Let the Holy Priestess of Heaven enter my realm bowed low.” Lock the seven gates against her," Erishkigal instructed the gatekeeper, "Let her through each gate, one by one, but at each portal you must deprive her of one of her stations of royalty. “She has come to my land dressed in the finery of her life, bearing the seven attributes of feminine allure. Ishtar's claim of sisterly support was clearly a bald lie and the audacity of this sent the grief stricken Ereshkigal to the edge of fury She had spitefully taken something of Ishtar's and was certain that this uninvited visitation had more to do with the capture of Tammuz than with Ereshkigal's loss The Queen of the Underworld was a sly creature of spite and malice that she had been separated from the overworld- all that now mixed in good measure with her grief at the loss of her husband. This message was sent on ahead to Ereshkigal at her palace. When Ishtar was pressed to explain why a living woman wished to enter the realm of the dead, she told Neti that she had come to be with her sister at this time of grief to witness the funeral rites of Ereshkigal's husband, Gugalanna. I am Ishtar, the Queen of Heaven, on my way to the East." The Gatekeeper of the Netherworld challenged the visitor to give her name. Neti was distrustful at the sight of this brilliant visitor, and just knew that Ishtar's arrival meant trouble was brewing. She descended to the underworld and arrived at its gates to be challenged by Neti, chief gatekeeper of the underworld. She gathered unto her a magnificent crown, gold jewellery and a fine robe. The Queen of the Overworld would have to call upon all the reserves of her strength to bring her husband home to the light. She made her preparations carefully, knowing there would be an ordeal ahead.Įrishkigal was a temperamental and changeable opponent. Ishtar knew that to go to the underworld was to take a journey from which no traveler returns but she was the goddess of passions, the goddess of battle and the goddess of love so how could she not fight for her beloved? She sent the dragon, Tiamat, to abduct Tammuz, the god of growing, husband of Ishtar. The Queen of the Underworld, Ereshkigal, had been widowed and in her grief and rage, she decided that her sister, Ishtar should be alone as well. We have forgotten what it is to huddle in a fire-lit cave while thunder splits the night sky with sound and shakes the earth around us, so we no longer need know the names of the thunder gods to assure us there is some kind of order in the universe These days, most people think back on the mythical explanations that forces of nature were gods and goddesses as quaint legends. Closer to the equator, we will sometimes see the sun as simply losing interest or a diminishing of its capacity to perform its duty so the festivals and ceremonies are to remind of, or bind it to, its task At latitudes where the tilt of the earth causes the sun to dip very low, tales are told where the threat to the sun is mortal so the people must come forward in the sun's defense. There are common patterns with Deities representing the sun or the light as the central theme. What the ancients feared, they named so that they could understand it in some way. What people do not know or understand, they make up stories to explain. Many cultures carefully watched the sun so that they would know when to plant, when to harvest and when to batten down the hatches for winter. Gods and goddesses were fighting for the survival of all life, playing games in the sky or battling each other for supremacy.Īncient peoples worked to be in balance with the forces of nature as they understood them. Their shamans and storytellers supplied the answers. As the light dwindled in the sky and the days grew shorter, the ancients wondered what was happening to the sun.
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