Inanna continued her way toward the underworld. She journeyed from ancient Sumer up the land between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, through the whole of Babylon and into Hittite Haran. She traveled into Canaan with the Habiru who called her Ishtar. She went with them into Egypt and they called her Ashtarot` when she returned, leaving behind only a memory; the myth of Isis.
She saw god-kings and city-states rise and fall; patriarchs murdered by sons who took their places and their names; armies and wars of territory and dominion. She traveled with the armies, with the whores and the musicians and the eunuch priests, offering solace in their tents, in tabernacles of sex and salvation.
She had bastard sons by kings. She washed the feet of gods amongst men.
She saw villages burned and statues toppled. She saw kingdoms become federations, federations become empires. She saw whole dynasties of deities overthrown, their names and faces obliterated from the monuments they’d built. So, unlike them, she took new names; new faces. Times changed and she changed with them.
She never accepted the new order that was tearing down the old around her, but she knew better than to fight it, watching the others stripped of honor; stripped of reverence, stripped of godhood, still calling themselves Sovereigns even as the Covenant shattered every idol in their temples.
So she traveled as supplicant, as refugee; with mystery as her protector rather than force; cults rather than armies.
She saw the seeds she dropped behind her take root in the earth, and grow only to be crushed by military boots.
She traveled with slaves and criminals.
She went from Israel, to Byzantium and Rome, this Queen of Heaven — [a] Blessed Mother, full of Grace, her new name and old titles echoing amongst the vaults of stone cathedrals; spaces as vast and hollow as the temples left long empty in Uruk and Badtibira, Zabalam and Nippur, Kish and Akkad.
She traveled in statues and pietas, painted in indigo and gold in old Renaissance frescoes, Russian icons; traveled to the New World with conquistadors and missionaries; to plantations where the slaves danced round the fires at night, possessed by gods, by saints, by loas and orishas; journeyed across time to a New Age of carnival mythology, and stars worshiped in glossy parchments sold at newsstands; of rosaries and Tarot cards and television earth mothers fussing over the broken hearts and wounded prides of soft, spoiled inner children.
She journeyed on the Road of No Return, to the dark mansion of the god of Death; the house where those who enter never leave, where those who enter lose all light, and feed on dust and clay for bread.
They see no sun; they dwell in Night, clothed in black feathers of the carrion crow.
Over the door and the bolt of the dark house, dust settles, [and] moss and mildew grow.
She stopped, this Whore of Babylon; this Queen of Heaven. Inanna stopped before the entrance to the Underworld, and turned to look back at her servant, who had followed her down through the centuries; [through[ the millenia.
“Go now, Lady Shubur,” she said. “Do not forget my words.”
“My Queen,” said Lady Shubur.
“Go”
— Hal Duncan, Vellum
She saw god-kings and city-states rise and fall; patriarchs murdered by sons who took their places and their names; armies and wars of territory and dominion. She traveled with the armies, with the whores and the musicians and the eunuch priests, offering solace in their tents, in tabernacles of sex and salvation.
She had bastard sons by kings. She washed the feet of gods amongst men.
She saw villages burned and statues toppled. She saw kingdoms become federations, federations become empires. She saw whole dynasties of deities overthrown, their names and faces obliterated from the monuments they’d built. So, unlike them, she took new names; new faces. Times changed and she changed with them.
She never accepted the new order that was tearing down the old around her, but she knew better than to fight it, watching the others stripped of honor; stripped of reverence, stripped of godhood, still calling themselves Sovereigns even as the Covenant shattered every idol in their temples.
So she traveled as supplicant, as refugee; with mystery as her protector rather than force; cults rather than armies.
She saw the seeds she dropped behind her take root in the earth, and grow only to be crushed by military boots.
She traveled with slaves and criminals.
She went from Israel, to Byzantium and Rome, this Queen of Heaven — [a] Blessed Mother, full of Grace, her new name and old titles echoing amongst the vaults of stone cathedrals; spaces as vast and hollow as the temples left long empty in Uruk and Badtibira, Zabalam and Nippur, Kish and Akkad.
She traveled in statues and pietas, painted in indigo and gold in old Renaissance frescoes, Russian icons; traveled to the New World with conquistadors and missionaries; to plantations where the slaves danced round the fires at night, possessed by gods, by saints, by loas and orishas; journeyed across time to a New Age of carnival mythology, and stars worshiped in glossy parchments sold at newsstands; of rosaries and Tarot cards and television earth mothers fussing over the broken hearts and wounded prides of soft, spoiled inner children.
She journeyed on the Road of No Return, to the dark mansion of the god of Death; the house where those who enter never leave, where those who enter lose all light, and feed on dust and clay for bread.
They see no sun; they dwell in Night, clothed in black feathers of the carrion crow.
Over the door and the bolt of the dark house, dust settles, [and] moss and mildew grow.
She stopped, this Whore of Babylon; this Queen of Heaven. Inanna stopped before the entrance to the Underworld, and turned to look back at her servant, who had followed her down through the centuries; [through[ the millenia.
“Go now, Lady Shubur,” she said. “Do not forget my words.”
“My Queen,” said Lady Shubur.
“Go”
— Hal Duncan, Vellum
Nice post Brother! I always enjoy any material concerning DinGir Inanna, great Goddess of Heaven and Earth.
she is known by many names indeed, yet Her power is of such magnitude that she will never be erased from the collective consciousness of mankind. The great Goddess Inanna is eternal.
Hail to thee, Even though this be true it sort of burst my bubble… Why? Because years ago I made Ishtar my companion..She once used a medium to tell me all I needed to do is call her and she would come…Ishtar did not say her name, but I knew it was her. After you and others called her the whore of babylon it makes me uncomfortable now…First of all I fell in love with her shape…I love the statue of her with the huge wide hips and the small waist…If I can find a mate built like her that would love me with a passion I would be on top of the world…I don’t care about race, color or creed….
This article is a qoute, not one written by our staff. Personally, I do not see DinGir Ishtar as a whore because she in mentioned as the “Goddess of Witches” in the Simon Necronoicon. However, those who stand outside of our paradigm may interpret her image from a Christian standpoint. Everyone picks on Babylon. However, I remember reading about how Ishtar cried at the loss of humanity when the flood occurred. Meanwhile the world takes pride in worshipping the deity that brought the flood on mankind and then turn around and call Ishtar a whore. That doesn’t make too much sense, even for the layman.
Thank you for your response..I deeply appreciate it… You know come to think of it even in the christian bible Jesus Christ and Marymadelene became very close and she was said to be a harlot…Whether Ishtar was or not I still love her…Bless Be…
I see great Ishtar in any form of feminine beauty, be it whore or nun. Although to me She also represents beauty in its most disturbing form, like the carnage of a killing field which is covered with a bloodred carpet of the remains of one’s enemies. Or the beauty of a perfectly executed kill in combat.
To me Ishtar only goes to battle with her warriors only when necessary…She will protect her own…That is the best kind of woman a man can have…They can fight side by side…Any on slaught against her lover or husband and she will not hesitate to attack…
Well, the point I was trying to make is that Ishtar’s beauty is of such greatness, that even the most disturbing scenes take on a raw kind of beauty when the Great Queen of Heaven and earth is involved. When she appears in her warlike aspect even the most mighty foe will waver in the face of her onslaught, for she is a Goddess of War, as well as of Love.
It is indeed said that Mary Magdalene practiced the oldest profession known to man, but still she held an important position which was quite uncommon for a woman in such an era. Great Ishtar, however, is not herself a harlot, but the Queen of harlots. She was the patron Deity of prostitutes, and many such woman worked as such in her sacred temples, and they performed not services just to satisfy lust, as is so common in this day and age, but they did provide their services as it was a sacred duty and a great honor to serve as a temple hierodule.
I do share your passion for her Brother! She is the greatest of Goddesses!
Thank you for your response…Blessed Be!