Episode 24
The Descent of Inanna, with Pearl Gregor | S6 Ep25
Please Support Our Show: Join us on Substack
Love KnotWork Storytelling? Your financial contribution helps me pay the amazing team that puts this show together.
Subscribe to our newsletter Myth Is Medicine
Write with Marisa this September
The Writers’ Knot is welcoming new members! This is the global creative community where where the mythic imagination meets creative expression.
Registration is now open and due to the intimate nature of this community, space is extremely limited: www.marisagoudy.com/writers-knot-community
Music at the start of the show is by Beth Sweeney and Billy Hardy: billyandbeth.com
Our Story
Inanna, Goddess of the Upperworld, is at the core of a 6,000 year old myth from ancient Sumer. Upon the request of her sister Ereshkigal, Inanna pays a visit to the Underworld. As she passes through each of the seven gates, more of her symbols of power, intellect, and wealth are stripped away. Upon arrival, Inanna is sentenced to death by her sister Ereshkigal. As is the way of myth, death is intricately connected to rebirth. Through the intercession of her father, Enki, God of Wisdom and Light, Inanna is revived and ascends to the Upperworld, renewed and transformed. At least… those are the basics. Pearl’s retelling of the story is a deep dive into contemporary dreams and timeless truths about the emerging of the feminine and the merging with the masculine.
Our Guest
Pearl Gregor is an explorer and a seeker. She is a writer, dream coach, story teller, author of the three books in the series Dreams Along the Way, and an international public speaker. Pearl is a farmer, grandmother, a blogger, and a Crone of wisdom.
Join Pearl to explore the deep mysteries of dreams, psyche and soul. You can read her books, or join her in her latest passion, a Dream Readers’ Myth Circle.
Find Pearl at www.DreamsAlongTheWay.com and on Facebook and Instagram
Our Conversation
This story of Inanna is woven with seven years of dreams that came to Pearl at midlife. We explore:
- Pearl had never heard of Inanna when images from this myth came to her in dreams. The book Descent to the Goddess: A Way of Initiation for Women Sylvia Perera appeared as a guide and confirmation.
- We need both the light and the dark, the masculine and the feminine, though the patriarchal mindset has shaped our perspective of what the feminine should be
- The role of “strange women” in a woman’s dreamlife; the integration of the “strange” parts of the self and the movement into circles of women
- The process of “birthing a new world,” as described by Jean Shinoda Bolen in Moving Toward the Millionth Circle
- The power of “collective dreaming.”
- More of Pearl and Marisa in the conversation series, Dream, Sovereignty, and Wise Woman Ways
- As Pearl says, “Skip Descartes and what you learned in school, there is nothing logical about rebirthing an entire universe.”
WORK WITH MARISA
- 1:1 Writing Coaching: If you are working on a spiritual memoir or wellness professional or a creative entrepreneur who wants to use stories to build your business, book a free consultation with Marisa. Learn more at www.marisagoudy.com
- Learn about our global writing communities, the Authors’ Knot and the Writers’ Knot: www.marisagoudy.com/writing-groups
