Description

Are you familiar with the myth of Inanna’s Descent?

In the myth of Inanna’s descent, the goddess dwells in the heavens as queen, and chooses to willingly go down into the underworld to
console her sister, Ereshkigal, queen of the underworld, who’s husband has passed. As she enters into the dark, she must remove one article of clothing through each of the 7 gates of the underworld (correlating to the 7 chakras and by extension, the 7 steps of
alchemy). This is highly symbolic of the vulnerability one must embrace as they move through their own underworld journey.

You can’t arrive with your fight face on. You are stripped of the things that kept you safe in the past. You have to be humble; you have to be human… By the end of her journey, Inanna’s light, and Ereshkigal’s darkness, unites, and she is reborn as a whole, integrated being…

Inanna’s familiar is a lion, representing courage, which one needs when willingly descending into the depths… She is also symbolized by the Dove, representing her feminine nature and connection to Venus. Inanna’s descent is intimately tied to Venus’ retrogrades, and each conjunction to the Moon before her retrograde represents Inanna’s initiation through the 7 gateways until she finally arrives in the underworld.

This connection is why you will hear astrologers speaking about Venus’ retrograde as her underworld journey…

I began this piece at the 4th gate, representing the heart chakra. Naturally, where Inanna must remove her breast plate. If anything, one needs an open heart when coming into contact with their shadows…

Inanna will be the guide through the Conjunction stage of Alchemy, ruled by Venus, where the above and the below are united.

This visual talisman is intended to invoke the spirit of Inanna, promoting divine courage moving through an underworld journey, an opening of the heart chakra, and a reconciliation with one’s darkness.