If ever there was a time we need Inanna, it’s today. Friday October 5, 2018. When the US Senate votes on Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination. When Venus goes retrograde. When the tidal wave of women’s anger and rage is readying to breach the breakwalls.
This image of Inanna, known as The Burney Relief, is held in the British Museum. Photo by Andres Rueda.
Inanna is the OG – Original Goddess.
Like Wonder Woman, but better. Sometimes she is known as Ishtar. She’s definitely a sister to Lilith,Venus, Aphrodite, Isis, Tara and Durga. She is sooo much more than just a fertility goddess. Is there really anything more powerful than fertility, the power to create freakin’ life? Inanna is the goddess of fertility, power, desire, war, and justice. She’s a warrior-queen-lover-mother goddess type. She hails from ancient Sumeria (think modern day Iraq), where the priestess Enheduanna put her story down in cuneiform, the very first written language, almost 5000 years ago.
Venus retrograde
Today, the planet Venus goes retrograde. Venus, – who is all things love, relationships, desire and connection – now illuminates all the neuroses that individually and collectively stand in their way.
Stationing retrograde on October 5th, at 10° of Scorpio, Venus, planet of love, connection, relationships, women, femmes, femininity, and desire, reveals her other side. When Venus retrogrades we get to work with all that is in opposition to it. The experiences that evoke our most difficult emotions refuse to be ignored. One of Venus’s many retrograde lessons is that the abuse of all things Venus is old and deep. Wide and ready to be acknowledged. This goddess is hungry for justice too long withheld from her.
Retrograding every 18-months, the myths associated with Venus’s backward motion are of the goddess’s great descent. Venus was known as Inanna by the Sumerians. Her famous underworld journey is a tale of reckoning, awakening, and integrating the powerful material of the unconscious into consciousness.
~ Chani Nicholas
Inanna’s ancient stories and hymns
Is it any coincidence that a copy of Inanna’s story fell into my lap this week? Nope. Not a chance. While scoring 4 great birth books for my lending library, I was looking for a fifth (“buy 4, get 1 free!” at Value Village). Aaaah! There She was. A beautiful, new and accessible translation by Canadian novelist Kim Echlin. I am a true believer that books with the message we need right now come into your life at precisely the right moment.
“In my years of contemplation of these stories, their first powerful spell has never left me. Inanna is a goddess who is unabashedly sensual, powerful and free. The beauty of her hymns and songs transcends culture, lost tablets and the difficulties of interpreting ancient language. Inanna has survived human war and nature’s storms, and she captures our enduring preoccupations. The stories ask where we come from, and they give us advice on how to fool our mothers so we can sneak off with our lovers. They cry for justice after transgression. They lament loss. They express our fascination with the gods and with violence, and our resistence to fixed gender roles. They explore our need for law and for memory and our impulse toward freedom. Inanna continues to speak to us as we search for ways to live our potential, sometimes against great cultural odds.
~ Kim Echlin
Meeting Inanna
The most famous and potent story about Inanna is of her descent to – and return from – the Underworld. I was introduced to it in childbirth preparation classes led by Jennifer Elliott when I was expecting my daughter.
But first, she asked us to make a list of everyone and everything that we wanted to be in place during our labour. Who were the people we needed at our side? What should the birthing space to be like? What were the tools we wanted to have at hand? My list included: my husband, my best friend, at home in my bedroom, gentle movement, soothing music, nourishing food, dim lights…
Inanna’s descent
Jennifer then introduced Inanna. How she was all-powerful in her worldly realm, but for her that was not enough. She heard an inner call to command the mysteries of the Underworld as well.
She began the preparations for her journey, settling the affairs at her seven temples and gathering seven royal items for the trip, such as her crown, blessing beads, robe, breastplate and bracelet. As she approached the first of (you guessed it) seven gates to the Underworld, the gatekeeper demanded that she relinquish her crown.
Letting go…
At this point, Jennifer told each of us at the gathering to cross one item off our birth wish list. Which one would we let go of first, saying “yeah, that’s okay, I can do without that one.”
As her story continued, however, and as Inanna approached gate after gate, we had to each time find another item to cross off the list. The choice became harder, and still harder, as I had to decide what was most important to me for my birth.
Even harder was trying to figure out how I would do the tough work of birthing my baby when I didn’t have, well… anything on that list at all.
Her victorious return
When Inanna reaches the depths of the Underworld, she has had to let everything go. She is quite literally hung out to dry, her empty body hung on a hook.
But through her preparations, Enki, the god of wisdom, comes to guide her back. He’s been there himself, and knows how to return, how not to get stuck in the Underworld (just like a really good doula).
Inanna returns – but transformed, and with gifts and powers she didn’t have before her descent. Reaching those treasures from the Underworld was not possible without loss. There is more, much more to Inanna’s story of her descent and return, that I will leave for you to discover for yourself…
Birth as a rite of passage
In the end, I had only one those things I put on my birth wish list when it came time to deliver my daughter. I did have my husband with me – but even his presence was not constant nor guaranteed. During those hours, and in many circumstances in my life since then, Inanna’s example of courage, strength and wisdom have served me well.
Despite everything that our modern culture tells us, birth is not a medical event. It is a rite of passage. The journey (and your baby) is calling you. Yes – you. Will you answer the call? How will you write your hero’s myth?
How does Inanna’s story help?
How can myths and archetypes help us on our way?
You spend a lifetime collecting the mythic stories of the heroes and heroines that speak to you, the ones that excite your imagination. Each new telling from a different storyteller reveal nuances and details that illuminate their experiences in a new way for you. (This is why Hollywood can crank out remake after remake of Batman, Superman and Spiderman.)
Above all, you begin to recognize the places where your own path lines up with their journey. You begin to see your own narrative reflected, and understand that you too are worthy of your own heroic song. Inanna’s story and those of other heroes teach us and prepare us with tools for the journey ahead. They give us powerful inspiration to get us through and beyond the fiery gates of transformation.
Hungry for more?
As a birth & postpartum doula, and yoga & meditation instuctor, I relish working with people who are exploring their own capacity for transformation. Who see that the tremendous changes involved in becoming a parent are a rich opportunity for personal learning and growth. Does that sounds like something you’re curious about too? Let’s talk further about how I can support your own journey. Contact me today for a complimentary in-person consultation.
If you’re looking for more than just information in preparing for your birth, I highly recommend checking out Birthing from Within, created by Pam England, especially her books “Birthing from Within” and the recent update “Ancient Map for Modern Birth”, which includes a rich telling of Inanna’s story.
Here in Toronto, Corina Tudor is a wonderful Birthing from Within mentor offering childbirth preparation classes.
Join me on Sat Oct 27, 2018 at the 4 Trimesters Pregnancy, Birth & Postpartum Conference . I’ll be sharing “Passing Through the Gate: Birth as Your Rite of Passage”. Delve deeper into how stories, ritual and celebration can enrich and honour your unique journey to parenthood. Use promo code RS10 today and save $10 on your conference ticket.