Inanna and Integrity
Here I will start posting some of my notes for my poster in Helsinki 2001, at the 47th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationaale. Feel free to add your ideas and comments, for all contributions will be acknowledged and warmly received!
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I'm really looking forward to seeing your poster session materials! With a topic of Inanna and Integrity I'm fascinated with what approach you will take to the topic...
I've been reading Jacobsen's "Treasures of the Darkness" was fascinated with his description of the development of the Sumerian pantheon from the elemental, nature based aspects of their origins to what they became later with the Babylonians. Since I'm just beginning my study and journey I have no point of reference on which to evaluate his views on the topic. As I read more from other authors I'm sure I'll build a much clearer mental picture.
Re: Inanna and Integrity
First, why the title Inanna and Integrity? Basically, Integrity is about the embodiment of the whole, and the action characterized by the verb to integrate means the act to combine disparate elements into an harmonious whole.
Thus, I will try to demonstrate that the apparent dichotomy of love and war in Inanna encompasses the full spectrum of Love/Relatedness/Connection and Creativity, as well as its extreme manifestations of War/Aggression/Drive/Libido and boundless Energy.
Deity, after all, should encompass the Whole, the CenterPoint that all sees, assesses, chooses and Judges. To see Inanna/Ishtar as anomalous, furthermore, is to deny the existence of the Assertive Non-Maternal Dynamic Feminine.
hm... There is much more to the Goddess than the Maiden, Mother and Crone figures.
Note: Have you ever thought that some of the most fascinating goddesses in all pantheons are not necessarily Maidens, Mothers in the biological sense or Old Crones? Freya, Sekhmet, Athena, Arthemis, the Morrighan, are all Inanna/Ishtar under another Names.
Not surprisingly, these goddesses mentioned above are all passionate and patronesses of the martial arts. In other words, in ancient worldview and across several pantheons, They also encompassed the full spectrum of Love and War, and in Them balance was to be found. And authority.
Interesting, isn´t it?
This is why the title Inanna as an archetype of feminine Integrity.
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Re: Inanna and Integrity
Hello again! I hope you won't mind if I continue to ask questions As I teacher, I always enourage my students to ASK whenever they have a question, that there is no such thing as a stupid question.
As I mentioned elsewhere, I've been reading Jacobsen's, Treasures of the Darkness. In it, as I have read so far, he has been chronocling the changes in Mesopotamians' approach to the gods, from the early days when they were seen as manifestations of natural phenomenon they saw in the world around them that had high relevance to their lives, to (where I am now) the next era when the the culture became more politically organized, "Kings" began to govern & rule the people, and the gods took on more characteristics related to the political state: Enlil helping create winds to fight battles, Ninurta hurling lightning bolts at their opponents, etc.
As feminists, how do we sort out what is the result of the introduction of patriarchal points of view regarding the gods from the gods' true characteristics (of integrity and wholeness)? How do we separate out the power-over, hierarchical, abnegation of self to the needs of the group/state patriarchal models of the gods we have received from their "true" selves?
In my growth and study I have come to see how saccharine sweet and cloying the white light, fluffy, gentle goddess stuff is and how it doesn't reflect a complete/whole image of the Goddess or God being studied; that the destroyer / avenging goddess / crone aspects are all equally valid, if not even more important, in helping us build a more complete, well-rounded and complete picture.
Re: Inanna and Integrity
Great question, Soul Sister, which I am trying to reply to myself as well.
First and foremost, let´s face the brutal truth: the great Assyriologists of the past were ... errrrrrrr... not very much concerned with feminism, goddess or gender issues. Jacobsen, by the way, has some problems with describing Inanna, for example. Thus, there is a need to review fundamental texts in the light of the feminine experience. This task has been started by scholars such as Frymer-Kensky, Joan Westerholz, Rivkah Harris, Julia Asher-Greve, etc. These four happen to be brilliant women as well.
If you read Frymer-Kensky´s In the Wake of the Goddesses, you will see that in actual fact the arts of civilization in Mesopotamia started in the domain of the home, and so belonged to the domain of the Goddesses. This is a very important line of reasoning. Food preparation and storage led to growing, cooking, the making of spices, the storage of goods gave birth to home administration; cloth-making was first done in the home before becoming a successful Mesopotamian trade, with caravans going back and forth everywhere. Thus, the arts that ground civiliztion first start under the guidance of the Divine Feminine.
My feeling is that the mass organization of such crafts for the growth and integration of society then became the sphere of men, who in Mesopotamia usurped the goddess´ positions. In Mesopotamia, this transition from female to male power is traceable. The stylus of Nisaba became the tablet of Nabu, great mother figures tend to disappear and Nammu the Primeval Waters and Tiamat disappear for the victory of Marduk, who kills his Great Granny Tiamat. I happen to agree with Professor Frymer-Kensky totally, right, because even Enki is always challenging Ninhursag in the many important myths both interact, i.e. The Creation of Humankind and Enki and Ninhursag.
The interesting fact is that as goddesses lost importance in ruling the pantheon, Inanna/Ishtar gows in importance. And in the figure of Inanna/Ishtar we can see traces of the ancient feminine power over the land.
It is also clear from archaeological records that in early Sumer royal women had considerable power. We have reasons to believe that the decline of goddesses was part of the process in which feminine public authority decreased.
However, by diving into Mesopotamian mythology, you will see that the picture that emerges is of empowerment for women. Not in an ideal matriarchal organisation, but I have yet to find another pantheon where a young goddess accuses the most powerful young god of rape and has him condemned without mercy. Besides, the ultrajed damsel is never a victim and wins her case. In other words, this is just one of the countless examples of myths which value the feminine experience as a non-sacrificial victim. Inanna is never the helpless victim in Shukaletuda. Have you evern seen another pantheon where a young goddess is raped and the culprit is judged and condemned by the non-victim Goddess? What a difference from myths of other religions!
Now, can you picture Inanna being abducted to the Underworld??? fake shock horror. The Young Lady wanted to break into the gates to the Land of No Return. Surely I find errrr... Inanna lacked a bit of graces during this episode, but only the assertive goddess could behave the way she did.
Thus, I guess the figure of Inanna could rise because the Lady of Love and War has an honourable list of predecessors. This is one of the reasons why She could encompass the whole spectrum of Love and War, and become herself an image of integrity.
This is just one of my replies to this most interesting question!
Any more inputs??? Keep them coming!
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Re: Inanna and Integrity
Sorry for the slightly scrambled reply I gave in the last post. I guess one of the sources for us to grasp the full extent of Mesopotamian feminine experience is through myths, prayers, incantations, the older, the better.
I happen to work fundamentally with myths. Because myths come straigth from the cuneiform, the picture of women which emerge from them is exciting, fresh, passionate and empowering.
I guess most of all, we are lucky to live in an era when lots of brilliant Assyriologists (mostly male, I´m afraid)have translated the relevant material... and now we all who love Mesopotamia, men and women alike, can read all material and bring to it and the Work original and much updated interpretations!
Nisaba be praised!
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Abstract for the poster on Inanna and Integrity
This presentation analyses the image of Inanna, the mighty Sumerian Goddess of Love and War, later known as the Semitic Ishtar by the Assyrians and Babylonian, in the light of e Junguian Psychology and the concept of the Dynamic Non-Maternal Feminine to demonstrate that the integration of the values of independence, assertiveness, trespassing of inner and outer boundaries and drive to transcend opposites constitute a major step for a fuller understanding and experience of the Divine Feminine for men and women alike.
We also propose that Inanna is a model of archetypal feminine integrity has yet to be integrated in our psyches today. Ancient Mesopotamians possessed this knowing in potentia, not fully realized, because they used to refer to Inanna/Ishtar in terms that expressed the contradictions of love and fear, passion and awe.
The elusiveness and charm of the Goddess of Love and War was also embedded in the metaphor of Inanna/Ishtar as the Morning and Evening Star, the heavenly light that announces both the coming of the day and the mysteries of the night.
We will proceed to find examples of feminine integrity within Jungian psychology as represented in the myths of Inanna. Finally, we will demonstrate in the light of Jungian psychology and Mesopotamian mythology that Inanna/Ishtar´s uniqueness constitutes a fundamental paradigm for us to apprehend that full humanity also include the touch of the feminine as a dynamic non-maternal force that has the gift of grace. Because if the Static Mother and Father archetypes nurture us into the world when we are children, it is the Dynamic Non-Paternal and the Dynamic Non-Maternal inner guides that teach us to conquer our place in all worlds, by stretching our limits once again, one more time.
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Introduction
Integrity is made of the countless elements that compose the whole, involving characteristics such as standing tall, being untouched when involved by not losing one´s sense of Self, staying intact, honesty, continuity, sincerity, obedience to one´s code of conduct and inner values, conscience, prudence, constancy, amiability, and holiness. For the purposes of this poster, it will be put aside terms that refer to integrity as sexual ignorance, also described as innocence, or the quality of the sexually untouched. Terms that define integrity as the embodiment of the whole take precedence here, simply because the definition of integrity or integritas is the entire. From the Latin root of integrity derives the action to integrate, which means to combine disparate elements into a harmonious entity.
Mesopotamian religion being both astral and grounded in natural phenomena assigned to Inanna/Ishtar the cosmic symbol of the Morning and Evening Star, symbolic for integration, as the Morning Star announces the coming of the new day as well as the Evening Star brings the return of the night. According to Her mythology from Sumerian sources, Inanna/Ishtar is the daughter of the Moon God Nanna (Akkadian Suen or Sin), and sister to Utu/Shamash, the Sun God. In psychological terms, it means that the Sumerians saw lunar consciousness (Nanna/Suen) giving birth to solar rational consciousness (Utu/Shamash) with a feminine phenomenon as the border (the Morning and Evening star). By being essentially dynamic and a wanderer like the Morning and Evening Star, Inanna/Ishtar thus expands the ways in which we receive and interpret the world, marking a new type of awareness that also also encourages us to trespass inner and outer barriers. Because deity, after all, should encompass the Whole, this is probably the astral analogy for the full spectrum of Love and War in Inanna/Ishtar. It is here therefore suggested in the light of Jungian psychology that Inanna´s character can be better understood as the conciliation/integration of opposites, and that as the Goddess of Love and War, Her archetype encompasses the full spectrum of Love-Connection-Relatedness, Inspiration and Creativity and their opposite manifestations as War/Aggression/Drive/Libido and boundless Energy.
Next, an overview of Jungian Psychology is presented to introduce the idea of the Divine Non-Maternal and Dynamic Feminine.
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Re: What is Sumerian Religion?
Lishtar, how do you sort out the alleged sources for Sumerian religion? Do Marduk and Tiamat have anything to do with Sumerian religion? I do not see much relation between religious developments in the city and domain of Babylon on the one hand and much earlier religious perspectives in Sumer on the other. Most of our alleged sources of Sumerian religion are actually literary texts from Akkadian schools. That Enuma Elish was recited by Babylonians later does not seem to me to convey anything about Sumerian views of the divine realm. How do you deal with this problem. It seems to me that significant differences exist between Sumerian religion before the Old Babylonian period (if not before the conquests of Sargon of Agade) and the Akkadian, Amorite, Babylonian, and Assyrian religious matrix. Have you been able to separate these layers on the basis of the sources? I am wondering if you are really unpacking the meaning of Old Babylonian values rather than Sumerian ones. Sorry to sound pessimistic about the religious task. I think that the administrative and legal texts are not receiving the careful attention that they deserve to control the stories and doctrines of the literary texts. Help out someone with little affinity with Jacobsen's midrashic insights (as Samuel Kramer would say)! Although I have no affinity for Jung, I have been researching and teaching the ideas of Mircea Eliade to undergraduate students. Silim! Best wishes in Helsinki!
Re: What is Sumerian Religion?
Hello Dubsar and delighted to hear your question , which itself demands a series of well-thought of posts. Great Great Great to have you with us! So I will try and reply in the subsequent posts and itemizing them!
1- What is Sumerian Religion and the Sources for it?
First, I would like to say that it is almost impossible to talk about Sumerian religion, although from the authors you mentioned, i.e. Jacobsen for Mesopotamia and Mircea Eliade for the History of Religions, and from the texts and incantations and myths direct from the cuneiform it it is possible to evoke the religious feeling of what it might have been like.
In my case, I am also a trained Caballist, so through history, archaeology, ancient texts and the use of carefully crafted imagery it is possible to evoke images based on sacred texts that can be used to better understand what the world was like for the ancients. Not an accurate picture for sure, but true enough to apprehend what might have been like to be a little person in Ancient Sumer and marvel at the night´s sky and the fruitfulness of the earth and the importance of the waters.
Then, with this frame of mind, one can read the Creation myth, Eridu model, and attempt to apprehend in more depth why the waters were so important, and how the Skyfather and the Earth Mother came into being, and the birth of Enlil as the first Breath and Inspiration of the Universe (orgasm perhaps too ? This is a very respectful and joyful comment though!)
I guess this was very much the way Eliade wrote on the history of religions and understanding that Jacobsen himself reached as a Great Assyriologist. I have a hunch that this kind of exercise was easier for Eliade, once he knew Jung and Karl Kerenyi, the great Hungarian mythographer. But Jacobsen knew Mesopotamian texts with his soul as no other perhaps, and ... you can feel the beauty and the truth of his insights on Mesopotamian religion especially in his latest works.
The exercises I have just mentioned are also a creative exercises, but religion is creative. The evocation of the religious feeling comes from the use of (alleged) Sumerian sources, i.e. in my case I use myths, and by meditating on them we can evoke a religious experience.
Mircea Eliade does it well, so does Jacobsen in The Treasures of Darkness, although with Jacobsen it is the voice of the inspired scholar who reach out for the heights of the visionary ... sometimes. Eliade though enters the frame of mind of the ancients to the point that his images become alive as we read him. Nevertheless, with all this conceptual framework we have available now, I agree with you that it is an almost impossible task to define what Sumerian Religion might have been like.
But in actual fact, the Enuma Elish is not Sumerian in theme and approach to Creation.
Will meditate on the first part of your question and come back hopefully with more tomorrow.
on to Tiamat, Marduk and Sumer.
best for now from
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Re: What is Sumerian Religion?
b- Tiamat, Marduk and Sumer
First, I think that Babylonian Tiamat and Marduk have very little or nothing to do with Sumer. There are Sumerian elements from myth in the Enuma Elish, such as Marduk is the hero, the same way Lugalbanda was a hero and a resourceful one at that. However, the Enuma Elish is a Creation myth and all the characters in it are divine. Marduk is male and young, whereas the villain is the All-Powerful Granny Tiamat.. whose husband is disturbed by the noise of the offspring... the same way that Enlil was kept awake by humankind in the Atrahasis myth.
But I don´t know of any Sumerian myth where the once all-powerful Creatrix was assassinated by her Grand-son. I myself am more attuned to Sumer, because my quest has been for images of the strong Divine Feminine. It is possible to see in myths that if women were not equal to men in Sumer, they had more equality in Sumerian times than in later Babylonian times. Ninlil was the wife and queen, Uttu the tireless weaver who served as a model for the women weavers of the land, Gula the healer Goddess, i.e. women and goddesses (or godwomen) had an important role in society. However, it is true as well and Professor Frymer-Kensky has demonstrated that goddesses started being marginalized already at the time of Gilgamesh in Mesopotamia. Thus, the revolt of the younger gods against the All-Powerful Granny in the Enuma Elish marks another stage in the development of consciousness, totally different from the Sumerian times... as far as myths are concerned.
I will look up into my books (am in a cybercaffé now: Sunday is mother´s day and I am here to get my mom a gift), but Rivkah Harris did a marvelous study on the Enuma Elish and in it she analysed Tiamat first as a mother in her early years during the first revolt of the young, and then as an assertive older woman, who had to be destroyed by the younger generation raising to power. Yes, it is brilliant. And very accurate, I think.
Thus, at the time of the Enuma Elish, the pantheon has suffered major changes. Whether they were positive or negative... well, any advance in consciousness is a progress. I guess women lost, normal women... but Ishtar never lost. As Isis grew in importance also in Egypt. But we don´t have Ninhursag challenging Enki, and this is a great pity...
Some of the great gods are still present from Sumer to Babylonian times, as you know well, but the stories change, the myths change.
I sincerely prefer the creation myth with Nammu and Anu and Ninhursag-Ki being conceived from the Primeval Waters and Womb of abundance. Find it sad that the all powerful granny had to be slaughtered so that the world could be reborn by Marduk´s graces.
But the Babylonians were comfortable with this mythical reality so... I have to bow to their wisdom.
I prefer the myths from Sumer, and in terms of Inanna, for example, the best pieces of mythology are Sumerian, to my mind. The Agushaya Hymn is the only shining exception.
best for now,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
oh please please post on them and I guess we are all hungry for your insights, Dubsar!!!! *eager and expectant eyes to screen
Religious texts such as myths, prayers and incantations normally refer to the ideal, whereas admin texts are reality. Religion should ensoul reality, but this is not always the case. Tell us more about admin texts and how they fit in the temple context!!! pleeeeeeeeease???
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Re: What is Sumerian Religion?
Jung helps a lot to understand old stories and symbolism which would be otherwise complicated to grasp. Together with Mircea Eliade, Karl Kerenyi and Joseph Campbell, they form a brilliant quaternio of scholars who provide a basis for all those who love myths. In their different domains of expertise, psychology, history of religions, mythology and mythography, their legacy is priceless for us to us to apprehend better and enjoy the layers of meaning of ancient poetry and myths.
There is another Jungian whom I love very much. Jung´s most talented disciple, Dr. Marie-Louise von Franz. I adore her!
All these five scholars are encyclopaedic too, whereas post-Jungians are ok... but don´t have the depth and breath of the masters.
I guess I love Jung and Kerenyi and Eliade because I am a mythographer. And a cheerful mystic as well, so ... I find them very useful, i.e. the framework and symbols, or their legacy, gave me the tools to understand better Mesopotamian worldview.
The interesting thing is that most of the texts that we have available today were not as yet translated at the time Jung was alive... so we can use Jungian tools and be Mesopotamian as well. And be original.
I work fundamentally with archetypes for the Divine Feminine. My quest was exactly for the Dynamic Non-Maternal, a term which is hardly found in the literature, and which has been neglected or hardly recognized in the last two millennia. Moreover, not even modern paganism solved the question of the Dynamic Non-Maternal, because for pagans and Wicca in special, there is the triad Maiden-Mother-and-Crone only. But Paganism at least recognized the Martial Gutsy Goddesses... at least!
Thus, my work has used Mesopotamian mythology and I try to analyse myths and gods and goddesses within the framework of Jungian psychology.
Eliade makes excellent reading, even if you don´t have much affinity to Jung.
I must confess I find Jung sometimes incredibly difficult to read, i.e. one of his pages has to be read once or twice, so much he says in one paragraph!!! and gods be blessed for it!!!
Finally, I guess great science and High Magickal Arts (or theurgy) have a lot in common if done with integrity. Both reach the same heights, and I have felt the intake of breath a couple of times while reading Jacobsen and Bottéro, for example.
Pity was that Jacobsen was also very much of a 20th century scholar. But I have been told that when he recited Sumerian poetry ... it was a religious experience.
I think it was a religious experience. Even if he never said so or thought the Mesopotamians were nihilists...
need to go and get mom a present.
Thanks for the excellent posts. Don´t know whether I replied to them to your satisfaction, but... I tried!!!
best,
Lishtar
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Re: Inanna and Integrity
Dubsar, your questions gave me loooots of food for my thoughts in a very fundamental way. I guess we all who try to work with Mesopotamia ask ourselves about how faithful to the ancients we are in what we do.
Because, let´s face it, there were more than 3,000 known deities in the past. To practice a living religion as the ancients did also requires the knowledge of festivals and the cultic year... and I must confess that this is a task I need to start looking at in earnest... very soon!
Thus, although I guess most of us try to retrieve the wisdom of ancient Mesopotamia with lots of integrity, whatever we do... is still too little in comparison to the greatness of the task.
And this is why we need so much scholars like yourself, who ask the questions... that we, as the mystics of the tradition, try to answer.
now, how do you see the material on religion we have available in the light of the reality of administrative texts???
eager to hear from you and thanks a million for the thoughts your questions triggered on me!
best always,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Re: Sacred Space at Nippur
Thanks Lishtar for your warm enthusiastic response to my posting. I will have more time after the semester is over. Consider briefly the situation at Nippur during the Isin-Larsa and Old Babylonian periods, at which time about one hundred deities were worshipped here. Substantial real estate was devoted to only a few of these; others had space in the shrines of the more significant members of the pantheon. An enormous space was provided for the honor of the Sumerian high god Enlil. Adjacent to Enlil's complex, the Ekur, was an area not yet excavated, unfortunately, devoted to his spouse Ninlil, the Kiur. She also had a substantial establishment down the river a ways, known as the Tummal. Slightly west of the Ekur (still on the city's holy eastern area) was a very substantial building devoted to Inanna (built earlier by Shulgi). Inanna's shrine was very large but had no major assembly halls for public gatherings. Somewhere near here or perhaps across the river on the west side of the city was a shrine dedicated to Ninurta, who perhaps functioned as the local deity of Nippur, since Enlil was more of a regional deity who received considerable attention from the royal court, wherever that happened to be at any particular time. What the shrine of Ninurta's spouse Nin-Nibru might have been like is unknown. Certainly on the west side of the city across the river was a shrine apparently dedicated to Gula, the goddess of healing. Real estate was devoted plainly to both significant gods and goddesses at Nippur. Once I review my database on the deities of Nippur, I will post it at my domain and get your reactions. These deities are attested through sacred buildings, offerings, sacred positions that were privately owned, actual titled functionaries, or sustenance fields for the positions held. Silim!
Re: Sacred Space at Nippur
Dearest Dubsar, it is the whole board who has to thank you for being with us!!! Gateways2Bab board, heads up, because Dubsar is providing us with a religious map to Nippur and ... I can´t wait to esplore it in depth.
Keep posting, my friend! Will get the material by Professor Harris tomorrow for you...or today, because here is past midnight.
hm... whatever we do may be too little to retrieve the ancient religious practices of Mesopotamia, but I guess we do it from the heart. You do it from the heart, Dubsar
I loved the Journey through the temples of Nippur...
can we have more... pleeeeeeeeeeeease?
I know you loved your mom dearly and ... I thank her memory for the scholarship and integrity that you bring to your work in ANE and ... for being with us!
Bless her be!
best regards,
Lishtar... who also has a formidable Xtian Ninhursag as a mom...
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Defining the Non-maternal dynamic feminine (1)
2.3 INANNA/ISHTAR - The dynamic non-maternal feminine
Inanna/Ishtar provides us perhaps with the most complete portrait of the Non-Domestic, Non-Homebound and Non-Maternal Divine Feminine of Antiquity from adolescence to maturity. She is no doubt very feminine, but definetly "not feminine as night" (Perera,1981). The question is, what IS Her femininity based on? Perhaps the best way to examine Inanna/Ishtar´s femininity is in the light of what She is not in comparison to traditional models of femininity and roles played by women in society. Only then it is possible to apprehend how the Quintessential Dynamic Non-Maternal Goddess differs from Her Sisters in the pantheon.
1. Firstly, motherhood, the age-old determinative of the feminine Sex and traditionally considered the fulfillment of femininity, does not apply to Inanna/Ishtar. Inanna/Ishtar is defined by being the Goddess of Love and War, by being the Beloved and Bridge to the Gods, not by being a nurturing, all-loving, all-giving and all-forgiving Mother Goddess.
Different from the Great Mother Goddesses of Mesopotamia, i.e. Ninhursag, Ninlil, Ningal, Tiamat, etc. Inanna/Ishtar does not nurture from Her womb, neither gives biological birth or create from clay great heroes, as Aruru, gave birth to Enkidu out of a pinch of clay in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Inanna/Ishtar gives spiritual birth to heroes and kings through Inspiration and Encouragement, i.e. She fosters growth through action, because She has the Plant of Life in Her power (as in the Myth of Etana). As the Quintessential Lover and Assertive Warrior, Inanna/Ishtar demands attention, care and respect from the Beloved from the standpoint of partners who are at the same level of understanding. Furthermore, a Great Mother Goddess is all-giving and all-forgiving.
A lover, on the other hand, is never all-forgiving if the vows to Love are neglected, forgotten, or, even worse, betrayed. Thus Inanna´s/Ishtar´s inflexibility and Warrior's stance not to accept betrayal to the vows exchanged with Her when, in the myth of the return from the Underworld, She fastens the eye of death upon Dumuzi/Tammuz, the consort who had not mourned for Her during the three days She had been even put to death in the Land of No Return. Dumuzi/Tammuz behavior was unacceptable, thus could not be forgiven, as a Mother Goddess probably would. To a mother, a son/daughter can make mistakes and be easily forgiven because a mother sees the child in the older individual and as such, is moved to forgive and accept genuine repentance. The lover requires proof of change and a much maturer attitude from the partner/worshiper. It must be understood that the same fierce determination Ninlil showed towards Enlil in the myth of the birth of the Moon God Nanna, when She allowed Enlil to be condemned to the Underworld because he had raped her. However, as a predecessor to Inanna/Ishtar, Ninlil defined HerSelf by being the Mother of Enlil´s firstborn, whereas Inanna/Ishtar defines HerSelf by Being the Fierce Gutsy Beloved, the righteous Warrior and Bridge to the Gods. In other words, Inanna/Ishtar is the Mesopotamian archetype for the non-maternal dynamic feminine. The Great Mother archetype nurture us from the womb to infancy, whereas the Dynamic Non-Maternal goddesses appear as we stand at the threshold to take over our lives in our own hands. A mature and fully integrated person does not need a mother to tell him/her what to do. What a mature person needs is the inspiration of a guide and muse to trespass inner and outer boundaries in all worlds. And this is exactly what the goddess Inanna/Ishtar is and does as the Dynamic Non-Maternal Goddess of Love and War.
We need not to forget that Inanna/Ishtar, nevertheless, was HerSelf a mother. We know from Inanna´s/Ishtar´s mythology that She had two sons, Shara and Lulal. Shara mourned for Her when She descended to the Underworld, and is briefly mentioned in the myth of Ninurta and the Anzu Bird as one of the heroes who felt he could not defeat the mighty bird. We can also deduce that Shara suffered more than Dumuzi during Inanna´s/Ishtar´s descent to the Underworld, because he cried and dressed himself in rags, whereas Dumuzi/Tammuz continued wearing the robes of kingship. All we know about Inanna´s/Ishtar´s sons is that they are powerful rulers of two cities in Mesopotamia. A successful mother is also judged by the success of her offspring, and it seems that Inanna/Ishtar could bring up successful rulers. Inanna/Ishtar therefore does not stand in contradiction/opposition to the Mother archetype, but as the natural development of the Great Mother figure.
2. Secondly, Inanna/Ishtar relates well to the feminine, first with Her mother Ningal and with the girls of her age especially in the poems of the Inanna and Dumuzi cycle. She comes to her mother for advice on how to behave with Dumuzi, thus showing the accepted behavior for young girls of high rank about to be betrothed, yet Inanna does not quite follow to the letter the advice She is given. In other words, She is the Goddess in society and family who also makes Her own rules as She lives, whenever She finds it appropriate.
Even during the Descent to the Underworld, we see no real antagonism from Inanna/Ishtar towards Ereshkigal. We can say that Inanna/Ishtar did not show on arrival at the Land of No Return the due respect and social graces owed to the older Sister Goddess. But this is all we can say. Inanna/Ishtar is comfortable with Her gender and Sex in all Her myths.
More later. We follow to the astral character, the goddess as the Morning and evening star, which Inanna and only Her shares with the male gods of Mesopotamia. Goddesses represented the homebound related arts of civilization. Inanna is astral (transcendent) and immanent. She is both. No other goddess or got is both. I skipped the hard-core Jungian background to the individuation process for the purposes of the board. The definition of the Dynamic Non-Maternal is a Gateways2Bab first as well.
Enjoy. I did!
best,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
Re: Defining the Non-maternal dynamic feminine (1)
Bravo! (1)
But, I for one, would be delighted to see a "hard core Jungian" exploration... Psychology and Religion are two beautiful women, I want to make love to both of them, and it would be very conveinient if I didn't have to make two trips!
In my personal spiritual journey, I am finding much in the 'mythological' tales of Inanna that have resulted in observable 'fact' in my life. I put both words in quotes not to degrade the words, but to stress fluidity.
myth can be more real than fact... I knew this long ago, and my life improves when I don't deny or fight it.
That's a fact.
I'm in love with Inanna! That's a fact.
She doesn't take much crap from me, but loves me intensely just the same. Definitely not motherly loving either
And then leaves me alone just long enough to miss her achingly, tragically bad.
I never ask where she's been, because I don't care... All I care about is that she's back. I'd always been the jealous type, but that all changed when she found me. No illusions about who picked who here. She is infinite, I am not.
Is any of this myth? Depends on the reader, not the writer.
The literate world is going to get it's collective ass kicked by Inanna someday real soon... The non-literate world won't fight it.
Ok, so this isn't a very scholarly or scientific response, but I'm a thief/lover/king/fool/wiseman, not a scholar. I love not having to belong in any group... Something I learned from Inanna.
Try disintegrating and finding yourself completely whole again sometime, I highly recommend it.
Re: Defining the Non-maternal dynamic feminine (1) I also would like to see much more Inanna/Ishtar in all fields! Dr. Butler is doing a great exploration of Inanna from the Jungian standpoint, as you know it well.
This is a hard task though. Let´s face it, not even feminism or modern paganism have solved or defined the Dynamic Non-Maternal. However, count the priestesses and priests of Sekhmet, Athena, Freya, Inanna, etc. and you will start to have an idea of how pervasive the archetype is...
However, we ARE changing this
I hope.
I know we are.
best,
Lishtar
From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres
I've been a bit silent as of late... have been busy here at work and assimilating everything I have been reading plus getting in a little RL experience once in a while!
Lish, I've been reading the Frymer-Kensky and, as Dubsar also points out, even in the early Sumerian texts we have she seems to paint a picture of a society already heavily sliding into patriarchy... so even in the early days male dominance was coming to the fore ... In fact, she seems to presenting us a view of women from the Sumerian perspective ...
Evidently, this was something a student (this is a college library book) seems to have vehemently objected to (at the end of chapter 6) as the student wrote all over the place and left several bibliographical notes on works which she said refuted Frymer-Kensky's conclusions at the end of the chapter. However, I think she (the student) forgot that Frymer-Kensky was presenting everything from the Sumerian POV.
Hmmm! This reminds me of something I briefly saw this morning while skimming through some books in preparation for our Iseum class (the last one for this semester ) tonight. The theory put forth was that the plow was the tool which radically changed society and led to the rise of patriarchy: land was now owned, and had to be protected and defended, surplus now had to be stored, and sold in the markets, etc. Now I want to go back and read the whole article.
I also agree with Dubsar as to questioning how much of the original Sumerian points of view can we identify from among the subsequent layers of cultural influence that were laid upon them? It seems to me that the timespan between the Babylonian era of Marduk and Tiamat was as far removed from the Sumerian era as we are now from the time of Jesus of Nazareth and his disciples.
I took a break from the dryness of Jacobsen for Frymer-Kensky and I find it has been refreshing and has helped clarify a lot of things as I bounce the two perspectives off each other in my mind.
Re: Did Inanna object to the plow?
I would have serious reservations about so much importance being assigned to the plow in ancient social development. In what way is the plow related to land ownership, and what is meant by land ownership? Is the idea private ownership, family ownership, communal ownership, or great estates (temples of gods/goddesses and palaces of kings and queens)? Does the plow require the storing of surplus or does it allow for it after the desirability of surplus has been determined for some other reason? Although Marx and Engels in their theories of simplistic economic evolution may consider only land ownership to constitute control of the means of production, what about the domestication of sheep, goats, cows, donkeys, horses? Should we restrict discussion to crop cultivation and ignore animal husbandry in the discussion. Our modern capitalistic concern for surplus should not be imposed on the ancient world. Peasants and small villages did not have capitalistic or Marxist ideas, since they only wanted to survive and gained status and respect in ways different from the way we do. The worshippers of Enlil and Ninlil lived in an unpredictable environment very different from Egypt. Communal efforts and specialization helped them to cope with the erratic rain and flooding of the Rivers. Hope this provides a little food for thought. A recent article in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies suggests that it is time for a paradigm shift away from systemic approaches based on Durkheim and Engels as if societies are mechanically structured. More attention could be given to Weber's ideas about family and clan loyalties and ad hoc coping strategies. Silim!
As I teacher, I always enourage my students to ASK whenever they have a question, that there is no such thing as a stupid question. 
is and how it doesn't reflect a complete/whole image of the Goddess or God being studied; that the destroyer / avenging goddess / crone aspects are all equally valid, if not even more important, in helping us build a more complete, well-rounded and complete picture. 
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