Hey Cristina, great thread!! I don't have time to read all of it right now (all 50 billion posts
), but I thought I'd fill you in on
Inanna.
I have a massive interest in pre-Judeo Christian religions, and if I were to go back to university right now, I would major in archeology and anthropology, with a focus on ancient (neolithic and before) religions. Sumer is the most ancient civilization known to this point, civilization being counted as the advent of writing, which we get from Sumer. Inanna was the Sumerian Goddess of the Morning & Evening Stars. She was known as the Queen of Heaven and her stories are quite numerous. In one story, she decides to visit her 'sister', Queen of the Underworld. To get there, she must pass through seven gate, at each of which she must remove an article of her worldly connections, so that she passes into the Underworld as naked as when she was born. No illusions, no material possessions, no pride of place in the world, just as she was. When she arrived, her sister had her tortured and murdered, but Inanna had been prepared for this and she had arranged for someone to go for help should this happen. She was saved by two demons (for lack of a better word) who tricked the Queen of the Underworld into giving the Inanna's body and what was needed to revive her. And so, Inanna returned to the world, but someone had to take her place in the Underworld, so some guarantors were sent with her to make sure she did. Several times as they travelled, they met people who were special to Inanna, but Inanna kept saying that this person was not the one. Then they came to her palace, and there was her beloved husband, sitting on her throne and celebrating. The betrayal stung Inanna and she told the guarantors that this was the person who would take her place in the Underworld.
He was saved by his own sister, by the way, who agreed to take his place in the Underworld for six months of every year, allowing him to return home to Inanna (for they genuinely loved and cared for one another). And so, summer and winter are explained in ancient Sumeria. It is summer when hubbie is home, winter when he is in the Underworld.
The summer before I came to KA was one of the most difficult in my life. I felt like I'd been stripped of everything by pain and that my diagnosis was akin to Inanna's visit to the Underworld. Every step I have taken since then has been one more step to living in the world again.
So there you are, the story of my user name.
Hugs,
Kat
