Originally this post was going to contain two different spreads that I recently began using that both deal with the goddess Inanna, but as I was writing it, I realized I should make two separate posts, since the goals of these two spreads are so completely different. I didn’t create these spreads. I found them both online. The first spread I want to share was designed to help you to communicate directly with Inanna.
Humans have been using divination methods to communicate with their gods as long as there have been humans and gods. Luckily for modern worshipers, with the “recent” invention of the printing press, we can now use tarot cards instead of sheep livers.
I found it on a blog called Journey of an Eclectic Witch, hosted on Tumblr. The layout of this spread is based on Inanna’s symbol, the 8-point star. The position of each card is based on one of the cardinal directions, so I find it most useful to sit facing North when using this spread, just to avoid confusion.
The creator of the spread offered to different ways that they like to use the spread. It can be used to identify both your feelings and Inanna’s feelings about the situation, or only Inanna’s feelings and thoughts. I’m also working on some other ways to utilize this spread (I might make an additional post to share later depending on my results. I’m still experimenting with it). The instructions and layout photo provided by the author of Journey of an Eclectic Witch (I can’t find their name. I’m terrible with Tumblr) are as follows:
This is the spread I use for communicating with Inanna. I explicitly work with Inanna, but it will carry over perfectly well to work with Ishtar. It is based off of her symbol of an 8 pointed star. This is a very flexible spread, and I use it different ways. However, with all of them when I have completed reading all 8 cards, I will lay one final card in the center to bring the overall message into focus. One thing I have found particularly beneficial when working with Inanna is using a deck which is very imagery heavy, as she often ignores the traditional meaning of the cards in favor of emotions evoked by the art. Using this deck, the Paulina Tarot by Paulina Cassidy, was our negotiation as an additional means of communication beyond reading clouds. The below methods of reading this spread are identify card positions as if they were on a compass rose.
1. The first way I read this is by identifying the North card as my thoughts and emotions, the South card as Inanna’s thoughts and emotions, the East card as the future, and the West card as the past. NE, NW, SE, SW, then are the ties, either in how the transition occurred or in our thoughts on the matter.
2. The second way I read this is to read Inanna’s thoughts and emotions either generally or on a specific matter. I use this technique if I don’t have strong emotions that I need help reconciling with what she will tell me. For that, N is her thoughts and feelings, S is her divine aspect as it plays into the situation, W is the past, and E is the future. Again, the remaining four cards show the relationship between each cardinal direction.
When I use this spread, I layout the cards a little bit differently, just for my own ease of use.
For this reading, I used the second suggested way to read the spread, with Inanna’s thoughts and emotions represented by the north card and Her divine aspect as related to the situation for the south card. I did change it a bit though. Instead of past and future for the west and east cards, west represents advice/suggested path to take and east represents the likely result if the advice is followed. I’ve also been experimenting with using the base card (the card at the bottom of the deck after laying out the rest of the spread) in my readings for additional clarity lately.
As suggested, I try to use decks that are imagery-heavy with this spread, particularly the Crow tarot (as in my photo) and the Babylonian tarot (which I guess isn’t super imagery-heavy, but I find it useful having Mesopotamian-themed imagery for this sort of reading, so that Inanna can more easily use symbols related to Her myths to get the point across.)
When I use this spread, I like to start by lighting some incense as an offering to Inanna on my altar. Its the least I can do for bothering Her for advice.
I’ll post the second spread in its own post. The other one is based on the myth of Inanna’s Descent into the Underworld.