#Inanna-ishtar

[davidluongart]

Aphrodite and Adonis in their older Mesopotamian forms; Inanna-Ishtar, the warlike goddess of beauty, fertility, and love and Dumuzi, her husband and the shepherd king of ageless Uruk.🦁🐏

Here are the poem snippet that I used as the main inspo, written by Enhueduanna, high priestess of the moon god Nanna/Sin and daughter of King Sargon & Queen Tashlultum of Akkad. As she became a devotee of Inanna and composed various exaltation hymns to the goddess, she also composed 42 hymns addressed to many temples and sanctuaries across the land of Sumer and Akkad, the so-called Temple Hymns; which makes her become the earliest known named author in world history.

The ziggurat temple background was based on the Eanna temple (”House” of Inanna) in Uruk, which was built during the 3rd dynasty of Ur (21st cent BC) and had been mentioned throughout in the Epic of Gilgamesh; while their clothing was from later recent Assyrian & Babylonian era. All of the offerings were based on the depictions on the Warka vase from the National Museum of Iraq - an agricultural festival that seemed to be connected with the rituals involved with the goddess.

[magerywrites]

Literally the sanest fate fan

Naturally! After all, Inanna is the one whom Enki tells

You throw into confusion those threads which have been ordered. You organize those threads which bring confusion

(Enki and the World Order, 435–346, tr. Bendt Alster)

and she has been argued across a few sources—most famously Harris in Inanna-Ishtar as Paradox and a Coincidence of Opposites—to be a personification of the irrational and paradoxical quiddities of existence, a mechanism through which to mediate the chaos of living and thereby restore order to the cosmos.

In my labour to offer the world glimpses of her magnificence, I am glad to see that there are those who recognise I am simply following that same ancient impulse to find sanity in a land without!

[lovewardeath]

Satan has his candle always tall, constantly flickering and overall pretty unavoidable. I love it honestly.

Anyway, this is just some of the things going on in my practice. I have found that Inanna-Ishtar has reached out, as well as Loki. I am still researching into it all.

I still find myself drawn to Kemeticism, I had done some readings and Hathor, Ra & even Isis came by. Hathor has really made her presence known. But, my race is on the Celtic (I don’t know which part) and Mexican side, I hesitate to work with them. Especially since I hear that Kemeticism is a closed practice, sometimes I hear it’s open. I just don’t want to step on anyone’s toes & potentially disrespect someone’s culture & beliefs.

[magerywrites]

Ladies. Gentlemen. Enbies. Nascent Armoured Core Six puppygirls. We have a tragedy on our hands. A category five code red containment breach.

It has come to my attention that there are people in the notes of this poll trying to use the Epic of Gilgamesh to justify Enkidu out-heading Ishtar.

The Epic of Gilgamesh. The story about, among other things, how arrogance and hubris against the gods will only lead to disaster and true wisdom is found in accepting that humans can never aspire to the domain of the divine. The story that literally uses Enkidu’s death to support that message.

We need to nip this in the bud. It’s kind of like citing Fate/Stay Night to justify saying that being a hero is lame and you shouldn’t want to save anyone. Neither Archer nor Gil are meant to be right. It’s pretty foundational to the entire story.

Furthermore, using the Epic itself as a reference point for understanding anything about Ishtar is fraught with flaws. The version Fate/Grand Order and Fate/Strange Fake rely on—the Standard Babylonian Version—presents a view of Ishtar so dissimilar to any other representation across any part of her mythology that scholarship has suggested the Epic's compilers were reflecting the existence of "anti-Ištar sentiment at that time" (Beaulieu, 2003). In fact, the original Sumerian version of Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven has nothing to do with romance, but is instead Inanna's attempt to stop Gilgamesh rampaging as he pleased through her temple in Uruk.

Beyond this, it's one piece of mythology out of dozens that feature her. I wrote an entire essay on the subject of Ishtar's sexual skills as attested to in her mythology for this tournament and feel obligated to note that in it I referenced twenty-nine different texts from the relevant time periods, including myths, prayers, kingship inscriptions, and the like... and I could have cited more if I'd had the time.

The Epic is a good story—it's a great story!—but it is exactly that: a story. Pull open the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL) and read through the courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi (did you know there's a section in it called the Song of the Lettuce where Inanna refers to Dumuzi as her "well-watered lettuce" among a whole series of funky pet names?), or myths like Inanna and Enki or Inanna and Ebiḫ to get a sense of what she is actually like in stories that aren't, arguably, deliberately biased against her.

If you do, you might come to understand how I managed to put down five thousand words about Ishtar's immaculate head game and why I am so normal about her to begin with.

(I would like to be clear that I don't write this to deny Enkidu's sexual skills; as you may already know, a recent discovery revealed that Enkidu actually joins Ereshkigal in the "fourteen days and nights of sex in one myth" club. Rather, I seek, as always, to correct some significant misconceptions about Ishtar that propagate throughout the fandom due to Fate's take on her and the fame of the Epic itself.)

Side D, Round 4 (Match 2)

[noxxxxsworld]

[transtheology]

from Lady of the Largest Heart, a poem by High Priestess Enheduanna & translated by Betty De Shong Meador.

[kleioscanvas]

Quick drawing of Inanna in a warlike mood for pride, because with the flood of political attacks agains trans people across the world, it is closer to how I'm feeling than anything along the lines of "Happy Pride Month"

[thrashkink-coven]

🏳️‍⚧️⚧🏳️‍🌈

[violetmoondaughter]

The star of Ishtar

The Octagram symbol is a star ideogram that commonly appears in ancient Babylonian iconography. The eight-pointed star is usually associated with ancient goddesses such as Ishtar, Innana, Isis and Venus. These goddesses were all seen as protectress of love, fertility, beauty, divine law and power.

The symbol was originally seen as a representation of the seven heavens ruled by the goddess and later became a representation of the planet Venus associated with fertility goddesses. The planet is the third brightest object in Earth's sky after the Sun and the Moon and in the past, it was referred to as the morning or evening star. In the Old Babylonian period, the planet Venus was known as Ninsi'anna translates to "divine lady, illumination of heaven".

In many myths, Inanna’s descend into the netherworld and return to the heavens may correspond with the movements of the planet Venus in the sky, setting in the West and then rising again in the East.

The discontinuous movements of Venus relate to both to the myth as well as Inanna's dual nature. Other theories recognize the story of Inanna's descent into the underworld as a reference to an astronomical phenomenon associated with retrograde Venus.

The symbol refers to the cosmic power of the goddess as ruler of sky and heavens and connected with the transcendental world. Her power stands in the mystery of magic and creation of the universe itself and for this reason the octagram became a powerful sigil used in antiquity as a devotional iconography connected with the goddess worshippers.

[only-fragments]

An altar to the goddess Inanna, inspired by the (much smaller) famous statue of Babylonian Ishtar. I included some items found in the royal tombs at Ur, as well.

[thescarlettbitch]

Inanna / Ishtar masterpost

Inanna / Ishtar is the deity that I am devoted to, and there is a lot of misinformation out there about her, so this is a masterpost about her and her mythology, which does involve sex and rape, and revenge. Read with care.

Edit: I forgot certain points I wanted to add, so instead of editing and adding them in as an after thought, find them here :)

Lineage

Sources disagree on who her parents are. Some say Enki or Nanna, both male presenting, but most often she is depicted as the granddaughter of Enlil, and the niece of Enki. Her mother, as stated in Inanna Prefers The Farmer, is Ningal, as it is the only story that discusses her mother. Perhaps she is the daughter of Enki, Nanna, and Ningal. Regardless of who her parents are, she is the twin sister of Utu, and the sister of Ereshkigal. In the story of Gilgamesh and a few others, she is also portrayed as Gilgamesh's sister. She is married to Dumuzid.

Myths

Inanna and the Huluppu Tree: "A young woman who walked in fear of no man, and would not be owned, Plucked the tree from the river and spoke: “I shall bring this tree to Uruk. I shall plant this tree in my holy garden.”"

Enki, God of wisdom, planted a tree by the Euphrates at the beginning of time. Eventually, the tree was taken by the Euphrates. Inanna came, picked the tree, and decided she would nurture it so she could carve her throne and bed from it. Many years passed, and a serpent who couldn't be charmed made it's home in the tree. Then the Anzu-bird raised his family in the tree. And the dark maid Lilith made her home in the trunk. No matter how much Inanna wept, the creatures would not leave the tree. Inanna called to her brother, Utu, God of the sun, for help. He refused. She went to her brother, the great hero Gilgamesh, and he helped. He struck the serpent who couldn't be charmed and the birds flew away and Lilith fled to the wild uninhabited places. From the trunk, he carved her throne and her bed. From the roots, Inanna fashioned a pukku for her brother, and from the crown a mikku for Gilgamesh.

Inanna Prefers The Farmer: "No, brother!

The man of my heart works the hoe.

The farmer! He is the man of my heart!

He gathers the grain into great heaps.

He brings the grain regularly into my storehouses."

Inanna asks her brother, Utu, who she will marry. He tells her to marry Dumuzi, the shepherd. She responds that her heart is with the farmer Enkimdu. Utu tells her no, Dumuzi is the better choice, but she says no, Enkimdu is. Dumuzi and Enkimdu fight over this, but eventually Inanna is swayed and marries Dumuzi, in a rather erotic scene.

Inanna's Descent: "Then Erishkigal fastened on Inanna the eye of death.

She spoke against her the word of wrath.

She uttered against her the cry of guilt.

She struck her.

Inanna was turned into a corpse,

A piece of rotting meat,

And was hung from a hook on the wall."

Inanna goes to the underworld for her sister Ereshkigal's husband's funeral, having been the cause of his death. Inanna tells her priestess Ninshubur what to do should she not return. Dress in a single cloth like a begger, go to the temple of Enlil and beg for his help. If he does not help, go to Nanna. If he does not help, go to Enki. Inanna arrives at the gates, and as she passes through each of the seven gates, a garment is removed until she stands naked. The Anunna pass judgement, and Ereshkigal turns Inanna into a rotting corpse with the Eye of Death, and hangs her on a hook on the wall. On the third day, Ninshubur follows instruction. She dresses in a single cloth like a begger and goes to Enlil. Enlil denies. She goes to Nanna. Nanna denies. She goes to Enki. Enki creates the Kurgarra and the Galatur, neither male nor female, and gives them each the food of life and water of life. He tells them how to get on Ereshkigal's good side and to take the corpse from the wall and give it the food and water. They do, and Inanna rises, but the Annuna prohibit her from leaving. She must put someone else in her place. The Galla, demons from Ereshkigal, try to take Ninshubur, Shara, and Lulal, but Inanna spares them, as they mourned her. Then they find Dumuzi, dressed beautifully, with women around him. Inanna was betrayed, her own husband did not mourn her. The Galla take him away. Eventually, Inanna misses him, and sets a deal. For half of the year, Dumuzi will be on the wall in the underworld. For the other half, his sister.

Inanna and the God of Wisdom: "“In the name of my power! In the name of my holy shrine! Let the me you have taken with you remain in the holy shrine of your city. Let the high priest spend his days at the holy shrine in song. Let the citizens of your city prosper, Let the children of Uruk rejoice!”"

Inanna goes to Enki, and Enki treats her with butter cake and water and beer, lots of beer. Enki, while intoxicated, gives Inanna the Meh, the various humanities. She takes them and flees with Ninshubur. Enki, now sober, sends his servants to get the Meh back. Ninshubur protects the Meh for Inanna. They go back and forth six times, until Inanna gives the gifts to her people, and Enki resigns himself.

Inanna and Utu: "She makes perfect the great divine powers, she holds a shepherd's crook, and she is their magnificent pre-eminent one."

Inanna is given reign over fertility and sex, but she knows nothing about that subject. Utu and her go to the underworld and Inanna eats the fruit from the tree of knowledge, gaining that information.

Inanna and Su-Kale-Tuda: "He recognised a solitary god by her appearance. He saw someone who fully possesses the divine powers. He was looking at someone whose destiny was decided by the gods."

Inanna had had a long journey, so she rests on earth beneath the shade of a tree in a garden. The farmer Su-Kale-Tuda sees her sleeping and rapes her, then flees to his father. Inanna wakes up, seeing what had been do to her, and vows to find the man who did this. Su-Kale-Tuda confesses to his father, who tells him to hide. Inanna turns the water of the realm to blood, she sits on a storm cloud and drowns the world, then sends a dust storm, then stopped trade entirely within the world. Unable to find him she cries to her father, Enki, demanding his help. Enki turns her to a rainbow so that she stretched across the sky, and saw everything. Su-Kale-Tuda still tried to hide, but he could not hide from her any longer. She found him, and her first words are lost to time (some words translated to "How ......? ...... dog ......! ...... ass ......! ...... pig ......!") Su-Kale-Tuda tried to defend himself but Inanna told him "You will die, but the world will remember your name. Rapist."

Symbols:

Lions - she is often depicted with lions harnessed, to symbolize her power over the king of beasts

Roses - roses are symbols of beauty and sex, and their thorns represent the war side of her. At one point, the rose/rosette eclipsed the eight pointed star as her main symbol

Doves - another symbol of beauty and sex, in one of her temples was a mural of a dove emerging from a large palm tree, leading many to believe she was able to take the form of a dove.

Lapis Lazuli - the only precious stone I have seen be named as something she wears, specifically referenced in The Descent Of Inanna

Eight pointed star - the symbolic meaning is lost to time, but it shows up frequently in her depictions

Hook shaped twist of reeds - a symbol of fertility, and was her cuneiform ideogram

The planet Venus - many hymns credit her as being the personification of the planet

Carnelian - one of her epithets means "precious carnelian"

Thank you for reading, and I hope to make a similar masterpost detailing Mesopotamian mythology as a whole.

Edit: I did, you can find it here.

[seafoamaphrodite]

Inanna

Inanna is the Mesopotamian goddess of fertility, love, power, and sensuality.

Inanna’s worship can be traced back to Sumer as early as 4000 BC

traditional worship to this deity included sacred prostitution, sexual rites, and an emphasis on the arts

often know as Ishtar (by the Assyrians) or Astarte (by the Phoenicians)

Inanna is often seen as the origin of Aphrodite’s cults in Cyprus and Cythera. the goddess also shares similarities with Isis, the Egyptian goddess of magic and femininity

Associations

star of Inanna (also known as the star of Ishtar or the eight-pointed star)

lions

roses

doves

weapons (particularly whips, reeds, and hooks)

ps… this is my first time researching Inanna-Ishtar and im eager to learn! let me know if i got anything wrong or if there’s anything else i should know!

🗡️🕊️🩸

[ivycova]

Inanna/Ishtar/Persephone= Galadriel parallel

I’ve wanted to write this note for a while and draw some parallels that I find interesting. Of course, these are just my own speculations, but if anyone finds it intriguing, feel free to comment and share your thoughts!

Overview of Inanna’s Descent

The tale of *Inanna* is one of the world’s oldest myths, found in Sumerian texts, and it holds deep symbolism related to duality, transformation, and feminine power. Inanna’s descent into the Underworld mirrors the journey of Persephone but offers a unique view of the feminine psyche's journey through light and darkness, which aligns with the concepts of inner transformation, balance, and integration.

Inanna, the goddess of love, fertility, and war, decides to descend into the Underworld, which is ruled by her sister, Ereshkigal, the goddess of death and the afterlife. Inanna’s descent is voluntary; she chooses to leave her realm of light, beauty, and power to journey into a realm of darkness and death. However, her descent has grave consequences. 

As she passes through the seven gates of the Underworld, she is stripped of her royal garments and symbols of power at each stage until she stands naked and vulnerable before Ereshkigal. This loss of identity is a symbolic death—Inanna loses everything that defined her, including her ego and attachments.

Ereshkigal kills Inanna and hangs her body on a hook, a symbol of complete surrender and stillness.

Inanna eventually returns to life and ascends back to the upper world, but her rebirth is conditional: she must send someone in her place to balance her return. She ultimately chooses her husband, Dumuzi,

For those who searching for the place in RoP for the poor guy Celeborne lol))

who will alternate time in the Underworld with her. This final exchange sets up a cycle of descent and return, symbolizing life’s rhythms of death and rebirth.

Inanna’s Dual Nature and Integration of Opposites

Inanna’s story illustrates the power of duality within the feminine psyche, as she is both a goddess of life (love and fertility) and a figure who intimately engages with death.

The Descent as Transformation

Inanna’s descent is a powerful metaphor for transformation. By entering the Underworld, she experiences the death of her old self, and through this death, she is reborn with greater wisdom. In psychological terms, this represents the necessity of facing and integrating the shadow self—the aspects of our personality that are often suppressed or hidden. Just as Inanna is stripped of her powers, the psyche must let go of ego-driven illusions to attain true self-knowledge.

Integration of Light and Dark

Inanna embodies light, fertility, and joy, while Ereshkigal embodies darkness, grief, and death. The two sisters represent opposing forces within the psyche that must be reconciled. This integration mirrors Jung’s idea of *individuation*, where a person must integrate all parts of the self—both the light and the shadow—to achieve wholeness. Ereshkigal’s role as the “dark twin” of Inanna reveals that acknowledging and accepting our darker aspects can lead to psychological growth and maturity.

Feminine Duality

Inanna’s role as both a goddess of life and a willing participant in death highlights the duality inherent in the. This dual role resonates with the Jungian concept of the *anima* as both nurturing and powerful, capable of mediating between consciousness and the unconscious.

Cycle of Death and Rebirth

Inanna’s descent and return mirror the natural cycles of the earth, much like the seasonal myth of Persephone. Her journey suggests that to be truly alive and self-aware, one must repeatedly confront and integrate the “deaths” that life demands. Every descent—each loss, each challenge—can ultimately lead to a greater sense of life. This cycle reflects the psyche’s constant process of dying to old patterns to allow for new growth.

Parallels with Persephone and Depth Psychology

The journey of Inanna, like Persephone’s, speaks to the necessity of darkness in understanding the light. Both figures must confront the depths of the unconscious to achieve self-realization, and both are transformed by their journeys. However, where Persephone is taken to the Underworld, Inanna goes willingly, embodying the idea that personal growth often requires an active choice to face our shadow and vulnerabilities.

Like we see it's not where the Galadriel end in the season 2 × 8 because she's still have to do it, but not do it willingly). For me she's in a really Persephone role right now. Kidnapped and forced to *touch* the darkness, confused and leave alone there.

In *depth psychology*, this journey reflects the process of confronting buried emotions, traumas, and fears, often necessary for self-acceptance and personal evolution.

Sauron in the darkness and light parallel.

More specifically about this I write in the next article, because this one is already to be too long..

Can only add that there is a really curious parallel between Sauron like a Deonis and Sauron like Apollo the god of light.

The myth also aligns with Nietzsche’s concept of *Apollonian* and *Dionysian* forces: Inanna represents the vibrant, Apollonian force of life and beauty, while her journey into Ereshkigal’s realm requires a Dionysian surrender to chaos and darkness. By integrating these forces, Inanna achieves a new level of insight and wisdom.

Archetypal Themes in Human Psychology

Inanna’s myth offers timeless lessons that resonate within the human psyche:

Facing the Shadow

Inanna’s willingness to confront Ereshkigal reflects the courage needed to face one’s shadow, a Jungian process in which an individual recognizes and integrates darker aspects of the self. This confrontation with Ereshkigal represents the necessary challenges and “deaths” (of ego, expectations, etc.) on the path to self-discovery.

The Feminine as Mediator

Inanna, like Persephone, serves as a bridge between the world of the living and the Underworld, symbolizing the power of the feminine to navigate the boundary between light and dark. In many myths, the feminine archetype embodies transformation, sensitivity, and the potential for rebirth. By embracing this role, Inanna exemplifies the strength found in vulnerability, empathy, and emotional openness.

Duality as a Path to Wholeness

The descent into darkness and return to light illustrates the duality of the human experience. Growth often requires acknowledging one’s limitations and fears. Inanna’s journey suggests that inner peace and self-awareness come not from resisting this duality but by embracing it. But on this part of her journey, Galadriel know this just from the words she heard from her brother, not from her personal experience. She saw the darkness, the evil, but can't accept it, can't embrace it in herself, because she's scared to be dominated by it.

Integration of Life and Death

By embodying both life and death, Inanna teaches that the path to fulfillment requires us to recognize that creation and destruction, joy and sorrow, are intertwined. This duality is a core experience within the psyche and in life itself.

My thoughts about all this..

In a legend, Inanna/Ishtar represents the union of opposites, like order and chaos, male and female, war and peace. When she's present, a low man can become a king, and a king might feel what it’s like to be a low man. A wise person can act foolishly, and a fool might feel wise. She balances the world’s tension and opposites, blurring the lines of what’s allowed and accepted in society.

Galadriel final transformation in to a *Forest Wich* plays a similar role—a mediator or bridge—showing contradictory visions and avoiding exact predictions. She moves cautiously, respecting human free will and choice.

And I think it would be really a good source for inspiration for the next seasons of RoP where Galadriel really can endure and dive deeper into her magical forces that she discovered by touching this *dark side* of herself, integrate without fear of losing control over herself.

And especially it can turns to be really hot for the shippers, because actually follow the legend of Inanna and the Persephone we know that she was bite to the darkness in the way that she have to spend there half of the year in order to come back,( or maybe leave her husband like a hostage lol) and this journey became cyclical.

The connection must be maintained, it must be there, and the door can never be shut complete.

[dercetodebauchery]

[noxxxxsworld]

[transtheology]

One of the oldest goddesses in the historical record is Inanna of Mesopotamia, who was referred to, among other honorifics, as “She who makes a woman into a man, she who makes a man into a woman.” The power to alter such fundamental categories was evidence of her divine power. Inanna was served by at least half a dozen different types of transgendered priests, and one of her festivals apparently included a public celebration in which men and women exchanged garments. The memory of a liminal third-gender status has been lost, not only in countries dominated by Christian ideology, but also in many circles dedicated to the modern revival of goddess worship. Images of the divine feminine tend to appear alone, in Dianic rites, surrounded only by other women, or the goddess is represented with a male consort, often one with horns and an erect phallus. But it is equally valid to see her as a fag hag and a tranny chaser, attended by men who have sex with other men and people who are, in modern terms, transgendered or intersexed.

— Speaking Sex to Power: The Politics of Queer Sex by Patrick Califia