Tag: Inanna

Inanna and the Huluppu Tree – Children’s Book Progress

Posted on by Jennifer Wilber

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.

My Daily Practice and Current Altar

Posted on by Jennifer Wilber

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).

Adobe Fresco Goddess Paintings

Posted on by Jennifer Wilber

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.

Statue of Inanna – Air Dry Clay

Posted on by Jennifer Wilber

After I made my smaller travel figurine of Inanna, I wanted to make a larger one with more iconographic details.

The clay was still a little wet in this picture, but this is the size difference between my original travel figurine and my new one.

I’m not sure where she will ultimately live in my house. I kinda want her on my main altar, but I also really like the statue I have on there already that I bought from a Ukrainian artist on Etsy. For now, I have her on top of my bookcase where I keep my pagan and magick books. It’s become a kind of secondary altar/shrine to Inanna as well as Ninshubur and Dumuzi. I place offerings of freshly cut flowers there, and light candles for those three deities. The main altar is in front of a big picture window looking out into the backyard, and is where I do my actual rituals and meditations and whatnot.

Lastest Clay Artwork: Cuneiform Tablet, Inanna Pocket Figurine, Tiny Cuneiform Tokens

Posted on by Jennifer Wilber

I made this tablet last Friday in the middle of the night when I couldn’t sleep. Translated to English it says: “The strength of my god completes my own. Inanna zami.”

The first part is a Sumerian proverb. There is some debate over the authenticity of this quote, but it is listed in the CDLI. Besides, I like the quote.

usu diĝir-ĝa2 ni2-ĝa2 ba-til

𒀉𒄨𒀭𒂷𒉎𒂷𒁀 𒌀

The second part, Inanna Zami, means “Inanna be praised.”

𒀭𒈹𒍠𒊩

Then on Sunday I made a new cuneiform stylus to make smaller wedges and tried it out by making these tiny clay tokens. I made ones featuring the names of Inanna, Ninshubur, and Dumuzi. I also made a smaller version of the “Go Away” amulet that I made earlier and one that translates to “Live, Laugh, Love” for funsies. I made the new stylus from one of those sticks that comes with poly-fil stuffing and squared it off on the end. Well, it’s more of a triangle than a square.

Then I made a similarly-sized token featuring Inanna’s star to test out my new set of clay carving tools. After making all of these simple projects I felt like trying my hand at sculpting something more complex. I decided to make a small pocket-sized figurine of Inanna for a travel altar. I wanted something small and simple to practice sculpting. I posed Her arms crossed against Her body so they wouldn’t be broken as easily during travel, but She kinda just looks like She’s done with my shit, so I feel like I should carry this representation of Her with me when I know I’m about to make poor decisions.

I already want to make a larger similar statue with more details representing more of Her iconography, including Her 8-point star, and the rod and ring symbol that frequently appears in images of deities in Mesopotamian art.

Votive Statues for Dumuzi and Ninshubur

Posted on by Jennifer Wilber

I wanted to represent Dumuzi and Ninshubur on my altar, but I was having trouble finding statues of either of these deities to purchase. I ended up just making my own, based on ancient artifacts that were found in Sumerian ruins. I know my sculpture skills are exactly on par with those of actual artists, but I hope the gods appreciate them none the less. I presented them to Dumuzi and Ninshubur at the Temple of Inanna and Dumuzi’s monthly devotional this month, along with food offerings and roses for Inanna (all handmade by me or harvested from my garden). I like to think that the gods appreciate everything we make for them with love. I mean, I enjoy it when kids give me a picture they drew, saying that it’s supposed to be me. Maybe it’s the same kind of thing?

Votive Figurine for Dumuzi

My votive statue for Dumuzi. I dedicated the gnome candle to Dumuzi as well. It just reminded me of him for some reason. IDK why.

I based my votive figurine for Dumuzi on a statue of a shepherd that was found in the modern-day site of Tell Telloh in Iraq, what was once the ancient Sumerian city Girsu. I came across the original artifact while searching for statues of Dumuzi. There are some recovered ancient statues that are more certainly meant to represent Dumuzi, but I used one that is only identified as a shepherd for my inspiration. It is a simpler design that I could more closely replicate myself, and it just looked whimsical to me. The design made me happy to look at, and I wanted to capture that joy in my offering to Dumuzi. I just really like that particular artifact, I can’t completely explain why.

This particular artifact was labeled as being a representation of Dumuzi on Bing image search, via some sketchy website (as soon as I saw references to Sitchen, I left and tracked down the original source for the image). I traced it back to the Louvre, where the artifact is currently housed, and found out that it is thought to represent a shepherd holding a baby goat or sheep.

Shepherd figurine from Girsu. Louvre.

 The original artifact is missing an arm, but I made both arms for him. I also embedded a goat bone (I think it’s probably a spine bone) into his back. I got the bone in a goat curry meal from a local Jamaican restaurant like a year ago. I didn’t know what I was going to use it for at the time, but it looked super cool, so I cleaned it up, removed all the soft tissue that remained, and kept it packed in a cup of diatomaceous earth until I thought of a use for it. Since Dumuzi is a shepherd god, I thought it would be a nice offering to him.

Dumuzi’s back, with embedded goat bone.

I used the same air-dry clay that I used to make my cuneiform flashcards. Both figurines looked a bit crumbly when they dried, but I kinda like how it makes them look more ancient and old-timey, so I didn’t try to fix it before glazing them.

Votive Figurine for Ninshubur

Votive statue of Ninshubur

I used the same basic process to make my votive statue for Ninshubur. Her figurine is based on two ancient artifacts depicting her, though both original statues are missing their heads, so I had to make up that entire part. The head didn’t want to stay attached, so I used wooden rods inside to hold the whole thing together.

The first original artifact I used as inspiration is a statue from the Sumerian city-state of Der, the modern-day site of Tell Aqar in Iraq. This one is currently housed at the British Museum.

Statue dedicated to Ninshubur from Der. British Museum.

The other statue I was inspired by was found in the Sumerian city Adab, modern day Bismaya, Iraq. It is currently on display in the Sumerian Gallery of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad. Like the statue from Der, this one is also missing her head.

Statue dedicated to Ninshubur from Adab. Iraq Museum.

For my figurine, I made a head featuring a horned crown, as seen on many ancient depictions of deities. I tried to make her features a bit androgynous since there is some confusion over Ninshubur’s gender in the various ancient texts. She is depicted as female in the texts related to Inanna, but I kind of feel like she has a more non-binary androgynous energy about her.

I also added a staff in her hands because the staff is her symbol as Inanna’s sukkal. I kept her posed with her hands clasped, like in the original statues, but I put the staff in her hands. The staff is made from a willow branch. Willow is one of the types of trees that the Huluppu tree from the myth is theorized to have been, though it could have also been a date palm. There are probably other theories out there too. Anyway, I only had a willow branch dried and ready to be used, so that’s what I went with. Willow is my favorite type of tree anyway.

I was planning on inscribing both deities’ names in cuneiform directly onto the figurines, but I kept squishing them too much in the process (I’m already clumsy, and I think my hands aren’t working as well as they were since having chemo). I made separate little name plaques for them instead.

I might make one for Inanna some time too. I already have a few representations for her, but maybe she’d like a homemade one too (other than the eye-idol one I made for her a few months ago). I might make them for Geshtinanna and Ereshkigal eventually too. I just need to do more research on their iconography and existing known representations of them.

Tell Brak Eye Idol/Burney Relief Mashup

Posted on by Jennifer Wilber

A few months ago, I wanted to make a figurine of Inanna using some colored stone-esque Sculpey clay I found in my hoard of craft supplies. I’m not great at art, so I didn’t want to attempt anything too ambitious. I’ve always been drawn to the eye idol figurines that were uncovered in Tell Brak in what was once Northern Mesopotamia. They are cute and simple to make. I still have a few reproductions that I made about 20 years ago when I first got interested in Mesopotamian history/mythology as a teenager (I was a weird kid, which is probably why I’m now a weird adult). So I had the idea to combine imagery from the Burney Relief (aka Queen of the Night), an ancient relief sculpture that most archaeologists believe to represent Inanna/Ishtar.

I was originally going to make it all pink, but I didn’t have enough pink, so I used light blue for the details an accessories. I think the blue eyes work very well, considering blue eyes, typically made from lapis lazuli (considered a sacred stone), are seen in a lot of Mesopotamian art.

The original eye idols were mainly found in what is now Tell Brak in modern-day Syria. A smaller number of these sculptures were also later found in Tell Hamoukar. They are probably meant to be abstract representations of human worshipers meant as votive offerings to an as-of-yet unidentified deity or deities. The large, prominent eyes likely represent attentiveness to the gods, as do the large eyes seen throughout Mesopotamian art. They are NOT supposed to be “grey aliens” as the “ancient astronauts” conspiracy theorists claim. For more information than you probably want about these figurines, see The Eyes Have It: An In-Depth Study of the Tell Brak Eye Idols in the 4th Millennium BCE: with a primary focus on function and meaning (Honors Thesis by Arabella Cooper from the University of Syndey).

Example of a Tell Brak “eye idol,” Metropolitan Museum of Art. Gift of The Institute of Archaeology, The University of London, 1951

The Burney Relief, also known as Queen of the Night, is the best known image of Inanna/Ishtar, though there is some debate by archaeologist over exactly which goddess it is meant to represent. Most believe it is meant to be Inanna/Ishtar, though there are some who argue that it may be Ereshkigal or Lilith (Lilith is NOT a Mesopotamian deity. She is a figure from Semitic folklore). It is unknown where exactly this ancient work of art was actually discovered, as it wasn’t excavated archaeologically. It most likely originates from Southern Mesopotamia, but the exact site location is unknown. The relief features iconography commonly associated with Inanna/Ishtar, including the rod and ring symbol, lions, wings, and the horned headdress.

Burney Relief (Queen of the Night). Mesopotamian terracotta plaque depicting a winged, nude, goddess-like figure with bird’s talons, flanked by owls, and perched upon two lions. Height: 49.5 cm. Old-Babylonian, 19th-18th cent. BCE. British Museum

Prayers to Ereshkigal to Watch Over the Recently Departed

Posted on by Jennifer Wilber

It is frustratingly difficult to find any information regarding Ereshkigal, the Sumerian goddess of the underworld (Kur or Irkalla in Sumerian). She is commonly referred to as Inanna’s older sister, though I don’t think she is meant to be Inanna’s literal sister (as Inanna is referred to as the “eldest daughter of the moon god, Nanna.” I need to do more research about this though), the same way that, in the myths, Enki, Enlil, and An are all sometimes referred to as Inanna’s father. It’s more a poetic/literary description than an actual genealogical description.

Ereshkigal is probably best known for her role in the the myth of Inanna’s Descent to the Underworld.

As queen of the underworld, Ereshkigal takes care of the dead. I like to think of her as mother figure, nurturing the dead until such time they are ready to move on to whatever comes next (again, I need to do more research into the full beliefs of the ancient Sumerians, if such information even still survives. Hint, hint: comment if you have any good resources to share).

Anyway, I was looking for traditional prayers to Ereshkigal, but came up empty. However, I found two modern prayers to Ereshkigal that I’d like to share. These are meant to ask Ereshkigal to take care of a newly arrived soul and welcome them into her domain.

Prayer to Ereshkigal

by Rebecca Buchanan

Nether Queen
Soul Shelter
Who welcomes the dead into your darkness
your warmth
your arms
Who weeps for the babe who comes too soon
the warrior bearing the wounds of battle
the mother with swollen breasts unsuckled
the grandfather with hands gnarled and weary
Nether Queen
Soul Shelter
Welcome ____ into your darkness
your warmth
your arms
Prayer to Ereshkigal II

by Rebecca Buchanan

ereshkigal:
great queen
beneath the earth:
in your palace
of ash bone
and brilliant blue stone:
I pray:
welcome _____
into your twilit halls
with cups of rich beer
platters of mint lamb
and honeyed figs____

These prayers are both originally from a blog called Neos Alexandria. From their about page, “Neos Alexandria is a community for Greco-Egyptians, Hellenics, Kemetics, Romans, Neopagans and others interested in learning about the Gods; their ancient and contemporary forms of worship; Greco-Egyptian culture; and in sharing our personal experiences and insights.” Though the site is dedicated to Greco-Egyptian, Hellenic, Kemetic, and Roman gods, there is a bit of useful stuff for Sumerian/Near Eastern pagans as well.

Edit: I was looking around the site mentioned above some more after I posted this. They publish a number of books, and I found three titles that looked useful to my practice, which I have ordered from Thriftbooks and Amazon (for the one not currently available on Thriftbooks). Just thought I’d share for anyone looking for books to read (obviously I haven’t read them yet to know if they are actually any good – I’m just excited to find more books other than the half a dozen or so that are always recommended on the Inanna and Sumerian Facebook groups).

A Mantle of Stars: A Devotional for the Queen of Heaven
Edited by Jen McConnel

Anointed: A Devotional Anthology for the Deities of the Near and Middle East
Edited by Tess Dawson

Queen of the Great Below: An Anthology in Honor of Ereshkigal
Edited by Janet Munin

Inanna’s Descent Tarot Spread

Posted on by Jennifer Wilber

This tarot spread is based on the myth of Inanna’s descent to the underworld, and is meant to guide you through your own version this myth to help you confront your own “dark side.” I found this spread on a WordPress blog called Occultopraxia, but the blogger says they got it from a book by Hans Banzhof (whom I can’t find any information on). This spread seems to draw on Jungian psychology, which has some issues, but I find that it’s still a useful spread.

Unlike the previous tarot spread I shared here, this one isn’t for communicating directly with the goddess. Instead, this one is to help you confront your own psychological “stuff,” drawing on the characters and plot of the myth as your guide. This spread takes you through the seven gates of the underworld, the confrontation with Ereshkigal, and the ascent out of the underworld.

The layout for this spread. From Occultopraxia.

The meanings of each card in the spread are as follows:

1.    “Inanna” – bright or visible side of personality, which may become whole and healthy by confrontation with the shadow (10).
2.    “Neti” or “Reception at the gate to the Underworld” – motivation to confronting the shadow, and what it looks like from the outside.
 3–9. Values, ways to behave, habits, wishes, positions, expectations etc. which we must renounce.
10. “Ereshkigal” – the shadow to break free from or integrate with. The hidden or dark side of personality, what should be extracted, understood, what existence should be accepted.
11. “Ninshubur” – a helpful force, ally “in the upper world”.
12. The first stimulus to rebirth.
13. The second stimulus to rebirth.
14. The reborn, whole and healthy person.
15. “Dumuzi” – “the sacrifice”, motives and attitudes that we must give up for a long time.

The original author of the spread said to divide the deck into major and minor arcana, and shuffle these separately so that cards 10, 12, 13, and 14 are drawn from the major arcana and the rest from the minor arcana. I don’t do this. I just draw the whole spread from the whole deck, and it works just fine for me.

The blog where I found the spread also gives the following additional instructions for using the spread:

The interpretation begins with cards 1, 10 and 14, which constitute the skeleton of the spread. The first card represent the querent as she or he feels about her- or himself now, how she or he perceives her- or himself. Because of some reason, as Inanna who wanted to get into the Underworld, the querent wishes to look at some hidden features of her or his personality, even though finding and waking them up may be a dangerous path. Card no. 10 shows the querent what those features are. They may consist of suppressed emotions or abilities (like aggression, assertiveness, sexuality, sensuality, even artistic talents despised by the parents) or unhealed traumas. If the querent decide to confront them and accept them (if they are positive but neglected abilities) or ultimately get rid of them (in case of negative emotions or traumatic past), she or he will became a person represented by the card no. 14. This card actually shows if the process is worth going through.

Interpretation for other questions

The spread may be also used for questions concerning important decisions in life, like accepting a new job, changing a profession, moving to another city or state etc. Then the interpretation of cards differs slightly. Card no. 1 may tell about how the querent feels about her- or himself, but may also show her or his position in the society. Card no. 10 may indicate the qualities the querent will have to find within her- or himself and demonstrate, if she or he makes that decision. It may be, for example, aggressiveness or selfishness, needed for making a career. The interpretation of the card no. 14 doesn’t really differ from the described above. But cards no. 3 – 9 and 15 are very important and they can be decisive. They show all the things the querent will have to get rid of or will loose. Sometimes it may turn out that even though card no. 14 shows a successful, rich person, some cards from the group 3 – 9 or 15 indicate a family breakdown, lack of free time or loss of health, which may be a price the querent doesn’t want to pay.

Inanna's Descent Tarot Spread with the Babylonian Tarot
Inanna’s Descent Tarot Spread with the Babylonian Tarot

Above is an example of a reading I did using this spread. I also included the base card. Two other cards also randomly fell out of the deck, so I included them in my interpretation as well.

Inanna’s Star Tarot Spread to Communicate with the Goddess

Posted on by Jennifer Wilber

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:

The original spread layout by Journey of an Eclectic Witch

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.

Inanna’s Star tarot spread with the Crow Tarot deck

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.)

Inanna’s Star spread using the Babylonian Tarot

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.