INANNA.
on Inanna's descent.
We are gearing up for Western, institutionalised Christianity’s celebration of the resurrection of a Palestinian man who was executed by the State, a man who if he were born today, would be turned away by the vast majority of the people who claim to follow and worship him.
It’s Easter weekend.
So it seems only fitting that of course, we must contemplate the myth of Inanna.
Over the next three days, we’re going to go on a little journey. We’re going to remember the story of the Goddess who followed the call to the Underworld, was consumed by it, and then rose again three days later.
Inanna was the original blueprint of that story, by the way.
Every single patriarchal religion that has told a story of a man who died and rose again three days later plagiarised the story of Inanna. She made that journey first. She showed us the way.
I need to say at the outset here, I’ve got nothing personally against Jesus. I actually really like him, as a mythic Main Character. Jesus and I get along great.
(To be clear, I obviously mean OG Jesus, the queer communist witch who hung out with his lover, friend, and first apostle Mary Magdalene, and went around the place with all his bros, criticising the state and preaching divine union with Love — not weirdly whitewashed Jesus of mainstream Christianity….)
To remember the myth of Inanna is to remember that the story of the resurrection from the Underworld never belonged to men alone.
It belonged to the current of Wild Aliveness itself.
It belonged to the Feminine.
We are going to explore that myth over the next three days, leading up to Easter (Ishtar: one of Inanna’s many names 😉). We are going to sit with the story of Inanna.
Today will be The Descent.
Tomorrow, The Underworld, and on Sunday, The Rebirth.
May you see yourself in Inanna’s story.
May you follow in her footsteps.
May you descend down into the Underworld of your own spirit, to cast off what was never yours, and to rise again, more alive than you’ve ever been.
Love you comrade.
INANNA’S DESCENT...
(prompts for journaling and reflection at the bottom 🩸🥰)
We’ll begin our contemplation with THE CALL.
The beckoning you feel in your bones, the one you can’t ignore, the one you keep coming back to, no matter how effectively you numb it out, or distract yourself away.
In the Myth of Inanna, her story begins with a wedding.
Inanna marries a handsome young shepherd, thus signifying her life finally “coming together”.
Everything is where it should be, on the outside, she has everything she’s ever wanted.
In a time of what “should be” delight, celebration, and gratitude, Inanna hears a terrible cry from Below.
The cry was coming from Inanna’s sister, Ereshkigal, who was trapped in the underworld and mourning the death of her husband, just as Inanna was “supposed to” be celebrating her own marriage.
(Notice here, her “sister” isn’t real. it’s an allegory for the shadow part of Inanna herself. the disowned and disavowed parts. notice that while Inanna is “supposed to” be celebrating, her Shadow Self is in mourning)
Inanna knew in her bones that she absolutely had to go down to the Underworld and be with her sister as she grieved, and to bear witness to the funeral rites that needed to happen.
Everyone around her tried desperately to persuade her out of it. They told her that she must never go to the Underworld, because if she tries to go, she’ll never come back.
For a while, it worked. Inanna stayed put, but she was constantly troubled by the terrible grieving cries she could still hear from her sister below.
Eventually, Inanna went against the wisdom and the wishes of everyone around her, and she followed her intuitive and instinctive pull down into the Underworld.
(Symbolically, we can take this here to mean that she knew in her soul that she had to go and be with the disowned and disavowed parts of herself, she had to resist the temptation to continue running away from her own pain and Shadow. She had to witness it, for there to be any hope of wholeness and integration.)
Inanna embarks on the terrible and terrifying journey into Hell. She says to her faithful and beloved friend Ninshubar: “I’m going. I don’t care what you say. But if I’m not back in three days, call the Elders for help.”
Keep reading for a series of prompts and integrations questions to support you in finding + reclaiming your own call to the Underworld, as it comes through in your own spirit…
