The Seven Veils of the Soul: When Luna Descended with Inanna (Part 1)

Luna had taken refuge in the most secret corner of her garden, where the sun filtered through the leaves, creating a mosaic of light and shadow. An old book with an ornate cover rested on her lap, its yellowing pages whispering stories of a forgotten time. Today, it was the tale of the descent of Inanna, the powerful Queen of the Sky, into the underworld.

She began to read, her voice barely more than a whisper:

"From the Great Beyond, she listened to what was happening below.

From the Great Beyond, she directed her mind to what was happening below.

The lady gave up her power, gave up her kingship. Inanna gave up her power, gave up her kingship."

The words danced before her eyes, weaving an image of power willfully abandoned. Luna imagined Inanna, her determination palpable, preparing for a journey whose purpose remained obscure. A light breeze rose in the garden, caressing her face like an ancient breath.

She continued, the sentences gently pulling her further into the story:

"She arranged the seven insignia of her power.

She took the shugurra, the crown from her head.

She took the locks of her hair that fell over her forehead.

She took the necklaces of small lapis lazuli stones around her neck.

She took the pearl chains that adorned her chest.

She took the gold bracelets that clasped her wrists.

She took the scepter and the lapis lazuli ring in her hand.

She took the loincloth that covered her beauty."

With each insignia deposited, Luna felt a strange lightness invade her, as if a part of her own shell were dissolving. Queen Inanna was stripping herself of her attributes, becoming more vulnerable, more essential. A dark-winged butterfly landed for a moment on her hand, then flew into the shadows.

A pause. Luna closed her eyes, letting the images resonate within her. Earlier in the day, an innocuous remark from her mother, a rebuke tinged with disappointment, had rekindled an old wound in her, a feeling of inadequacy. She now perceived that same feeling implicitly in Inanna's gesture of covering herself with the symbols of her royalty. A strange coincidence... or perhaps not.

She opened the book again, the words waiting patiently for her:

"Then Inanna stepped forward to the gate of the underworld.

The gatekeeper, Neti, stood there.

She said to Neti, "O gatekeeper, raise your head!

For Ereshkigal, alone, I would enter."

Inanna's persistence, her determination in the face of the unknown, resonated with Luna's deep desire to understand her own inner "doors," those thresholds she was so hesitant to cross.

"Neti said to the great queen, 'Wait, O lady!

I will inform my queen.'

Neti entered Ereshkigal and said, 'O my queen, a great lady!

More radiant than daylight!

She is approaching the door.

She has arranged the seven insignia of her power.

But she has removed them and tied them to her hands.'

The name Ereshkigal, the Dark Sister, the Queen of the Underworld, was heard for the first time. Luna felt a shiver run down her spine, an instinctive resonance with this figure of shadow and subterranean power.

"Ereshkigal said to Neti: "O guardian of the door, raise your head!

According to the ancient ordinances, open the door for her.

But obey the ancient ordinances.

Bring her in, bending forward."

Ereshkigal's injunction, Inanna's need to bend, to humble herself to enter, evoked in Luna the times when she had felt the pressure to conform, to bend to the expectations of others, at the risk of losing a part of herself.

Luna read the rest, breathless:

At the first gate, he had her remove the great crown from her head.

"What is this?" "It is the shugurra, the crown of my head."

"Take it off, O Inanna, may the ancient ordinances be kept!"

At the second gate, he had her remove the locks of hair that fell over her forehead.

"What is this?"

"These are the locks of my hair that fell over my forehead."

"Take them off, O Inanna, may the ancient ordinances be kept!"

At the third gate, he had her remove the necklaces of small lapis lazuli stones from around her neck. "What is this?"

"These are the necklaces of small lapis lazuli stones from around my neck."

"Take them off, O Inanna, may the ancient ordinances be kept!"

At the fourth gate, he had her remove the strings of pearls from around her chest.

"What is this?"

"These are the pearl chains that adorned my chest."

"Take them off, O Inanna, let the ancient ordinances be kept!"

At the fifth gate, he had her remove the golden bracelets that bound her wrists.

"What is it?"

"These are the golden bracelets that bound my wrists."

"Take them off, O Inanna, let the ancient ordinances be kept!"

At the sixth gate, he had her remove the scepter and the lapis lazuli ring in her hand.

"What is it?"

"It is the scepter and the lapis lazuli ring in my hand."

"Take them off, O Inanna, let the ancient ordinances be kept!"

At the seventh gate, he had her remove the loincloth that covered her beauty.

"What is it?" "It is the loincloth that covered my beauty."

“Take it off, O Inanna, that the ancient ordinances may be kept!”

As Inanna shed her clothes and jewelry, Luna felt a strange confusion settle over her. The sensations of vulnerability, of being exposed, became almost palpable, as if she herself were walking through those doors. Her own body seemed to react, a heat rising in her cheeks, a tension in her chest. The line between reader and story began to blur.

She read on, her heart beating faster:

After she entered, bent forward,

Ereshkigal rose from her throne.

She had her sit on her own throne.

"Why did your heart draw you to me?"

After she sat on her throne,

the seven judges of the Underworld pronounced their sentence against her.

They stared at her with their deathly gaze.

Their words, full of anger, cried out against her.

Their sixty diseases fell upon her body.

The image of Inanna, stripped of all power, facing the implacable judgment of the Underworld, left Luna gasping. She remembered a recent night, a strange dream in which a dark, accusing figure stood before her, whispering indistinct reproaches. Was it Ereshkigal? Her personal shadow manifesting itself in dream language?

The following words struck her with unexpected force:

"She was changed into a corpse hanging from a hook.

After she was changed into a corpse hanging from a hook..."

A shock ran through her. A sharp, stabbing pain, as if her own breath had been cut off. Limits collapsed completely. In that moment, Luna was Inanna, suspended, annihilated. Fear, cold and visceral, gripped her.

[End of Part 1]