The Lady Ishtar.

[Nepheria]

Greetings!

All righteo. I've a question to ask some of you. I have heard the calling of another Goddess--The Lady Ishtar. Who would have thought? It actually happened around the time I was doing the research for the Lilith thread that was going for a while. Somehow, Lilith went to Inanna, to Erishkigal. It's a very odd story and I'm not sure how to explain it. I kept feeling drawn to the Inanna and Erishkigal thing before this though. However, I didn't want anymore 'Dark' Deities on my worshiping list. It's quite full, I tell you! Not that it's a bad thing. I just kept thinking that I needed some more, 'Light,' to balance myself. Balance can happen in weird ways.

Anyhow, The other evening I was doing a reading with my Goddess Oracle cards. I thought in my head, 'What is the meaning of this Inanna/Erishkigal pull? Are these the Goddesses calling to me?' I cut the deck and looked at the bottom card in my right hand--Ishtar. I opened my Oracle book to look and see what sort of Goddess Ishtar was. I opened the book right to the page on Ishtar. Now, this is utterly absurd but my Oracle book had a violet aura around it. Since when do books have auras?

The little bit of information that the book had was not satisfying my curiosity. I got online and did a little bit of research only to see a thickly drawn line connecting Ishtar to Inanna and Inanna to Ishtar. Was I tricked?

I wasn't going to accept Inanna because of what she represented to me. 'Embracing the Shadows,' I've been quite sick of being sucked into the Shadows but apparently I wasn't learning from those experiences. So, I'm guessing Inanna called to me in the form of Ishtar. Or Ishtar in the form of Inanna... I also found out that Ishtar is a War Goddess. That left me shaking my head, "Great, Just great. More War Goddess energy. Whoohoo! Like I don't get enough of that from the rest?" Apparently not. I prayed to Ishtar because as I was staring at my Oracle book, I felt her. She didn't have the fiery energy that The Morrigan has, she had a subtle energy. Nearly soothing. I felt like a giddy little girl meeting someone new that was both fascinating and very interesting. It's been a few days since the Oracle incident. I asked Ishtar to show me in my dreams what she wished or asked of me. Was she taking me as a Daughter? It felt like it, but who knows. I haven't remembered much of my dreams except for Tigers and Spiders. (I'm having bad spider incidents lately--Goddess only knows what that's trying to tell me.) To my knowledge, Ishtar is associated with the Lions and Snakes (A totem of mine). I don't know about Tigers. So far, she seems distant yet very much there.

The main question I have for those of you that work with her is this: What is your experience with her? What sort of Goddess does she feel like to you? By the way, any information regarding Ishtar would be wonderful and appreciated. I'm finding redundant stuff. Is Ishtar Inanna? What's her associations with Erishkigal, do you think? Is she both? Eh? Really, so far it seems that Ishtar isn't really light, but she's not really dark. Does anyone else pick up on this?


Wowee. That felt like an essay. :)

Blessings,
Nepheria.

[DamienDeville]

This is just my oppinion,but to me Ishtar,Inanna and Lilith are just aspects of the same goddess.I know they were not considered the same by most people,but in my own personal path all goddesses are one and she has many aspects(though I do believe there are lesser spirit beings that may have female aspects as well as some that have male aspects).And she contains both dark and light aspects as does the god.
Maybe the goddess is trying to tell you that she is both and all at the same time,this is what I believe.
As for links,I cant think of any at the time sorry.There probably the same as you have read anyway.Sorry if I couldnt be of more help.

[TheTownWitch]

I definitely agree with the above...that the Goddess is telling you that She is both light and dark.

For me Ishtar is both. Yes, she is a Warrior Goddess however that can mean different things. My circle did a ritual to honor Ishtar last year and one of the things that came through is that Ishtar is calling for Her warrior children to come forth and bring about peace in Her homeland. The Middle East has been in such turmoil and it just may take a Warrior Goddess and Her children to change this.

Also there is the aspect of Ishtar as the Sacred Whore...so I find her Warrior aspects a lot less fiery (like you said) and not so "in your face" so to speak.

This probably isn't making much sense (sorry)...but maybe you could look at what a Dark War/rior Goddess looks like to you and explore the different levels of that. As Inanna went inward this time of year maybe that would be helpful for you too.

[Nepheria]

Greetings,

I can see where the Goddess is pointing out that she is both--Yet, I've known that. A friendly reminder, Mayhap? If I recall correctly, it was actually the Hebrews who named Ishtar the 'Whore of Babylon'-amongst probably a few others that didn't take too kindly to some of her Priestesses being Prostitutes.

When I tried meditating on Ishtar--It was not Ishtar that came to me. 'Twas Erishkigal. However, I'm not going to go into how the meditation went, that's a personal experience that I had better keep to myself. I'll continue with research and wait for her calling once more. Patience is a Virtue, after all.

Town, everything you said made perfect sense to me. It's completely understandable. I see Ishtar as more of the line that connects the Yin and the Yang. I don't see her really as Dark or Light, but more as the scales--Hopefully, that makes sense.

Thanks for the replies, they were well worth reading and quite helpful. :)

Blessings,
Nepheria.

[TheTownWitch]

I see Ishtar as more of the line that connects the Yin and the Yang. I don't see her really as Dark or Light, but more as the scales.

I like this imagery...it makes perfect sense!

Lisa

[Verthandi]

Greetings,

I can see where the Goddess is pointing out that she is both--Yet, I've known that. A friendly reminder, Mayhap? If I recall correctly, it was actually the Hebrews who named Ishtar the 'Whore of Babylon'-amongst probably a few others that didn't take too kindly to some of her Priestesses being Prostitutes.

When I tried meditating on Ishtar--It was not Ishtar that came to me. 'Twas Erishkigal. However, I'm not going to go into how the meditation went, that's a personal experience that I had better keep to myself. I'll continue with research and wait for her calling once more. Patience is a Virtue, after all.

Town, everything you said made perfect sense to me. It's completely understandable. I see Ishtar as more of the line that connects the Yin and the Yang. I don't see her really as Dark or Light, but more as the scales--Hopefully, that makes sense.

Thanks for the replies, they were well worth reading and quite helpful. :)

Blessings,
Nepheria.
I'm dedicated to Ishtar and let me tell you, it's a rollar coaster! Most of the time, I feel subtle energy from her, but there are times when it varies from one extreme to the other--extremely passionate about one thing, then wanting to pick fights the next. She tends to be very protective of her followers.

It's interesting that it was Erishkagil that came to you, not Ishtar and yet you feel drawn to the latter. In some tellings of Ishtar's descent to the Underworld, once Ishtar descended, she decided that she liked the idea of ruling over the dead so she tried to take over. Of course, she couldn't take the Underworld from its goddess, her sister Erishkagil. Perhaps Erishkagil is warning you not to get arrogant and cocky as Ishtar can sometimes get.

Here's a version of the Descent of Ishtar: http://www.angelfire.com/tx/tintirbabylon/nam.html
A different adaptation: http://www.angelfire.com/tx/tintirbabylon/nam.html

There are some broken links, but this is by far one of the best sites for Babylonian magic and lore: http://www.angelfire.com/tx/tintirbabylon/nam.html

Some Ishtar sites I've found:
http://www.thewhitemoon.com/gallery/Ishtar.html
http://zer0dmx.tripod.com/gods/ishtar.html
http://sangha.net/messengers/ishtar.htm

Best of luck in your studies and feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

[Nepheria]

I'm dedicated to Ishtar and let me tell you, it's a rollar coaster! Most of the time, I feel subtle energy from her, but there are times when it varies from one extreme to the other--extremely passionate about one thing, then wanting to pick fights the next. She tends to be very protective of her followers.

Yes, that's how it is with most of my Patrons. The waters are calm one moment, then you're neck deep in alligators and wondering how they came about.

It's interesting that it was Erishkagil that came to you, not Ishtar and yet you feel drawn to the latter. In some tellings of Ishtar's descent to the Underworld, once Ishtar descended, she decided that she liked the idea of ruling over the dead so she tried to take over. Of course, she couldn't take the Underworld from its goddess, her sister Erishkagil. Perhaps Erishkagil is warning you not to get arrogant and cocky as Ishtar can sometimes get.

I'm very much drawn to both of them. The meditation with Erishkigal was pretty personal and intense, as I said before I'm going to keep that to myself. I did learn what I needed to learn from her--and I feel that I will, of course, be working more with Erishkigal and Ishtar. I'm actually far from arrogant, though I can get fairly saracastic (okay, very sarcastic) at times. To me, Ishtar doesn't seem like a 'Wild Child,' at all, more like a 'Sensual Huntress.'

Again, thanks for the information. I'm going to do some research and read through the material. :)

Blessings,
Nepheria.