Mythic Monday: Capricorn Goddess Inanna by Flossie Benton Rogers

Winter Solstice recently occurred, a time to honor and celebrate the return of the sun, the lengthening of days, and the return of the light. The sun is now in Capricorn, the essence of which involves hard work, earthly bounty, and the protection of loved ones. I honor the great Sumerian goddess Inanna as 2015 patron goddess of Capricorn. She gave herself over to nothingness and sacrificed herself to save her beloved consort Dumuzi. On earth, anyone who has loved deeply and had a loving relationship with a soul mate will understand. This is a very short narrative version of my revisionary retelling of the Inanna myth.

To free her beloved Dumuzi, who was trapped in the netherworld of death, Inanna the Queen of Heaven gave up her reign, her thoughts of the future, and her very life to plead help from her sister Ninshuba, who served as a guide in that frightening region. With dire warnings, Ninshuba allowed Inanna entry to the underworld. During the downward journey, the goddess encountered a series of seven gates guarded by increasingly austere and grim gatekeepers. Each gate led to a lower realm of the underworld. In order to continue her descent, Inanna had to give up a valuable possession at each gate. Piece by piece Inanna removed her clothing and jewels until she stood alone and naked, almost unrecognizable without her sparkling trappings and accoutrements. The merciless crone goddess of death Eriskegal gazed full upon Inanna, uncaring and unsympathetic to her starvation for her lover, the depth of her mourning, or her unbearable sorrow. The goddess of death turned Inanna into a wraith, a wasting corpse, passionless and bereft of her lover, her own inner self as lost to her as if she had never been more than a mere insubstantial dream. Her sister Ninshuba had no power to reverse the utter finality of Inanna’s death.

Although trapped in the netherworld, Inanna’s beloved consort Dumuzi became aware of his soul mate’s plight during his own dreaming. Through the power of love, he sent a mental plea to Inanna’s father to assist her from heaven. With the help of Ninshuba, Inanna’s father devised and implemented a rescue plan. However, the goddess Inanna refused to leave the underworld without her beloved soul mate. She pleaded for her father and sister to rescue Dumuzi as well. The process involved heated negotiations with the cold hearted crone goddess of death, Erishegal. Eventually, after much effort from both female and male powers, Inanna and Dumuzi returned to their ethereal home and to their original splendor. The natural law of the underworld, however, required recompense, and the goddess of death refused to waive the fee. Therefore, Inanna and Dumuzi must forever return to the underworld for six months of each year, descending downward from the light with the onset of Summer Solstice. It is only with Winter Solstice that the royal pair emerges from their netherworld slumber to regain their footing among the living. At that time, full of joy and their eternal love for each other, they shower the earth with immeasurable gifts of life, vitality, and returning light.

I hope you have enjoyed the short narrative glimpse of my alternative version of Inanna’s descent. True lovers can never long  be parted.

Cheers & Happy Reading!
Conjuring the Magic with Paranormal Fantasy Romance