Ishtar Shows Up
It all started on a coven retreat. One of my coven sisters created a ritual for us, where we drew the name of a goddess to become for the evening. Mine was Ishtar.
I got a little sheet of information about Her, and it said “Ishtar is the multi-layered Babylonian creatrix goddess, the source of all life and embodiment of the power of nature. She is the giver of plenty, a lawgiver, a judge, the goddess of time as well as the goddess of both love and war. Her name means “giver of light” and derives from her role as queen of heaven. She is Venus as both morning and evening star and her girdle is the zodiacal belt…”
This sounded like She was the main Goddess of Everything! I was perfect for the role.
Anyway, I dressed up like I felt she would like to be represented, and I held on to the little info sheet for years. It kept showing up and I got the message. Ishtar is a goddess I need to learn about. So, as I have grown older, I have begun seeking more knowledge and understanding about this ancient goddess.
Finding Ishtar in a Museum
Another Ishtar connection came when I traveled to Germany and walked through a re-creation of the Ishtar Gate in the Pergamon Museum. I was spellbound as I walked down the hallway lined with huge and beautiful blue and gold walls leading to the archway gate. And I knew I needed to know more.
I learned that Ishtar was often represented by Lion, as is depicted in the Babylonian Ishtar Gate. Ishtar was a later, Babylonian version of Inanna, a Sumerian goddess. She is a goddess of love, war and fertility. Venus is a symbol of Ishtar and of Inanna. She is also associated with Horse and Dove. Both Inanna and Ishtar were represented by Venus.
I find you in a horse, a lion and a dove
I find you in a circle of Venus love
These are lines from the song I wrote for our new album “Pantheon: Honoring the Pagan Divine” which is available for digital download on Bandcamp.
Ishtar has continued to show up in my life as time goes on. I recently found a picture of Susan Seddon Boulet’s painting of Ishtar, which I had cut out of a calendar longer ago than I can remember! You can see her Ishtar painting here.
Ancient Ishtar/ Inanna
The temple of Ishtar of Nineveh was located near what is now Mosul. The first temple was destroyed in an earthquake in 2260 BCE, and it was rebuilt soon after. It was excavated by archaeologists working for the British Museum in the 1920’s and 30’s, as I understand it, and the artifacts were distributed to various museums and people who sponsored the excavation project. There are several other ancient temple sites that were dedicated to Ishtar/ Inanna, which you can find listed here. These goddesses were called “Queen of the Night.”
She beckons me to follow her downward into the Queendom of the night.
Inanna was often depicted with sheaves of grain, which represented her as a goddess of fertility. A high priestess of Innana would be part of a Sacred Marriage ceremony every year to assure the fertility of the land. Early Beltaine precursor!
And, because Inanna was seen as the goddess of love and of war, she included both feminine and masculine aspects of character. This is a part of her story that resonates deeply with me, as I have grown up to reject the all-feminine expectations I was taught as a girl. Ishtar and Inanna were symbolized by an eight-pointed star which represents Venus and also looks somewhat like a flower, showing the complexity of their nature. There is much to be said about the significance of the number eight in mystical study, and a good source for this is found in a post by Chandra Alexander on The Eight-Pointed Rosette Star of Inanna.
Ishtar and the Underworld
Take me down, take / Take me down, take / Take me down, take me down
When I decided to write a song to Ishtar, the first part that came was the processional, which I envisioned acolytes singing as they climbed the hill to the temple of Ishtar. This refers to Ishtar’s aspect as the goddess of the underworld. The source for this aspect may be Inanna’s Descent to the Netherworld. I had heard of Ishtar’s seven veils, and this story refers to the shedding of seven veils and her collecting of seven divine powers. In the later poem, The Descent of Ishtar to the Netherworld she passes through seven gates and must relinquish a piece of clothing at each one, which may represent the divine powers she was required to give up in order to descend.
The information I received at the Crow ritual included this: “…Ishtar descends to the underworld and restores the vegetation god, Tammuz, to life and thus restores fertility to the earth.” So many parts of her legend seem to be repeated in later mythologies! Ishtar is Persephone’s ancestor.
Seven steps, seven gates, lead me down to where my heart lies
Ishtar, lead me down.
As I am aging into my cronehood and facing the realities of death and the ending of life in the above world, I have used the image and strength of Ishtar as a guide to help me walk the path towards the netherworld. This song is my hymn to that journey. May it be a source of inspiration and a way to light the dark path for you as well.
Sources:
https://mythologyworldwide.com/the-cult-of-ishtar-sacred-practices-in-mesopotamian-religion/
https://allmesopotamia.wordpress.com/2019/03/26/inanna-ishtar-shes-every-woman/
https://sacred-texts.com/ane/ishtar.htm
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