Inanna’s Descent into the Underworld: A Sacred Map for Soul Transformation

Our ancient goddess myths are so powerful because they act as keys that unlocks our inner wisdom found in the mythical landscape of our soul.

And one such myth is Inanna's descent into the underworld, the oldest written story that exists.

It's over 4,000 years old.

And this story illustrates the power of making our journey of descent into the underworld so we can move through a deep soul transformation.

But before I dive into the story, I just want to mention here that Inanna, as the Queen of Heaven, is also seen as an incarnation of the planet Venus, just as Aphrodite was, and also the Norse goddess Frigga, wife of Odin, who is most likely also Freya.

And the way Venus orbits between the Earth and the Sun is in a cycle that is 19 months long and called the Cycle of Light.

And this cycle mirrors Inanna's story, where Inanna's descent into the underworld is represented by Venus being the morning star, because just as Inanna passes through seven gateways into the underworld, the morning star Venus will pass through seven dark new moons.

And each dark new moon, Venus descends in the sky, visibly lower on the horizon, descending into the underworld, through the seven gates, just like Inanna.

And then Venus hides behind the sun, which represents the time Inanna is in the underworld, where she dies to her old self.

And during this time, Venus is not visible in the sky.

And then, just like Inanna moves through her resurrection, ascending from the underworld, Venus is reborn as the evening star.

So for seven months, she passes through the gate of each dark new moon, and for each gate she moves up the sky.

So she's rising from the horizon until she's fully resurrected.

And then she pauses briefly until the cycle begins again.