The Girdle of Ishtar: Astrology for Everywoman by Jessica North-O'Connell
Posted July 30th, 2010 by Anonymous
The Girdle of Ishtar: Astrology for Everywoman
(c) 2010, Jessica North-O'Connell
It seems that
summer has barely begun and yet we find ourselves already at First Harvest, six
weeks beyond the Midsummer celebration of the Sun at its height.
The festival of Lammas, also known as Lughnasadh, honors the Celtic god of light, Lugh of the Long Arm, those far-reaching shafts of sunlight that illuminate our lands during the summer months. Irish Celtic myth tells us that it was Lugh who inaugurated the festival and seasonal games in honor of his foster mother, Tailtiu, who died of exhaustion after having cleared lands so that her people could plant crops. So it is fitting that at this time our own diligent gardening efforts begin to “bear fruit,” with the ripening of many berry varieties, transparent apples, salad greens and other early crops.
According to some sources, Lughnasadh in
The season of Lammas calls to mind those myths which revolve around the Green Man, and the sacrificial son/lover of the Mother Goddess, with their seasonal contract of birth, death and rebirth.
GREEN MAN: The Captive King
“You
can cover your ears to drown his cries -
Yet Pan just keeps on calling.” - Mark Simos (1)
He is known by several names throughout our many cultures and has been
part of our collective heritage since time out of mind. Consort, son or brother
of the Great Goddess, his annual death and rebirth represented the great cycle
of nature, his role as god of fertility essential to the well-being of the
people who honored him. He is the archetypal Wildman, the representative of
male nurture and wholeness, the pure, untrammelled energy of the Masculine
spirit.
Often featured as the “foliate head,” a leaf-enshrouded mask (sometimes
with horns) carved into the pillars of old churches, the Green Man represents
the Earth-honoring masculine aspect of Divinity, he who cyclically dies and is
resurrected, in contrast to the Goddess who generally remains deathless. It is
thought that his pillars may have been erected on the sites where those trees
held sacred by Pagan cultures once grew.(2)
He was Tammuz to the Babylonians, Osiris to the Egyptians, Kernunnos
and Herne to the Celts, Pan and Dionysus to the Greeks, Minos or the Minotaur
to the Minoans, Jack o' the Green, Green George, the May King or the Leaf Man
on the British Isles where, as the legendary year king, the sacrifice of his
life ensured the return (or rebirth) of the land’s fertility, both of the
harvest crops and of the animals who fell to the hunt, or who were cultivated
for food and clothing. The theme of his death and resurrection is visible in
the myth of Jesus the Christ, upon whom rests the foundations of Christianity.
The Sumerians knew him as the shepherd Dumuzi, (whose name means
“faithful son”) (3), chosen by the Great Goddess Inanna to be her love, husband
and king, though by accounts of their courtship their initial alliance was not
an easy one. (4) This suggests that the farming people of
The story recounts Inanna gathering together her riches, the sacred me, and her descent during which her
wealth and status as Queen of Heaven were stripped from her, a metaphor for
death as the great leveller, before she could enter the Underworld. She
instructed her trusted secretary Ninshubur to enlist help in the event that
she, Inanna, did not return within three days, the traditional length of time
for the mythic Underworld journey and/or process of resurrection.
Under the pretence of wishing to observe the funeral rites of
Ereshkigal’s husband, Inanna approached the first of the seven gates to the
Underworld and demanded entry. At each gate she was commanded by a guardian to
surrender an item of her office: her crown, lapis beads, double strand of
beads, breastplate, gold ring, lapis measuring rod and royal robe. Finally she
entered the throne room of her sister where:
“...Ereshkigal
fastened on Inanna the eye of death.
She spoke against her the word of wrath.
She uttered against her the cry of guilt.
She struck her.
Inanna was turned into a corpse,
A piece of rotting meat,
And was hung from a hook on
the wall” (6)
When after three days and nights Inanna had not returned, Ninshubur
proceeded to seek help as she had been instructed. Twice she was refused by
gods, among them Inanna’s own father, an indication of the ascendency of male social
dominance which was becoming established at that time. Then Enki, god of wisdom
and bridge to the Feminine realm, agreed to help. He fashioned two beings, the kurgarra and galatur, from the dirt under his fingernails to be the bearers of
the food and the water of life. These he sent to accompany Ninshubur to the
Underworld with instructions to sprinkle the corpse of Inanna with the food and
water of life so that she would be restored. The kurgarra and galatur were
instructed to slip into the throne room of Ereshkigal and to mourn with her in
sympathy for her pain. Some accounts say it was the pain of childbirth, others
that it was the suffering of existence.(7)
So grateful was Ereshkigal for their empathetic expressions that she
offered them a gift. They chose the corpse of Inanna upon which they then
sprinkled the food and water of life, as they had been instructed by Enki, and
she was brought back to life.
Ereshkigal, however, was not prepared to release Inanna without a
substitute. Refusing to surrender Ninshubur or her own sons Shara and Lulal,
she finally decided that Dumuzi would be the one to take her place, after finding him ready to usurp her throne
in the upper world.
“In Uruk, by
the big apple tree,
Dumuzi, the husband of Inanna, was dressed in his shining me garments.
He sat on his magnificent throne; (he did not move)....
Inanna fastened on Dumuzi the eye of death.
She spoke against him the world of wrath.
She uttered against him the cry of guilt:
‘Take him! Take Dumuzi away!’ (8)
Dumuzi, the shepherd king, fled and hid on the steppes. There he
dreamed about his sister, Geshtinanna, who would eventually trade places with
her brother in the Underworld for half the year, by agreement of Inanna in
sympathy for her suffering.
When Dumuzi was finally apprehended by the agents from the Underworld
called the galla,
“They
surrounded him.
They bound his hands. They bound his neck.
The churn was silent. No milk was poured.
The cup was shattered. Dumuzi was no more.
The sheepfold was given to
the winds.” (9)
Though he had usurped the Goddess’s place, all women mourned the disappearance of Dumuzi, including Dumuzi’s mother, Sirtur, and Inanna, despite it being Inanna herself who had “...placed Dumuzi in the hands of the eternal.”
While on the one hand the tale clearly represents the seasonal year,
with its dependence upon both crops and livestock, we can see social
implications inherent within this myth which portend the rise and fall of
status according to gender and, hence, the organization of society. Upon her
return from the Underworld, Inanna finds that her husband, rather than mourning
her own disappearance and death, has happily assumed her throne. By condemning
him to the Underworld she forces him to accept the conditions of her own fate,
that of hanging lifeless upon a hook in stasis, if not actual death, stripped
of all status. Yet it is the compassion of Inanna and the sympathy of Dumuzi’s
own sister, Gesthinanna, which allow him to return to the land of the living
for part of each year and to actively engage in the cyclic nature of the world,
an attribute of the life-bestowing grace of the Goddess.
The growing awareness of the Feminine aspect and the emergence of women
into the public eye of the present-day world are reflections of the story of
Dumuzi and Inanna. In recent years many women have made Inanna’s perilous
questing journey into the “Underworld” (represented by the deteriorating
environment, the threat of nuclear war, de-feminization, legislated poverty and
other social inequities, etc.) Returning, we have “fastened the eye of death”
upon those oblivious or uncaring
perpetrators, most of whom are men, if not “men in skirts,” who occupy
positions of dominance, influence and control (which some refer to as “power
over”), which profoundly influence the immediate destiny of this planet and the
lives of women, children and those men who serve, for it is upon our backs that
the current system of hierarchy has been built in this earthly realm. We cannot
climb down from the “hook on the wall” nor receive the “food and water of life”
while we support our own oppression. In order to redress the balance we must
all be ready to assume our share of the responsibility to recreate
sustainability for the Earth and for our descendants, to not allow the further
abuse and degradation of our planet nor of ourselves.
This necessitates self-knowledge and a commitment to our own personal
evolution, the courage to stand for what we believe in and to stand against
that which causes harm. It demands of us that we diligently apply ourselves to
our own re-education in the principles and practice of an egalitarian
partnership model and that we then find ways to teach it to those who would
usurp our birthright. All children of Earth require and deserve liberty, dignity,
respect and quality of life.
We must allow ourselves to hear, once again, the call of the Green Man
and to celebrate him with our dance of life, he who reminds us that life is
ecstatic, creative and fertile, who joyfully gives of himself for the common
good, he who lives dormant and captive in the hearts of all men, the brothers,
fathers, lovers, mates and sons of women; he whose premier role it is to be the
guardian, support and protector of Mother Earth in her many expressions, of
which he is one.
The Celestial Seasonal Outlook
(Calculated for sundown, August 1, 2010, 48N25, 123W22, PDT. Please
note that this choice of date is based upon the 'static' Gregorian calendar,
rather than the actual lunar calendar used by the Celts. )
As the sun sets, in the fashion of the Celtic tradition, the Feast of Lammas, festival of bread and grains, begins. Amidst the excitement and merriment of the First Harvest, there lingers an air of sadness, knowledge that the summer days will be drawing to an end, and the bustle of the harvest season will soon be upon us, in preparation for the long winter months.
The rising sign of this chart is Aquarius, suggesting a commonality of
purpose, a drawing together in community, though with
At times of possible confusion, it is always advisable to check our own
motives, which may be tricky, and to ask for clarification from others if there
is any chance of misunderstanding. With
With eruptive and changeable Uranus next to expansive Jupiter, both in impulsive Aries, also occupying the first house of this chart, we may find ourselves impatient and over-eager, resenting the call for balance that is currently being invoked through an opposition to grounding and structure-loving Saturn in Libra. We may feel that others are “holding us back” or interfering with “the flow.” Take a deep breath and count to ten before proceeding.
Aries' associate planet, Mars, is also in Libra and in close proximity to Saturn, attempting to learn how to take a leaf from the Book of Balance, or could that possibly be the plotting of war-like strategies?
At its best, Libra calls for us to consider things from more than one perspective, weighing all options before moving forward. Hasty Mars butting up against staid Saturn can lead to blow-ups, arguments and stand-offs – remember the deep breathing and counting!
As if this opposition set isn't enough, we also have to contend with both Jupiter/Uranus and Saturn/Mars challenging Pluto in Capricorn. Mythically, Pluto is god of the Underworld, the realm of the disowned, disembodied, dishevelled and the very, very deep. Consider this a time when it is possible that every deep or hidden part of us may suddenly erupt from the Upperworld, and very likely at times we may consider inappropriate.
However, in another attempt to help us keep a sense of balance, Sun in Leo in the sixth house of service provides a wide opposition to the Aquarius ascendant, which may even allow us to laugh at our own foibles and to enjoy finding creative ways to encourage our personal expression within the collective. Leo represents creativity, self-expression, playfulness, and the child-like, after all, as well as the theatrical...Can we express ourselves creatively through service and have a chuckle at the same time? The sixth house also concerns itself with pets – it could be the perfect time to reconnect with our animal allies and friends, both manifest and spiritual.
In the second house, Moon in Aries contributes to innovation, especially with regards to our personal resources and how we value them. One of the interpretations of the Moon is how (or where) we find personal nurture. The Moon's position here has some of us trail-blazing new attitudes: do we own or are we owned by our possessions? How do our personal values impact our relationship with the community at large? Can we find refreshment and inspiration for ourselves through helping community members who are perhaps less privileged or fortunate, or in a disadvantaged position in some way? Aries is a champion and a Romantic, in the truest sense of the word. In a disenchanted age, we all need a little Romance to see us through.
Both Mercury and Venus in Virgo in the seventh house, though not making aspect to each other, show a need to consider the details and fine points of any situation involving others. Venus tends to graciousness, hospitality and ettiquette, while Mercury's trine to Pluto in Capricorn encourages us to dig below the surface, thus helping us avoid settling for “bandaid” solutions. The mythic Mercury was no stranger to Pluto's realm; in fact, as Psychopomp his visits were very frequent as he guided souls to the depths. Taking a cue from Dreambody (10) work, now is a good time to pay attention to health matters, and to watch our dreams for messages from our own “depth realms.” With lofty Sagittarius crowning this chart at its Midheaven (tenth house cusp), we are challenged to seek the big picture, to pursue the overview rather than getting stuck in the details to which Mercury in Virgo may succumb. “Put it in context...”
Gemini at the foundational midnight point (nadir or fourth house cusp) further reminds us that solutions often lie in more than one direction. It's a good idea to consider multiple options rather than jumping to conclusions, a tendency certainly shown by other chart elements! This may, indeed, be an appropriate time to consider the “wisdom of our elders,” and to truly appreciate our remarkable heritage.
As a friend and colleague of mine states: “...Just as the infant must endure the long hours of suffering in the birth canal and loss of its amniotic innocence in order to enjoy the ecstasy of crowning and delivery, sequences of hard spiritual labor and dark night of the soul in the collective psyche are followed by explosive releases of tension, breakthrough and awakening. During the moments of hard contraction that precede them, it is important to aim our aggressive energies at transcendence - rather than at each other.”(11)
...which echoes words I wrote, as one of the facilitors, to mark and commemorate the Harmonic Convergence of August 17-18, 1987: “We are birthing a New Age: this is the re-emergence of an awareness of and respect for the Feminine principle and of her Holy Marriage to the Masculine principle. The child of their union is maturity of consciousness. At the time of birth, one stands between the worlds, between Life and Death. As the birthers, we are responsible for our own physical health, our frame of mind, our emotional well-being, our creativity, our spirituality. As the midwives,we require patience, skill and reverence for what we do, for who we are.”
A joyous and celebratory Lammas to all! Be kind to one another. See you at the Fall Equinox!
Notes:
1. Cited in The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion
of the Great Goddess, Starhawk, Fitzhenry & Whiteside,
2. Barbara G. Walker, The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols
& Sacred Objects,
Sylvia Brinton Perera, Descent to the Goddess:
Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Noah Kramer, Inanna: Queen of Heaven and
Earth, Her Stories and Hymns from
Ibid., pp. 33-34
Ibid., p. 60
Perera, p. 70
Ibid., p. 71
Ibid., p. 84
Renn Butler, “Cosmic Ego Shredder,” essay, July 20, 2010
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