Would Inanna have ventured down to the underworld, had she known that should be stripped of all that she thought she was?
In the Greek myth, Inanna who was a Mesopotamian Queen of Earth and Heaven, she is summoned by a whisper to embark on a transformative journey to the ancient Mesopotamian Underworld. Her sister, Ereshkigal is the queen of the Underworld. The whispers continue, Inanna cannot keep ignoring the call that is present, she has so far, lived a life of comfort, wealth and ease.
How bad could the underworld be….?
With the help of her loyal assistant, Ninshubur, they prepare for her decent, with her crown of Heaven, necklace, bracelets, gold rings, breast plate and her royal cloak. Ninshubur is very concerned and doesn’t believe she will return alive and well, so they make a plan
“Ninshubur, my faithful friend, I must do this. I know it will not be easy, but I must go. Will you wait for my return and if after 3 days I have not returned, bang the drums, gather my community and tell them what was happened to me? Then go to the elders and ask them to bring me back. ”
She begins her journey to the Underworld, where her sister is queen. When she arrives, Inanna knocks on the first bolted gate and asks for entrance
“My name is Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth. Please let me in. I have come to see what I have not yet seen, to experience what I’ve not yet experienced, and to learn what do not yet know.”
The gatekeeper says that her sister has locked all 7 of the gates, and that to pass through these gates Inanna must sacrifice something.
At the first gate, she must give up her crown of Heaven.
The second gate, she is told she must remove her bracelet. At the third, her necklace. With each gate she must pass through, a peice of her must be given, and she starts to notice that she is becoming weaker and weaker each time she sheds a peice. She also begins to realize this is on purpose, she is to arrive at her sisters doorstep naked, baren of her gifts and royalty.
At the sixth gate, she asks again
“My name is Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth. Please let me in. I have come to see what I have not yet seen, to experience what I’ve not yet experienced, and to learn what do not yet know.”
And without asking, her breast plate is ripped from her chest, exposing her bare chest, and heart. Left with only her cloak, she continues her journey deeper into the Labyrinth, seeking the seventh and final gate to open. When she arrives, she knocks and must give up her cloak to enter.
Totally naked, beaten, weak, and very unprotected, Inanna enters the chamber of Ereshkigal and within moments her sister casts the eye of death upon her, killing Inanna instantly. Her corpse is then hung on a hook and placed on the wall, she hangs there for three days until in the Upperworld, Ninshubur does what he promised and alerts the elders that their Queen has descended into the Underworld and must be rescued. They descend as well, with the gates all open, they make their way to Inanna’s body with ease, when they find her they use all of their healing powers, crystals and rituals but nothing is working.
Then, from the shadows emerges Ereshkigal, who gives Inanna the Water of Life, which returns her to life. Overjoyed, Inanna, Ninshubur and the elders begin to make their way back, when the demons of the Underworld demand a trade. If Inanna is to leave with her life, she must give them something in return. Once having returned to the surface, she must make her choice as to what sacrifice she will make.
As they make their way back to the surface, when passing through each gate Inanna has the opportunity to either retrieve, or leave her possessions. She must decide though whether or not they are needed any more, in this new life of hers.
The Underworld and her experience there has forever changed her, does she still need the crown to be Queen? The cloak the feel safe? She decides no, she is all she needs.
When they arrive home, Inanna sees her people and her family in mourning of her death, all but her husband, who seems to be just fine without her. Enraged, she decides to sacrifice her husband to the demons of the Underworld, fulfilling her promise.
*please note this is just my interpretation of the myth of Inanna, there are a few diff versions, but this one resonated with me most*
I feel like this Scorpio Full Moon is the return home after our trip to the underworld of Eclipse season…it is asking for you to shed some layers, leave some patterns behind and to transform your relationship to whatever is in your way.
Pluto is playing a big role this Full Moon, by not only being the ruler of Scorpio, but also having rulership over our personal shadow, transformation and ascendance into our highest power. Pluto is also said to rule the Underworld, so we have lots of threads and layers with this lunation. On this Scorpio Full Moon we have Pluto making a square aspect (creating tension inviting reflection) to both the Sun in Taurus, and the Moon in Scorpio. Talk about a power struggle…OR…could it be your return to the surface?
Could this tension of moving away from what protects you, to seek the truth of yourself, so that you may come more current and more clear with who you are in this lifetime? Pluto loves to give the Ego a good kick in the pants…and when in square aspect to both the Sun and the Moon, the air is ripe with transformation of the ego and anything it dances with (Sun energy) and transformation around how deep our emotions run, and how we may or may not truly love ourselves fully (Moon energy). A square aspect in Astrology, to me, is always asking and inviting you to come clear, to really be honest with what is presenting.
To be able to look back, cross over again through your gates, only to realize that it was you who completed the journey all along, not the tools and protection you had previously relied on…but also not the ego driven need to be right, or to prove something to anyone but yourself.
With the Sun in Taurus, we have a safe place to land, fresh grass and blossoming tress abound. Taurus seeks embodiment, not what it is, but how you BE. Taurus fully believes that we create our reality, but we do not control it. The control we do have is in how we take time to stop and actually smell the intoxicating scents of spring. The control we do have is in how we act, how we talk to ourselves and others.
Taurus isn’t afraid to move forward, it may be slow going, but its consistent and controlled movement forward is propelled by the knowing of the Self. Inside and out, within and without, from the ooey gooey center to the Sun weathered skin exterior.
To trust so fully in what you know to be true, to trust that you can change that knowing with new information presented, to trust that what you feel in your body is true for you, to trust that when you combine what you know and what you feel, you get your personal experience.
Scorpio knows that it is the energy behind this embodiment that makes it magical. What do you bring forth in yourself and others? Scorpio also knows that to be fully felt, it must be fully experienced. Engaging with life on life’s terms, not how we wish it to be.
I always picture Scorpio with a set of sunglasses, and those sunglasses don’t block the light from the Sun, but actually show where people are hiding from their own Shadow. The sunglasses (or, shadowglasses?!?!) reveal whats below the surface, and Scorpio always wants to explore whats below the surface.
To me, a nice little gift of this Full Moon, is that Jupiter and Uranus are still conjunct in Taurus, which is totally adding to the big, chaotic, shaking up of our world and collective…but is also adding, again maybe just for me, a bit of a playful flair to the deep, shadowy, ooey gooey mess that can be Eclipse season and all that falls after.
But I think if anything, I am soaking up the two big planets in Taurus being illuminated by the Sun, I feel like they are almost putting on a show for the Sun and she is just shinning the spot light on them, letting them dance and sway, lightening the mood. The last time Jupiter and Uranus met in Taurus was May of 1941, where there was a lot going on, both good and bad in the world.
I would say if you can do anything this Full Moon, it is to just be with yourself. Observe your thoughts, your patterns, your cycles. Notice what you notice. Stick your toes in the grass and see what your body does and a super nuanced level. I personally love that this Taurus Full Moon is the day after Earth Day :)
I saw this meme the other day that said “Just because you don’t believe in astrology doesn’t mean it isn’t happening” and it made my day, cause you can say that for a lot of things in life, including life, but its all in your choice. You choose what you see, what you hear, what you say and what you do. So maybe try some intention mixed in there?!?!
We got this.
much love,
Lo