Ishtar was the Lady of the Gods, the Goddess of fertility. She had been unlucky in love. Her husband Tammuz, the great love of her youth, had died when he was still very young. She had fallen in love with Gilgamesh, that great king, but he had spurned her advances.
In Babylon, the dead were sent to the Underworld, a place of darkness ruled over by the Goddess Irkalla. It was said that in this place they lived on dust and mud. After being rejected by Gilgamesh, Ishtar became depressed and decided she would descend into the Underworld to be with Tammuz. So dressed in her finest garments, brilliant jewellery and her high crown, Ishtar entered the cave that leads into the Underworld. Irkalla’s realm was surrounded by seven walls, each with its own gate that had to be passed to get to the dark Place where the dead resided....
... I am so sorry to do this to you, but this post has been moved to my new website, Widdershins, and can be found in its entirety here: Ishtar Visits The Underworld
... I am so sorry to do this to you, but this post has been moved to my new website, Widdershins, and can be found in its entirety here: Ishtar Visits The Underworld
I have been following your blog with great interest and I am grateful for all the useful tips and rituals you have been posting.
ReplyDeleteThe way I have been told this myth, and the way I have researched it, though, is different from the version that you have posted. In the original myth the garments she takes off are different - crown, earrings, necklace, ornaments on her breast, girdle, ornaments on her wrists and feet and finally, garment. The reason I find this important is that this myth is considered to be one of the ways new apprenticies were taught the secret of the seven chakras or energy centers in the human body. Crown - crown chakra, top of the head. Earrings - approximately the level of the third eye, necklace - throat chakra, ornaments on her breast - the celntral chakra, girdle - the third chakra located near the belly button, hands and feet - the cahkra of movement and sexuality and garment - physical chakra, the body. So, the myth illustrates apart from the things that you have mentioned the process of dying, the way the energy leaves the body at the time of death and the way the chakras are rebuilt one by one at the time of rebirth (during pregnancy they are formed in the exact sequence described in the myth).
I hope you find this comment useful.