Ereshkigal

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In the ancient Sumerian religion, the universe was divided into three regions each of which became the domain of a god. Anu, the Sky Father, was also "King of the Gods", "Lord of the Constellations, Spirits, and Demons", and "Supreme Ruler of the Kingdom of Heaven", which was his domain. The earth was given to Enlil while Enki became the ruler of the waters. Together they constituted the “triad of the Great Gods”. According to the Epic of Gilgamesh (c.1850 BC), Ereshkigal was “given the underworld for her domain” which She became the ruler.

 

Ereshkigal is first mentioned in the Sumerian poem The Death of Ur-Nammu which dates to the reign of Shulgi of Ur (2029-1982 BCE). She was undoubtedly known earlier, however, and most likely during the time of the Akkadian Empire (2334-2218 BCE).

Ereshkigal was also known as Irkalla and Allatu. Her name translates as the Queen of the Great Place or the Great Below, referring to the vast land of the dead which was thought to lie beneath the Mountains of Sunset to the west and was known as Kurnugia ('the Land of No Return’).

 

By the time of the Old Babylonian Period (c. 2000-1600 BCE), Ereshkigal was widely recognized as the Queen of the Dead, lending support to the claim that the Queen of the Night relief from Hammurabi's reign depicts her. Although goddesses lost their status later in Mesopotamian history, early evidence clearly shows the most powerful deities were once female.

 

Daughter of Anu,, who ruled over the highest spiritual realm, and Nammu, the creatix  goddess and Lady of the Beginning. She is also Enki’s twin and the older sister of Inanna, the goddess of life and fertility. In this sense, she is also her counterpart, the goddess of death, and also the symbol of nature during the non-productive season of the year (winter). She is considered the representation of divine darkness, and the shadow side of the soul. Some scholars in fact suggest that this Goddess represents another aspect of Inanna as they both symbolize the wheel of the seasons. Inanna is the Queen of Heaven and Ereshkigal is the Queen of the Underworld. From a symbolic perspective, the two sisters represent the dual aspect of the goddess. The two forms of the goddess suggest the primordial polarity of being that must be integrated in order to realize the totality and wholeness of the Self.

 

It is a symbolic description of the cycles of life as it progressed through nature’s seasons, as a reassurance that spring’s sprouting and summer’s blossoming will always follow agriculture’s decline in the fall and apparent death in winter. But it contains also stories about the life of the soul which can be of enormous comfort to individuals who find themselves in a descent phase of life.

 

Ereshkigal is the one who makes the laws and holds all power in the Underworld. She is the inflexible deity of the Land of No Return. She ruled over the souls from her palace Ganzir, located at the entrance to the underworld, and guarded by seven gates which were kept by her faithful servant Neti.  Although Ereshkigal was feared, she was also greatly respected. A powerful goddess but very much alone and self-contained. She ruled her realm by herself until the war god Nergal, son of Enlil and Ninlil, became her consort and co-ruler for six months of the year.

As the story unfolds, both will open up to each other, bond, and become the mighty rulers of the Mesopotamian Underworld. This myth is much more than a simple love story, starting with the fact that it is unique in world myth and religion.  A myth that is a love story with a happy ending in the realm of the Dead.

 

Often Ereshkigal is depicted as a figure of great power, but never as a love-inspiring deity. Neither we can say about Nergal, therefore their union constitutes a sacred image of Divine Love which is a recurrent motif in world mythology.

 

The story of the descent of her sister Inanna to the Underworld is the most familiar myth of Ereshkigal, and the prime example of power, fortitude, and wisdom. She can be seen as the mirror image of Inanna, where the joyful and sensual Inanna is the Earth and the Sky while Ereshkigal in her gloomy and lonesome is a dark abyss, hell. She symbolized the Abyss which is the source and the end, the ground of all beings.

It could be interpreted as a symbolic journey of a woman becoming her “true self”, but also a journey to wholeness by confronting one’s darker half.

 

In spiritual terms, Ereshkigal embodies the shadow self; described as the undesirable parts of our consciousness – the things we deem as inferior, or unacceptable. The emotions, desires, and understandings we deny in ourselves become part of our shadow. Her work is to integrate the unconscious shadow mind with the consciousness light mind, in both mortals and deities alike. Only through this assimilation can a soul be whole and complete. As the shadow self can be a frightening and uncomfortable subject, Ereshkigal is often portrayed as demonesque;  a scary, and unrelenting figure in ancient mythology. However, she withholds unconditional love. She is the Mother who supports us, answers our questions, and imparts the needed lessons through our journey in the dark. She may hang us on the hook, and let us deal with trials, but she doesn’t do it for fun. She does it because it has to be done, in order for us to move to the next level of our spiritual development. She is the knowing within.

 

Paola Luciani Fulbright