A Sumerian/Akkadian myth dating back at least 4,000 years tells the story of how Inanna, the

Queen of Heaven, descends to visit the Underworld realm of her sister Ereshkigal, only to be
stripped naked, transfixed by Ereshkigals eyes of death until she dies, and her body hung on a
hook to rot. Three days later, she is revived and ascends to Heaven once again.
The majority of writers who address this myth see it as a metaphor for a womans
psychological descent and return. They focus on the story from Inannas point of view, taking
Inanna to be the primary character in the story. Ereshkigal is treated as a chthonic force, an
instinctive energy, rather than as an individual in her own right. She is often referred to as an
example of the dark feminine, those aspects of the feminine that have been disavowed or
identified as bad or dangerous by society.
I myself think we should be calling it the darkened feminine to recognize the shadow
at work, because the traits we put into the shadow, that we disavow or refuse to recognize, are
not bad or dangerous in themselves. The darkness is in the eye of the beholder who cannot see
these traits without judgment; it is not inherent in the traits themselves.
When I studied this myth, I couldnt stop wondering about Ereshkigals point of view. Why
is she in the cave of the Underworld in the first place, and why doesnt she leave? What can we
learn from her about the many other women in our society who are Ereshkigals themselves, by
chance or by choice? Why is she so angry? What does she really want from Inanna? What lesson
is she trying to teach her sister, and does she succeed?
Some background: Ereshkigal and Inanna were the primary goddesses of Sumerian,
Babylonian, and Assyrian mythology. Ereshkigal was the twin sister of Enki, Lord of the
Earth, and her name means Lady of the Great Earth or Lady of the Great Place. Inannas
name means Lady of Heaven. Ereshkigals job is to pass judgment on the dead, for she is able
to see with the eyes of death.
Theres a problem with the myths we have access to that talk about these old goddesses. Its
very likely that many of them were the local version of The Goddess, the feminine aspect of
deity, and that back in the day, each one was a complete archetype holding all the attributes of
goddess in herself. Isis, Ishtar, Astarte, Aphrodite, Athena, etc., were all local variations of the
same goddess. When cultures met or clashed or merged, over time each particular ethnic

goddess, once The Goddess, got assigned one particular aspect of deity and thus became the
Goddess of Love or of Wisdom or of the Hearth or of the Grain or of the Hunt, and so on.
This cultural merging also explains why we have more than one origin myth for a particular
goddess. In the case of Ereshkigal, there are several versions of how she became goddess of the
underworld Irkalla. In one, she always has been its queen and rules alone until the plague god
Nergal is banished to Irkalla and becomes her husband. In another version, she is stolen away
from the upper world and made queen of Irkalla against her will. She is abducted by Kur, a god
who had the form or a great snake or dragonand who also may be her brotherand given as
wife to Nergal, who in this version was already presiding over Irkalla. One can see
correspondences with the myth of Persephone, stolen away by her mother Demeters brother
Hades to the underworld where she becomes his queen.
So we dont really know if she wants to be there. We do know that, like Persephone, in time
she comes to love her husband. When he is killed, her grief is great.
Her sister Inanna makes the descent to attend the funeral, but dies when Ereshkigal looks at
her with the eyes of death. Inanna is revived three days later when Ereshkigals painnot just
her grief, but the pain of childbirth, for she is in laboris assuaged by genderless beings who
come for Inanna and sympathize with Ereshkigal. Mollified, Ereshkigal restores Inanna to life
and lets her go. But there is a condition: Inanna must send her husband to be with Ereshkigal for
half the year (again, we see echoes of the Persephone myth).
In myths of underworld goddesses like Ereshkigal or powerful witches like Baba Yaga, we
are told how to approach the avatar of the darkened feminine. Sylvia Brinton Perera and Clarissa
Pinkola Ests tell us that the key is to approach her with respect, not just for her but for oneself
as well1. Empathyacknowledgment of another persons realityis a form of respect. When
treated with respect, acknowledged as legitimate and worthy, the powerful darkened feminine
teaches us what we need to know, gives us the gift we need mostand lets us go. But first we
have to stand solidly on our own two feet before her, conveying the idea that we too deserve
respect. A teacher is not going to bother teaching a lazy or indifferent student; a woman of wealth
1 Perera, Sylvia Brinton. Descent to the Goddess: A Way of Initiation for Women.
Toronto: Inner City Books, 1981; p. 20. Ests, Clarissa Pinkola. Women Who Run with
the Wolves. New York: Ballantine, 1992; p. 92.
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is not going to bestow a legacy on an unworthy heir. They will test us, and we have to pass the
test.
This is a metaphor for how one approaches the unconscious aspects of the psyche. Whether
doing dreamwork, seeking guidance from the unconscious, or trying to unlock ones creativity,
one first has to extend an invitation to the psyche, indicate to the psyche that Yes, I am willing
to let you speak and I will listen. Ive worked with people who tell me that they never dream or
if they do, never remember their dreams. I tell them to put a pad of paper and a pen on the
bedside table, and bingo, they start to dream and remember their dreams. The pad of paper and
the pen are a signal to the psyche that Im listening. Sitting down to meditate is a signal that
Im listening. All the books on writing tell you that the first step is to start writing. You have to
show up at the page first, and then the words will come, even if you have no idea what theyre
going to be about. There has to be a sincere, respectful invitation.
Inanna demonstrates her willingness to encounter Ereshkigal, her darkened self, by giving
up some aspect of her heavenly life at each of the seven gates to the Underworld, until she stands
naked before her sister. Similarly, Vasilisa agrees to clean and organize Baba Yagas hut every
day; Psyche agrees to sort the seeds for Venus, Andrea Sachs meets the impossible tasks set by
Miranda Priestley, the devil who wore Prada. Each of these women says to the witch/goddess, I
will do what you ask of me. They do so and gain her respect in return, and theres a payoff for
them as a result.
The common view of this myth is expressed by Jean Shinoda Bolen: Ereshkigalas a
contemporary archetyperepresents inner or rejected or repressed aspects of an Inanna woman
or women in general. A woman who is more like Ereshkigal than Inanna has qualities that are
introverted and unrelated, devalued and rejected; she is wounded and angry, often is depressed,
can be ill, and is not allied with men with power.2 Bolen thinks Ereshkigals hatred for Inanna is
a metaphor for the self-hatred that lies below the surface of Inanna women who have been
shaped by the need . . . to be acceptable.3 Inannas death is the death of her former nice
persona: . . . a woman who can no longer be Inanna finds herself becoming Ereshkigal and
2 Bolen, Jean Shinoda. Close to the Bone: Life-Threatening Illness as a Soul Journey.
San Francisco: Red Wheel, 2007; p. 50.
3 Ibid.
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discovers the self-hatred, worthlessness, hostility, pain, and rage that she had avoided feeling and
knowing, until now . . the blinders drop away.4 Thus, Ereshkigals hatred is actually Inannas
self-hatred projected onto another. As happens; most of us tend to project our own problematic
traits onto other people so we can feel free to judge and dislike those traits without feeling
shame.
However, I think Ereshkigal is more than the sum of our disavowed selves, the nasty bits we
dont want to admit to, and I also think the projection goes both ways. I believe Ereshkigal
represents a wisdom that Inanna lacks, the ability to see the world as it truly is. This capacity for
clear unwavering sight is a common theme in stories about goddesses and witcheswomen of
power. Sylvia Brinton Perera says that such a woman teaches other women how to see, not what
might be good or bad, but what exists before judgment.5 The woman of power sees clearly,
without emotion. She sees and accepts the world as it truly is. She is not fooled, as all too often
people are fooled, by seeing the world in terms of what she wants to believe. She holds to no
belief system, no fantasies.
Inanna, on the other hand, has been too compliant with a perpetuated fantasy, like many women
who have complied with the fantasy that if they are the pretty, nice, undemanding girl that
society wants them to be, everything will be wonderful; their knight in shining armor will come
sweep them away to the castle where they will live happily ever after. Yet often, these seemingly
compliant women actually arrangeperhaps unconsciouslyto be shocked awake, to see the
truth. Ests sees this unconscious desire for honesty at work in tales like that of Bluebeard, where
the innocent young wife disobeys her husbands orders and unlocks the door into a room full of
corpses, her predecessors. She doesnt want to be innocent any more. I believe that Inanna too is
tired of the fantasy and wants to be awakened; what dies and rots away is her old, compliant,
ignorant self, a gift only her sister, who lives with her eyes open all the time, can give her.
Ereshkigal looks at Inanna with eyes that see the reality of Inannas own life, and Inanna, seeing
herself reflected in those eyes, can no longer be that person. Her old self dies so that she can be
reborn.

4 Ibid, p. 52.
5 Perera, loc. cit., p. 32.
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As Judy Grahn says, Inanna acquires from her underworld death and rebirth the Eye of
Death to balance her eye of life.6 When Inanna returns to heaven with this clear sight, she
realizes that her supposedly devoted husband has not missed her in the least; instead, hes
attempted to claim her throne for himself. As noted, Inannas gift from her sister has a price: she
must send Dumuzi to the Underworld for six months every year to be Ereshkigals consort.
Although were told Inanna grieves each time he leaves, I suspect that she also feels some
satisfaction in making Dumuzi spend time down in the cave, and that he learns to respect her
more as a result.
So we can view Inanna as representing the unawakened self, the ego that lies to us and says
dont look, dont see, pretend everythings okay. Then Ereshkigal becomes the wiser part of
the self that refuses to pretend, that wants awareness, that can acknowledge and embrace and
work with life as it really is. Ereshkigal knows that losing your virginity hurts, that childbirth
hurts, that people die, that no matter how much wed like to believe in a life in a castle in the sky
where its always sunny, the truth is that we all live at least part of the time in a cave, that were
not always free, that underneath even the finest clothes and jewelry were all nakedand that we
will die. Once we accept all these facts, we can relish life to the full.
Yet respect for self also means not letting the unconscious rule us. We invite the psyche to
share its wisdom, and often its absolutely necessary wisdom, but we need to think of the inner
voice as a backseat driver who, while it may know more than we do about how to get to a certain
place, should never drive the car. The conscious self can and should take advice from the
unconscious psyche, but needs to guard against being possessed by an aspect of that psyche. If
one lets ones Ereshkigal-side take over, if one focuses only on the harsh aspects of life, theres a
great danger of becoming stuck in the cave all the time, angry and bitterand resentful of the
Inannas.
For example, a single mother tied down by the claims of her children and the necessity of
working two or even three jobs to make ends meet can understand Ereshkigals pain and jealousy
of Inanna who is free to go where she wants, has a husband who pays for everything, maybe
even servants who do all the housework. Inanna spends three days in the cave, but Ereshkigal
lives thereand there are many women who feel that they, too, are trapped forever in a life not
of their choosing. Its terribly easy to project this anger onto other women by resenting them for
6 Grahn, Judy. Ecology of the Erotic in a Myth of Inanna. International Journal of
Transpersonal Studies 2010, 29 (2): 58.
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having what we lack without deserving it, instead of realizing that just maybe, we are the ones
who think we dont deserve betterand that our lack of belief in our own self-worth may be
whats really keeping us in the cave.
Ereshkigal may also be relevant to women who identify more with their so-called
masculine aspects than their feminine ones. Therapist and writer Marion Woodman refers to such
women, only half in jest, as Ereshki gals because they tend to despise feminine women or see
them as competitors.7 Even if they reign in their own domains as successful professionals or
businesswomen, they may resent women who appear to have it all without having to work for
it. They may see women who seem able to entice men into taking care of them as manipulative
and essentially lazy. This resentment can keep them from getting in touch with their own needs
and also with their own seductive selves. I see a self-esteem issue here as well in the woman who
cant claim the right to be taken care of some of the time.
Looking at the story from Ereshkigals viewpoint, Inanna may represent her lightened side, the
side that isnt always down-to-earth and realistic. Not just the side that believes she deserves to
be catered to and taken care of, but the dreaming side, the visionary side, the imaginative side.
Just as Inanna women comply with a fantasy, I think Ereshki gals can also get stuck in a
worldview that keeps them trapped, a worldview that says my life is hard and theres no way
out of it.
Yet there is a path up out of the cave. Inanna was able to travel it both ways. Why doesnt
Ereshkigal follow her? Does she even see the opening, the stairway up? Whats stopping her
from exploring the way out?
I lived in Ereshkigals cave for a long time myself. But at some point it dawned on me
pun intendedthat I could ascend back to the world of light. That I was in fact choosing to stay
in the cave, partly out of rage at what had happened to meone can nurse a grievance much
better in isolationbut also, and more importantly, because I believed that the cave was all I
could expect. With the help of a wise counselor, I changed that belief. I started to believe that I
deserved better.
Im not denying that some women get handed a very difficult life and that the entrance to
the stairway may be almost impossible to see beyond all the obstacles in the way. But the woman
who tells herself that there never will be stairway for her dooms herself, because she will never
7 Woodman, Marion. Addiction to Perfection: The Still Unravished Bride. Toronto:
Inner City Books, 1982; p. 178.
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even look for it. As Joyce Meyer puts it, Being negative only makes a difficult journey more
difficult. You may be given a cactus, but you don't have to sit on it.8 How often do we encounter
people who have chosen what I call the path of bitterness, the people who counter all attempts to
help them by clinging even more strongly to their pain? Even Ereshkigal eventually allows the
androgynous beings to soothe her and help her through her pain.
The door to the stairway does not open by itself. Even if it is opened by another, it may not be
possible for the one in the cave to exit at that time. I think the Ereshkigal woman cannot leave
the cave until she opens the door herself. She needs to take responsibility, which is another way
of saying that she needs to stop seeing herself as a victim and take her power back from
wherever shes projected it away. She needs to stop complaining and look for the doorway.
So it goes both ways. Inanna needs to be more realistic some of the time, stop always living
with her head in the clouds; she needs Ereshkigals eyes of death; but Ereshkigal also needs to
become aware of how she is invested in staying stuck in the cave and take on Inannas eyes of
life, the power of believing she can in fact change her life. Ultimately, of course, the goal is
integration of both Ereshkigals ability to see and deal with life as it really is, and Inannas ability
to claim her own power.
How do we do this? The myth tells us the answer: respect for all the aspects of our being:
unconditional respect for the totality of ones self at every moment, in the cave or in the sky.

8 Meyer, Joyce. Approval Addiction: Overcoming Your Need to Please Everyone. New
York: Warner Faith, 2005; p. 114.
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