In ancient Mesopotamia, the Goddess Inanna was the most worshiped female deity. In Sumerian her name means “The Lady of the Skies” and to the north of Babylon she is called Ishtar.
Inanna is an adventurous Goddess of many myths. Among them it is told that she decided to go down to the underworld to visit her sister, the Goddess Ereshkigal. However, upon arriving there, Inanna encountered 7 gates. To cross each of them, the Goddess left part of her robes and her protective talismans, arriving completely naked to meet her sister. Ereshkigal’s penetrating gaze killed Inanna.
- Attributes: Goddess of the sky, love, wisdom, war, fertility and eroticism
- Symbols: Sky, clouds, flowers, trees, wars, births, rose of the winds and the skin
- Place: Mesopotamia
As Inanna did not return to the living world, her consort, Dumuzi, took the power of the city of Erech to him, betraying Inanna’s confidence. However, the goddess’s father created two monsters that went to her rescue her in the underworld. By the rules of the underworld ruled by Ereshkigal, once a soul belongs to the place, it can not leave. Inanna, defying this law, fled and, upon learning of Dumuzi’s betrayal, she sent him to take her place in the underworld.
While on the ground plane she also encountered the Demon Goddess Lilith at the roots of a tree she planned to turn into a throne. At that time he was saved by Gilgamesh.
Several of her myths tell about love, about her lovers and her sensual side, but she is almost never credited as responsible for bringing civilization to the world. His father Enki had the tablets of fate and kept them with him, like real treasures. With pity for humanity, Inanna traveled to her father’s house and was very well received, with food and wine. Enki loved her company and, after drinking too much, promised to give her anything she wanted. Promptly she asked for the tablets and her father, under the effects of alcohol, did not deny it. They were given to mankind and thus civilization as we know it began and prospered.
Goddess Inanna – Divine Woman
Like Venus, Isis and several other Goddesses of Love, Inanna has a sensual side that is very accentuated in her stories, making her dependent on heroes on some occasions to get out of trouble. Yet she has other strong characteristics: like Athena and Freyja she is warlike and wise in commanding her people or protecting herself from rape. Like Demeter, she is also Goddess of Fertility, making the earth and the people thrive under her eyes.
Inanna possesses many qualities and has all the characteristics of the woman who as well as the Mother Goddess knows how to give love and affection when deserved or to cause storms when necessary.
How to summon Inanna
The story of Inanna shows us the woman’sfree and adventurous spirit. However, being so fearless, she ends up being imprisoned in the realm of the dead by her own sister, Ereshkigal. Often in our lives we go through experiences that seem to trap us, and these situations can be created by people close to us.
A good way to summon Inanna and call for strength to overcome some difficulty is to use her story as a metaphor for her problem. Prepare your altar with candles and incenses of your own. Put leaves and flowers to represent the Goddess and draw her star. Open the magic circle and start meditating, focusing on the questions:
How was your life before this problem arose? Think of yourself and Inanna as adventurous, without limits.
What is the cause of this problem you are facing at the moment? Relate this to the moment that Inanna descends to the kingdom of Ereshkigal and gets imprisoned. What can you do to overcome this problem? Visualize Inanna being able to free herself and return to the world of the living.
Thank the presence of the Goddess, undo the circle and venture back into your life!
The Goddess Tarot
Inanna is on the Goddess Tarot by Kris Waldherr. The card number XVIII, Inanna, represents The Star.
Dressed in Stars, Inanna, the great Bronze Age Goddess, was honored with the title of “Queen of the Heavens.”
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