Unpacking Inanna’s Descent
The “Reason for the Season”
The season for bunnies and chocolate eggs has just passed. We often focus on them this time of year, but do we know why? On a deeper note, do we know why religious themes like Christ’s resurrection or the salvation of the Israelites from Egypt are celebrated in the springtime? What do bunnies, eggs, lambs, and Jesus have to do with each other? It sounds like the beginning of a riddle.
If it is a riddle, though, it’s an ancient one, and a goddess was the first to tell it.
Inanna’s Journey to the Underworld
Inanna was a Sumerian deity unfamiliar to most people today. She ruled the heavens as the morning star, the planet Venus, and her power was so vast it encompassed the realms of both love and war. Back then, she ruled with the precepts of eternal summer and constant partying, except when she flaunted her power by making war. Yet despite the might of her reign, she grew jealous toward her sister Ereshkigal, who ruled the underworld. Ereshkigal’s husband had just died, and Inanna mused that it might be time to pay her sister a “compassionate” visit.
The trouble with visiting Hell, however, is that the journey requires sacrifice. It may look simple from a distance, but descending the mountain is always harder and takes longer than it seems. She took much time and effort to pack for her trip, for she possessed many divine and royal attributes that she would need to sustain her on the journey.
Inanna left the heavens bedecked with all her stuff: robed and crowned, encrusted with jewels, glittering like the Sun himself. She arrived at the first of the underworld’s seven gates, there to be met by Neti, the gatekeeper, who informed her she would not pass until she surrendered her crown. That really pissed her off. She railed at him: “Don’t you know who I am? I’ll have your head for treason!” But Neti only gazed placidly at her, his hand outstretched, waiting. Eventually, when she had yelled herself out, Inanna handed over her golden crown, the symbol of her royal power, and stormed onward toward the second gate.
There, Neti again met her, materializing out of the ether with outstretched hands like a bad dream or a terrible case of déjà vu. “Your cape, Your Majesty,” he quietly said, a smile on his lips but not in his eyes. And he waited patiently while she howled in rage. Her threats of beheading and disembowelment moved him not at all, and finally she flung her cape at his feet.
By the time she reached the third gate, she was no longer surprised to behold Neti appearing from the mist before her. This time he demanded her fine lapis necklace, a gift from her father. She took it off and handed it over, never taking her eyes from his, then walked on more pensively to the fourth gate.
And so it went. At each gate, Inanna surrendered more precious possessions, stripping off her gown, her protective breastplate, and even her undergarments. By the seventh gate she walked naked and shoeless in the darkest shadow of Hell, only her prized golden bracelets remaining. They had been a gift from one of the oldest gods, so far back in her history that she could scarcely remember, and from them stemmed all her power to both create and destroy, to make war or to invent a lover for herself. With a flick of her wrist, she could destroy any enemy who stood in her way. Now, at the seventh gate, here stood Neti gazing at them expectantly. With a gesture she could erase him. Yet, during the journey inward to this deepest and most shadowy place, Inanna had begun to truly wonder about her sister. Why had she remained down here all these years? Who was she, really? What might she do when faced with Inanna, her opposite?
She was soon to find out. As she entered the throne room of Hell, naked and completely powerless, Ereshkigal bared her teeth in a smile that quickly morphed into a snarl. “Nice to see you, sister,” she growled. “Won’t you stay awhile?” Inanna noted her advanced pregnancy with a start. My sister is not in a mood to entertain, she thought, just before the axe fell from behind, crushing her skull and killing her instantly.
The First Resurrection
Ereshkigal hung her sister’s corpse on a hook, where she could see it and bask in the satisfaction of possessing the Queen of Heaven here in her own domain. There it stayed for three days, while an uproar ensued throughout the rest of the universe. It turns out Inanna had a bestie: Ninshubar, her servant and confidant, who missed her immediately and, knowing where she had gone, raised the alarm to the rest of the gods. Eventually she recruited Inanna’s father, Enki, to come to her rescue. Enki created two tiny spirits, small as flies, to sneak into the underworld and speak sweetly into Ereshkigal’s lonely ears, convincing her to let them resurrect Inanna and take her back to the upper world.
Yet there was a price to pay: the underworld demanded a substitute, someone to take the place of Inanna. So, she would need to return and find this substitute to send back in her place. It wasn’t very hard; when Inanna returned to the upper world and found her husband, Dumuzi, living it up and partying with his sister, she elected both of them to return “down there” instead of her. Eventually, Dumuzi and his sister were able to solve this by taking turns, so that one of them would spend six months down below and then the other one, taking turns throughout the year. Thus the seasons would be regulated faithfully, one of them returning in the spring and going back in the fall, the other one coming back in the fall and going back down in the spring.
This agricultural/seasonal rhythm meant that springtime, marking the occasion Inanna first emerged after her three days in the land of death, was a time of celebration and renewal. Like Osiris after her, and Persephone after him, and Dionysus after her, and Christ after them, the myth of death and resurrection would continue through the centuries, honoring the cyclical nature of the cosmos itself. Israel would mark its own death and rebirth, its descent into Egypt and arising into new nationhood, in the springtime also, to honor and perpetuate these agricultural rhythms. Spring fertility celebrations in many cultures included the sacrifice of young animals, the gifting of eggs, and the symbology of animals such as rabbits due to their prolific nature.
As for Ereshkigal, she too was rescued, in a roundabout way. Because of Inanna’s descent, Ereshkigal received two new companions with which to share her realm. (Possibly they even helped her raise her now fatherless and no doubt adorable little demon child.) No one knows whether she ever reflected upon her behavior toward her sister, but we know they found a necessary harmony with one another over the years. Ereshkigal continued her reign in the underworld, and Inanna was reinstated as the Queen of Heaven; but she learned from her experiences with the Shadow. She never again trespassed in her sister’s realm, choosing instead to allow seasonal change into the world rather than “eternal summer.” The cycle of seasons brought about by her death and resurrection has continued to this day.
Our Current Cycle
Inanna’s journey may sound familiar to those of us who ourselves have visited the realm of the dead. Perhaps you’ve lost someone, been through a divorce or a serious disease, lost a career or a home. Perhaps it was something less tangible; you’ve suffered addiction, the loss of your reputation or your sanity. If so, then you know with terrifying intimacy the seven gates of the underworld. Inanna’s crown went first, symbolizing clarity of thought, the “normal” or linear order of things we often have in mind. Then her robe, the outer view by which others see us, our reputation or public image. Then the necklace from her father, that inner or childlike view of ourselves, how we see ourselves or who we believe ourselves to be. Our thoughts and behavior become so alien to us, we aren’t sure anymore who this person is.
Next, we surrender the undergarments, what we believe to be our very selves. And at the last—symbolized by Inanna’s bracelets—even the power to resist the forces of change sweeping over us. We are helpless as infants, taken by the Shadow of the thing we most fear. At this point, and only at this point, can we truly undergo transformation. It is a messy process. It feels like death. And it requires that we receive help from our community. In Inanna’s case, her best friend and faithful servant, watching this process from afar, was unable to help until after Inanna had completely undergone the death process: had “hit bottom” so to speak. Then she raised the cry for help. But she never gave up, never stopped witnessing the tragic fall and awaiting a chance to render aid. A true act of service and humility, this type of love requires that we stand aside and bear witness to the process of transformation: in ourselves, in others, in the world. If we step in too soon, we interrupt the necessary and painful awakening. If too late, then we abandon ourselves without hope.
And what of the little spirits, the animate beings created by Enki to come and revive Inanna from the palace of death? So small no one saw them, yet it was they who did the vital work of redemption. Where are they in our story, those still, small voices? We must be in a place of deep quiet in order to hear them. A place of absolute surrender. Are we there yet?
Spirit Speaks
Spirit is speaking to us today in many and increasing voices. When you get a thought that seems like it doesn’t quite “fit” with the situation you’re in, or a bodily sensation like a sharp pain or a passing bellyache, that can be Spirit talking to you. Emotions like sudden joy, tears, even anger: ask if Spirit wants to tell you something. Try writing it out. Ask a question in writing and wait a beat to see what answer comes. Let the answer flow freely, without judging the writing as it flows. Dreams are another form of Spirit-talk. Practice writing them down for a few weeks and see if you notice any patterns coming through.
When we begin to listen and understand communication from Spirit, when we begin to follow the path of our own heart, then the world begins to come back into balance. The myth of Inanna shows us that when Spirit speaks and we listen, harmony follows. The seasons entrain to that inner harmony. As within, so without. As above, so below. The rhythm of the cosmos begins within. It’s about more than bunnies and chocolate eggs, about more than buying up retail at a certain time of year. These ancient myths and rhythms are voices we must learn again to follow. When we do, balance returns.
