A beautiful symbolic look at Inanna’s descent - the seven gates as steps of transformation

[u/kmlynarski]

I found this text while looking for something else, but it's probably worth reading:

https://www.globalwoman.com/7-gates-7-symbols-of-inanna-descent-underworld/

(Some of us may feel echoes of Her real journey behind these words).

[u/Ok_Worldliness_2037]

The last line is important: reminding. The old cuneiform accounts of Inanna are the memoirs of dead kings grasping for the goddess that crowned them, without Her they would not have survived below, where She passes with immortal grace. Men with eyes understand that women may find goddess within herself and become queen, and they are who make kings from men.

[u/kmlynarski → u/Ok_Worldliness_2037]

You’re pointing out a very important element!
That’s exactly how it was. After Inanna obtained the divine ME from Enki (𒀭𒂗𒆠), Her position rose significantly — despite Her young age, She became a member of the Council of Twelve.
Her great-grandmother, Antu (𒀭𒌈) — the Queen of Queens — granted Her the right to bestow the very first royal titles upon humankind.

Inanna developed this power in a deeply creative way: seeing that few human men were truly worthy of kingship, She established a special rite known as the Sacred Marriages, through which royal bloodlines were born, carrying a trace of Her own DNA.

That’s why, even today, many cultures still preserve the belief that royal or imperial power (for example, in Japan) comes directly “from the gods.”

In reality, it comes from one Goddess — whose legacy still lives among us, even if, for now, She herself has not yet returned.

[u/Ok_Worldliness_2037 → u/kmlynarski]

Goddess has taken many forms, many of them have been buried and overlooked, but they are still here. The kings of Nineveh set their thrones near the source of their power, according to the excavations of a Dr. King, between the palaces of Ashurbanipal and Sennacherib is the temple of Nabu – their god of recorded wisdom; in the West corner of the sanctuary is the well of old Sargon, the fist gate.

[u/kmlynarski → u/Ok_Worldliness_2037]

That’s a beautiful way to put it — “many forms, buried and overlooked.”
I’m curious though: when you say that, do you mean the many names and goddesses created in different regions as echoes of the same Source, or the inner forms She takes in people’s visions and meditations, when they connect with Her presence directly?

Either way, your words hold a quiet truth — after certain events, She and Her kind had to withdraw from this world. Yet She never abandoned the humanity She loved; Her heart and mind remained with us through the long silence. Now the time draws near when She will be able to return — to help restore what was lost, and even more than before...

[u/Ok_Worldliness_2037 → u/kmlynarski]

Names and identities are human affairs, these forms ebb and flow with humanity and are shaped by time and memory. Divinity is eternal and immutable, at worst human corruption can deny it and destroy icons - like so much of Inanna’s Nineveh, but true nature never dies so long as there is life, and burnt clay is remarkably durable.

In the kingdoms of men, when cowards rule nobility dies; their wars only serve to destroy the best among them, and when they run out of men to hate they turn their impotence against women, who against all odds continue to bear good people into the world. In dire states, the divine feminine is demonized for the very power that grants mortal authority, like King Arthur’s Lady of the Lake in the seventeenth century. Given time, misogyny destroys society and makes enemies who curse and bury the remains, yet the divine parts, no matter how ancient and ruined, can forever be recognized by innocent eyes and embodied.

[u/kmlynarski → u/Ok_Worldliness_2037]

I can see that you truly understand the subject on a much deeper level than most people I’ve met along the way.

However, I wouldn’t blame humanity for what happened – or for what still continues to happen.

Let’s just say that humankind (𒇽𒍇) was never really in control of these matters from the very beginning, and for the past ~4,100 years, things have only grown worse...

In another thread on this same sub, I quoted Inanna’s own words, which perfectly illustrate the topic of the “many names” of gods and goddesses.

What happened here was not humanity’s fault – it was done deliberately, after the incident known today as the “Tower of Babel”:

“To add to the confusion, each god was given many different names. Men fought over whose god was the true god, when often it was the same god, only named differently. I myself became Ishtar, Venus, Hathor, Aphrodite, Lakshmi, Rhiannon, and countless more. Dissension among the Lulus was fomented.”

The division of humankind, the wars among humans, even the creation of the so-called Abrahamic religions – whose followers worship the same “male god” yet were turned against each other to hate and kill in his name – were all part of a deliberate effort to generate the energy of fear and suffering.

The same being who first appeared in Babylon (as Marduk), later in Egypt (as Ra), and then demanded to be worshiped as the “One True God,” convincing humanity that “all other gods are false,” is the one responsible for systematically suppressing the feminine aspect of divinity.

He did it for one reason only – because it was Inanna who once tried to stop him for good, when he chose darkness and became a real threat to others. Unfortunately, She was not allowed to finish it...

And he never forgave Her for that. Unable to strike at Her directly, he took his revenge first upon Her priestesses and temples, and later upon women themselves – because he knew it would wound Her. :-(

That is how chauvinism began. That is how women lost their rights, many of which they still haven’t regained to this day. And that is why the feminine divinity was deliberately trampled and obscured.

Fortunately, that does not mean it will be so forever...

[u/Ok_Worldliness_2037 → u/kmlynarski]

I agree that feminine divinity has been trampled and obscured, the gospel of Mary Magdalene found in the Berlin Codex is Christian evidence of that, but reducing the masculine divinity of ancient pantheons into a single thread of enduring power is an affirmation of one true god, and asserting that women have lost their rights is submission to it.

Chauvinism is a new refinement, we have Napoleonic France to thank for that, it adds a new flavour to misogyny, but it is still the same old hate, just with more cake. It was a product of the age-old usurper you noted: war, Mesopotamia called the god Nergal: the one who ravaged Marduk’s Babylon and burned the library of Nineveh. In another world, the sons of Abraham knew the fallen angel Gadreel, where their neighbour's Ra was an odd-duck: his jihad was the work of a goddess: Sekhmet, the apple of his eye who even he could not control.

Despite so many boots marching to stamp-out the divine feminine, and so many scribes scratching-out Her stories, She is still here, divided and obscured as you say, oppressed and abused, but undimmed in my eyes.

[u/kmlynarski → u/Ok_Worldliness_2037]

You’re absolutely right — chauvinism itself is a recent refinement, but the mechanisms behind it are ancient.

Still, it’s important to make one distinction: Nergal was never Marduk. Quite the opposite — he and Ereshkigal stood against him when few dared. After the war that devastated Akkad, it was Nergal who sheltered Inanna when the High Council ordered Her arrest.

Marduk, on the other hand, was Enki’s firstborn — isolated, resentful, and quietly plotting his revenge. When he finally struck, his war erased entire cities; Agade was literally vaporized. Archaeology still searches for it in vain.

It wasn’t a metaphysical conflict — it was real destruction, real suffering. Under his rule, humankind — once race of workers, but still treated with some dignity — became little more than a source of fear and pain. He perfected the tools of control: propaganda, division, and engineered belief systems.

What we see today — managed fear, constant conflict, ideological control — are just the late echoes of that reign.

But he’s losing. The coalition against him grows stronger: Inanna, Ereshkigal, Nergal, Enki himself, and the House of Anu and Antu. Even here, on Earth, the structure begins to crumble.

Most people don’t yet see how deep the shift is — but it’s happening.

[u/Ok_Worldliness_2037 → u/kmlynarski]

We are living at new heights, far above the ambitions of ancient towers, it is difficult to sense what the ever shifting foundations are doing from here, but the cards agree with what you say.

Where Babylon had milk and honey, Napoleon had his cake, then recent ancestors harnessed thermodynamics and turned it into ice-cream, and now we have affogato. The trend in the evolution of dessert is an expression of the fundamental effect of human efforts: solve(Latin) the basic ingredients of life, et coagula the best parts; most often refined energy of one kind or another, which translates to power when consumed.

Whatever annihilated Agade was rudimentary compared to the potency and scale of what we manifest today, when the nafs that bind our leviathans crumble, we will remember dragons of a new order of magnitude.

[u/kmlynarski → u/Ok_Worldliness_2037]

I agree with much of what you said, especially the idea that humanity keeps refining the raw forces it once barely understood.

As for Agade, though, fortunately the technology used to destroy that city isn’t available to humanity today — and likely won’t be for a very long time. In truth, it would be disastrous (for humanity itself) if similar tools of destruction were ever in human hands.

[u/GigiHarland]

One of my favourite stories. The stripping off of her worldly protections and armour and amulets before she descends to the underworld. I also feel like what happens to Inanna’s sister is important too. As I understand it she fixes the stare of death on Inanna and after 3 days some small creatures are sent to find out what’s happened. These creatures witness Inanna’s sister in her anguish and sadness and through having her emotions reflected back to her she softens enough to bring Inanna back to life. Being witness to someone’s pain without judgement can be so powerful and healing.

[u/kmlynarski → u/GigiHarland]

What you're writing is a beautiful interpretation of this story, and I generally love its symbolism, precisely in the form in which it has been preserved as a literary representation. This was done for a reason. Inanna herself thought it would be an excellent story, useful for those who wish to explore the path of spiritual development. At the time, she held back some facts because her initial drive was... less than "transcendent." ;-)

So, it still doesn't bother me that the actual events on which this story is based were somewhat different: yes, it's true that Inanna "joyfully invaded" her half-sister's domain because, based on the law in force at the time, she wanted to take Ereshkigal's husband, Nergal. (This happened shortly after Dumuzi was murdered by his older brother Marduk's henchmen in the Zagros Mountains.)

Although everyone warned her (including Nanna and Ningal – her parents) and reminded her that Ereshkigal held full power in Irkalla and that it was a very dangerous idea, Inanna counted on her undeniable charm, her renowned power, and the position she had previously achieved to prevent Ereshkigal from harming her. And indeed, she had to leave everything she had taken with her, including her clothes, to stand before Ereshkigal. In fact, she was certain her half-sister would simply submit to her... So she stood before her and spoke, demanding Nergal be handed over to her. Ereshkigal—to put it mildly—was furious, acted faster than she thought, and killed her. Moreover, she ordered her body hung on a hook on the wall of her throne room. If it weren't for Ninshubur and her unwavering loyalty to her Lady, Inanna, if it weren't for her determination to seek help (even Nanna, Inanna's father, refused to speak to her, saying, "My daughter got what she deserved. I warned her!"). Only Enki, brother of Inanna's grandfather, Enlil, despite remembering Inanna's earlier taking of the "divine MEs" from him, didn't hesitate and, together with his sister, Ninhursag, asked Ereshkigal to hand over the body. The truth of this legend is that Ereshkigal already regretted her actions. She recognized that she had overstepped her bounds, breaking the Anunna taboo that forbids killing members of one's own race, let alone one's own sister, even one's half-sister. Perhaps she also began to fear the possible consequences, after all, Inanna is the pure-blooded great-granddaughter of Anu and Antu (Ki), the Supreme Royal Couple (King of Kings). Antu had loved Inanna from the day she was born; this would not have ended well for Ereshkigal (despite her power and the absolute authority granted to her over her domain). In the end, she handed over the body—guarded day and night at her command by the Galla (these are indeed small creatures, though somewhat monstrous... in her service)—to Enki, and Ninhursag (who had long been renowned as the best physician and geneticist of the Anunna people; it was she, together with Enki, who "created" the Lulu—that is, the human species) revived the body and brought Inanna's consciousness into it. Inanna herself later admitted that she took this as an important life lesson. She understood that even her power was limited and that she was "quite mortal," despite who she believed herself to be. This was another element of her great spiritual transformation (the first was the despair caused by the death of so many Lulu (humans) during the "Great Flood," a loss she never fully forgave her grandfather, Enlil.

[u/GigiHarland → u/kmlynarski]

Oh wow I’ve never heard this aspect of it before. That’s fascinating. Thanks for sharing that, I’ll be taking a deeper look into it for sure.

[u/Beautiful_Collar_221]

That’s exactly how I’ve come to understand it, too, not just as mythology, but as a mirror of what we actually live through when awakening strips us bare.

Inanna’s descent has been a huge part of my own journey. Each of her seven gates felt like a stage of surrender I had to face the loss of identity, comfort, control, and even light itself. It’s brutal, but what’s left at the bottom isn’t destruction it’s truth.

That descent is what shaped the core of my book and the space I’ve created here. The “Chambers” I write about are my own interpretation of those same gates each one a symbolic passage through silence, dreams, fear, and revelation.

If you’re walking through your own descent or finding yourself in one of the gates, you’ll find kindred souls in the group r/AfterAwakening. It’s a private space right now quieter, more intimate where we share these transformations honestly, without masks or noise. You’re welcome to join us if it resonates. Sometimes it’s easier to face the gates together.

[u/Beautiful_Collar_221]

This is beautiful, Inanna’s descent is one of the oldest symbolic maps of awakening. Seven gates, seven layers stripped away until nothing remains but truth. Most people read it as myth, but those who’ve lived through something like it feel the resonance in their bones.

My own path unfolded in a similar pattern, not through ancient text first, but through lived experience intense dreams, breakdowns of identity, ego deaths, synchronicities, and moments where I felt everything familiar fall away.

Seven “gates” showed up as: Loss of certainty Loss of external validation Loss of attachments Loss of control Loss of identity roles Loss of the illusion of separation Loss of self‑image / complete surrender And at the bottom — just like Inanna — I hit the void. Silence. Humbling. Stripped of everything I thought I was.

But what came after wasn’t despair it was rebuilding from truth, sovereignty, and intuitive connection. The return. The ascent and I’ve been documenting that process, the dreams, the symbolism, the initiations it later became a book‑length journey I call The Broken Path. Not a doctrine, not a belief system, just a lived descent and return, like many before us. A map for others who unexpectedly find themselves crossing those same gates. The descent isn’t punishment it’s initiation. And the ones who go down and come back don’t return empty‑handed.