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Inanna is the Great Goddess as she was known in the tradition of Bronze Age Sumer. Called Ishtar in Akkadia, Isis in Egypt and Cybele in Anatolia, her spiritual functionaries were female priestesses. Facts that continue to be misconstrued by many current day historians include that she was also attended by gender variant priestesses and by hierodules (sometimes called sacred prostitutes)of either sex. The Great Goddess named Athirat, Ashera, Isis, Hecate, Ceres/Demeter, Ma, Rhea, Kotys, Astarte/Aphrodite, Atargatis, Artemis/Diana, Hera, Baruchara Mata, of course Cybéle, and other names was served by transgender people of several cultures. Her transgender priestesses were called Semnotatoi, Tribades, Enarees, Gallae, Hijra, Kelabim, Quedeshim, Assinnu, Kalum, Kurgarru, Kalaturru, and many other names. They have been written about for millennia. As the pressures of domination by military powers, oppression based on gender and class, and patriarchal social systems advanced beginning perhaps some six thousand years ago, the gender variant representatives of the Goddess were viewed with increasing contempt. Like their genetically female cohorts, their social roles as spiritual functionaries were eventually usurped in entirety by men who conformed to rigid gender roles and oppressive sexual mores. This story of the Goddess recovered from cuneiform tablets is a heartening one for her two-spirit people.
Inanna and Ereskigal
Inanna has a sister named Ereshkigal, who lives and rules in Irkalla, the land of the dead. Though Inanna always possessed great wisdom from her early youth she knew nothing of her sister's land, and desired to learn of it. She sought the consensus of the other dieties to go. After hesitation and much debate, they concurred with her wish.
So it was that Inanna went to the gates of Irkalla and petitioned the gatekeeper for entry. Still being in the fire of her youth and after all the Goddess, she got rather pushy about it. She said, "Here gatekeeper, open your gate! If you don't open up, I'll smash the door and shatter the bolt! I'll raise up all the dead and they shall come up to Earth and eat the living, until there's more dead than alive!" Well, that certainly got the gatekeeper's attention. He called Ereshkigal right away.
Needless to say, Ereshkigal was not amused. "What does she want," Ereshkigal hissed. "For bread I eat clay, for beer I drink muddy water. It is I who must weep for the young men taken from their sweethearts, for the young girls taken from their lovers laps. It is I who must weep for the infants taken so long before their time. Would she like some of that? Or is it the Water of Life she wants?" For it was true, Ereshkigal did keep the Water of Life down there, a most prized possession in such a bleak place. "Go ahead, Gatekeeper, let her in. But treat her to the ancient rites, as all must endure on their way to me."
Back in the overworld, the Gatekeeper smiled feebly and unlocked the gate. "Enter, my lady. May you find joy here. May Irkalla be happy to see you." At that he snatched Inanna's great crown.
Inanna roared in anger. "Return my crown!" Who are you to remove the crown of the Goddess?"
"Go forth, my lady," answered the gatekeeper solemnly. "Such are the ancient rites."
Soon they came to another gate. The gatekeeper unlocked it, and as Inanna passed through, he removed her earrings.
"Why have you taken my earrings?" Inanna demanded, a little less indignant this time.
"Such are the ancient rites, my lady," said the gatekeeper. And this went on for several more gates, seven in all. The gatekeeper took her necklace, then her breast pins, her girdle of birthstones, the bangles on her wrists and ankles, and at last her very gown. Finally, after passing through the seventh gate, Inanna found herself standing naked before Ereshkigal. Ereshkigal had expected to see Inanna with a broken spirit and trembling in fear after her descent through all seven gates. But to Ereskigal's dismay, her sister did not appear distressed in any way, even if she was a bit shaken by the ordeal. Actually it was Ereshkigal who was frightened, for although Inanna had been stripped of all of her finery, her radiant presence was overwhelming in the dark, musty palace. Ereshkigal prodded her attendant. Namtar!" she cried. "Send out against her the sixty diseases!"
Now Inanna is tough, but sixty diseases from the Queen of the Dead got the better of her. Inanna fell to the ground, and Ereshkigal threw her into a lampless cell to die.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, Inanna was missed. Without their beautiful Goddess, the people fell into despair and stopped making love. The animals in the forests and fields stopped mating too - even the bees and butterflies stopped pollinating. The world plunged into a terrible winter, nothing would grow and famine began to ravage the land. Finally Papsukkal, Inanna' s brother, went to Nana the Moon-Goddess and told her of of the tragedies befalling the Earth. Together they went to see Enki the Wise.
Enki the Wise came up with a plan. Being crafty as he is, he decided to create a being to be a helper for Inanna, and to be her close friend and confidant.
Gathering up star dust, he created Asushunamir, whose name means "he/she whose face is radiant." And being luminescent like the moon, Asushunamir passed directly into the underworld from the overworld, as only moonbeams can do. In the dark palace of the underworld Asushunamir, who is both female and male, appeared before Ereshkigal. "Oh my my, what have we here!" Ereshkigal cried. She was overtaken with desire at his/her beauty, and became immediately obsessed with taking Asushunamir to her bed. She called a lavish feast in his/her honor, and had her best wine brought to the table. Asushunamir sang in his/her ethereal voice for her, and danced sensually, but was careful not to eat any food prepared by ghosts, and to pour his wine on the floor when
Ereshkigal wasn't looking.
When Ereshkigal had at last become very drunk, Asushunamir asked of her, "Oh great and lovely queen... is it not true you keep the Water of Life here? For I have heard it is so, and I have longed to taste it."
"Namtar!" Ereshkigal cried. " Bring me the jug that holds the Water of Life! I shall grant this magnificent creature's wish."
When Ereshkigal finally passed out in a drunken stupor, Asushunamir quietly took the jug to the cell where Inanna lay dying. He/she sprinkled the Water of Life upon her, and Inanna quickly began to revive, her eyes regaining their sparkle and her face flushing pink like a child's. Hurriedly she rose, and bidding Asushunamir to follow, raced upward through the seven gates and back to Earth. As she burst through the final door, the flowers immediately began to open and the grass to green, and the skies cleared at last.
Asushunamir was not so fortunate. Just as she/he was approaching the seventh gate, Ereshkigal awakened, and no amount of music, dance or flattery could charm her now.
"The food of the gutter shall be your food!" Ereshkigal shrieked. "The drink of the sewer shall be your drink! In the shadows you shall abide."
When Inanna learned of the curse placed upon her friend, she wept and spoke softly to her/him. "The power of Ereshkigal is great," she said. "Even I cannot break her spell. But I may soften her curse upon you.
"For many ages you will suffer. Those who are like you, my Assinnu, Kalum, Kurgarru, and Kalaturru, lovers of men, sisters to my sacred women, shall be strangers even in your own homes. Your families will keep you in the shadows and will leave you nothing. The drunken shall make you suffer, and the powerful shall oppress and imprison you.
"But if you will remember me, how you were born from the light of the stars to save me from death, to rid the Earth of winter, then I shall harbor you and your kind. I shall give you the gift of prophecy, the wisdom of the Earth and Moon. You shall banish illness from my children, as you healed me in Irkalla. And when you wear my enchanting and colorful robes, I shall dance in your feet and sing in your throats. And no man shall be able to resist your enchantments.
"When the Water of Life is brought up from Irkalla, then lions shall leap in the deserts and you shall be freed from the spell of Ereshkigal. Once more you shall be called Asushunamir. The Shining Ones. Those Who Have Come to Renew the Light. The Blessed Ones of Inanna."
