Inanna

Inanna–Ishtar

Queen of Heaven; The One Who Is Joy; The One Who Roams About; Lady of Battle and Conflict; Lady of Victory; Opener of the Womb

Inanna–Ishtar is the great Mesopotamian goddess of love, fertility, war, sexuality, sovereignty, and transformation. Inanna is her original Sumerian name; Ishtar is her Semitic (Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian) name. Even in antiquity, the names were used interchangeably. They refer to the same divine spirit, although understood as manifesting with different emphases. Ishtar represents Inanna expressed at a greater extreme—more sexual, more aggressive, more volatile, and more violent—yet fundamentally the same goddess.

Inanna is the Sumerian Mother Goddess, Queen of Heaven, and ruler of fertility, sexuality, and the cycles of the seasons. She was also known as Nina, and the name Inanna may itself be derived from Nina. She was the most widely venerated goddess of later Sumerian civilization and one of the most important deities in the entire Mesopotamian pantheon.

Inanna–Ishtar is the archetype of the Near Eastern fertility and war goddess. Many scholars believe that later goddesses such as Astarte, Anat, and Aphrodite represent cultural paths or expressions of Inanna–Ishtar. She gives life and she takes it away. She battles by day and loves by night. Her dominion extends over humans, animals, and vegetation. She bestows desire, initiates procreative force, governs childbirth, and holds power over disease and healing. She may bless or kill with a glance.

Inanna–Ishtar controls sexually transmitted diseases: she may heal them or bestow them as punishment or displeasure. She provides joy, but she is also dangerous, unpredictable, and absolute in her demands for devotion. In modern spiritual terms, she might be likened to a Petro spirit compared to Inanna’s Rada aspect—Ishtar as Inanna La-Flambeau.

Her most famous myth concerns her descent into the underworld. Inanna walked down the steps of death to Irkalla, the Land of No Return. There she was seized by the Gallas, a host of demons, and held captive. She was freed only by promising that another life would take her place. Returning to heaven, she searched for a substitute. She spared a loyal servant and rejected two minor gods, Shara and Latarrek.

When Inanna entered her temple at Erech (Uruk), she found her son-lover-consort Damuzi (also known as Dumuzi or Tammuz) seated on her throne, dressed in royal robes, celebrating rather than mourning her absence. Enraged, Inanna fixed him with the Eye of Death, and the Gallas dragged him to the underworld. Each year Inanna mourned Damuzi’s death, and his descent brought winter to the land.

Damuzi had become Inanna’s consort through the rite of hieros gamos—the sacred marriage—after proving himself upon her bed. She appointed him shepherd of the land. From approximately 2600 BCE onward, the kings of Sumer mystically identified themselves with Damuzi and were known as the “beloved husbands” of Inanna. Each New Year, a sacred marriage rite was enacted between the king and the high priestess of Inanna, who embodied the goddess.

Inanna–Ishtar was once worshipped in a state-sponsored, organized religion. As Mesopotamian society grew increasingly patriarchal, her prominence declined. The image of a sexually autonomous, violent, independent warrior-goddess became unacceptable. Disrespect toward her appears in the Epic of Gilgamesh, which dates to the third millennium BCE.

ORIGIN:

Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq)

MANIFESTATIONS:

A beautiful, young woman, lavishly dressed and bejeweled. She may be thousands of years old, but she consistently appears youthful. The Empress card in the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck is based on her image. She is also known to manifest as a fig tree. Inanna–Ishtar sits on a lion throne and holds a double serpent scepter.

ATTRIBUTES:

Crown of stars; lapis lazuli necklace; pitcher

EMBLEM:

Eight-pointed star

SACRED ANIMALS:

Dolphins, lions, snakes, scorpions, hedgehogs; she owns seven hunting dogs; seven lions draw her chariot; she rides a fire-breathing dragon.

NUMBERS:

7, 15

BIRD:

Dove

PLANET:

Venus

STONE:

Lapis lazuli

TREE:

Fig

SACRED SITES:

The center of her veneration was Uruk (the name Iraq may derive from this ancient city); her shrine at Khafajah, Iraq, dates from approximately 4000 BCE.

OFFERINGS:

Incense; wine, artisanal beer, and sweet baked goods, especially if you bake them by hand and form them in her images (once upon a time, ancient cake molds were manufactured); but most of all absolute, unconditional adoration, devotion, and loyalty. She is a volatile, unpredictable, temperamental spirit, especially in her path as Ishtar. Well-maintained altar or artistic tributes should be pleasing.

SEE ALSO:

• Anat
• Aphrodite
• Astarte
• Bau
• Ereshkigal
• Ezili La Flambeau
• Ishhara
• Lamashtu
• Lilith
• Ogun La Flambeau
• Petro
• Rada Spirits
• Tammuz
• Tanit

Sources:

• Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods & Goddesses– Written by Judika Illes Copyright © 2009 by Judika Illes.
• The Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft and Wicca – written by Rosemary Ellen Guiley – Copyright © 1989, 1999, 2008 by Visionary Living, Inc.

NOTE:

Since the Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians and others all shared essentially the same pantheon and belief systems, these articles are all combined under the Mesopotamian mythology / deities / legendary creatures category.