Hey folks, it's me gLenNy gEe just saying that I'm still alive. Hooray! Hope
you missed me. :) I neglected my email for a week and lived to regret it
(some 600 messages in my email and not even spam!)
I still can't get enough of this Goddess thing. I feel that it needs to be
addressed fully in order to understand IE mythology. Afterall, IE myth
appears to have absorbed much of it.
Now, Joao says:
>There is similarities although I think this myth was not IE. The >rescue of
>a deity from Hell, whose ausence cause a decaying of nature >is present at
>Balder myth (Scandinavia), Osiris & Isis (Egypt), Inana, >Dumuzi and
>Ereshkigal (Mesopotamia).
This is what is driving me bananas lately. It's the Inanna-Dumuzi-Ereshkigal
thing... and I agree that this is ultimately not an IE myth. "Why is it
driving me nuts," you ask? Well, it would appear that Inanna is associated
early on with the planet Venus. John can plead all he wants that astral
symbolisms derive from a culture in a "sunny climate" but it doesn't make
much sense in the end.
Dumuzi seems to be the "sun" and Ereshkigal is certainly the Old Hag or
White Death Goddess of European-Anatolian prehistorical myth represented
astrally as the moon (and a perfect symbol to bring up just in time for
Halloween might I add since the moon is high and the pentagrams are being
drawn as we speak).
I gather so far that Dumuzi is the "beautiful young man" and simply a male
version of the more common "beautiful young maiden" aspect of the Goddess,
representing fertility, creation, youth, etc. This would make the planet
Venus a symbol of the intermediate aspect of Her - the mother. The mother
can also be viewed as a symbol of fertility and especially _love_ as in
motherly love which is exactly the portrayal of her from the very start of
history.
Further, we might envision the planet Venus as "giving birth" to The Child
(aka: the sun). Images of mother with child exist from 6000 BCE in Anatolia.
May I suggest that this imagery could have had an added astral symbolism
touching on the concept of "spring" as well as creation, fertility, etc.
The so-called young (as well as older and bearded) Master of the Animals
that Gimbutas refers to all the time may therefore be viewed as a
representation of the sun or the power of the sun to induce plant growth on
Mother Earth - thus a direct ancestor of Dumuzi. Because of this last
quality of our "Dumuzi", we might also consider the sun not only as a son of
Venus but also a _consort_ of Her, fertilizing Mother Earth with His rays
(Can you say "Oedipus Complex"??!). Therefore the two males that sometimes
exist flanking the Goddess on either side may be one and the same,
representing The Sun and His Fertility both as Son and as Consort.
So if I have all the answers, what's driving me nuts? Well, the question I
started out with in my cutesy research and still haven't quite answered
satisfactorily as of yet is: "Was the sun originally male or female when the
IEs came along to warp the myths with their own native concepts?"
Of course, we could say that the sun was neither male nor female, assexual
(animism), but all the symbolisms seen in prehistoric artifacts in Europe
and Anatolia seem to be majoritarily gynofocal. So... I guess we should
think that the sun started out as "female" in Europe and viewed as a young
Creatrix aspect of the Goddess. But... how does Dumuzi fit in the big
picture then?
My latest thinking is that maybe at around 7000 BCE or so, a shift in
Anatolia concerning the Goddess happened. The sun, being initially a
beautiful young maiden and daughter of Herself as the Preservatrix, came to
be viewed as a _son_ instead. Perhaps such a shift could be caused by the
assexual nature of children. The sex is particularly unimportant for the
Creatrix aspect since it is _youth_ and _creation_, neither of which are
sex-specific, which is the main concept here. This is opposed to the greater
importance of sex regarding the intermediate aspect, The Mother and
Birth-Giving Goddess - fathers just can't lay Cosmic Eggs or give birth to
children no matter how hard they push :)
Gives a whole new meaning to "The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost",
doesn't it? Or should I say... "The Mother (Venus), The Child (Sun), and the
Old Hag (Moon)".
BTW, the rivalism between the Sun and the Moon (aka: Dumuzi and Ereshkigal)
is obvious since this is a metaphor for the change between Spring-Summer
(young season dominated by day and sun) and Fall-Winter (old season
dominated by night and moon). Inanna the Mother here acts as mediator and
intermediate between Dumuzi and Ereshkigal. Again, might I mention "The
Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost" one more time where the Father (or
Mother) is envisioned above the Son and the Holy Ghost. Just a thought.
PS: Maybe the Greek version of Inanna's Descent is altered because of
persistent local traditions retaining prehistoric European symbolisms that
remained untouched from those altered in Anatolia... Stuff to consider
perhaps?
- gLeN
HAPPY SAMHAIN EVERYONE AND BE
CAREFUL WITH THE OUIJA BOARDS!
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