Hi my loves,
It’s my monthly quiet time. When I go within and reflect. It feels pretty on par with the Venus going direct in Pisces on April 12th at 8:03 PM central. This was preceded by the Libra full moon that occurred approximately 30 minutes earlier at 7:22 PM.
Venus has been reborn as the Morning Star. Shining brightly in the early morning sky. In the myth of Inanna, this corresponds to Inanna leaving the underworld with the galla at her heels eagerly awaiting to find Inanna’s replacement. The ways of the underworld are perfect, complete. They do not change even for the Queen of Heaven and Earth. She may be reborn and leave, but someone must take her place. Those two/three weeks when Venus is still in retrograde after its inferior conjunction with the sun when Venus is reborn as the Morning Star, are the times when we search for the part of ourselves or those in life who will be our replacements in the underworld.
- What part of you or someone in your life is in need of transformation?
- Where are you avoiding facing that your life has changed?
In the myth of Inanna, it is Dumuzi, her husband who is cast into the underworld. But he does not accept his fate immediately. Unlike Inanna’s priestess and sons, Dumuzi did not pause his duties to mourn. Perhaps he did what many of us do, just kept working. Feeling that his role as King was to make sure that their world kept turning in the absence of Inanna. Avoidance of facing the truth of the moment, that something in their world is out of balance and has changed. Due to this, Inanna cast the eye of judgment onto Dumuzi and he flees.
Inanna’s descent into the underworld is not complete until all of her parts go through this rebirthing experience. Whether that is through empathizing with their mourning, as did Ninshubar and her sons, or through their descent. Dumuzi, as a true counterpart of Inanna, needed to witness her sister/shadow. To meet this part of Inanna and embrace her.
Inanna’s journey is also incomplete until she gains empathy for Dumuzi and shares his location with his sister Gestinanna so that she can share in his judgment. Gestinanna will spend six months in the underworld in exchange for Dumuzi being released to rule with Inanna for those months. Then Dumuzi will return to the underworld for the next six months. Similar to Persephone, Dumuzi will now live between the worlds with Inanna Queen of Heaven and Earth and with her sister Ereshkigal, Queen of the Underworld.
This is not an easy process for Dumuzi. It begins with a dream.
Venus’ current trip through the Rose Path started in Pisces, traveled into Aries, where it went retrograde before returning to that Pisces starting point. Venus in Pisces highlights our relationship with spirituality, our dreams, and our unconscious. Yet, the emphasis and deepest work centered around its retrograde and inferior conjunction with the sun for its rebirth. Venus, along with Saturn and Neptune, has been taking us on a journey with our souls, spirituality, and each other. To dive into our unconscious to see what we may have been avoiding, desiring, and dreaming of. From there, we moved from Source to the Self. Can we integrate what we discovered from Venus time in Pisces from the unconscious to the conscious Self in Aries?
What have your dreams revealed to you? For Dumuzi, his dream was complex and multifaceted. A dream that led him to immediately call for his sister, the scribe, the wise woman, and the dream interpreter.
His sister shares that his dream indicates that he will not avoid his fate. That the gallas will find him and cut him down just as the reeds in his dream. Dumuzi asks her to mourn for him at the mound or temple. But this is not enough. Fate finds him. He cries out for Utu, Inanna’s brother, to save him. Utu responds, transforming Dumuzi into a snake and a gazelle. Dumuzi flees, but it does not save him.
You cannot run from your fate.
Dumuzi enters the sheepfold, and it is there that he experiences seven losses. First, there is fire set to the bolt, then fire set to the shepherds stick, followed by the cover of the holy churn being removed. Then Dumuzi’s drinking cup was torn from its peg, the holy churn turned over and Dumuzi is dead. Like Inanna was stripped of her powers as she descended into the underworld, Dumuzi’s powers and identity are stripped from him. He is no longer the shepherd turned King. It is time for him to become more. To meet the shadow of Inanna and himself.
Dumuzi’s story suggests that whether we are ready to face our dreams and unconscious or not, doesn’t matter. We will meet them either way. That we can run from our demons as much as we like, but they will always find us. Dumuzi, unlike the heroes we are sold, was not courageous. He did not grab his sword or staff to fight. He ran.
Inanna head the call of the underworld and turned her ear down to gain the wisdom that came from that space. Dumuzi met his wife as if nothing had changed while she was away. He did not turn his ear towards her or the underworld to gain its wisdom. He fled to his home.
Sometimes, we are not ready to face what is next. To face ourselves, our family, our community, or our dreams. We seek a place that feels safe and familiar. That feels like home.
Dumuzi reminds us that we may never be ready. We may want to run forever. But eventually, life will catch up to us. We must all journey into the underworld eventually. And when we do, perhaps there will be someone to hold that space with us. Or perhaps it is just our time to face the parts of ourselves and our loved ones so that we can be whole.
I’ve said I would share this take from different mythological perspectives and haven’t gotten there yet. But today, I’m diving right into Oya’s story. See you in the next post for that one.
With love,
Kamilah Rose