Category: Religion and Philosophy

Inanna is a Sumerian goddess who is “Princess of the Earth” as well as the ‘Queen of Heaven” (the translation of her name). This love goddess is also associated with Isis, Aphrodite, Asarte, Ishtar and Cybele. January 2nd is her birthday, born to either the god An or the Moon god Nanna. She is also sister of Utu, Iskur and the older Ereskigal. Inanna is the consort of the vegetation god Dumuzi and handmaiden of An, the “God of Heaven”. Her attendant is the minor goddess Ninsubur and her champion is the mythical hero Gilgemes. Both a goddess of fertility and war, Inanna is a tutelary deity of the Southern Mesopotamian city of Unug(Uruk) where her sanctuary is the Eanna Temple. She is depicted as winged, wearing a horned headdress, a tired skirt and weapon cases on her shoulders. Her symbol began as a bundle of reeds tied in three places with streamers, but later in the Sardonic period it changed to a star or a rose. Inanna’s totem is a Lion or a lion cub, and she stands atop a mountain. She may be embodied in the Sacred Tree of Mesopotamia which evolved into a stylized totem made of wood and decorated with precious stones and bands of metal.

With her connections to fertility and vegetation, she is also the goddess of date palms (as Dumuzi was a god of the date harvest), a rain goddess and goddess of both the Morning and Evening Star (Venus). Inanna was worshipped at dawn with offerings and in the evening when she became the patron of temple prostitutes, when the Evening Star was seen as a harlot soliciting in the night skies.

Inanna was a deity of duality as well. She was the goddess of lightening and extinguishing fires, the goddess of fears and rejoicing, enmity and fair dealing, as well as other conflicting principles.

As a warrior goddess, she is one of the three deities involved in the primordial battle between good and evil (the dragon Kur). There is also a yearly conflict that she must endure involving her consort Dumuzi with her older sister Ereskigal. Inanna descends into the Underworld to challenge Ereskigal and finds herself stripped naked and tried before the seven underworld judges, the Anunnaki. She is sentenced and left for dead for three days and nights before being restored at the behest of Enki, the God of Wisdom, who creates two beings; Kur-gar-ra and Gala-tur-a, to secure her release and revive her by sprinkling her with the food and water of life.

NATIVITY OF INANNA MINI-RITUAL

SUPPLIES: Cat food, dates, a star or rose.

Places the Inanna symbol (star or rose) on the altar and speak to her:

“Queen of Heaven, Inanna,

With Your horns and Your wings;

Standing with Your lion,

Next to the sacred tree.

On top of Your sacred mountain,

Looking up to the starry sky,

Rain droplets caress Your face,

And lightening rides high.”

Places the cat food upon the altar and implore the lion totem:

“Lion of strength, courage and energy;

Warrior-king of a fierce deity,

Protect me from evil forces

And lead me to abundant sources.”

Places the dates upon the altar and say:

“I gather on Your birthday

And give You offerings of dates,

To give You strength against Your judges

And save You from certain fate.

Inanna, Queen of Heaven,

And Princess of the Earth,

Tonight I honor You

And celebrate Your birth!”

*Don’t forget to places the offerings outside for the animals!