She was the Queen of Heaven, Goddess of Sexual Love, Fertility and Warfare.
Inanna is the Goddess of the Planet Venus, the daughter of the moon god Nanna, and sister of the sun god Utu and the rain god Ishkur.
Her symbol is the eight-pointed star.
She stands on two lions as she was the Queen of Power.
One day she decided to attend the funeral rites of her brother in law Gugalana the Bull of Heaven who was married to her sister Ershkigal, Goddess of the Underworld.
Gugalana was killed by the King of Uruk Gilgamesh and his companion Enkidu.
Before leaving to the Underworld, she instructed her servant Ninshubar to beg the Gods, Enlil, Nanna and Enki to save her if she does not come back in three days.
She was aware how much her sister used to hate her, and she was quite sure that Ershkigal would do anything to get rid of her.
Each garment represents a powerful mes or ability she used to have.
This elegance made her sister hates her even more..
When she arrived at the first gate of the Underworld, she called on the gatekeeper to open, but the gatekeeper and under the instructions of Ershkigal said she will be allowed to enter if she hands over her lapis lazuli Measuring Rod.
He said this is one of the rules of the Underworld.
She obliged and passed through the seven gates and at each gate she gave up one of her garments she had been wearing, thus reaching her sister's steps naked and stripped of all her powers.
She was deprived from talking.
"After she had crouched down and had her clothes removed, they were carried away. Then she made her sister Erec-ki-gala rise from her throne, and instead she sat on her throne. The Anna, the seven judges, rendered their decision against her. They looked at her -- it was the look of death. They spoke to her -- it was the speech of anger. They shouted at her -- it was the shout of heavy guilt. The afflicted woman was turned into a corpse. And the corpse was hung on a hook."
Erskigal's hate for Inanna was due to her destiny, she can not leave her kingdom of the Underworld to join the other 'living' gods, and they can not visit her in the Underworld, or else they can never return. Inanna symbolized erotic love and fertility, and contrasts with Ershkigal.
After three days Ninshubar asked the three Gods to save her, only Enki was deeply troubled and agreed to help. The other two refused blaming her for her own mess.
One he named Galatura and the other Kurajara.
He taught them how to reach to Ershkigal and make peace with her.
He instructed them to reach the corpse of Inanna and sprinkle it with the food and water of life.
Galatura and Kurajara reached Ershkigal who was in deep agony, she led them to Inanna's corpse and asked them to relieve her as well and she offered them rivers of water and fields of grain.
They denied the request of Ershkigal and sprinkled Inanna's corpse sixty times with water of life, so she got her soul back.
However, Demons of her sister came to her and insisted that she was not free to go unless someone takes her place.
They wanted her to choose one of her family including her husband Dumuzi, and they let her see him enjoying a moment under a tree not caring for his wife's absence.
This view displeased her, but his sister begged that she can be in his place.
So it was decreed that Dumuzi spent half a year in the underworld and the other half to be spent there by his sister.
She stood up and walked with them and when she was passing the gates of the Underworld back to her World, she was retrieving her garments one by one at each gate.
When she passed the first gate out, she had all her powers back.
But Inanna regretted what she agreed for her husband and started to miss him.
The fertility she controls with her godly powers begins to fade when she misses her husband during the six months that he is in the Underworld.
This infertile time corresponds to the fall and winter months.
When her husband is with her, everything is filled with love and life, and this time corresponds to Spring and Summer.
Some scholars interpreted this myth as an allegorical report of related movements of the planets Venus, Mercury and Jupiter, and those of the waxing crescent Moon in the Second Millennium, beginning with Spring Equinox and concluding with a meteor shower near the end of one synodic period of Venus.
The seven gates resembles the Moon Cycle of seven days till the Moon became a thin Crescent, and seven days to reach back to reach a Full Moon.
The Human Body follows the same Cycle.
Astrologists and Scientists co-relate between the Moon Cycle and Life Cycle.
Scientists also resembles the Moon Cycle with the Woman Blood Cycle, and Woman Mood as to the changes she experienced during her blood cycle.
They claim that the Moon has a strong Physical and Psychological influence on Woman's Mood.
Moon, Mood only a letter makes a difference.......... or not.
Sami Cherkaoui
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