In the Underworld
Inanna's Myth - Part II
Myth of Inanna - IN THE UNDERWORLD ⚫️
Today we’re continuing our shared contemplation of the myth of Inanna, and what it means for our personal and collective liberation.
To have a read through Part I — the Call, and the Descent, click here.
Part II orbits around the descent through the seven gates, and our time In the Underworld.
Prompts at the bottom...
In the myth of Inanna, her journey into the Underworld involves descending through the seven "gates".
She knocks at the first gate. "I am Inanna. Queen of Heaven and Earth. I come to see what I have not yet seen, and to know what I do not yet know." The keeper of the first gate asks that she relinquish her royal crown, and only then will he open the doors.
She knocks at the second gate. "I am Inanna. Queen of Heaven and Earth. I come to see what I have not yet seen, and to know what I do not yet know. Please, let me enter." The second gatekeeper asks that she give up her bracelet.
At the third gate, she's asked to give up her necklace.
At the fourth, her sceptre.
More and more of all her worldly and royal possessions are relinquished as she descends through all the gates, and she can feel herself dropping into new realms of vulnerability and weakness as she does so.
By the sixth gate, she knocks, and she hardly remembers what she came in for.
At the final gate, Inanna is broken, beaten, almost falling to the floor. "I am Inanna. I am here." The gatekeeper asks for her final symbol of royalty - her cloak. She hands it over. Inanna is now completely naked, cold, and vulnerable.
At last, she descends through the Final Gate.
Her sister (shadow self) Ereshkigal, is waiting for her there. She wails, screeches, and becomes totally mad upon seeing Inanna. She is Lost. There is a struggle. Eventually, "Inanna" is killed. Ereshkigal hangs her broken body on a hook, for three days.
Symbolically, we can take this to mean that Inanna's terrible and terrifying journey into the underworld asked her to give up all that which gave her worldly power. When we are called into the underworld of our own souls, we too must surrender that which we CLING TO, that which gives us external identity.
We must allow that external aspect of us, the one that was probably built up on someone else's ideals, someone else's metrics, to be broken down to nothing, and eventually to "die" at the hands of our Shadow Selves.
(Spoiler alert, Inanna's story has a happy ending. ;))
PROMPTS FOR JOURNALING AND CONTEMPLATION...
#1 Reflect on the gift of heartbreak.
Part of that sweet sweet underworld medicine is learning how to see the tremendous GIFTS that our "losses" bestow upon us.
Reflect now on moments in your life where it felt, in the moment, like nothing would ever be okay again. What were the seeds for joy that were planted in that experience?
What did you learn about yourself, about your spirit, your calling, your loved ones, your art, your place in the world, as a result of this heartbreak?
What unexpected delights came from what you thought at the time were terrible heartbreaks?
(IMPORTANT: if you are CURRENTLY in the midst of terrible heartbreak, DO NOT DO THIS. We are NOT bypassing the grief of our lived experience. This exercise is for PAST heartache, where the charge around the grief and the anguish has all but dissipated. If you're in it now, just let yourself be in it. Trust that you are held ❤️)
Some examples from my own life:
I was hit by a car, and suffered a chronic injury to my left frontal lobe. The rehab was long and gruelling, and it took me a while to get my cognitive function back. It was a HUGE hit to my ego. I DID NOT like it. I thought I would die from the humiliation (sooooo much of my identity at the time was around my intelligence. secretly, it still is. More to come on this one I imagine 🫠) BUT. as a result of that injury, I had to learn all I could about neuroplasticity, nervous system health, and brain function. it planted the seed for what would become my calling. AND, even better, because I am inherently "weakened" in my left frontal hemisphere, my brain "compensated" itself by leaning on my right brain. I now have no internal monologue, no real sense of the passage of time, and I literally think in myth and imagery now.
I carry a GAPING mother wound. It rules a lot of my self inquiry. We had a very traumatic falling out, and I ended up living on the street. I thought that was the end of everything I ever wanted. But, whoopsie daisy, I ended up spontaneously moving to sydney, and beginning what ended up being the grand adventure that my life became in the years since.
#2 Reflect on the SEVEN GATES.
Imagine you are Inanna. You are being called into the Underworld. You decide to go, even though you know you shouldn't, you must. On your journey down, you are asked to "relinquish" seven of your most prized "possessions".
What are they, for you?
Take your time with this.
Remember, "relinquish" here is symbolic. It doesn't mean you have to throw the thing away forever. It means we are *symbolically* letting go of it, or, to put it another way, allowing ourselves to hold that thing more loosely — AKA, that thing is no longer holding US.
We are getting curious about who we would be if this thing was not a fixed part of our identity anymore.
"Possession" here is a symbol. They could be belief systems, ideals, goals for your life, fears that define you, et cetera.
#3 Reflect on what it would mean to "die at the hands of the Shadow".
What if you totally and completely lost your mind?
What if you went completely batshit fucking insane?
What if you chucked away literally all of your responsibilities, you answered to no one, you went full bog-witch-village-crazy-lady?
(note: maybe don't actually do it. we all still live in the world, we have families and livelihoods and loved ones. just imagine...)
What would happen if, just for a moment, you allowed your "higher self" to "die" at the hands of your "shadow self"?
Remember, whenever we're repressing an aspect of our psyches, we're equally repressing it's opposite.
For eg, if there's a part of your shadow self that's pitiful in it's failure to accomplish anything, there's also going to be a repressed aspect of you that's powerful and mighty beyond comprehension.
If there's an aspect of your shadow self that's petty and vindictive, there's also going to be a repressed aspect of you that's unconditionally loving and forgiving.
Our "shadow self" isn't just the stuff we've labelled as "bad" or "unworthy". it's everything we're repressing.
We are just as frightened of the aspects of us that are fully and unimaginably "good", as we are of the aspects that are terrifyingly "bad".
It's a window-of-tolerance thing. We repress any sensations we think we can't handle. Extreme shame? hell yes, into the underworld it goes. Body-shattering, ego-destroying, all-consuming and unconditional love?
Wooooah, that's a bit much. Down into the Underworld with you.
If your "real world" self is symbolically hung on Ereshkigal's hook for three days... what remains of You?
Journal on this.
Check back in tomorrow for Part III of this contemplation of Inanna’s Myth — Her RISING.