In my last post I talked about the truth of Ereshkrigal, the fact that life and death are intertwined and death supports life in a dynamic round. We experience this as part of the natural world. It's true for us and it's true for the birds, bees, bulls, and blow fish. So the myth of Inanna and Dumuzi can also be read as a description of the rhythmic cycles of nature. The characters in the myth; the Bull of Heaven, Ereshkigal, Inanna, Dumuzi, and Geshtinanna, participate in a round robin of sacrifice, death, and rebirth that parallels the cycles of seed and harvest, growth, reproduction, death, and decay that are the fate of all living things. There is no escape from this round but there is perpetual renewal.
When we see ourselves in nature, as part of nature's round, a myth like Inanna and Dumuzi's teaches us about how the world works and about how we work. The fate of the world is our own.
In these so-called "nature" myths, myths that describe the cycles of the vegetable world for example, an important image is the sacred marriage, the union of male and female. The courtship and marriage of Inanna and Dumuzi speaks to the relationship between the eternal and the mortal, between man and woman, between husband and wife, and between the earth and the seed. In each of these relationships there are periods of outwardly flowering productivity and dormancy. I know this seems obvious but look at how much time and energy and technology is developed and employed to keep ourselves and the earth in a state of ceaseless productivity. Or how our expectations are conditioned to accept only the up, light, and cheery sides of life and each other. It's unnatural.
The myth of Inanna's descent and the subsequent cyclical descent of Dumuzi and his sister Geshtinanna tell a tale about initiation into the mysteries of life and death via the feminine principle. This initiation has parallels in the Greek myth of Demeter and her daughter Persephone, which can also be read as a nature myth. Persephone is abducted and taken to the Underworld and Demeter, the grieving mother, refuses to keep the vegetable world above ground alive. Demeter lets the grain die and the fruits wither. This gets the attention of the Zeus. When mother and daughter are finally reunited, it is only for part of each year. While she was below, Persephone ate six pomegranate seeds. As a result, she must spend half of the year in the underworld, where she becomes queen. So we have six green months and six brown months in every year.
The myth of Demeter and Persephone was the basis for the Eylusian mysteries, a powerful, secret rite that relieved participants of their fear of death. No one knows for sure what comprised the rites or how this was accomplished, the secrets were that closely held. But knowing these myths provides us with a clue. We fear the seemingly dark depths of the unknown, the possible pain, and the loss of individuality and individual consciousness. But death can be understood as a homecoming. As part of nature we emerge from it, and return to it. We achieve immortality by virtue of this recycling. We each have a place in the natural, cosmic scheme.
Can't say that about taxes. Thanks for reading. The painting is "Demeter" by Jean-Francois Millet.
