Aside from my religious/spiritual activities, over the last couple months in my free time I’ve also been getting back into crochet and I started taking an improv class. I know I try a lot of different hobbies. I’m not sure if improv is going to be another all-consuming interest or if it is going to become one of the many different art forms I cycle back and forth between. It’s too early to tell, but so far I am really enjoying it and I plan on taking the next class after this one is over.
Anyway, in this post I wanted to share some of my recent crochet projects. I got a book called “Fiber Magick,” which shows how to use fiber arts, particularly crochet, as part of magickal workings. I love being able to combine my different interests together, and crochet is particularly well-suited for crafting magickal items.
My favorite project I made from that book is my prayer shawl. It was made using basic stitches and was an easy pattern, but it is the largest project I’ve crocheted so far. The pink/black/purple yarn (Lion Brand Mandala Ombré in Felicity) represents love, protection, and spirituality. The blue border (Lion Brand Mandala Ombré in Harmony) represents Inanna. I also thought I was clever using Lion Brand yarn for something representing Inanna. Its one of my favorite yarn brands I’ve tried so far anyway. I’ve been wearing my prayer shawl during my daily devotionals to Inanna since I finished it.
I also made this Goddess of Journeys poppet project from Fiber Magick. Instead of using it for protection on physical journeys, I made mine to represent Ninshubur, who I usually evoke when doing spiritual journeying work to help guide me back should I get into trouble. I gave her a staff, which I made by writing out the part of the Descent myth where Ninshubur asks for Enki’s help in rescuing Inanna from the Underworld on a piece of parchment, rolling it up like a scroll, and crocheting all around it.
I also made a bunch of the smaller projects like spell bags, drawstring storage bags for crystals/herbs/etc, and appliques (which were called “sigils” in the book, but aren’t really what I think of when I think of sigils. I’m just using these as charms and decorations).
(I’m back dating this post, because I originally wrote it weeks ago, and forgot to come back and add the pictures and publish it. 4/23/2024)
I started the descent portion of my initiatory journey through Rod and Ring last month. This ritual was the most intense part of this working so far, as one would expect continuing deeper down the path.
In the week or so before beginning my descent, I noticed a couple of strange signs/coincidences that seemed to coincide with my upcoming descent into the underworld. For maybe a week or so, a bunch of big flies got into the house somehow. I never did figure out where they were coming from. According to the Seek app, these were blue blowflies, which are commonly associated with death and decay. Apparently forensics experts can use this species to identify how long a body has been dead and that sort of thing. I think I counted 7 by the time they stopped appearing in the house.
Then I found a dried up worm on the floor inside the closet of my temple room. I have no idea how it could have gotten there. I do have a worm bin downstairs in the laundry room, but there is no reasonable way that one could have gotten all the way through the house, up the stairs, and into the closet. I was a bit grossed out, not gonna lie, so I put the worm in my compost bucket and took it outside to perform the funerary rite I use for the mice that the neighborhood cats like to bring to me in my garden. It’s very simple, I created it before I was comfortable enough to be open about my religious practices, so it is very low-key so as not to draw attention from neighbors. I simply bury the subject in a specific area of the garden that I have dedicated for this purpose, and I light a few incense sticks as an offering (and to hide the smell from scavengers – though this isn’t really an issue with the worm). In more seasonable times of year, I’ll also lay fresh flowers over the grave for the same reasons. Then I just quietly say a quick prayer to Ereshkigal to welcome the creature into her realm. I don’t know if the Sumerians actually had any kind of beliefs about animals in the afterlife, but this feels like the right thing to do, so its what I do.
Anyway, when I got back inside, I realized that the worm and the flies were probably connected to the descent ritual I was about to undertake, so I felt less creeped out. It is always nice to receive a warm welcome when arriving somewhere new (or returning to a place, as the case may be).
I prepared a black garment/robe to use in the rituals, as prescribed by the book. I also made a black veil to incorporate into the rituals. I felt like Ereshkigal was pushing me to add that. The robe I’m using exclusively during the Rod and Ring rituals, whereas I’m using the veil in the main R&R rituals as well as in supplemental rituals I’m adding in throughout the journey. It really adds something to the atmosphere of the ritual to help me get into the headspace of going down into the underworld.
My robe/”burial shroud” and veil.
I was at Kalahari for a few days before the new moon because my husband’s job sent him to a conference there, meaning I got a free mini-vacation. I used this as an opportunity to prepare for my journey across the River Huber. I essentially spent three days mentally collecting water-based imagery and physical sensations to use during the ritual experience while meditating in the lazy river/wave pool/hot tub bar. For the first time, I really figured out how to use alcohol for entheogenic purposes – it’s actually really great for finding the sacred within the profane if you don’t over do it. I try not to drink too much nowadays after the whole breast cancer thing, but when in Rome! I sort-of turned my free mini-vacation into my own little private spiritual retreat (all those fake shamans who run those expensive “spiritual retreat” things would hate me!), which culminated with doing the actual rituals after we got home.
As far as the ritual itself, it was such an intense, emotional, and beautiful experience. I was literally trembling as I put on my black garment, and again as I crossed over the river. What struck me the most was that traveling to the underworld felt in no way scary to me. I was overcome with a profound sense of peace, love, and awe. I got this feeling like everything was just perfect and as it should be, and that as long as I didn’t try to fight it everything would be just fine. The underworld isn’t something to fear. Ereshkigal is often portrayed as “scary” and “cold,” but believe that is simply the human fear of the unknown being projected upon her. There is no escaping death, but at least She is there to care for you when you do get there. I got a sense that she is more nurturing and loving, if misunderstood, than she is often given credit for. I’m sure I’ll get a clearer sense once I proceed through the gates and meet her face-to-face.
The rituals in the descent section are meant to be performed three months apart, so I won’t be proceeding through the gates until April’s new moon. I am planning on working through the rituals from Samuel’s other book, The Red Shepherd during the months that I’m not actively working on Rod and Ring.
Since beginning my descent, I have set up a shrine to Ereshkigal. I’ve also moved Geshtinanna’s statue to Ereshkigal’s shrine for the time being, as this is the time of year when Geshtinanna is in the underworld.
My shrine to Ereshkigal and Geshtinanna. I’m still working on it. It needs an altar cloth of some type and I want to make sculpture based on the Burney Relief to put in the back. For Ereshkigal’s statue, I used a bit of the extra netting from my ritual veil to create her veil.
I’ve also started veiling as a way of symbolically reminding myself of my current place in the underworld, and that I belong to Ereshkigal just as much as I belong to Inanna. I’ve been wearing lacy headscarves to do this, like those triangle ones that were popular in the early 2000s. It’s a subtle enough style that it doesn’t draw too much attention, but is still true to what I believe the gods want of me. When I want to wear a different hat or hair accessory, I also consecrate it in the same way as the scarves/veils so they can be used in the same way. I’m using mainly lacy black scarves because they kind of remind me of a less conspicuous version of Victorian mourning veils. I’m planning on continuing to do this until I depart the underworld and have left my clay replacement.
Apparently veiling is already a thing in the pagan community, though I haven’t seen anyone say they’re doing it for quite the same reason. I don’t think I’ve heard of any other Mesopotamian polytheists doing it for any reason, though I haven’t spent a whole lot of time researching the subject.
In December I finished the second section of the Rod and Ring initiatory journey. For the main ritual I met Dumuzi/Dumuzid (I see both spellings equally when reading about Sumerian religion, so I’m not sure which is actually the preferred rendering of his name – so far I haven’t gotten any sort of sense that He prefers one or the other like I did with Amageshtin/Geshtinanna).
As with the Geshtinanna, I was already familiar with Dumuzi before meeting him in this ritual. Aside from Inanna Herself, Dumuzi and Ninshubur are the deities I most revere (I only began working with Geshtinanna in the last several months).
To be honest, I was a bit hesitant to start worshiping Dumuzi to begin with because I wasn’t all that interested in having male deities. Which is also part of why I was never really interested in learning about Wicca when I started learning about paganism and witchcraft. I’m sure there’s some psychological reasons in there that I need to uncover and deal with through shadow work, but I digress.
To enhance the experience with Dumuzi, I also started reading Samuel’s newest book, The Red Shepherd right before the last new moon. I expanded on the rituals of thanksgiving for the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th nights of the Rod and Ring initiation by also incorporating the liturgy from the Red Shepherd and extending the ritual activity by 2 days to make room for all 6 liturgical texts.
There was one final ritual for this part of Rod and Ring to be done on the full moon, so I did that on the 26th. I skipped doing the ritual from another book I’m going through, Evil Speech Stand Aside, last month, and I’ll just start doing them on months when I don’t have another full moon ritual to do to make it last longer, rather than doing a bunch of different things on one night.
I also did the Sheepfold rite from the Red Shepherd already, and plan to do the rest of the rites throughout the year. I’ll write more about those later. I’m not actually going by the Babylonian calendar to schedule these like the book suggested since the agricultural cycle of the US is different from that of Mesopotamia, and my lifestyle isn’t really based on the agricultural cycle anyway as a suburban woman in 2024. The next section of Rod and Ring skips some months, so I’ll probably start doing the Red Shepherd rites around the new moon of months that I don’t do Rod and Ring activities.
I did something different for my artwork offering this month. I got a set of watercolor pencils for Christmas, so I wanted to experiment with those. I have no idea what I’m doing with them, but I suppose that’s also the case with most things…
The first one is a painting of my statue of Dumuzi (which I based on an ancient figurine of a shepherd found in Girsu/Tell Telloh. The original probably wasn’t meant to be Dumuzi, but I am just so amused by how that particular statue looks, I had to recreate it), along with my skull candle holder and selenite plate. I just thought it looked nice on my altar during the rituals, so I made the painting to commemorate the ritual itself in addition to the deity. These items could also represent earth and the underworld.
I also made a rendition of Inanna and Dumuzi, based on a relief carving depicting their marriage. I have no idea why I interpreted it in this way…
For Yule/winter solstice, I just did a simple Yule Log ritual and gave Inanna a special gift/offering. I don’t know that the Sumerians actually had a celebration for winter solstice, but I’ve been adapting different holidays and celebrations to fit my own religious practices. I used a small bit of apple wood for my yule log. It came from my apple tree that was destroyed in a snowstorm a few years ago. We cut down the remains of the tree but left the stump. The tree is regrowing now, and the wood I used was from the regrowth, symbolizing a time of rebirth and renewal.
I like to give Inanna offerings of fresh roses from my garden throughout the growing season and was sad that I won’t be able to grow any for several months, so I got Her a gold dipped rose (which is a product I only knew about from listening to Howard Stern, so I hope She isn’t too offended! lol). I picked a sparkly blue one that reminds me of lapis lazuli and the night sky.
On Christmas, I decided it would be most appropriate to honor Dumuzi. I was already working with him a lot in December through the Rod and Ring initiatory rituals. And of all my deities, he is most similar to the Christian one, being a shepherd god and male. I gave him a nice offering of cheese on Christmas day. It was a simple and quick ritual.
Back in November, did something similar, but a little bit more involved, to adapt Thanksgiving. I did a feast for all of my deities with offerings of things that they enjoy (like cheese for Dumuzi, dates for Inanna, etc.) right after doing a ritual to rededicate my temple to Inanna. I had recently thought of a name for my personal temple, E Ama Piring, Temple of the Mother Lioness, and I made a brick with the name inscribed in cuneiform to add to the dais, so I thought that improvement deserved a re-dedication ceremony (I hadn’t yet read ahead enough in Rod and Ring to know that I will be doing a temple dedication as part of my initiatory journey anyway, but that’s okay. That’s still months away and I’m sure I will have made plenty more changes by then).
For this month’s ritual for the Rod and Ring initiatory journey, I met with the goddess Geshtinanna. I was already somewhat familiar with her and have recently incorporated her into my regular practice, so it was a somewhat different experience from the previous months were I met deities with whom I was less familiar.
Since Geshtinanna’s energy was already a bit familiar to me, it felt sort of like meeting up with an existing friend, whereas previous month’s rituals had me meeting new deities for practically the first time. Geshtinanna, or Amageshtin as I prefer to call her in ritual, has a very motherly nurturing type of energy that is instantly recognizable after working with her for the last couple of months or so.
Amageshtin: The Grapevine of Heaven
I made Her a painting, which I based a little bit on the 9 of Pentacles tarot card. That card always reminds me of Her when it comes up, particularly in the Ethereal Visions deck (I have the Luna edition, though I think that card is the same in both versions).
I anticipate that next month’s ritual with Dumuzi will feel similar, as I am even more familiar with Him than I was with Geshtinanna. I’ve also started reading Samuel David’s newest book The Red Shepherd in preparation for my ritual meeting with Dumuzi.
I’ve also started the series of rituals for the Seven Who Decree Fate from the book Evil Speech Stand Aside by Vanessa Kindell, in which the book instructs the ritualist to perform on the night of the full moon for seven months. For this first month, I connected with Nanna, whom I have already been working with every month the night before performing the main Rod and Ring rituals. At least thus far, I’ve found that I don’t connect with the rituals from this book as deeply as I do with the ones from Rod and Ring. I’m not quite sure what the problem is, but I’m going to keep working at it. If nothing else, it will help me to become more familiar with the Seven Who Decree.
As I mentioned in a previous post, this month I did the Rod and Ring ritual for Ningal. I did have a brief experience with this goddess during the previous full moon before this new moon ritual.
The previous full moon, I also felt a connection to Ningal during ritual work. This was kind of strange to me, since I didn’t intend to connect with her. I was expecting to feel a connection to Nanna as I gazed at the moon, and maybe Marduk, as Jupiter was visible as well. (He keeps kind of showing up, but I don’t quite know how to work with him or if I even want to tbh.) I wasn’t doing a ritual for any specific purpose, just some light trance work to see what came through.
At this point, while gazing upon the full moon, I got the impression of Ningal kind of introducing herself, and that she wanted to be acknowledged as a deity of the moon in her own right, not just as the consort of Nanna. Understandable. Women are too often cast aside in the shadows of their male counterparts. Deities are apparently not immune to this. While Ningal is a loving mother and wife, she is also much more than that, and I think she wants her worshipers/Mesopotamian polytheists in general to acknowledge that. At least that’s the impression I got. And perhaps that the full moon is when she should be acknowledged (while Nanna, at least in this section of Rod and Ring, is acknowledged at the dark moon. Not sure if the later sections are the same, I haven’t read ahead).
At this point, I had forgotten that my next step in the Rod and Ring journey was with Ningal. I had it in my mind that Geshtinanna was next for some reason. But during this full moon experience, I got the impression that no, Ningal would be seeing me at the new moon. I double checked the book the next day, and sure enough, Ningal was, in fact, next.
During her ritual for Rod and Ring, I got similar impressions of her, and I think I felt a deeper connection to her than I did to some of the other deities that I’ve encountered in this initiatory journey thus far. I also got the impression that I should be honoring her in some way as part of my regular practice, particularly at the full moon as a moon goddess. Though she is the consort of the moon god Nanna, I don’t recall actually reading anything from scholarly sources that she was actually regarded as an astral deity the way Nanna, Inanna, and Utu are. I think I recall seeing random neopagan type sources refer to her as a moon goddess however, so maybe other people have had similar personal gnosis experiences as well, though you have to be careful with that sort of thing since a lot of neopagan websites/books just straight up make things up, especially the ones that just list a bunch of deities from completely different pantheons as simple random correspondences. So disrespectful, both to the deities and to the entire cultures to which they originally belonged.
I also got a sort of mental image of doing some kind of ritual honoring her over the ocean, perhaps on a boat or near the coast, with a particular focus on the tides. If we regard her as a moon goddess, this makes sense. Ningal is also the daughter of Enki, who is associated with water. The natural forces of water combined with the influence of the moon results in the tides, so I think it would be apt to regard her as a metaphysical embodiment of tides. The gods are essentially personifications of natural phenomenon and aspects of human experiences anyway. Traditionally, she is associated with reed marshes, a type of environment joining water and earth, not the ocean, however.
After making that connection, I did, however, find one small bit of evidence linking Ningal to the full moon and to tides. Last week, I read the book Evil Speech Stand Aside: Ancient Mesopotamian Ishib Magic for the Modern Magician by Vanessa Kindell (I haven’t tried all the rituals from that book yet). At the end of the book, the author listed some of the Mesopotamian deities along with some of their qualities. Ningal was described as a goddess of the reeds, the tides, and the full moon. The book didn’t cite where this information came from (historical source, vs unverified personal gnosis, vs random non-scholarly source, etc), but it is evidence that at least one other person who worships the Mesopotamian gods has made a similar connection.
A side note on unverified personal gnosis: I think the gods give different people different information because they just think its funny to watch humans argue over trivial shit. And it kind of is. At least that’s how I interpret it. Aside from cases of people just making things up.
I wasn’t really able to connect with Ningal this past full moon. I don’t know if it was some kind of personal block, or the fact that it was also a lunar eclipse that day. I don’t know enough about the effects of astrological phenomena on such things to know for sure, but it felt like it was blocking a connection from being made or something, even though the eclipse was earlier in the day. Or it may have been I was just too distracted/focused on other things at the time. It happens. There will be plenty more full moons to experiment with.
Lately I’ve also kind of been associating her with the Queen of Cups tarot card whenever that card comes up in a reading. I know Mesopotamian mythology doesn’t completely lend itself to the symbolism of tarot, but certain deities tend to show up regularly in my readings lately. I haven’t even been using my Babylonian deck much lately, but they still show up!
I’ve been exploring the worship of several other deities in the Sumerian pantheon lately, in addition to Inanna. Early this year, I started my journey through Samuel David’s Rod and Ring in an effort to become better acquainted with some of the other deities in the Mesopotamian pantheon. The main motivation being that, by becoming acquainted with and better understanding some of the other deities in Inanna’s circle and in the wider Mesopotamian pantheon, and better understanding the original religious context that she was worshiped under, I can build a deeper relationship with Her. I already have a place for Dumuzi, Inanna’s consort, and Ninshubur, Inanna’s sukkal (advisor) in my personal practice. I had been feeling drawn to Geshtinanna, Dumuzi’s older sister and Inanna’s sister-in-law, but I didn’t really where to start with her. Most of the information I find on her only mentions her in passing in her role in Dumuzi’s descent. Technically, I will be working with Geshtinanna as part of my journey through Rod and Ring next month, but it turns out she decided to show up a bit early.
As “coincidence” would have it, this month in one of the ANE polytheist groups I recently joined, the service was all about Geshtinanna! The autumn equinox had recently passed, making this the time of year when Geshtinanna returns to the underworld to take Dumuzi’s place.
One of the things I learned about her that stood out the most was that, of all the deities, Geshtinanna was the only goddess who was regularly depicted with close female friends other than those directly related to her. As such, she can be revered as an embodiment of sisterhood between women and supportive female friendships.
Geshtinanna was also considered a sort of mother-figure as well. As Dumuzi’s older sister, Geshtinanna filled a mother role for Dumuzi. She was regarded as a caring and loving sister to Dumuzi.
These aspects of caring female friendships and nurturing family support are energies that I desperately need to bring into my life, not going to lie. I feel like, since I’ve invited Her into my practice, I am slowly starting to better understand/experience these things. Do those count as Mes? I’m not really sure, but I feel like that’s the best word to describe such things. It’s obviously a slow process. She can help guide me in the right direction, but I know she isn’t just going to do the work for me. Despite what a lot of pagans seem to think (based on questions I see posted to social media all the time and spell instructions urging practitioners to invoke random deities they may or may not actually worship), you can’t (or at least shouldn’t!) try to invoke deities you have no existing relationship with just to “make” them do some task/help you with something just because it’s related to one of their associated domains. That’s just rude. That would be like if some random stranger just knocked on my door and asked me to babysit their kids just because they heard I work in childcare as my day job. No going to happen, and please get off my lawn! But that’s a whole rant for a separate post.
Geshtinanna is associated with grapes, grapevines, and wine and her name is often translated as “the grapevine of heaven.” She is also known as Amageshtin or Mutinanna (in the Emesal dialect). In my own UPG she seems to prefer to be called Amageshtin (“Ama” meaning mother). I find she has a very caring and motherly type of energy about her (in the few weeks I’ve been actively working with her).
I made for her a little statue to include her on my little shrine that also has space for Inanna, Ninshubur, and Dumuzi. I made it from wild grapevines that I harvested in the rain during the last new moon, which was also the day of a solar eclipse. I made some wreaths with my harvest as well. While my other statues were made from clay, I thought it was appropriate to make Geshtinanna’s from grapevines. This figurine is a bit fragile, so eventually it may have to be remade or perhaps reinforced with clay, but I like how it turned out. It could always be re-crafted once I improve my vine-weaving skills.
I don’t have Her whole shrine spot ready yet, but Her statue lives alongside Inanna, Ninshubur, and Dumuzi.
Since Amageshtin is so intimately entwined with the grapevine, I was a bit hesitant to start working with her in the beginning. Wine isn’t really my thing, and isn’t something I naturally connect with, and I typically avoid alcohol in general now since the whole breast cancer thing. (I typically use hibiscus tea as a substitute for wine in rituals that call for wine – it has that same deep red color and its energy is just lovely. In my experience, Ninshubur in particular enjoys hibiscus – obvious UPG alert!). But wine can still be offered to deities even if you don’t personally imbibe, and she seems to enjoy regular grape juice just as much. I’ve been using grape juice as offerings more than wine. Since I don’t personally care for wine, offering it always feels like “here, I didn’t want this, so I guess you can have it,” whereas grape juice feels more like “this is good, so I wanted you to have some too!”
I’ve also been working with Ningal a bit too. I did her ritual from Rod and Ring this month (technically I had my first experience with her during the full moon last month while doing some light trance work as well. I’m not sure if it was “real” or whatever, but I’m trying to learn to trust my intuition in these types of things) and felt a connection there, and a feeling that I should be involving her in my regular practice in some way. I’m still exploring what this means, which I suppose is technically a lifelong process (anyone who tells you they have all spiritual things figured out is either delusional or trying to sell you something or both). I’ll make a separate post about Her soon once I’ve gathered my thoughts a bit more and finish the painting I’m making for Her in Adobe Fresco so I can include it in the post. I want to make her a statue too and set up a shrine, but I’m still thinking about what the statue should look like, and whether or not she should share the same space as Inanna, Ninshubur, Gestinanna, and Dumuzi or have her own space.
I’ve been working on a new children’s picture book based on the Mesopotamian myth of the Huluppu Tree. I’m hoping to have it ready to release next month, by Thanksgiving (and the holiday shopping season!)
I wrote first draft of the text last month. I based it mostly on the popular translation by Samuel Noah Kramer, but simplified for the children’s picture book format. I did change “Lilith” to an owl, as respectable Assyriologists now agree that the Sumerian term ki-sikil-lil-la-ke from the original Sumerian version of the myth isn’t related to the Semitic folklore figure Lilith. One theory is that this inhabitant of the tree was simply meant to be an owl. It may have also been meant to represent a spirit or demon of some sort. For the purpose of a children’s book, I think that an owl is the best translation to get the point across. Owls are mysterious creatures of the night, while still being something that a child raised in the modern world can understand (without having nightmares).
In addition to the draft of the story adaptation itself, have also completed the story board and started working on the illustrations. I’m about a third of the way through drawing the illustrations right now. In the illustrations, I have interpreted the Huluppu tree as a willow-like tree. There are other interpretations of what kind of tree the Huluppu tree could have been, but willow seems to be the most common interpretation. I’ve also seen it proposed as a date palm. Aside from the willow interpretation being more popular, I think the symbolism and magickal properties of the willow tree work a little bit better than the date palm. Willows feel like they have a more feminine type of energy than the date palm to me, and they can symbolize rebirth, healing, and rapid growth. (The date palm would also have been a good choice symbolically, as they can represent fertility and abundance, though I feel like the willow is slightly more fitting for the purpose of this book).
From one of my in-progress illustrations for “Inanna and the Huluppu Tree.”
I still need to finish the illustrations, write the text for the front and back matter (glossary, brief historical overview, about the author, etc), and revise and edit the text and illustrations.
If this project goes well and there is any interest, I may eventually make a whole series of children’s books based on Sumerian myths. I will likely focus mainly on myths involving goddesses, especially Inanna.
I got the idea to write children’s books based on Mesopotamian mythology from the one existing picture book I found based on Inanna’s Descent. That one got the story completely wrong and changed so many details that it was completely unrecognizable aside from the characters’ names. I’d like to write my own children’s book version of the Descent myth and the myth where Inanna receives the mes from Enki. The challenge will be adapting them to be appropriate for modern-day children while still remaining accurate to the original myths.
I also have an idea for an novel (or more likely, novella – right now I’m estimating about 30,000-40,000ish words, though that could always change drastically as I add and/or remove ideas – I’m still in the very early stages of planning) based on the myths involving Inanna as well. I’m working on researching and outlining it now, and I’m planning to start writing it next month during NaNoWriMo. While I plan to write during NaNoWriMo, I think I’m going to do the challenge in a non-traditional way this year. I’m planning on writing the first draft for this short novel, and also finish up the children’s book during November, but not get caught up on word counts. I want this book to be more of a lyrical, succinct style, reminiscent of books like Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha and the like. Something that has spiritual value, and that feels more like a classic rather than just another run-of-the-mill fantasy based loosely on mythology.
Whenever I do NaNoWriMo, I tend to get too caught up on quantity of words, rather than quality. This means I end up with a manuscript filled with useless nonsense that I never feel like wading through to salvage a story that I actually want to share with anyone. I like NaNoWriMo for the fact that it pushes me to write even when I don’t feel like I have the time, but I also recognize that it does encourage the bad habit of writing in a way that focuses on higher word counts over quality story telling.
I made this painting for Nisaba, the Sumerian Goddess associated with writing, and also grain, after performing her rituals for Rod and Ring this month. I want to do something extra to honor each deity as I complete their rituals. I call is Dub Sar: Nisaba and the Invention of Writing. She was originally associated with grain, but became associated with writing after its invention due to the use of reeds as styluses. I used the most famous carved image of Nisaba as the inspiration, but switched the grain stalks she held for her lapis tablet and golden stylus to emphasis her importance as a patron goddess of scribes, know as dub sar in Sumerian.
I was originally writing articles for HubPage’s network site Exemplore (where they route all pagan-related topics, along with other, but decided to switch to paintings. I still need to go back and complete my paintings for Gibil, Ninurta, and Ishkur. I’ve realized that HubPages isn’t the best place to try to elevate the gods since they lump all things pagan in with garbage like conspiracy theories, UFOs and Aliens, New Age, etc.
I also did a painting for Nanna this month during the dark moon. I call it Udnua, which means New Moon in Sumerian. This one features Nanna seated before the dark moon. I made the initial sketch by tracing one of my favorite stone images of him. I tried to emphasize the shining gold details of the Shining One and his divine magical accoutrements.
Both of these art peices are available as prints from my various art sales channels. I particularly recommend these mini prints that come with wooded bases, available on my Threadless Artist Shop. These are perfect to use as images of the deities for your altar or shrine!
So far I have Inanna, Marduk, Nanna, and Nisaba. I’m working on making one for Dumuzi, and will soon start painting Gibil, Ninurta, and Ishkur. Next month I will start working on one for Ningal, and then Gestinanna after I complete their rituals for Rod and Ring. I’m already working on one for Dumuzi, but I might make another one once I complete his ritual.
Today I thought I’d share what my daily devotional practice to Inanna looks like, and how my altar is currently arranged. I just switched the table I use for my altar to a slightly taller one with slightly more surface space a couple days ago.
This is what my altar currently looks like. On a riser in the center is a statue of the goddess Inanna. In the riser in front of her is a small offering bowl where I burn incense. She is surrounded by a few small stones which are symbolic offerings to Her. I eventually want to make a new riser to look like a whole ass ziggurat to put Inanna’s image on, but I don’t know what materials to use to make such a thing yet. I want the statue to sit a bit higher up compared to the plants, but I still want plants on there, and they need to be in large enough pots to account for their roots.
Close-up of the statue. Made by Etsy seller Blagowood.
On either side of Inanna I have two potted plants. The pink pot to the left contains a crepe myrtle and a hibiscus. There’s no specific symbolic reason for these particular plants. I wanted something that flowers to represent a “spring/beginnings” and feminine sort of energy, and I had plenty of seedlings of these outside (Crepe myrtles from my Arbor Day society membership and hibiscus just pop up everywhere in my yard and garden). The cypress to the left was a gift. I feel it represents more of a masculine energy, as well as fall/winter as an evergreen. It’s not doing too well indoors, so this one will probably be planted outside around November and replaced with something else. I’m thinking a spider plant or something else that does well indoors and is safe for cats. The other two from the pink pot will eventually go outside too.
I have three candles. The center one represent Inanna. I light this one first during my daily devotionals and rituals. I use a large circular clear multifaceted candle holder, which I feel nicely represents the pure yet multifaceted energy of Inanna. Using a utility candle, I light the left one that is in the pink skull candle holder from the center candle’s flame. I think of that one as representing myself, and Inanna’s light shining through me. The third candle holder is where I put candle used in spells or specific rituals if I have one I’m doing that day. Otherwise I light it at the beginning as representing sharing my light with the world at large. I use tea light candles typically, as they burn out quicker if I forget to put them out when I’m done. I’m currently using Hanukah candle as my utility candle because I found some that share a portion of the profits with Sharsheret, an organization that helps women with hereditary breast cancer from the BRCA1/2 mutations that are commonly found in women with Jewish heritage. It feels like a nice way to honor my ancestors too, even if I don’t worship the same deity they did in recent generations.
I light incense offerings from the left candle that sort of represents myself to represent giving of myself to Inanna or any other deities I’m giving offerings to at that time.
After the candles and incense are lit, I do a short prayer/meditation using the wrist prayer beads I keep on my altar. I got the prayer beads from etsy seller HearthfireHandworks and I use the prayer that she included with the beads, with slight modifications, though one of these days I’ll probably rewrite the entire thing to better reflect my personal relationship with Inanna.
I think of raccoons and crows as my animal guides, so they are represented on my altar. The raccoon represents the earth element to me, and the crow is obviously air.
All of the classical elements are represented throughout my altar, but they are more “concentrated” in certain designated spots. On the left side of the altar, I have the tools related to the feminine elements of water and earth. I have a container for holy water and a sprinkler tool (made from a miswick stick, rope, and a quartz crystal) for water and earth. I also have a coaster to designate the spot for my chalice, a selenite pentacle altar tile (for charging and cleansing small items), a wood altar tile with an ankh symbol (where I set spell components until I need them. There is goldenrod freshly harvested from my pollinator garden on it in the picture.) The cup is in the way in the picture, but I also have a trilobite on the riser next to the skull candle holder for water and earth, also to represent the past (Earth’s past, obviously, and mine. I got it from the Seneca Cavern’s gift shop as a child). There is a painted shell that says “love” on top of the soil of the left potted plant. I found it while cleaning up trash in the Metroparks. I meant to re-hide it, but it found it’s home on my altar for now. I also have an peat turf sculpture of a cat from Ireland, which I feel gives my Irish ancestors representation, again, even if I haven’t been called by their particular deities.
On the right side, of course, I have greater concentrations of the air and fire elements, commonly considered more masculine in energy. The cauldron I use as an incense holder brings back a bit of feminine energy to the air/fire of the incense being burned. I have my little bell that I got from the Buckland Witchcraft Museum gift shop (I really like museum gift shops, if you haven’t noticed), which also represents air. Its not really visible, but there’s a lava rock I illegally brought back from the beach of Hawaii’s Big Island for fire (and also earth!). The skull-shaped speaker I use to play ritual music through is kinda hidden behind the big candle holder. I usually keep it on the floor, but I had extra space when I rearranged everything. I might swap it out for a garden gnome though, and put the speaker back on the ground. I guess I don’t really have the masculine elements represented as much as the feminine ones, but I’m also completely okay with it. This is my personal practice. I do what I want!
For music, lately I’ve been using the album “Inanna” by Neurotree. I don’t know anything about the artist, I just found it on Amazon while looking for books about Inanna (I bought the album from iTunes though). I found literally nothing about the artist other than that one album when I tried to look them up. It seems kinda sus, since usually there would be at least some info about the actual humans behind the music somewhere on the interwebs, but whatever. I like it.
In the center, right in front of the riser for Inanna’s image, I have a big chunk of quartz. I got it at some witchy/Halloween event last year in Lakewood in a scoop of “witch confetti.” The lady I bought it from picked it out of her mixture of odds and ends special for me, which was so nice! It reminds me of a mountain top, so I like to keep in down in front of Inanna, like she’s rising up above the underworld. (“Kur” can mean both “underworld” or “mountain” in Sumerian. It can also refer to foreign/eastern lands).
The tablet behind the quartz translates to “The strength of my god completes my own. Inanna is praised!” Idr if I posted the tablet as a blog post yet.
The yoga cat statue is kind of like a stand-in worshipper sort of thing. I read something before that back in the day figurines of worshipers would be left at the shrines of deities to continue “worshiping” the deity in the person’s absence. Idk how true that interpretation of the artifacts is, but I liked the idea, so I’m using the yoga cat statue in that way. It even has an 8-point star on its tummy!
This is all my own personal practice and what is meaningful to me. If I were ever called upon to put together something for the community at large for whatever reason, it would obviously stick more to traditional kinds of imagery and associations (i.e. less just making things up as I go along).
I’ve been wanting to get back into drawing, and finally decided to splurge and get a drawing tablet (well, I did get a pretty good deal on it. It must have been a Labor Day sale, though I didn’t even think about holiday sales when I was shopping for it). I got the XP Pen Artist 16 and I’ve been experimenting with digital painting, mainly in Adobe Fresco, but also Photoshop and Illustrator. Here are two of my favorite paintings I did so far:
Inanna Rising
Inanna Rising was inspired by Inanna’s descent to – and subsequent ascent from – the underworld.
Ama Nita
Ama Nita is a pun on the Amanita muscaria mushroom and the Sumerian word “ama” meaning “mother” (“nita” is also a word in Sumerian meaning “male,” so I supposed Ama Nita could be thought of as a fusion of the sacred feminine and masculine properties, or as a “mother of men” – interpret it as you wish!). Mushrooms have been considered sacred in numerous cultures throughout history, so an Amanita mushroom as a mother goddess seems fitting to me. I’m not sure if the Sumerians or any other Mesopotamian culture had any sacred associations with mushrooms or any other entheogens. I don’t recall reading anything (from legit sources) about such things, but who knows?
I think I’m going to have prints made of these. Would it be too narcissistic to hang my art up alongside the art I bought from “real” artists? Idk. I might offer prints once I get my etsy shop up and running too. I might not be the greatest artist of all time, but I like my digital paintings enough to want to display them, so maybe someone else out there might too.
I don’t really have much to compare the XP Pen tablet to, but I’m really enjoying using it so far. Because of the large screen and matte finish (and matte screen protector I put on it) it is a lot nicer to draw on than my iPad mini or Surface tablet (1st gen I think?). I also like it much more than Hans’s old Wacom tablet (an entry-level non-screen one), which I never got the hang of.
Anyway, I’ve been throwing around a new idea for a children’s book for a while, and now that I have a nice drawing tablet, I think I can actually execute it, so stay tuned for whenever I actually make some progress with that. I have so many different projects I want to bring to life.
