{"id":4737,"date":"2011-01-01T01:10:48","date_gmt":"2011-01-01T06:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=4801"},"modified":"2011-01-01T14:17:17","modified_gmt":"2011-01-01T19:17:17","slug":"lets-spell-it-out-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2011\/01\/01\/lets-spell-it-out-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Let’s Spell it Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

January 2nd<\/sup>: The Birth of the Goddess Inanna\/Ishtar in Ancient Sumeria <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIsis, Astarte, Deanna, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Who is this Goddess?<\/span><\/p>\n

Inanna and Ishtar are essentially two sides of the same coin.\u00a0 Inanna came first, the goddess of the Sumerians.\u00a0 Ishtar came after, the goddess of the Babylonians and Assyrians.\u00a0 She was found in either her original form or in another form around the world including in Arabia, Armenia, Canaan, Carthage, China, Cilesia, Crete, Egypt, Ephesia, Greece, India, Israel, Japan, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Phrygia, and Pontus.<\/p>\n

Some say that she was the daughter of Anu, the Mesopotamian creator god, similar to the Greek Zeus, while others claim that she was the daughter of the Moon god Sinn.<\/p>\n

She was often depicted as winged, wearing a starred rainbow necklace, with burning eyes (the symbol of the spiritual light) and a burning navel (the symbols for the fertility of the land and her people).\u00a0 Because of her descent to and return from the Underworld, she is linked with Demeter, and to further this connection, she is often shown with ears of corn (grain) sprouting from her shoulders.\u00a0 This associated her as the Mother Earth Goddess with the fertility of the land; it is from her that the world received nourishment.\u00a0 This goddess, as Sharrat Shame, the Queen of Heaven, ran the natural world; she was in charge of wool, the rain, meat and grain.\u00a0 In this aspect, her worshippers gave her offerings of Kamanu, sacrificial cakes.<\/p>\n

Inanna was known as the One With Many Names.\u00a0 Variations of her name include Anna, Nana, Inninna, Nina, Nanna or Nin-me-sar-ra (the Lady of a myriad of Offices).\u00a0 Later, she was transformed into Ishtar during the Mesopotamian periods. She was Ma in Pontus and Mama in Sumeria.\u00a0 She was called Kwan Yin in China and Kwannon in Japan.\u00a0 In Canaan and Israel, she was called Aschera, Ashara, Ishara, Ashtart, Ashtaroth, Ashtoreth and Astarte.\u00a0 In Crete she was called Ariadne.\u00a0 Libyans knew her as Neith.\u00a0 Armenians called her Anaites.\u00a0 In Cilesia she was called Ate.\u00a0 To the Assyrians she was also known by other names including Anatis, Anat and Atagatis\/Ataigates.\u00a0 In Cypress, she was called Aphrodite.\u00a0 In Greece she was known as Nix, then Hemera, then Gaea, then Aphrodite and Athena.\u00a0 In Egypt, she was called Mut, then Nut, then Hathor and then Isis.\u00a0 In Phoenicia and Carthage, she was known as either Astarte or Tanit\/Tanith.\u00a0 In Phrygia, she was Cybele.\u00a0 Indians called her Inda.\u00a0 The Ephesians knew her as Artemis\/Diana.\u00a0 There are also other names for her, including Anatu, Anunit, Atar, Athtar, Gumshea, Irnini, Mylitta and Eshter.<\/p>\n

Because she was many things to many people, she held many titles.\u00a0 As the goddess of the heavenly Upperworld, she was known as the Lady of Heaven, the Queen of Heaven, the Ruler of the Heavens, the Goddess of the Moon, the Shinning One, the Torch of Heaven and Earth, the Mother of All Deities, the Leader of Hosts, and the Possessor of the Tablets of Life\u2019s Records.\u00a0 As the goddess of the earthly Middle-World, she was called the Great Mother, the Great Goddess, the Bestower of Strength, the Light of the World, the Opener of the Womb, the Producer of Life, the Creator of the People, Guardian of the Law, Righteous Judge, Framer of All Decrees, Forgiver of Sins and the Lawgiver.\u00a0 As the goddess of physical love, she was known as the Goddess of Love and the Goddess of the Evening.\u00a0 A the Goddess of War, she was called the Guardian of Law and Order, the Lady of Victory, the Lady of Sorrows and Battles and the Lady of Battles and Victory.\u00a0 As the goddess of the mysterious Underworld, she known as the Source of the Oracles and Prophecy and the Lady of Vision.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible that the worship of Inanna-Dumuzi and the worship of Ishtar-Tammuz was the seed for many other forms of worship.\u00a0 In 1700 BCE, the worship of Isis, her husband Osiris and their son Horus is comparable.\u00a0 Later, in 1500 BCE, the worship of Astarte (or Aschera) and her son Baal took place with the Canaanites, the Hebrews and the Phoenicians.\u00a0 Another example took place in 900 BCE in Phrygia (what we today call Turkey) with the worship of Kybele (Cybele) and Atties (Attis).<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the Lady of Heaven and Earth, who receives prayers, <\/em><\/p>\n

who harkens to the petitions, who accepts beseechings;<\/em><\/p>\n

To the merciful goddess who loves righteousness;<\/em><\/p>\n

Look upon me O Lady, so that through thy turning toward me <\/em><\/p>\n

the heart of thy servant may become strong.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

INANNA<\/span><\/p>\n

Pronounced \u201cee-NAH-nah\u201d, her name means \u201cQueen of Heaven\u201d.<\/p>\n

Inanna was the Sumerian Mother Earth Goddess who was likely the \u201cancestor\u201d of the Mother Goddess of Paleolithic and Neolithic deities.\u00a0 Some speculate that she likely descended from the Creator Goddess Nammu, the Mesopotamian goddess of the watery depths.\u00a0 Inanna\u2019s sanctiry was at the Eanna temple which was in the city of Unug (Uruk).\u00a0 Her shrines date as far back as 4500 BCE and Inanna\u2019s stories were recorded on Sumerian cuneiform (wedge-shaped) tablets that date back as much as 3200 BCE.\u00a0 These tablets are from the most ancient civilized literature that we know of and are from the region that we currently call Iraq and the Middle East.\u00a0 What we know of this culture comes from archeologists and scholars and there is still much to learn as more Sumerian artifacts are being discovered.<\/p>\n

Depending on who you ask, Inanna is either the daughter of the Moon God Nanna or the God of Heaven An (Anu).\u00a0 She is the sister of Sun God Uta and the Storm God Iskur.\u00a0 Inanna is the handmaiden of An and is attended by a minor goddess named Ninsubar.<\/p>\n

Inanna is usually shown with wings, wearing a horned crown and a tiered skirt.\u00a0 As a Goddess of War, she had weapon cases at her shoulders.\u00a0 As a goddess of the harvest, ears of corn were there instead.<\/p>\n

Inanna was a goddess of light and love, life and death, and the Morning and Evening Star, which is the planet Venus.\u00a0 The stone Lapis Lazuli was sacred to her.\u00a0 She was also the Queen of the Moon and was associated with the planet Uranus with the title Queen of the Universe.\u00a0 Inanna\u2019s Holy Lap held the Waters of Life; the life-blood that pumped through the Mother Goddess\u2019 veins which were rivers, springs and wells.\u00a0 As the Lady of Prosperity, Inanna brought fertility to her matriarchal people and bounty to the land.\u00a0 She did this through her Sacred Marriage to the vegetation god Dumuzi.\u00a0 She granted rain and healing and possessed great power over the destinies of both cities and lovers.<\/p>\n

In 2350 BCE, the daughter of the king Agade, Enheduanna, wrote a lengthy hymn to Inanna.\u00a0 Called \u201cThe Exaltation of Inanna\u201d, it told the story of her struggle with Nanna the god of the Moon as well as the High God An finally accepting her.<\/p>\n

She is probably best known for her journey into the Underworld where she overcame great adversity.\u00a0 Inanna became a goddess of transformation during this ordeal; she worked through fear and conquered death itself.\u00a0 Because of this experience, she is able to come to the aid of humans who find themselves in a tight spot.<\/p>\n

Inanna was the precursor for the goddess Ishtar.<\/p>\n

ISHTAR<\/span><\/p>\n

Her name means \u201cStar of Heaven\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ishtar, also known as Ashar or Astarte, was also the Great Mother goddess, in this case in Babylon and Assyria.\u00a0 She was worshipped form 2500 BCE to 200 AD.\u00a0 The Assyrians took Ishtar for their own goddess, both as a Goddess of War and as a wife for the god Asshur, the father of the Assyrians who named themselves after him.\u00a0 In Babylon, Ishtar\u2019s consort was the vegetation god Tammuz.<\/p>\n

The name Ishtar is Semitic for the goddess Inanna of Sumeria.\u00a0 According to legend, she was the either daughter of the Great God Anu or the Moon God Sinn and the sister to the Sun God Shamash.\u00a0 She was considered the benevolent creator of the human race by the Babylonians and she held her massive breasts to prove it.\u00a0 To show her generosity to her people, she was depicted as pouring life-giving water form a jar that never emptied.\u00a0 She was called the Green One and the Mistress of the Field.\u00a0 Like Inanna, she too was the Goddess of the Morning and Evening Star (Venus).\u00a0 This linked her with the sexual healing of the temple \u201cprostitutes\u201d (sacred \u201cprostitution\u201d was part of the religion as Ishtar was the courtesan of the gods\u201d).\u00a0 Ironically, she was also considered an eternal virgin and fought with anyone who tried to take her virginity.<\/p>\n

Ishtar was the patroness of the temple priestesses.\u00a0\u00a0 During matriarchal times, here were 180 shrines dedicated to Ishtar and women arrived daily to pry, meditate and socialize with one another.\u00a0 Also similar to Inanna, Ishtar was associated with the planet Neptune and water, the Moon, and the planet Uranus with the title the Lady of Heaven.\u00a0\u00a0 She was also considered a \u201cwise old woman\u201d as a judge and counselor, and her people strove to emulate her in their courts and in their everyday lives.<\/p>\n

Also like Inanna, Ishtar was a goddess of many dualities; love and war, water and fire, life and death, positive and negative, tears and joy, enmity and fair dealing, and the lighting and extinguishing fires.\u00a0 She was the Giver of All Life as well as the Destroyer.\u00a0 In her Goddess of Love aspect, physical love or sex to be precise, she was depicted either fully or partially nude.<\/p>\n

On the other side of the coin, as the Goddess of War, she was famous for being a fierce warrioress and took the protection of her people very seriously.\u00a0 Sometimes she even had a bad temper and was feared by the other gods, causing them to tremble in their sandals.\u00a0 Ishtar possessed a litany of weapons and one of her totems was the lion, which represented the power of her ferocity.\u00a0 Ishtar was called the Lady of Battles, the Queen of Attack, The Lady of Victory, Queen of Hand-to-Hand Fighting and the Guardian of Law and Order; all linking her to the planet Mars.<\/p>\n

Worship of Ishtar spread throughout the Middle East including Egypt and Greece.\u00a0 The Egyptians revered her healing powers and Emenhotep III used a statue of her to heal his abscessed tooth.\u00a0 Her power was quite extensive; she was known as the Possessor of the Tablet\u2019s of Life\u2019s Records and she was the one the people called upon for overcoming obstacles.<\/p>\n

Ishtar was also known for communicating with her people, and their leaders, through dreams.\u00a0 It was believed that Ishtar was an oracle and gave prophecy and secret knowledge through dreams.\u00a0 The Assyrians knew that the deities could speak to humans while they slept, sometimes through symbolism, sometimes with a clear message.\u00a0 While some dreams were thought to be the work of demons, most dreams came to the person through divine will.\u00a0 It was said that the gods stood at the head of the sleeping person, which leads one to believe that the gods entered the body of the dreamer through their head.\u00a0 Another theory was that the god would carry the soul after it left the body.\u00a0 Either way, Ishtar\u2019s ability to communicate with her people is likely due to her association with the Moon which brings illumination and enlightenment to the darkness of the night.\u00a0 The kings of Babylon and Assyria relied on these divine dreams to properly rule their country.\u00a0 With the help of the gods, these leaders planned battle or building their cities.\u00a0 As the goddess of War, Ishtar came to Asshurbanipal, the king of Assyria, in a dream when he was feeling poorly about an upcoming battle the she herself told him to wage on a neighboring land.\u00a0 In this dream, Ishtar not only promised to lead the march, but also promised victory.<\/p>\n

The Gifts of Inanna to the World<\/span><\/p>\n

The Sumerians believed that it was the goddess Inanna who gave to humans the gifts of arts, culture and civilization.\u00a0 Sarasvati of India has a similar story.\u00a0 These gifts were called the \u201cme\u201d, pronounced \u201cmay\u201d which translates as \u201cmother-wisdom\u201d.\u00a0 These arts included 100 things including speech, reading and writing, truth, emotions, music, architecture, ritual, procreation, lovemaking rejoicing and lamentation.\u00a0 Before Inanna gave these things to her people, they were actually kept away from the primitive humans who resided in the harsh Fertile Crescent.<\/p>\n

But, these gifts were not actually Inanna\u2019s to give.\u00a0 She had to get these treasures from her father Ea\/Enki, the God of Wisdom and the possessor of the Tablets of Destiny.\u00a0 Inanna left her domain at Unug and traveled in her Boat of Heaven, which was made of reeds, to her father\u2019s palace hall in the watery abyss beneath the city of Eridu, where she was welcomed with a feast of food and drink.<\/p>\n

What happens next is dependent upon which version of the story you believe.\u00a0 One is that Ea\/Enki was generous and gave Inanna everything that she wanted.\u00a0 The other is that Inanna gave him cup after cup of wine until he was drunk enough for her to trick him into giving her the gifts. \u00a0Either way, Inanna quickly packs the gifts into her boat and sets sail for home, the city of Erech.\u00a0 She made it safely home by the time Ea\/Enki had recovered from his hangover the following day.\u00a0 Ea\/Enki was not pleased about what happened and sent his messengers to play seven tricks on Inanna to try to retrieve the gifts.\u00a0 Instead of giving them back, she stood her ground and refused.\u00a0 Because of this, she actually receives more gifts including playing the tambourine and drums as well as perfect execution of the \u201cme\u201d.<\/p>\n

Totems of Inanna and Ishtar <\/span><\/p>\n

LIONS<\/span><\/p>\n

The lion is an ancient guardian of the thresholds of consciousness.\u00a0 This is an excellent totem for Inanna\/Ishtar since she is a Shamanic goddess who travels through the three worlds.<\/p>\n

As the Goddess of War and the protector of her people, the winged Ishtar held a bow and quiver of arrows and rode in a chariot that was drawn by seven lions (symbolic of the seven Chakra gateways) or sat on a lion throne made form lapis lazuli.\u00a0 Sometimes, in lieu of a chariot, she rode on the back of a lion.\u00a0 Also, there were times that her chariot was drawn by goats instead of lions.\u00a0 Ishtar was sometimes shown standing on the back of a lion, or in the company of two lions.\u00a0 Sometimes the lion that Ishtar is with is not of the full-grown variety; instead it is shown as a lion cub.\u00a0 And, any warrior needs a weapon, and Ishtar held a ceremonial double-headed mace\/axe\/scimitar that was embellished with the heads of lions and was an ancient symbol for the power of the matriarchal goddess.<\/p>\n

SNAKES, SERPENTS AND DRAGONS<\/span><\/p>\n

Again, in her aspect of Warrior Queen, Ishtar held a labrys, scepter or a staff with either one or two snakes coiled around it.\u00a0 In this aspect, the snake stood for the ability to take a life.<\/p>\n

It seems that this staff\/scepter started out with only one snake and then ended up with two.\u00a0 The healing god Ningishzide, who goes back to Mesopotamia, was a lover of Inanna\/Ishtar.\u00a0 He carried a single-serpent wand, but this snake had two heads and both male and female sex organs in the one body.\u00a0 This kind of Mesopotamian snake was called a Sachan, and was Ningishzide\u2019s symbol.<\/p>\n

Regardless as to how many snakes, there were, the staff, which became the healing caduceus of Hermes, was a symbol of Inanna\/Ishtar\u2019s power to grant life, to heal, or to take life away.\u00a0 Before it became the Greek caduceus, this staff had a solar disc on top with two snakes that looked like horns (see below for \u201ccow\u201d).\u00a0 Later, Hermes came to own the staff, by this time it had two snakes intertwined around it, and this was his symbol as the Psychopomp, the Conductor of Souls.<\/p>\n

Inanna\/Ishtar as the Goddess of Love, was known for her power of fertility, which was shown by her caduceus wand.<\/p>\n

Inanna\/Ishtar was known as the Eye Goddess and she had Eye Temples.\u00a0 One of the oldest of these Eye Temples, dating back to about 3000 BCE, is at Tell Brak in eastern Syria.\u00a0 Found inside were thousands of figurines of the Eye Goddess, each with staring, wide, owl-like eyes which are coiled like snakes.\u00a0 It is thought that these eyes that stare are eyes that see justice.\u00a0 It was Inanna\/Ishtar, along with Tiamat, who beheld the \u201cme\u201d<\/em> (pronounced \u201cmay\u201d), which were the Sumerian tablets of the Law (before Marduk stole them).<\/p>\n

A larger version of the serpent, Ishtar was shown with dragons by her sides when she was in her aspect of the Goddess of War or when protecting her people.\u00a0 Inanna was one of the three main deities involved with a major battle between good and evil.\u00a0 The evil was known as he dragon Kur.<\/p>\n

DOVES<\/span><\/p>\n

Inanna, the precursor to Ishtar, was shown with a dove along with the serpent.\u00a0 Since ancient times, the dove and serpent have been linked with the art of prophecy as well as the birth-death-rebirth process.\u00a0 Together, these two animals are connected of the Tree of Life; the dove being a representative of the Upperworld realm and the serpent being a representative of the Underworld realm.<\/p>\n

While Inanna\/Ishtar\u2019s double-axe was decorated with lions, and represented the ability to either give life or to take it away, the white dove symbolized the ability to give life.<\/p>\n

The dove can be worn as a symbol that protects the wearer from death, fire and lightening.\u00a0 Perhaps the protection magic comes from Inanna\/Ishtar, who fiercely protected her people.<\/p>\n

The dove is sacred to Inanna\/Ishtar, as well as to those goddesses who descended from her like Aphrodite and Venus, goddesses of love and fertility.<\/p>\n

SCORPION<\/span><\/p>\n

As stated above, the lion-axe could either give life or take it away and the dove symbolized the ability to grant life.\u00a0 The scorpion, like the snake, was quite the opposite and stood for the taking of a life.\u00a0 Ishtar was known as the Scorpion-Tailed Mother (Ishara Tamtin) because the scorpion was associated with many aspects of her.\u00a0 Scorpions ere very important to the ancient Sumerians because they believed that there were Scorpion-Men who were the guardians of the Mountains of the Eats, the Twin Gates and the Gateway of the Sun.<\/p>\n

COWS<\/span><\/p>\n

Like Isis and Hathor of Egypt and Io and Ionia, Inanna\/Ishtar was a Cow Mother Goddess.\u00a0 She, like Kybele\/Cybele, was pictured with bovine horns or as cows with lunar horns.\u00a0 Inanna\/Ishtar, because of her association with the Moon, is also linked to the horns of a bull.\u00a0 These bull horns also link her to fertility, due to their similarity in shape to the fallopian tubes.\u00a0 Some myths have Inanna\/Ishtar giving birth to bulls or golden calves.<\/p>\n

FISH<\/span><\/p>\n

In her aspect of the Goddess of love and fertility, Ishtar\u2019s rites involved fish and it was common for her initiates to eat it.\u00a0 The fish was a universal symbol for the Great Mother Goddess.\u00a0 It was drawn by using two crescent moons with the ends touching.\u00a0 In this form, it represented female genitalia, but after the Christianization of Rome, the symbol was altered.\u00a0 The Romans were unwilling to give up their Pagan practices, so the story of the fish was rewritten.\u00a0 One end of the fish symbol, the ends of the lines of the crescent were extended so show a fishtail.\u00a0 Female Christians were called nuns because of the Hebrew letter \u201cNun\u201d which translates to \u201cfish\u201d.<\/p>\n

SPIDER<\/span><\/p>\n

The spider is one of the most powerful totems, found throughout the world to be a symbol of the Great and Terrible Mother.\u00a0 In this aspect, Ishtar is the Weaver of Fate; similar to Atargatis of Babylon, Athena and the Fates to the Greeks, Neith of Egypt and Holda and the Norns to the Norse.<\/p>\n

OTHER ANIMALS<\/span><\/p>\n