Hold the Light: Wisdom from Myth, Legend & Fairy Tale to Support us Through Uncertainty & Transformation 4 Inanna: Accepting the Call - Anne Maria Clarke

Inanna: Queen of Heaven
Accepting the Call

In the depths of the night she heard a calling, a calling that would not cease - emanting from far beneath the earth. And suddenly she knew what she must do.

 I‘ve been thinking about  the ancient Sumerian Goddess Inanna who descended into the underworld & and was required – much as we are right now – to let go of all the trappings and unecessary adornments of her life as she descends, step by step into the depths below. This is the Night Sea Journey, mythologically speaking – reflected in the path of the Darkening Moon – which from time to time we might be called upon to embark.
There are numerous tales telling & retelling this familiar tale – yet somehow this particular version – rooted as it is in much earlier matriarchal times, has something unique to offer – some way of explaining, by way of symbol – just what it might mean to be called to let go of what is known & familiar.
I have an artist friend who has created a beautifully illustrated adaptation of this tale. Her writing of it co-incided with the death of her husband. Yet somehow the story – supported and guided her through the long months of grief and loss until at last she was ready to come back to us – to make her ascent, like Inanna, rising from darkness and returning to the light.  
This is the hope – the hope we must all hold through the coming months – and the promise that in the end,
All will be well.
Yet for now let’s take a moment to peer into the mystery of Inanna’s tale to see what it might mean for us collectively to let go of the world as we knew it to be.
      Much Love       
Anne Maria
x x x

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Inanna descends into the Underworld

It is said  that three times Inanna hears a whisper in her sleep. A whisper that is a cry of loss and pain, arising from her sister deep below the earth. She rises from her bed then and adorned in all her royal splendour sets forth - down into the shadowy depths of the underworld. Seven steps await her and seven barred gates.
And at each gate she knocks and cries out to the gatekeeper
"Open the gates to the underworld!"
“I am Inanna, Queen of Heaven and I have come seeking wisdom from my sister.”
And the gate was slowly opened, and Inanna passed through.
But at each barred gate and in order to proceed, part of her worldly attire was asked of her – first her crown of glittering stars, then her rainbow necklace, her golden bracelets, silken robe, soft sandals,  golden girdle & mitre of power, until finally at the seventh gate she was totally naked and vulnerable. Only then was she brought before her sister – Queen of the Night. Only then does she begin to understan the nature of the calling......to be continued
adapted by Anne Maria Clarke

The journey she decides to undertake to the underworld, explains my friend Eleanor, requires enormous courage and perseverance. Bit by bit her identity is dismantled as she descends into ever-increasing darkness. She undergoes the loss of everything she holds dear. However, nothing is wasted, rather it is re-formed. In the darkness of the chaotic matrix where everything is possible she is dissolved into a state of complete unknowing. This is the stage at which transformation can take place. Just as the caterpillar dissolves in the chrysalis and emerges totally transformed as a butterfly, so the old Inanna returns from the underworld with a new consciousness.
Eleanor Allitt: Daring to Discover - Inanna, Her Descent into the Underworld 
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eleanor-Allitt/e/B004L5BQOY/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1

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