GlobalWoman · Find your way in the world
The descent of Inanna
The oldest story ever written about going down and coming back, told in full, and what it asks of you.
The lowdown
Going down and coming back
Like Inanna, we too know the descent: when life strips us bare and pulls us into the underworld, and what once defined us falls away, opening the path to rebirth.
In these moments, it’s easy to believe we’re failing, or that something has gone wrong. But what if this is simply part of the journey to find your way in the world?
This is the oldest story ever written about going down and coming back. Here it is, from the first step to the last.
The myth
The descent of Inanna, told in full
The choice
No one sends Inanna into the underworld. Queen of heaven, goddess of love and war, she turns her attention from the great above to the great below, and decides to go.
The reason she gives
Her sister Ereshkigal rules the underworld, and Ereshkigal is grieving. Her husband, the Bull of Heaven, has died. Inanna says she is going to the funeral.
The preparation
Before she leaves, Inanna dresses in her seven powers: her crown, her small lapis beads, a double strand of beads, her breastplate, her gold ring, her lapis measuring rod and line, and her royal robe. She gives one instruction to Ninshubur, her most faithful companion: if I am not back in three days, raise a lament for me, and go to the gods for help.
The gates
At the outer gate, the gatekeeper Neti stops her and goes to Ereshkigal. The queen of the dead gives her orders: bolt the seven gates, and open each one only when Inanna has given something up. At the first gate, they take her crown. At the last, her royal robe. She enters the throne room naked and bowed low. See what each gate takes, and what it asks of you.
The death
The seven judges of the underworld fix their eyes on her, the eyes of death. Inanna is struck dead, and her body is hung on a hook.
The waiting
Three days pass. Ninshubur keeps her promise. She mourns, then goes from god to god. Enlil refuses. Nanna refuses. Only Enki, god of wisdom, agrees to help. From the dirt beneath his fingernails he shapes two small beings, neither male nor female, and gives them the food and water of life.
The rescue
The two slip into the underworld and find Ereshkigal in pain, crying out. They do not flinch. They cry with her. Moved, she offers them a gift, and they ask for the body on the hook. They sprinkle it with the food and water of life, and Inanna rises.
The price
Demons follow her up, demanding someone to take her place. They pass over everyone who mourned her. Then they find her husband, Dumuzi, not mourning at all, sitting on his throne in fine clothes. Inanna fixes the eye of death on him, and he is taken.
No one returns from the underworld unmarked.
The ending
Dumuzi’s sister, Geshtinanna, offers to share his fate. From then on, each spends half the year below.
The story was pressed into clay tablets nearly 4,000 years ago, and later retold by the Akkadians as the descent of Ishtar. Meet the names she travelled under.
That is the myth. What it asks of you is the rest of this piece.
Nine questions. Nine muses. Find the one who is showing you the way.
The cycle
Inanna and the cycle of transformation
Inanna’s descent into the underworld, like Ishtar’s, isn’t a tale of failure. It’s a powerful reminder that transformation is necessary, often uncomfortable, and inevitable. These myths of descent and return show us that life’s challenges are essential to growth.
Inanna, the Sumerian goddess of love, beauty and fertility, is intimately connected with Venus, the planet of love, desire and cycles of rebirth. Just as Venus disappears from the sky during its retrograde cycle, only to return in a new phase, Inanna’s myth mirrors that celestial rhythm of descent, disappearance and rebirth.
Transformation is cyclical, not linear.
There are moments when we shine brightly, embodying our full power. And there are moments when we must retreat, shed old layers and journey through the darkness before rising again.
The lesson
The cycles of Venus reflect our own. Disappearance is not failure. It’s renewal in progress: when you lose something, it makes space for something new to emerge.
The descent
The descent is not defeat
Inanna’s journey takes her through seven gates, surrendering something precious at each one, her crown, her jewels, her royal garments, until she stands completely exposed. It is the loss of external identities and comforts, preparing her for deeper transformation.
This isn’t just a myth. It’s a universal truth. Life strips us down at times. We lose jobs, relationships, roles and identities. Inanna’s story teaches that shedding what no longer serves us is part of becoming our true selves, and part of the muse-led journey to find our way in the world.
The lesson
Letting go isn’t defeat. It’s the precursor to profound transformation.
The return
The return is the rebirth
Inanna doesn’t stay in the underworld. Like Venus returning to the sky, she rises, transformed, wiser and more powerful than before. But her ascent isn’t passive. She reclaims her place in the world by surrendering to the process, trusting the natural cycles of life, and rising with new strength.
This is what true transformation looks like:
not forcing change, but allowing the journey to reshape you.
It’s about aligning with your inner muse, trusting your process, and finding your way back to yourself, stronger and more aligned with your truth.
The lesson
When you trust the descent, the rise will come.
The practice
Navigating your descent and rise
If you’re in a phase of loss, uncertainty or reinvention, take comfort in Inanna’s myth.
You are not lost.
You are between phases, gathering wisdom for your rise.
The muses are with you, helping you find your way in the world, even in the darkest times.
What if your current darkness isn’t an ending, but a Venusian pause?
What if every piece you shed makes space for a truer you?
What if, like Venus, you are meant to disappear briefly,
only to return brighter than ever?
The gates within
The seven gates of personal transformation
Inanna’s descent through the seven gates mirrors the stages of our own transformation. At each gate, she surrenders a part of herself:
For the symbol behind each gate, read the symbols of Inanna and the 7 gates.
The lesson
Sometimes transformation is about releasing what’s holding you back.
Your inner muse knows the way. The descent, the pause, the uncertainty: it’s all part of finding your way in the world. Let Inanna’s myth remind you that even in your darkest moments, you’re simply preparing to rise again.
When you trust the descent, the rise will come. Which muse rises with you?
