Venus Retrograde 1 of 2 

Inanna’s Descent to the Underworld

 

In the great city of Uruk, the goddess Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth, ruled with beauty and wisdom. She was adored by mortals and feared by gods, for her power was unmatched. Yet, despite all she had, she yearned for more. She longed to conquer the realm of the dead, ruled by her dark and bitter sister, Ereshkigal.

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One day, draped in her finest robes and adorned with seven divine jewels, Inanna set out for the Underworld. Before leaving, she told her trusted servant, Ninshubur, “If I do not return in three days, seek help from the gods.”

At the gates of the Underworld, Inanna demanded entry. The gatekeeper, Neti, warned her, “No one enters and returns unchanged.” But Inanna insisted, and so, by the laws of the Underworld, she was forced to surrender a piece of her power at each of the seven gates. By the time she stood before Ereshkigal, she was stripped of her robes, jewels, and divine authority—nothing more than a mortal woman.

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Ereshkigal, enraged by Inanna’s presence, struck her down. The goddess of love and war became a lifeless corpse, hanging on a hook in the Underworld.

Days passed. When Inanna did not return, faithful Ninshubur pleaded with the gods to save her. Enki, the god of wisdom, crafted two tiny beings from the dirt under his nails and sent them to Ereshkigal’s throne. They did not beg or demand—only listened and wept with the sorrowful queen.

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Moved by their empathy, Ereshkigal granted them a single wish. “Return Inanna to the world above,” they requested. Bound by her own word, she agreed, but under one condition: Inanna must send another soul in her place.

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When Inanna rose from the Underworld, she searched for a substitute. Yet, those who had mourned her she spared. Only when she found her husband, Dumuzi, dressed in fine robes and feasting as if she had never left, did her heart harden. With a single glance, she condemned him to take her place below.

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Thus, Inanna returned to the world of the living, victorious yet forever changed. And from that day forth, Dumuzi’s fate mirrored the seasons—spending half the year in the Underworld, bringing cold and death, and returning in the spring, bringing life anew.

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And so, the goddess of love and war claimed yet another realm, proving that not even death could keep Inanna from her destiny.

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Venus Retrograde 2 of 2 ​

The Abduction of Persephone

In the golden fields of Sicily, the young goddess Persephone, daughter of Demeter, laughed as she wandered among the wildflowers. The sun warmed her skin, and the earth itself seemed to bloom at her touch. She was innocent, unaware that dark eyes watched her from beneath the earth.

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Deep in the shadowy halls of the Underworld, Hades, god of the dead, longed for a queen. He had seen Persephone’s beauty and knew he could not live without her. And so, he devised a plan.

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As Persephone reached for a rare, radiant flower, the earth trembled. A great chasm split open, and from the darkness, Hades emerged in his black chariot drawn by immortal steeds. Before she could cry out, he seized her, pulling her down into the abyss. The earth closed above them, swallowing her screams.

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For days, Demeter searched frantically for her daughter, lighting torches and scouring the world. She called upon the gods, but none dared to speak of what had transpired—except for Helios, the all-seeing sun god.

“It was Hades,” he revealed. “By the will of Zeus, he has taken her as his bride.”

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Fury consumed Demeter. In her grief, she withdrew from the world, and the earth withered. Crops failed, rivers dried, and famine spread across the lands. The cries of starving mortals reached Olympus, and Zeus could ignore them no longer. He sent Hermes, swift messenger of the gods, to retrieve Persephone.

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In the Underworld, Persephone sat on a throne of obsidian, her heart heavy with sorrow. When Hermes arrived, she leapt up, eager to return to the light. But Hades, knowing he could not keep her forever, offered her a parting gift—a single pomegranate, ripe and glistening like blood.

She ate six seeds.

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When Hermes led her back to the surface, Demeter ran to embrace her daughter. But their joy was short-lived, for a law bound all who tasted the food of the Underworld to its realm. Persephone had sealed her fate.

A compromise was struck: for six months, she would dwell with her mother, bringing spring and summer to the world. But for the other six, she would return to Hades, and winter would reign in her absence.

And so, the cycle of the seasons was born—not of nature alone, but of a mother’s love and a goddess’s fate.