One of my favorite women on the planet, a gifted priestess with whom I am blessed to share space on the regular, wrote this beautiful piece over at her blog.

"There are some of us who are the Dark Goddess and have been for quite some time. I have noted that these folks are feeling this shift the hardest. Going through the birthing pangs as Ereshkigal writhing alone and in the dark. Facing those who are saying “it’s not that bad” or “give it a chance let’s see how things go”. We know though that that only prolongs the process. It is only through BECOMING the  Dark Goddess and seeing her for who she truly is the Goddess of creation and rebirth, that we are able to live again. She is literally attempting to birth us into a new world at this time. So are you silencing her? Attempting to persuade her that her pain is not real? Or are you standing with her and seeing the truth of this moment?"

no-authorityThis resonated with me more than I can articulate. I have felt for some time that the time of the Dark Goddess is coming, that we are to be faced with an Underworld Journey on a collective, as well as personal, level. The story of Inanna and her journey through the Underworld started speaking to me a few years ago, when I read Jane Meredith's excellent Journey to the Dark Goddess. That book came into my life at a time when I felt I had just completed my own Underworld Journey of leaving an abusive marriage, grappling with the aftermath, and finally finding my footing. And while I know that we all will journey to the Underworld many times in our life, this particular journey felt profound in the way that none other before it had. 

I feel the call of the Underworld again, and more and more I feel the call not to be Inanna but to be Ninshibur -- the loyal servant she left at the entrance, to ensure that she would return from her journey. I feel the call to be Eriskegal, who in her birthing pangs shows us the darkness at the heart of the world, at the heart of ourselves, and yet gives us the tools to birth a new world into being. I feel the call to be Eriskegal's handmaiden, who at every one of the seven gates demands Inanna surrender another piece of herself, and when challenged will only assure her, "Hush, Inanna, the ways of the Underworld are perfect."

Photo by Dee Hill. HAMU by Vivienne Vermuth. Styling by Zenda LaBelle.

This blog is mirrored at my Wordpress blog, Priestessing the Dream