The Gates of Grief

1. The Land of Death

From the ancient Sumerian myth as told by Simon Yugler in Psychedelics and the Soul
From the Great Above she opened the ear to the Great Below.
From the Great Above the goddess opened her ear to the Great Below.
From the Great Above Inanna opened her ear to the Great Below…
Inanna abandoned heaven and earth to descend to the underworld.
She abandoned her office of holy priestess to descend to the underworld…
She gathered together the seven me [sacred powers].
She took them into her hands.
With the me in her possession, she prepared herself.

Before entering the land of death, Inanna instructed her loyal priestess, Ninshubur, on what to do if she does not return in three days.

Inanna:
“Ninshubur, my constant support…
Who gives me wise counsel,
My warrior who fights by my side,
I am descending to the kur, to the underworld.
If I do not return,
Set up a lament for me by the ruins.
Beat the drum for me in the assembly places.
Circle the houses of the gods.
Tear at your eyes, at your mouth, at your thighs.
Dress yourself in a single garment like a beggar.”

Inanna:
“Open the door, gatekeeper!
Open the door Neti!
I alone would enter!”

Neti: “Who are you?”
She answered:
“I am Inanna, Queen of Heaven,
On my way to the East.”

Neti:
“If you are truly Inanna, Queen of Heaven,
On your way to the East,
Why has your heart led you on the road
From which no traveller returns?”
Inanna, starry Queen of Heaven, answered with full voice:
“Because… of my older sister, Erishkigal.
Her husband Gugalanna, the Bull of Heaven, has died.
I have come to witness the funeral rites.
Let the beer of his funeral rites be poured into the cup.
Let it be done.”

2. The Seven Gates

Erishkigal:
“Neti, my sweet, listen here.
Bolt the seven gates to the underworld.
Then, one by one, open each gate a crack.
Let Inanna enter.
As she enters, remove her royal garments.
Let the holy priestess of heaven enter bowed low.”

As Inanna walked through the first gate, ghoulish whispers filled her ears. Invisible hands caressed her gilded body, beckoning her further into the darkness. As she stepped beyond the threshold she felt her crown fall off.

Inanna: “What is this?”
Neti said:
“Quiet, Inanna, the ways of the underworld are perfect.
They must not be questioned.”

At the second gate, rumbling stone and an icy breath wrapped itself around her. Her lapis necklace dropped bead by bead from her neck, the blue stones shattering on the floor.

“What is this?”, she demaded again.
Neti said:
“Quiet, Inanna, the ways of the underworld are perfect.
They must not be questioned.”

This went on seven times, each gate requiring she shed her sacred adornments: her breastplate, a double strand of beads, the golden ring, her measuring rod, and her royal robe. Finally, Inanna entered the underworld: bowed, stripped, and naked.

3. The Shadow Sister

Entering a vast chamber, Inanna finally made her way to Erishkigal’s inner sanctum.

Piles of bones adorned her hall. The torch flames felt cold.
Naked and bowed low, Inanna entered the throne room.
Erishkigal rose from her throne.
As Inanna moved forward the Annuna, the judges of the underworld, surrounded her.
They passed judgment against her.
Then Erishkigal fastened on Inanna the eye of death.
She spoke against her the sword of wrath.
She uttered against her the cry of guilt.
She struck her.
Inanna was turned into a corpse,
A piece of rotting meat,
And was hung from a hook on the wall.

4. Pleas to the Patriarchy

After three days and nights of hanging on the hook, Inanna’s loyal servant Ninshubur followed the goddess’s instructions precisely. She lamented her in the abandoned temples, beat the drum in the sanctuaries, slashed her own eyes and body and wore the dirtiest garments. Then she set out to the house of the gods, seeking their aid. First to her grandfather Enlil, the wrathful sky god.
She pleaded with Enlil:

“Oh Father Enlil, do not let your daughter
Be put to death in the underworld.
Do not let your bright silver
Be covered with the dust of the underworld.
Do not let your precious lapis
Be broken into stone for the stoneworker.
Do not let your fragrant boxwood
Be cut into wood for the woodworker.
Do not let the holy priestess of heaven
Be put to death in the underworld.”

Enlil’s voice thundered back:
“Inanna craved the Great Below.
She who received the me of the underworld does not return.
She who goes to the dark city stays there.”

Ninshubur then visits Father Nanna, the moon god but he refuses giving the same reasons as Enlil. Finally, Ninshubur visits Enki, Innana’s uncle, god of plants of the flowing waters of life and makes her impassioned plea.
Father Enki answered with a voice like a roaring river:

“What has happened?
What has my daughter done?
Inanna! Queen of All the Lands! Holy Priestess of Heaven!
I am troubled, I am grieved.”

5. Feeding the Demons

With that, Enki scraped some dirt from beneath his fingernails and created two strange creatures: the kurgarra and the galatur, two infernal beings, To kurgarra he gave the food of live and to galatur the water of life.

“Go to the underworld, enter the door like flies.
Erishkigal, the queen of the underworld, is moaning
With the cries of a woman about to give birth.
No linen is spread over her body.
Her breasts are uncovered.
Her hair swirls about her head like leeks.
When she cries, ‘Oh! Oh! My inside!’
Cry also, ‘Oh! Oh! My inside!’
When she cries, ‘Oh! Oh! My outside!’
Cry also, ‘Oh! Oh! My outside!’
The queen will be pleased.
She will offer you a gift.
Ask her only for the corpse that hangs from the hook on the wall.
One of you will sprinkle the food of life on it.
The other will sprinkle the water of life.
Inanna will arise.”

The creatures did exactly as they were told. Erishkigal stopped and looked at them.
She asked:
“Who are you,
Moaning-groaning-sighing with me?
If you are gods, I will bless you.
If you are mortals, I will give you a gift.
I will give you the water-gift, the river in its fullness.”
“We do not wish it”, they answered.

Erishkigal offered them wealth and eternal life, but they refused all offers until she gave them Inanna’s lifeless corpse.

The kurgarra sprinkled the food of life on the corpse.
The galatur sprinkled the water of life on the corpse.
Inanna arose.

6. Judgment and Release

As Inanna moved upward toward the glimmering light above, she felt the cold hands wrap themselves around her again. The Anunna swarmed her once more, holding on to her and whispering frigid judgments in her ear.

“No one ascends from the underworld unmarked.
If Inanna wishes to return from the underworld,
She must provide someone in her place.”

A swarm of ghouls then surrounded her, as she made her way up into the world above.
The ghouls were demons who know no food, who know no drink,
Who eat no offerings, who drink no libations,
Who accept no gifts.
They enjoy no lovemaking.
They have no sweet children to kiss.
They tear the wife from the husband’s arms,
They tear the child from the father’s knees,
They steal the bride form her marriage home.

7. The Chthonic Knowing

Inanna came back to claim her earthly domains observing her subjects mourning her death, that is until she arrived home. Her husband Dumuzi, the god of shepherds and livestock lounged on Inanna’s throne beautifully dressed in the finest garments and plucking a grape dangling from the hand of a servant girl.

Inanna fastened on Dumuzi the eye of death.
She spoke against him the sword of wrath.
She uttered against him the cry of guilt:
“Take him! Take Dumuzi away!”

Dumuzi escapes and begs his sister Geshtinanna to accompany him into the underworld. She agrees, and so Inanna and Geshtinanna went to the edges of the steppe. They found Dumuzi weeping. Inanna took Dumuzi by the hand and said:

“You will go to the underworld
Half the year.
Your sister, since she has asked,
Will go the other half.
On the day you are called,
That day you will be taken.
On the day Geshtinanna is called,
That day you will be set free.”

Inanna placed Dumuzi in the hands of the eternal.
Holy Erishkigal! Great is your renown!
Holy Erishkigal! Sweet is your praise!

NB: This story from modern-day Iraq was first written in cuneiform on stone and is one of the oldest written stories about a journey to the underworld that we have.
It reminds us that within each of us there exists an archetypal desire to know ourselves. If we set out with a sincere intention to gain this knowledge, along the way we will be asked to sacrifice something of ourselves in return (Latin: sacre ficere — “to make sacred”).
We are likely to experience a catharsis (Greek: kathairein — “to purify”), or a trauma (from the ancient Indo-European tere — “to rub, pierce, grind”), which may in turn lead to a new opening. To which opening, and to where, will this lead? Each of us will decide.