I am the Queen of Earth and Heaven.

Inanna, which means "Queen of Heaven," is the Sumerian Great Goddess and forerunner of the Babylonian Ishtar, with Whom She shares similar legends. Sumer was a culture located in what is now the southern half of Iraq, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, known as the "Cradle of Civilization," for its early start on things.

Inanna is the first daughter of the moon, and the Star of Morning and Evening. Like Anat and Aphrodite (Who is believed to have an eastern origin) She is linked to the planet Venus and is a love Goddess.

Her wedding to the Shepard Dumuzi was celebrated on the first day of the new year as a sacred marriage rite, and Her legends show Her to be a woman of powerful sexuality.

Inanna's descent to the Underworld is similar to the journey of the later Goddess Ishtar, with some important differences—Inanna goes to the Underworld to learn of the wisdom of death and rebirth. To be released from death She must choose a substitute, and offers up Dumuzi, who in Her absence has not mourned. With Dumuzi gone, His sister Geshtinanna, Goddess of wine, went frantically searching and eventually a bargain was struck: Dumuzi would remain half the year in the Underworld, and Geshtinanna would take His place in the Land of the Dead for the rest of the year.

Inanna in a reading indicates a passionate and overwhelming love that demands all of the beloved, whether a child, lover, or a passion such as music or painting. This love needs to be tempered with compassion and forgiveness or it may hurtle itself to a destructive end.

Titles: Honored Counsellor, Ornament of Heaven, Holy Priestess of Heaven, Supreme Among the Heavenly Gods

I've done another version of this Goddess, as part of a commission with Her sister Ereshkigal, here.

This design is available on prints through ArtPal and on greeting cards at Zazzle.