<h1 id="ec3a2528-7aa3-42c3-bd55-876f8d85a640" data-toc-id="ec3a2528-7aa3-42c3-bd55-876f8d85a640" style="text-align: left; font-size: 32px; line-height: 1.2;">Ishtar: Goddess of Love, War and Divine Feminine Power</h1><p>Ishtar is not a quiet or uncomplicated goddess. She is a goddess of love and warfare, desire and sovereignty, beauty and danger, heaven and the underworld. Her stories remind us that the Divine Feminine is not limited to softness, nurturing or remaining agreeable. The sacred feminine can also be courageous, ambitious, sensual, protective, expressive and powerful.</p><p>Ishtar invites us to stop dividing ourselves into acceptable and unacceptable pieces. She asks us to consider what might happen if we allowed our tenderness and strength to exist together.</p><h2 id="e1b27f11-11ea-4597-8b29-e87b14dbe0c0" data-toc-id="e1b27f11-11ea-4597-8b29-e87b14dbe0c0" style="text-align: left; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">Who Is the Goddess Ishtar?</h2><p>Ishtar was one of the most important goddesses of ancient Mesopotamia. She is closely connected with the earlier Sumerian goddess Inanna. Although Ishtar and Inanna emerged through different languages and cultural traditions, their identities and stories became deeply intertwined over time.</p><p>The <a target="_blank" href="https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/listofdeities/inanaitar/">University of Pennsylvania’s ORACC project</a> describes Inanna and Ishtar as goddesses associated with sexual love, warfare and the planet Venus. Ishtar was often called the Queen of Heaven and was associated with both the morning and evening star.</p><p>Her connection with Venus is an appropriate symbol for a goddess who holds so many apparent opposites within herself. Ishtar could embody love and conflict, passion and destruction, beauty and danger, desire and responsibility. She does not fit into a simple category, and that is part of what makes her wisdom so meaningful for us today.</p><h2 id="544ca84c-ccf6-46f7-943e-e37ce4b52dc9" data-toc-id="544ca84c-ccf6-46f7-943e-e37ce4b52dc9" style="text-align: left; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">The Symbols of Ishtar</h2><p>The symbols associated with Ishtar help us understand the many different aspects of her power. Three of her most recognizable symbols are the eight-pointed star, the lion and the rosette.</p><h3 id="d569e8d6-251d-423e-b0b2-87843c679e12" data-toc-id="d569e8d6-251d-423e-b0b2-87843c679e12" style="text-align: left; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">The Eight-Pointed Star</h3><p>The eight-pointed star represents Ishtar’s connection with Venus, the morning and evening star. Venus disappears and returns through its celestial cycle, making it a powerful symbol of transition, descent, renewal and return.</p><p>The star can remind us that a temporary period of darkness does not mean our light has disappeared forever. Sometimes our light is still present even when we cannot immediately see or feel it.</p><h3 id="0a3363fa-5c52-4bd4-8036-7ff5166a89df" data-toc-id="0a3363fa-5c52-4bd4-8036-7ff5166a89df" style="text-align: left; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">The Lion</h3><p>The lion represents courage, strength, royalty and protection. Ishtar was sometimes shown standing upon or accompanied by a lion. This was not the image of a goddess waiting quietly for someone else to give her permission to lead. She possessed her own authority.</p><p>Her lion invites us to consider where we need greater courage in our own lives. We may need the courage to speak, establish a boundary, begin something new or finally acknowledge what we truly desire.</p><h3 id="9cad6169-fbed-4954-9f18-4b69d9b09932" data-toc-id="9cad6169-fbed-4954-9f18-4b69d9b09932" style="text-align: left; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">The Rosette</h3><p>The rosette was another symbol associated with Ishtar. It can represent beauty, fertility, unfolding and the creative power of life. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/mesopotamian-deities">Metropolitan Museum of Art</a> identifies the rosette, star and lion as important symbols connected with Ishtar.</p><p>Together, these symbols reveal a goddess who cannot be reduced to one quality. She is celestial and earthly, beautiful and fierce, loving and powerful.</p><h2 id="c455df5f-bd02-4768-a135-b1dbac5efa80" data-toc-id="c455df5f-bd02-4768-a135-b1dbac5efa80" style="text-align: left; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">Ishtar and the Sacred Feminine</h2><p>Many of us have been taught that being spiritual means remaining peaceful, agreeable and endlessly giving. We may believe that we are allowed to be loving but not angry, intuitive but not authoritative, spiritual but not ambitious, or helpful without being honest about our own needs.</p><p>We are often praised for making other people comfortable, even when doing so requires us to abandon ourselves. Ishtar challenges this limited understanding of femininity.</p><p>She reminds us that love can be gentle, but love can also require a boundary. Compassion does not mean accepting harmful behavior, and spirituality does not require us to silence our needs or surrender our discernment.</p><p>The Divine Feminine includes creation, rest and healing, but it also includes protection, truth, passion, leadership and change. This does not mean that every expression of anger or power is automatically wise. Some of Ishtar’s ancient stories include difficult choices and serious consequences.</p><p>Her mythology reminds us that power must be joined with awareness and responsibility. The important question is not simply whether we possess power, but how we choose to use it.</p><h2 id="54d19d21-9105-48e8-b097-1f4d638ca2e1" data-toc-id="54d19d21-9105-48e8-b097-1f4d638ca2e1" style="text-align: left; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">The Descent of Ishtar</h2><p>One of the most influential stories connected with Ishtar and Inanna is the descent into the underworld. The Sumerian and Akkadian versions differ in some of their details, but both describe the goddess leaving her familiar realm and entering the underworld ruled by Ereshkigal.</p><p>As the goddess passes through the gates of the underworld, the objects connected with her identity, status and authority are removed. Her crown, jewelry, titles and position as Queen of Heaven cannot protect her or prevent her descent.</p><p>The <a target="_blank" href="https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr141.htm">Oxford Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature</a> preserves a translation of the ancient Sumerian descent story and the goddess’s journey from the heavens into the world below.</p><p>It is important to respect this as an ancient religious and cultural story. The original myth was not written as a modern self-help lesson. However, myths continue to speak to us because their symbols give us ways to reflect on our own lives.</p><p>The descent may remind us of the seasons when everything we thought defined us begins to change. We may experience our own symbolic underworld through grief, illness, menopause, divorce, caregiving, retirement, career changes, spiritual awakening or the ending of a relationship.</p><p>During these experiences, we may begin questioning who we are without a familiar role, relationship or source of approval. We may wonder who we are when our bodies change, when a path that once felt right no longer fits, or when the identities we have carried begin to fall away.</p><p>Ishtar’s descent reminds us that losing a role is not the same as losing our soul. Our titles, bodies, relationships and responsibilities may change, but something sacred remains.</p><h2 id="1eea7fe7-ce71-40d3-914b-a39d230fa576" data-toc-id="1eea7fe7-ce71-40d3-914b-a39d230fa576" style="text-align: left; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">What Are You Ready to Release?</h2><p>As a modern spiritual reflection, imagine yourself standing before the symbolic gates of Ishtar’s descent and consider what you might be asked to release.</p><p>You may be ready to let go of the need to be liked by everyone or an identity created primarily to keep other people comfortable. You may be releasing the belief that your value depends upon your productivity or the shame you have carried around your body, age, desires or spiritual gifts.</p><p>Perhaps you are releasing an outdated idea of what a spiritual woman is supposed to look like. You may also be learning to release the need to understand every step of the journey before you are willing to begin.</p><p>When these layers are removed, you do not disappear. Instead, you begin to meet the person beneath the expectations.</p><h2 id="34a695a9-fd9f-442d-add4-9475ec8ba5f3" data-toc-id="34a695a9-fd9f-442d-add4-9475ec8ba5f3" style="text-align: left; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">Reclaiming Sacred Desire</h2><p>Ishtar also invites us to examine desire. Many people have been taught that desire is selfish or spiritually immature, but desire can carry important information.</p><p>Our desires may show us where our lives have become too small or reveal creativity we have neglected. They may point toward work we are ready to begin, a boundary we need to establish or a part of ourselves we are prepared to reclaim.</p><p>This does not mean that every desire must immediately be acted upon. Discernment is still necessary, but we can listen to our desires without automatically judging them.</p><p>Take a moment to consider what you desire during this season of your life. You may notice something you have been afraid to admit that you want. You may recognize a place where you have confused spirituality with remaining silent or wonder what would change if you trusted that your needs also matter.</p><p>Ishtar teaches us that disruption is not always destruction. Sometimes disruption is the beginning of transformation.</p><h2 id="3baaf3f0-1cc0-4164-9aec-853843390743" data-toc-id="3baaf3f0-1cc0-4164-9aec-853843390743" style="text-align: left; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">Experience the Ishtar Meditation</h2><p>I created a guided Ishtar meditation to help you connect with the morning and evening star, reflect on what you are ready to release and reclaim the strength that already lives within you.</p><p>No previous meditation experience is necessary. You can participate while sitting in a chair, resting in bed or lying comfortably on the floor.</p><p>Visit the <a target="_blank" href="https://youtu.be/AE_hFYkkS34?si=mKK40XkInHQzGMrV">Spiritual Sanctuary YouTube Channel</a> to watch the Ishtar teaching and experience the guided Meditation to Ishtar. You can also listen to the complete Ishtar episode through the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bertena.org/en/podcast">Spiritual Sanctuary Podcast</a>.</p><p>The Spiritual Sanctuary offers grounded conversations about goddess wisdom, intuition, Reiki, meditation, divination, sacred leadership and creating a spiritual practice that works within your real life.</p><h2 id="98245c9a-786b-48ff-b98b-bf33af68be60" data-toc-id="98245c9a-786b-48ff-b98b-bf33af68be60" style="text-align: left; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">Continue Your Goddess Journey</h2><p>If you feel called to explore Ishtar and other goddesses more deeply, I invite you to join <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bertena.org/en/class-page">Level 2: Goddess Studies</a>.</p><p>This year-long Priestess Academy course explores the wisdom, archetypes, stories and sacred teachings of 52 goddesses. Goddess Studies is not only about memorizing names or ancient stories. It is an opportunity to explore what these goddesses can teach us about our bodies, relationships, boundaries, intuition, creativity, leadership and spiritual growth.</p><p>The goal is not to copy an ancient culture or force yourself into someone else’s spiritual tradition. The goal is to learn respectfully, reflect deeply and discover what resonates with your own soul.</p><p>Visit <a target="_blank" href="http://bertena.org">bertena.org</a> to explore the Divine Feminine Meditation, Goddess Studies, the Priestess Academy and other spiritual courses and services.</p><p>You do not have to choose between softness and strength, love and power, or spirituality and your full humanity. All of these parts can exist together, and all of them can be sacred.</p>

Explore Ishtar, goddess of love, war and Divine Feminine power, and discover her lessons about courage, desire, boundaries and spiritual transformation.


Ishtar: Goddess of Love, War and Divine Feminine Power

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Ishtar: Goddess of Love, War and Divine Feminine Power

Ishtar: Goddess of Love, War and Divine Feminine Power

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