Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon, my Darlings.   For this week’s Femme Fatale Friday blog post, I will be discussing the Descent of Inanna and how the story relates to Venus Retrograde!   Firstly, I want to briefly overview the myth (the Sumerian version), and then I will discuss how the myth relates to Venus Retrograde.

The most famous story of Inanna is the story of her Descent into the Underworld.   So, the Descent of Inanna myth is found in a Sumerian poem.   In the poem, Inanna makes the descent to the Underworld to visit her sister Ereskigal, who was recently widowed.   As Inanna descends into the Underworld (sometimes also called the Netherworld in different translations and tellings), she must remove clothing and other items of her regalia brought with her for the journey.   An item is removed at each of the Seven Gates through which Inanna must descend.   In the translation that I most recently read, which I will link below, this includes at the First Gate: Inanna’s Turban; at the Second Gate: Small Lapis Lazuli Beads worn around Inanna’s neck; at the Third Gate: Twin Egg-Shaped Beads worn at Inanna’s breast; at the Fourth Gate: ‘Come, man, Come’ Pectoral (also known as a Sacred Breastplate); at the Fifth Gate: A Golden Ring; at the Sixth Gate: Lapis Lazuli measuring rod and measuring line; and at the Seventh Gate: Inanna’s Pala Dress, known as a garment of her Ladyship.    

So, after going through the Seven Gates, when Inanna met with her sister Ereshkigal, Goddess of the Underworld, she had been stripped naked.   When Inanna met with Ereshkigal, she was also met with Seven Judges.   In anger (for she blamed Inanna for her husband’s death), Ereshkigal and the Judges killed Inanna and hung her corpse on a hook for three days and nights.   It is after those three days and nights that Ninshubur, Inanna’s Minister (as she is called in the translation I most recently read, but I think we can also read her position as Inanna’s Priestess), went about the instructions Inanna had left her with.   These instructions included going to the other Gods on Inanna’s behalf.   This is how Ninshubur learned that Inanna could be revived, and followed her to the Underworld.   Of course, when Inanna is revived in the Underworld, Ereshkigal and the Judges do not want to simply allow her to leave, as that had never happened before, so it was decided that Inanna could be allowed to return from the Underworld if someone took her place there.   So, when Inanna returned from the Underworld, she gave Dumuzid to take her place.   That is how Inanna was able to return from the Underworld.   In truth, this whole myth can be seen as symbolic of the process of the beginning of a Spiritual Initiation.   After all, we can view the trip to the Underworld, the death, and the rebirth as all aspects of Shadow work.   When we do Shadow work, we are descending into the Underworld within the self and releasing old parts of the self that have died off, so that we may become the most integrated versions of ourselves yet.   

Now, as for how the myth of the Descent of Inanna is associated with Venus Retrograde, that is because Inanna is a Venusian Goddess.   In fact, many scholars have stated that she is the earliest version of a Goddess associated with Venus that we have a written record of!   In this way, if we view Inanna as the planet Venus, we can state that when Venus goes into retrograde, Inanna is in the Underworld, having made her famed descent.   All of the trials that Inanna went through to get to the Underworld are, as stated above, aligned with Spiritual Initiation, but they are also directly connected to the Heroine’s Journey.   The Heroine’s Journey is the feminine counterpart to the Hero’s Journey.   However, given the feminine nature, the Heroine’s Journey is not an outward journey (like the Quests of the Hero’s Journey); instead, this is an inward journey.   So, Inanna’s Descent into the Underworld can be mirrored in the internal work we do when we descend into our own Underworlds (the Shadow)!   So, yes, even the Shadow Work I mentioned above can be thought of as an individual’s own Heroine’s Journey. 

Furthermore, the fact that Venus Retrograde tends to bring up Shadow issues surrounding all of the things that Venus governs in astrology for many people shows this Heroine’s Journey energy, as well.   After all, when Venus Retrograde occurs, Venus is encouraging each of us to go within, to make a descent, like Inanna did, to resolve issues in the Shadow.   I think that this is even more pronounced during this Venus Retrograde, as it is occurring in the Autumn, meaning that Venus Retrograde and Samhain will be happening at the same time!   Oh, yes, I think that the natural inclination to go within during the dark half of the year is being amped up with Venus Retrograde.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my overview of the story of Inanna’s Descent and how the tale relates to Venus Retrograde.   Have you delved into any Shadow Work yet this Venus Retrograde?   Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is an illustration of Inanna-Ishtar’s descent into the Underworld taken from Lewis Spence’s Myths and Legends of Babylonia and Assyria (1916).   I found the art on https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Myths_and_legends_of_Babylonia_and_Assyria_(1916)_(14801964123).jpg.     

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Further Reading

• https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr141.htm (This is a translation of the myth from the University of Oxford.)
• https://shinjinim.com/2021/12/20/the-descent-of-inanna-a-template-for-the-heroines-journey/
• Encyclopedia of Spirits by Judika Illes