From: João Simões Lopes Filho
Message: 4515
Date: 2000-10-27
----- Original Message -----
From: Glen Gordon <glengordon01@...>
To: <cybalist@egroups.com>
Sent: Friday, October 27, 2000 3:45 AM
Subject: [tied] Inanna's Descent
>
> 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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