The Goddess Inanna ruled the people of Sumer..the land now occupied by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and under Her rule the people and their communities prospered and thrived. The urban culture, though agriculturally dependent, centered upon the reverence of the Goddess -- a cella, or shrine, in her honour was the centerpiece of the cities. Inanna was the queen of seven temples throughout Sumer. Probably the most important Sumerian contribution to civilization was the invention and creation of a standard writing and literature; the Sumerians even had libraries. Their literary works reveal religious beliefs, ethical ideas, and the spiritual aspirations of the Sumerians. Among these works are the hymns and stories of Inanna -- important here because they were recorded at a time when the patriarchy was beginning to take hold, and the position of the Goddess, although strong, was changing.
The hymns to Inanna are beautiful, poetic, and a testament both
to Her power and to Her humanity. She outwitted Enki, the God of
Wisdom and her grandfather, and she endowed the people of Sumer
with the 'me' .. the wisdoms and gifts that inspired and insured
their growth. She is the sensuous lover in The Courtship of Inanna and
Damuzi. Indeed, Inanna is herself the Goddess of Love, and it is
this aspect and power -- creativity, procreativity, raw sexual
energy and passion -- that generates the energy of the universe.
In the Courtship, Inanna is both the shy virgin and the sensuous
mistress. Her coupling with Damuzi is one of the most erotic and
passionate passages in literature. The marriage is one of body
and spirit, and Inanna's passion and expectations link her to
women all over the world. After their lovemaking, when Damuzi
asks for his freedom, Inanna's poignant lament is "How sweet
was your allure..." The Descent of Inanna plays a key role
in the Sumerian literature.
The Goddess Inanna descended twice: first from Heaven to Earth to rule her people; second, to the realm of the underworld, the domain of her sister Ereshkigal. It is the second descent of Inanna that is the focus here. Inanna was Queen of Heaven and Earth, but she knew nothing of the underworld. Her quest for clarity and knowledge, as well as her sense of duty as Queen and Goddess, led her to the Earthly realm in the first place. She was a powerful ruler, and yet she felt a strong desire to challenge herself further. "My daughter craved the great below," was the response of her father upon learning of her descent and death in the other realm. In her naivete, she wrapped herself in the me, transformed into garments and jewels, and began her descent. Her sister Ereshkigal, upon hearing Inanna at the gates of the underworld, demands that Inanna must give up all of her earthly trappings before she can complete her journey. There are seven stations through which Inanna must pass before she meets Ereshkigal, her sister and rival. At the seventh and last, she meets Ereshkigal, who seizes Inanna and hangs her on a peg to die.
What Inanna discovers about herself and about life itself as she makes her descent is not implicit in the texts. However, by the time she relinquishes her final garment, she is no longer the commanding Queen. She is open, exposed, vulnerable. This knowledge, and acceptance of her vulnerability, as well as her first-hand discovery of the necessity of sacrifice and death for the cycles of life to continue, increased her power, her understanding, her beauty. Her sister learns a lesson as well: she has her heart opened to compassion. When Enki sent two creatures, galla, below to rescue Inanna, Ereshkigal was struggling to give birth, even though she was barren. The creatures moaned in sympathy with her -- for the first time in her life, Ereshkigal felt a connection to another. As a reward for their compassion, the galla were permitted to take the corpse of the Goddess Inanna away with them, and revive her. But Inanna was not free to leave unless she insured that there would be someone to take her place. When she returned to earth, she found that her husband Damuzi did not mourn her; in fact, he had taken on even more power in her absence. Inanna allowed the galla to take Damuzi to rule in her place in the underworld. For love of her brother, Damuzi's sister Geshtinanna volunteered to take that place half of each year so he could return to his Queen. This six-month cycle insured that the lands would maintain their abundance and fertility, and also served to humble the imprudent King.
In the Inanna cycle, she is maiden, mother and crone. Her encounter with Ereshkigal can be seen as a meeting of the creator and the destroyer - the light and dark aspects of the Goddess. For modern women, Inanna is a powerful role model. She indeed has it all: she is Goddess, protectress, sensuous, a politician par excellence, intelligent, beautiful, powerful. She is aware of Her position in the world, of Her great responsibility.
We, like Inanna, challenge ourselves, often taking ourselves to task to know more, learn more, be more. This is not necessarily good or bad. But in the doing, in living this life, we too must know the power of the underworld and its mysteries, as well as know the power of compassion. Our personal growth, suffering and pain can be likened to physical death; our psyches journey to the underworld again and again. Old ideas, old visions, identities die; myths are shattered, and are created anew. We rise up, like Inanna, aware of our vulnerabilities, and the strength created from them.
