation and war.
At the retrograde station – she makes a choice to travel to the underworld to visit her dark sister Ereshkigal, Queen of the Dead. Knowing that this will be a treacherous journey, she advises her loyal servant, Ninshubar, to send help if she doesn’t return in three days.
Whether we are aware of it or not, we all know Inanna’s descent well, mythologically and also within the context of our own lives. Any person who has gone through profound ego death and discovered a gateway to Goddess consciousness in the process, has taken Inanna’s descent.
Inanna of ancient Sumer is the glorious queen of heaven and earth. The Goddess of the morning star who delights in her sensuality. She is known as the goddess of fertility, bearer of the arts of civilization, and goddess of sensual love. Like an overflowing cornucopia or horn of plenty, Inanna offers her divine gifts of abundance, creativity, passion, inspiration, and contentment to those who worship her. In the book Inanna Queen of Heaven and Earth, storyteller and folklorist Diane Wolkstein describes Inanna’s rich and vivifying power as the cosmic force that descends from heaven to earth. Not only is she a spiritual vision in dreams, she is the awakening force that stirs love in the hearts of humanity and ripeness in plants.
In the Sumerian myth Inanna and the God of Wisdom, Inanna the queen of heaven, leaves her earthly domain and journeys to the home of her father, Enki, to obtain the sacred me, or arts of culture and civilization, to bestow upon her subjects. These arts include ritual, speech, music, architecture, writing, lovemaking, rejoicing, and lamentation, as well as emotions, truth and procreation. At first Enki and Inanna drink together and enjoy each other’s company and Enki is filled with the warmth of generosity. He freely offers his daughter the precious gifts, which she places on the boat of heaven and sets sail for home. But as soon as he recovers from his drunkenness he becomes sullen and sends his messengers to retrieve the gifts. But Inanna refuses to give them back. By standing firm she is gifted with these treasures and also magically receives mere gifts, including the art of women, allure, drums, tambourines, and the perfect execution of the me.
Like Hathor, Aphrodite and Laksmi, Inanna is a goddess of beauty and eros who delights in the rich and luxurious realm of the senses. In The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi, Inanna as queen of heaven, takes an earthly consort, the virile shepherd Dumuzi, to ensure the fertility and seasonal renewal of the land. Her passionate works of love and longing and the sense of abandon with which she speaks of her body and her desire for the bliss of sexual union provide us with a vision from the era of the temple priestess, when sensory pleasure was still considered sacred and the female body was revered as the holy life-giving vessel.
Inanna originated as a goddess in Sumerian mythology, and is known also as Ishtar in the Akkadian pantheon, Astarte in Caanan. She is regarded as one of, if not THE most important deity of the Mesopotamian pantheon, and is known primarily as the goddess of sexual love, though she also has the reputation of being a goddess of war. Inanna/Ishtar is said to be the most complex Mesopotamian deity, as she possesses attributes that seem to contradict each other (Love & War) sometimes she is a young girl under patriarchal authority, though at others, she is depicted as an ambitious figure who seeks to expand her own sphere of influence. This latter trait is said to be most visible in the Descent of Inanna poem.
The Descent of Inanna tells of the eponymous heroine’s journey to the Underworld to visit and to challenge the power of her recently widowed sister, Ereshkigal. The poem is saturated with meaning and symbolism, and various interpretations throughout time have been attached to it.
When she arrives at the gates of the Underworld, Inanna informs the gatekeeper, Neti, that she has come to witness the funeral rites of Gugalanna, the Bull of Heaven, who is also Ereshkigal’s husband. When Ereshkigal receives this news, she is not at all pleased, and orders that the seven gates of the Underworld be bolted against her sister. Inanna is only allowed to pass one gate at a time, and before each gate, she is required to remove a piece of her royal garment.
By the time Inanna reached the throne room of Ereshkigal, she had been stripped naked, and was powerless. Ereshkigal overpowered her sister, who was “turned into a corpse” and “hung on a hook”. Prior to entering the Underworld, Inanna had instructed her servant Ninshubur on how to come to her aid should she fail to return at the expected time. Thus, Ninshubur went to the god Enki, Inanna’s father, for help. Whilst Inanna was successfully revived by the servants sent by her father, she is unable to leave the Underworld as easily as she entered it.
A substitute had to be found, and Enki’s servants tried to take several of Inanna’s followers, though the goddess stopped them from doing so, as they were all mourning for her supposed death.
In the end, Inanna encounters Dumuzi, her husband, who is clearly not in mourning, as he was “clothed in a magnificent garment and seated magnificently on a throne”.
This infuriated Inanna, who ordered him to be seized.
Dumuzi prays to Utu, the sun god, to save him, and is transformed into a snake. Nevertheless, he is captured in his attempt to escape, and is brought to the Underworld. Geshtinanna, Dumuzi’s sister, volunteers to be her brother’s substitute, and in the end, it was decided that Dumuzi and his sister would each spend half the year in the Underworld. Like the Greek myth of Persephone and Demeter, this event is used to explain the changing of the seasons.
So then, what compels Inanna, the Queen of Heaven, to willingly go to visit her twin sister Erishkigal, The Queen of Hell, in the underworld? Especially since the two have been at odds with one another for what seems like an eternity?
When lifting the veil back on the mystery of the story, one can observe how Inanna and Ereshkigal are polarizing aspects of the same person. Or the collective conscious and subconscious streams of thot pertaining to the Divine Feminine within humankind. Perhaps we can all inquire within… What has compelled us at times to gaze into our own shadows, to visit our dark side, and to reclaim the parts of ourselves that we may have shamed or denied?
If you know the story, you know that despite Inanna’s will, it isn’t easy to reach Erishkigal. Along the way Inanna is stopped at seven gateways to Hell. At each gateway she is stripped of another layer of clothing, representing our ego, identity, and attachments of self…
As Inanna descends, she is stripped of all her royal vestments – her crown, lapis lazuli earrings, necklace, breastplate, ring of power, ankle bracelets and her royal robe as she crosses seven gates. Naked and humiliated, our royal queen of heaven is reduced to her hands and knees, in honor of her sister. However, Ereshkigal’s court slays Inanna and hangs her up on a meat hook.
Why? Because Inanna had ulterior motives, and her ego ultimately became her undoing.
After three days, Ninshubar petitions various gods to assist with Inanna’s rescue but only gains the help of Enki, the God of Water and Wisdom. Among a somewhat dominantly masculine pantheon of deities, only the God of Wisdom truly understood how important the Goddess of Love was to the very nature of existence. So Enki creates two emissaries or Gala, Kurgarra and Galatur, sending them down to revive Inanna’s corpse with the water of life.
When Kurgarra and Galatur descend, they meet a suffering Ereshkigal who is screaming in pain from birthing her dead husband’s child. Kurgarra and Galatur hold space for Ereshkigal, listening and commiserating with her moans. Upon healing, Erishkigal was so grateful to the two envoys that she granted them one wish, to which they asked for the body of Inanna. When they receive the dead body of their queen, they sprinkle the drops of the water of life on Inanna and she is resurrected. It is at this time during the retrograde cycle that Venus becomes visible in the sky once again, returning to us as the Morning Star. Slowly, the trio make their way back up through the seven gates, and Inanna is adorned with all of her most sacred vestments again. At this point, she is back to her full glory as Queen of the Heavens, and seen brightly in the evening skies.
Like many of us do before we fall, Inanna begins on top of it all as the evening star (where she currently resides, just before her retrograde station). Praised, celebrated, revered, and admired by all, Inanna seems to have “it all.” Power, beauty, riches, and influence. It is during her evening star phase that she is singing the climactic crescendo of her musical blossoming, only to descend once again to her fated journey of reckoning and renewal.
ASTROLOGICAL SYMBOLISM:
Though shortened, this myth richly explains the process of the Venus cycle. In fact, this story was told to explain the literal movement of Venus, Mercury, Sun and Mars. Inanna is Venus, Ninshubar is Mercury, the rebirth is the conjunction with the Sun (CAZIMI) which happens in the center of her retrograde period, and the water of life represents the alchemical elixir attained within the sacred process of renewal from the state of liminality that is the Venus retrograde cycle. The re-adorning of her royal vestments are the 7 moon phases following her rebirth which are acquired along her path back to her high point in the night sky where she is again exalted in her evening star phase.
So what does this story mean for you as we enter into this Venus retrograde phase?
Breaking it down, here are some significant points to reflect on:
– A WILLING CHOICE –
Inanna made a conscious choice to descend into the underworld to meet her sister, Ereshkigal, representing her shadow self. In our lives, the Venus retrograde presents us with this same choice; to go within to face our fears. No matter what status we hold, there’s always a time when we are reduced to our hands and knees, just as Inanna was. This is a test of our humility as we step away from all of our ego-holding ‘vestments’ and stand in our bare, naked truth.
– HOLDING SPACE FOR OUR SHADOWS –
Through Ereshkigal’s suffering, Kurgarra and Galatur hold space and nurture her towards healing. During the Venus retrograde period, we too can sit with our personal shame and suffering, whatever that may be, and acknowledge them without judgment.
9th Century astrologer, Salh B. Bisher, writes “A retrograding planet indicates disobedience, collapse, repetition and disagreement.” Therefore, if you experience any setbacks, conflicts, challenges, delays and reversals during the retrograde period, these could be real-world projections of our collective shadow aspects. Just as Kurgarra and Galatur did, we could also listen, reflect and honor these shadowy parts of ourselves that we often wish to neglect.
– A REBIRTH –
Isn’t it interesting that there are exactly 7 gates to greet Inanna in Hell?
The 7 gates have had many interpretations throughout time. One thing is certain – the 7 gates represent aspects of ourselves that must be purified, sacrificed or relinquished in order for the initiatory process within our underworld journey to be complete.
“Inanna’s journey illustrates a profound psychological truth – to mature in life the ego must periodically die and re-create itself in closer alignment to that elusive quality called authenticity. ”
– Christine Irving (from her book Return to Inanna).
The 7 gates are compared by some to the 7 chakras as a means for mapping out the souls journey along the path of healing. The gates that Inanna passes through during her descent can symbolically represent the activation of our seven chakras.
We can see this around two weeks into the new Venus cycle in the eastern skies just before sunrise every month when Venus is nestled within a waning crescent moon. This will be a monthly occurrence for seven to eight months, symbolic of the activation of the crown chakra, through to the base chakra at the last month. After this, Venus will become the evening star, and be seen in the western sky just after sunset, this time, nestled within a waxing crescent moon for seven to eight consecutive months. The base chakra through to the crown chakra is activated at each of these Venus-Moon ‘gates’.
Planning rituals and meditations around these Venus-Moon conjunctions are a powerful way to work with the chakras and the entire feminine creative concept. These conjunctions are easy to find in the morning or night skies each month, and could serve as an important cosmic clock to observe the unfolding of your intentions that were set during the beginning of the cycle.
WANING MOON MORNINGSTAR VENUS GATES:
August 13th (CAZIMI) – Crown
September 9th – Third Eye
October 8th – Throat
November 7th – Heart
December 7th – Solar Plexus
January 6th – Sacral
February 5th – Root
WAXING MOON EVENINGSTAR VENUS GATES:
June 4th (CAZIMI) – Root
July 9th – Sacral
August 8th – Solar Plexus
September 7th – Heart
October 6th – Throat
November 5th – Third Eye
December 4th – Crown
– CONCLUSION –
The story of Inanna’s Descent cleverly illustrates each phase of the Venus cycle and the purpose behind each stage, which we can all relate to personally. The characters in this myth also intricately describe the physical movement of the planets connected to the Venus cycle. And, best of all, for the sky-watchers out there, this cycle is easily observed throughout this 18-month period, if you follow along with the story.
A BIT OF HISTORY:
The Descent of Inanna (known also as ‘Inanna’s Descent to the Netherworld / Underworld’)
is a piece of written work contained in the literary corpus of ancient Mesopotamia from Sumeria.
Enheduanna (2285-2250 BCE) first known author and poet in written history, high priestess to Inanna and daughter of Akkadian/Sumerian king Sargon the Great – wrote the poem that has been preserved in the English translation “Inanna Queen of Heaven and Earth” by authors Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Noah Kramer.
This story, which was originally written in cuneiform and inscribed on clay tablets, is in the form of a poem. An ancient tale that is one of our greatest historical records of applicable mythology. Not only because it is so vividly detailed, it is in fact the oldest recording of any pantheon of gods known to mankind.
The Descent of Inanna is thought to have been composed at some point of time between 3500 B.C. and 1900 B.C., though it has been suggested that it may have been created at an even earlier date. This poem contains 415 lines, and, by comparison, the Babylonian Ishtar’s Descent is told in 145 lines. It has been suggested that the difference was due to the influence of patriarchy, which diminished the power and importance of this goddess during the 2nd millennium B.C.
To put it plainly, Inanna is not only the first Goddess to emerge in recorded history.
She was the first deity to be worshiped that we know of – periodt.
The Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa is the record of astronomical positions for Venus, as preserved in numerous cuneiform tablets dating from the first millennium BC. It is believed that this astronomical record was first compiled during the reign of King Ammisaduqa (or Ammizaduga), the fourth ruler after Hammurabi. Thus, the origins of this text could probably be dated to around the mid-seventeenth century BC[1] (according to the Middle Chronology) despite allowing two possible dates.
The tablet gives the rise times of Venus and its first and last visibility on the horizon before or after sunrise and sunset (the heliacal risings and settings of Venus) in the form of lunar dates. These positions are given for a period of 21 years.
This Venus tablet is part of Enuma Anu Enlil (“In the days of Anu and Enlil”), a long text dealing with Babylonian astrology, which mostly consists of omens in the form of celestial phenomena.
The earliest copy of this tablet to be published, a 7th-century BC cuneiform, part of the British Museum collections, was recovered from the library at Nineveh.
The oldest surviving planetary astronomical text is the Babylonian Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa, a 7th-century BC copy of a list of observations of the motions of the planet Venus that probably dates as early as the second millennium BC. The Babylonian astrologers also laid the foundations of what would eventually become Western astrology. The Enuma anu enlil, written during the Neo-Assyrian period in the 7th century BC, comprises a list of omens and their relationships with various celestial phenomena including the motions of the planets.
– THE DESCENT OF INANNA –
From Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer
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
My Lady abandoned heaven and earth to descend to the underworld.
Inanna abandoene heaven and earth to descend to the underworld.
She abandoned her office of holy priestess to descend to the underworld.
In Uruk she abandoned her temple to descend to the underworld.
In Badtibira she abandoned her temple to descend to the underworld.
In Zabalam she abandoned her temple to descend to the underworld.
In Adab she abandoned her temple to descend to the underswodl
In Nippur she abandoned her temple to descend to the underworld
In Kish she abandoned her temple to descend to the underworld
In akkad she abandoned her temple to descend to the underworld
Inanna set out for the underworld
Ninshubar, her faithful servant, went with her.
Inanna spoke to her saying;
Ninshubar, my constant support,
My sukkal who gives me wise advice,
My warrior who fights by my side,
I am descending to the kur, to the underworld.
If I do not return,
Set up a lament for me by the ruins.
Beat the drum for me in the assembly places.
Circle the houses of the gods.
Tear at your eyes, at your mouth, at your thighs.
Dress yourself in a single garment like a beggar.
Go to Nippur, to the temple of Enlil.
When you enter his holy shrine, cry out:
“Oh, father Enlil, do not let your daughter Be put to death in the underworld.
Do not let your bright silver Be covered with dust in the underworld.
Do not let your precious lapis Be broken into stone for the stoneworker.
Do not let your fragrant boxwood be cut into wood for the woodworker.
Do not let the holy priestess of heaven Be put to death in the underworld.”
If Enlil will not help you, Go to Ur, to the temple of Nanna.
Weep before Father Nanna.
If Nanna will not help you, Go to Eridu, to the temple of Enki.
Weep before Father Enki.
Father Enki, the God Of Wisdom, knows the food of life,
He knows the water of life; Knows the secret of life.
Surely he will not let me die.’
Inanna continued on her way to the underworld.
Then she stopped and said:
‘Go now Ninshubur Do not forget the words I have commanded you.’
She gathered together the seven me
She took them into her hands
With the me in her possession, she prepared herself
She placed the shugurra, the crown of the steppe, on her head.
She arranged the dark locks of hair across her forehead
She tied the small lap;is beads around her neck,
Let the double strand of beads fall to her breast,
And wrapped the royal roba around her body.
She daubed her eyes with ointment called “Let him come, Let him come”
Bound the breastplate called “Come man come!” around her chest
Slipped the gold ring over her wrist,
And took the lapis measuring rod and line in her hand.
Inanna set out for the underworld
Ninshubar, her faithful servant, went with her.
Inanna spoke to her saying;
Ninshubar, my constant support,
My sukkal who gives me wise advice,
My warrior who fights by my side,
I am descending to the kur, to the underworld.
If I do not return,
Set up a lament for me by the ruins.
Beat the drum for me in the assembly places.
Circle the houses of the gods.
Tear at your eyes, at your mouth, at your thighs.
Dress yourself in a single garment like a beggar.
Go to Nippur, to the temple of Enlil.
When you enter his holy shrine, cry out:
“Oh, father Enlil, do not let your daughter Be put to death in the underworld.
Do not let your bright silver Be covered with dust in the underworld.
Do not let your precious lapis Be broken into stone for the stoneworker.
Do not let your fragrant boxwood be cut into wood for the woodworker.
Do not let the holy priestess of heaven Be put to death in the underworld.”
If Enlil will not help you, Go to Ur, to the temple of Nanna.
Weep before Father Nanna.
If Nanna will not help you, Go to Eridu, to the temple of Enki.
Weep before Father Enki.
Father Enki, the God Of Wisdom, knows the food of life,
He knows the water of life; Knows the secret of life.
Surely he will not let me die.’
Inanna continued on her way to the underworld.
Then she stopped and said:
‘Go now Ninshubur Do not forget the words I have commanded you.’
When Inanna arrived at the outer gates of the underworld, She knocked loudly.
She cried out in a fierce voice:
‘Open the door, gatekeeper! Open the door, Neti! I alone would enter!’
Neti, the chief gatekeeper of the kur, asked: ‘Who are you?’
She answered: ‘I am Inanna, Queen of Heaven, On my way to the East.’
Neti said: ‘If you are truly Inanna, Queen of Heaven, On your way to the East,
Why has your heart led you on the road From which no traveler returns?’
Inanna answered: ‘Because… of my older sister Erishkigal,
Her husband, Gugalanna, the Bull of Heaven, has died.
I have come to witness the funeral rites. Let the beer of his funeral rites be poured into the cup. Let it be done.’ Neti spoke: ‘Stay here Inanna, I will speak to my queen.
I will give her your message.’
Neti, the chief gatekeeper of the kur, Entered the palace of Erishkigal,
the Queen of the Underworld, and said: ‘My Queen, a maid As tall as heaven,
As wide as the earth, As strong as the foundations of the city wall,
Waits outside the palace gates. She has gathered together the seven me.
She has taken them in her hands. With the me in her possession, she has prepared herself:
On her head she wears the shurgarra, the crown of the steppe.
Across her forehead her dark locks of hair are carefully arranged.
Around her neck she wears the small lapis beads.
At her breast she wears the double strand of beads.
Her body is wrapped in the royal robe.
Her eyes are daubed with the ointment “let him come, let him come.”
Around her chest she wears the breastplate called “come, man, come!”
On her wrist she wears the gold ring.
In her hand she carries the lapis measuring rod and line.’
When Erishkigal heard this, She slapped her thigh and bit her lip.
She took the matter into her heart and dwelt on it.
Then she spoke: ‘Come, Neti, my chief gatekeeper of the kur, Heed my words:
Bolt the seven gates of the underworld.
Then, one by one, open each gate a crack. Let Inanna enter.
As she enters, remove her royal garments.
Let the holy priestess of heaven enter bowed low.’
Neti heeded the words of his queen. He bolted the seven gates of the underworld.
Then he opened the outer gate. He said to the maid: ‘Come, Inanna, enter.’
When she entered the first gate,
From her head, the shugurra, the crown of the steppe, was removed.
Inanna asked: ‘What is this?’
She was told: ‘Quiet, Inanna, the ways of the underworld are perfect.
They may not be questioned.’
When she entered the second gate, From her neck the small lapis beads were removed.
Inanna asked: ‘What is this?’
She was told: ‘Quiet, Inanna, the ways of the underworld are perfect
They may not be questioned.’
When she entered the third gate, From her breast the double strand of beads was removed. Inanna asked: ‘What is this?’ She was told:
‘Quiet, Inanna, the ways of the underworld are perfect, They may not be questioned.’
When she entered the fourth gate,
From her chest the breast plate called ‘Let him come, let him come!’ was removed.
Inanna asked: ‘What is this?’
She was told, ‘Quiet, Inanna, the ways of the underworld are perfect.
They may not be questioned.’
When she entered the fifth gate, From her wrist the gold ring was removed.
Inanna asked: ‘What is this?’
She was told: ‘Quiet,Inanna, the ways of the underworld are perfect.
They may not be questioned.’
When she entered the sixth gate, From her hand the lapis measuring rod and line was removed. Inanna asked: ‘What is this?’ She was told: ‘
Quiet, Inanna, the ways of the underworld are perfect. They may not be questioned’
When she entered the seventh gate, 5 From her body the royal robe was removed.
Inanna asked: ‘What is this?’ She was told: ‘
Quiet, Inanna, the ways of the underworld are perfect. They may not be questioned.’
Naked and bowed low, Inanna entered the throne room.
Erishkigal rose from her throne.
Inanna started toward the throne.
Annuna, the judges of the underworld, surrounded her.
They passed judgment against her.
Then Erishkigal fastened on Inanna the eye of death.
She spoke against her the word of wrath.
She uttered against her the cry of guilt.
She struck her.
Inanna was turned into a corpse,
A piece of rotting meat,
And was hung from a hook on the wall.
When, after three days and three nights, Inanna had not returned,
Ninshubur set up a lament for her by the ruins.
She beat the drum for her in the assembled places.
She circled the houses of the gods.
She tore at her eyes; she tore at her mouth; she tore at her thighs.
She dressed herself in a single garment like a beggar.
Alone, she set out for Nippur and the temple of Enlil.
When she entered the holy shrine, She cried out:
‘O Father Enlil, do not let your daughter Be put to death in the underworld.
Do not let your bright silver Be covered with dust of the underworld.
Do not let your precious lapis Be broken into stone for the stoneworker.
Do not let your fragrant boxwood Be cut into wood for the woodworker.
Do not let the holy priestess of heaven Be put to death in the underworld.
Father Enlil answered angrily: ‘My daughter craved the Great Above.
Inanna craved the Great Below.
She who receives the me of the underworld does not return.
She who goes to the Dark City stays there.
‘ Father Enlil would not help.
Ninshubur went to Ur and the temple of Nanna.
When she entered the holy shrine, She cried out:
‘Oh Father Nanna, do not let your daughter Be put to death in the underworld.
Do not let your bright silver Be covered with dust of the underworld.
Do not let your precious lapis Be broken into stone for the stoneworker.
Do not let your fragrant boxwood Be cut into wood for the woodworker.
Do not let the holy priestess of heaven Be put to death in the underworld.
Father Nanna answered angrily: ‘My daughter craved the Great Above.
Inanna craved the Great Below.
She who receives the me of the underworld does not return.
She who goes to the Dark City stays there.’
Father Nanna would not help.
Ninshubur went to Eridu and the temple of Enki.
When she entered the holy shrine, She cried out,:
‘O Father Enki, do not let your daughter Be put to death in the underworld.
Do not let your bright silver Be covered with dust of the underworld.
Do not let your precious lapis Be broken into stone for the stoneworker.
Do not let your fragrant boxwood Be cut into wood for the woodworker.
Do not let the holy priestess of heaven Be put to death in the underworld.
‘ Father Enki said; ‘What has happened? What has my daughter done?
Inanna, Queen of All the Lands! Holy Priestess of Heaven! What has happened?
I am troubled, I am grieved.’ From under his fingernail Father Enki brought forth dirt.
He fashioned the dirt into a kurgarra, a creature neither male nor female.
From under the fingernail of his other hand he brought forth dirt.
He fashioned the dirt into a galatur, a creature neither male nor female.
He gave the food of life to the kurgarra.
He gave the water of life to the galatur, saying:
‘Go to the underworld, Enter the doors like flies,
Erishkigal, the Queen of the Underworld is moaning
With the cries of a woman about to give birth.
No linen is spread on her body. Her breasts are uncovered.
Her hair swirls about her head like leeks.
When she cries,’Oh!Oh! My Inside!’ Cry also, ‘Oh! Oh! You’re inside!’
When she cries: ‘Oh! Oh! My outside!’ Cry also ‘Oh! Oh! you’re outside!’
The queen will be pleased. She will offer you a gift.
Ask her only for the corpse that hangs from the hook on the wall.
One of you will sprinkle the food of life on it, The other will sprinkle the water of life.
Inanna will arise.’ The kurgarra and the galatur heeded Enki’s words.
They set out for the underworld.
Like flies, they slipped through the cracks of the gates.
They entered the throne room of the Queen of the Underworld.
No linen was spread on her body. Her breasts were uncovered.
Her hair swirled around her head like leeks.
Erishkigal was moaning: ‘Oh!Oh! My inside!’ They moaned. ‘Oh!Oh! Your inside!’
She moaned: ‘Ohhhh! Oh! My outside!’ They moaned; ‘Ohhhh! Oh! our outside!’
She groaned: ‘Oh! Oh! My belly!’ They groaned: ‘Oh! Oh! Your belly!’
She groaned: ‘Oh! Oh! My back!’ They groaned: ‘Oh! Oh! Your back!’
She sighed: ‘Ah! Ah! My heart!’ They sighed: ‘Ah! Ah! Your heart!’
She sighed: ‘Ah! Ahhhh! My liver!’ They sighed: ‘Ah! Ahhhh! Your liver!’
Erishkigal stopped. She looked at them. She asked:
‘Who are you, Moaning – groaning – sighing with me?’
If you are gods, I will bless you. If you are mortals, I will give you a gift.
I will give you the water-gift, the river in its fullness.’
The kurgarra and galatur answered: ‘We do not wish it.
‘ Erishkigal said: ‘I will give you the grain gift, the fields in harvest.’
The kugarra and galatur said: ‘We do not wish it.’
Erishkigal said: ‘Speak then! What do you wish?’
They answered: ‘We wish only for the corpse that hangs from the hook on the wall.
Erishkigal said: ‘The corpse belongs to Inanna.’
They said: ‘Whether it belongs to our queen, Whether it belongs to our king,
That is what we wish.’
The corpse was given to them.
The kurgarra sprinkled the food of life on the corpse.
The galatur sprinkled the water of life on the corpse.
Inanna rose……
Inanna was about to ascend from the underworld When the Annuna,
the judges of the underworld, seized her.
They said: ‘No one ascends from the underworld unmarked.
If Inanna wishes to return from the underworld, She must provide someone in her place.’
As Inanna ascended from the underworld,
The galla, the demons of the underworld, clung to her side.
The galla were demons who know no food, who know no drink, Who eat no offerings,
who drink no libations, Who accept no gifts.
They enjoy no lovemaking.
They have no sweet children to kiss.
They tear the wife from the husband’s arms,
They tear the child from the father’s knees,
They steal the bride from her marriage home.
The demons clung to Inanna.
The small galla who accompanied Inanna Were like reeds the size of low picket fences.
The large galla who accompanied Inanna Were like reeds the size of large picket fences.
The one who walked in front of Inanna was not a minister, Yet he carried a scepter.
The one who walked behind her was not a warrior, Yet he carried a mace.
Ninshubur, dressed in a soiled sackcloth, Waited outside the palace gates.
When she saw Inanna Surrounded by the galla She threw herself in the dust at Inanna’s feet. The galla said: ‘Walk on Inanna, We shall take Ninshubur in your place.’
Inanna cried: ‘No! Ninshubur is my constant support.
She is my sukkal who gives me wise advice.
She is my warrior who fights by my side.
She did not forget my words.
She set up a lament for my by the ruins.
She beat the drum for me at the assembly places.
She circled the houses of the gods.
she tore at her eyes, at her mouth, at her thighs.
She dressed herself in a single garment like a beggar.
Alone she set out for Nippur and the temple of Enlil.
She went to Ur and the temple of Nanna.
She went to Eridu and the temple of Enki
. Because of her, my life was saved.
I will never give Ninshubur to you.
‘ The galla said: ‘Walk on, Inanna, We will accompany you to Umma.’
In Umma, at the holy shrine, Shara the son of Inanna, was dressed in a soiled sackcloth.
When he saw Inanna Surrounded by the galla, He threw himself in the dust at her feet.
The galla said: ‘Walk on to your city, Innana, We will take Shara in your place.’
Inanna cried: ‘No! Not Shara!
He is my son who sings hymns to me.
He is my son who cuts my nails and smooths my hair.
I will never give Shara to you.
‘ The galla said: ‘Walk on, Inanna, We will accompany you to Badtibira.
‘ In Badtibira, at the holy shrine, Lulal, the son of Inanna, was dressed in a soiled sackcloth. When he saw Inanna Surrounded by the galla, He threw himself in the dust at her feet.
The galla said: ‘Walk on, Inanna, We will take Lulal in your place.’
Inanna cried: ‘No, not Lulal. he is my son.
He is a leader among men.
He is my right arm.
He is my left arm.
I will never give Lulal to you.’
The galla said: ‘Walk on to your city, Inanna. We will go with you to the big apple tree in uruk.
In Uruk, by the big apple tree, Dumuzi, the husband of Inanna,
was dressed in his shining me garments.
He sat on his magnificent throne; (he did not move).
The galla seized him by the thighs.
They poured milk out of his seven churns.
They broke the reed pipe which the shepherd was playing.
Inanna fastened on Dumuzi the eye of death.
She spoke against him the word of wrath.
She uttered against him the cry of guilt. ‘
Take him away! Take Dumuzi away!’
The galla, who know no food, who know no drink,
Who eat no offerings, who drink no libations,
Who accept no gifts, seized Dumuzi.
They made him stand up; they made him sit down.
They beat the husband of Inanna.
They gashed him with axes.
Dumuzi let out a wail.
He raised his hands to heaven to utu, the God of Justice, and beseeched him:
‘O Utu, you are my brother in law, I am the husband of your sister.
I brought cream to your mother’s house, I brought milk to Ningal’s house.
I am the one who carried food to the holy shrine.
I am the one who brought wedding gifts to Uruk
I am the one who danced on the holy knees,
the knees of Inanna.
Utu, you who are a just god, a merciful god,
Change my hands into the hands of a snake.
Change my feet into the feet of a snake.
Let me escape from my demons; Do not let them hold me
The merciful Utu accepted Dumuzi’s tears.
He changed the hands of Dumuzi into snake hands.
He changed the feet of Dumuzi into snake feet.
Dumuzin escaped from his demons.
They could not hold him….
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