Inanna, Lady of All the Things!

I once read a paper that identified Inanna as a goddess of “infinite variety” (Johanna Stuckey, MatriFocus, 2015), and this description of Her has stuck with me. Inanna is, indeed, a goddess of an infinite variety of roles and expressions. Most people who are familiar with Her at all know Her as a goddess of love/sexuality but also of war. These two associations may seem contradictory at first, but war isn’t always about hate and amassing power; it can also be about protecting those you love. But she also has so many other qualities. She is a goddess of civilization, who oversees the use of Her mes (mes = divine powers) in building society and maintaining social order. Related to Her sexuality aspect is Her aspect as a goddess of fertility, which connects Her to the rhythms of nature. She is both a wild, untamed goddess of the wilderness (some will surely argue with me on this point!) as well as one who maintains the divine order of civilization, for what is civilization but an expression of nature ordered by a specific natural species (humans)?

Inanna is identified with rains, storms, and environmental destruction upon the Earth. She is also identified with the planet Venus, as both the Morning Star and the Evening Star. She is a goddess of passion, of love, of war, and of justice. She is a goddess of the storehouse, overseeing abundant harvest and fertility of the land.

What I’m trying to say is that Inanna is the goddess of All the Things!

Reject modernity (AI slop), embrace tradition (poorly Photoshopped meme images).

And as Lady of All the Things, Inanna is absolutely delighted at all the different and diverse ways that Her modern devotees have found to worship Her throughout recent decades. There is no right or wrong way to build a devotional practice to Inanna. As long as you are making your best effort to honor Her and commune with Her, She sees it and She appreciates it. Building a sincere devotional practice is more about building an individual relationship with Her than it is about trying to replicate ancient practices exactly as they were performed thousands of years ago. So there is no need to worry that you are offending Her by not being able to worship “correctly” due to the limited amount of information we have today or inaccessibility to the information that academics do have.

I’ve met and heard about Inanna devotees who have built sincere, spiritually fulfilling practices using many different frameworks, from including Her worship into systems they are already familiar with, to reconstructing ancient practices to the best of their abilities, and to even creating a whole new practice from the ground up.

There are people who worship Inanna from modern NeoPagan and Wicca-based perspectives. There are others who study ancient texts in an attempt to reconstruct Sumerian practices as historically accurately as possible. There are even those who include Inanna in Christian-based practices. Some worship Her as Inanna, while others worship Her as Ishtar or Astarte. And Inanna, as the Lady of All the Things, values each and every one of Her devotees’ practices. (She does have a bit of a vain side, but don’t we all at times?)

What’s important is that you are able to use your framework of practice and understanding to connect to Her energy and to build a relationship with Her.

What I love about Paganism is that we can all worship the gods we feel called to, in a way that feels right for us, as still come together as a community. We can find solidarity with other devotees of the same deities, even if the way they approach their personal practice is completely different from our own. We can find common ground with pagans who follow different paths and different deities. We can all learn from one another to grow our own practices as well as growing a stronger community through our diversity.

You don’t need an “official” priestess to tell you what to do or believe. Your practice is yours. But if you are feeling stuck in your journey, however, I am here to help! As a long-time devotee to Inanna, I can give you advice to help you to deepen your practice and your personal relationship with Inanna. I won’t tell you how you must conduct your personal spiritual practice, but I can help to guide you in a direction that works for you and for Inanna. (Think of it as a “Choose Your Own Adventure,” as my magick teacher, Melissa, likes to say!)