I am Inanna/Ishtar Queen of Heaven and I return to tell you about your self, A story of great importance, in a time of major challenge You can remain an engima to yourselves no longer For what you have forgotton and continue to ignore is necessary for you to bridge the giant chasam you have created in disconnecting yourselves from yourselves I have been known by many different names in different times But I come to you as Inanna/Ishtar the Universal Mother The goddess of ancient times Who was honoured and respected in joyful and playful co-operation between the sexes Many stories have sprung up about me, yet I take claim to few I am Inanna/Ishtar Queen of Heaven and I speak driectly to you You who have chosen to take the female form You who have chosen to take the feminine essence and embody it, without fully knowing what it is to be woman on this planet Yet you do it with a passion that shines Despite the fact that this world denies its existence except in and according to its own narrow and limiting definitions Yes my daughters you have had many sorrows and heart aches, my sons have treated you badly and robed themselves of ever having known you fully embodied goddess are fearfull to them But it never used to be this way Once my sons were honourable creatures who know what sacred creatures women were They loved them and in return they were loved They respected them and in return they also were respected Both my daughters and my sons lived together with love in their hearts and respect in their actions They were one Truly living their dreams, and oh what dreams they where Their laughter and their joy rang out across the cosmos Inciting vibrations of ectasy, felt and embodied They built beautiful cities and no one went hungry Birth was an act of love and death was never as it is today Through their joy of themselves they visited me often, they knew me and loved me as their mother What happened to change all this Well that is a long story One I have returned to tell For truly if you have only half a story then you remain incomplete and unstated Empty And that is what many of you feel Despite your riches and your material possessions and your status in life There is an emptiness that sits at the core of your beings It casts a great shadow over you and inhibits knowing I see more and more men yearning to posses love Yet in his version of love What is it that he seeks I see many women crying slient tears over a love they feel ought to be My daugthers have contorted herself into many shapes and forms What was once freely given in the abandoning of love began to be confined and restricted What was once respected and honored became devalued And still love eludes her Ah.....my daughters have also forgotten This can be no longer There is much in your world that has changed from the dreams of my early sons and daughters who knew me I did not abandon them and I did not leave I was simply overthrown in their minds and hearts and replaced by a deity that never really existed For turly the feminine is at the core of all life I Inanna/Ishtar return to tell you these things You who embody the female form in these times have chosen this form becuase it is from this form that peace shall endeavour to be born And it is through women that men will learn to remember Honour and respect for the feminine essence Inspired 1997 Jenese |
| Her name was Ashtoreth lady of the sea, progenitress of the gods. She was the mother of all. King Solomon worshiped her and the Holy of Holies was deemed to represent the womb of the divine MOTHER Why have we, as women, not known this, nor been taught it in Sunday school, or heard it mentioned in church ? Why, well, the short answer is because most people do not know this fact, and the long story is because it eventually became against the male order of things, it is heresay, blasphemy to suggest such a thing and many have died trying. Great librarys have been burnt and manuscripts hidden to keep the truth from standing in the way of a mysoginist church's claim to power and influence. Whether we like it or not, whether we know it or not, whether we are religious or not, our self image as woman and men has been deeply tainted by the religious doctrine and dogma that has underpinned every single institution that has ever shaped and informed us. This is entrenched religious doctrine and dogma, that for over many centuries and milineums has concealed a profound truth not only of our origins, but who we are as women and men. For women this has had a profound affect on her physche, for it has been woman who has had her identity demonised, who has been made to be the scape goat for all humanities sins. It is beliefs in the value of women such as those above that have justified the abject violence directed towards the feminine; women, children and nature. Mostly beliefs such as these are today unconscious. Yet these men, like all men everywhere have been created in the body of woman and birthed into the world through her womb. These beliefs sit, unconsciously within our 21st century selves, handed to us, via a tradition of indoctrination; threat of punishment, or even in some countries, today, death. We cannot easily seperate ourselves from the religious dogma of the past for it has underpinned our beliefs and reason for being on this earth. It has given legitmacy to all the atrocities that we are still seeing played out in our world, thus our HERSTORY must be told within a religious context for it to make any sense at all, for in truth that is where it all began So who was Ashtoreth ? Her name is mentioned many times throughout the bible text, yet who is she ? In the western tradition we are taught that there is only the father, the son and the holy ghost. However in the ancient Hebrew semitic stem the four consonants YHWH, which became the eventual acronym for the one god, represented the four members of the heavenly family ! For knowledge of this time period I must turn to Sir Laurence Gardner whose books appear to be the definitve word on the topic at the moment. I highly recomend them to the serious seeker. |
| " Every woman should be overwhelmed with shame at the very thought that she is woman" Proclaimed St Clement "To be fully developed as a human being is to be born male" claimed Thomas of Aquninas, who believed the female sex was produced by a defect in nature. "if the world could be rid of women, we should not be without God in our intercourse" said Cato of Utica "Among all savage beasts none is found so harmful as woman" so sayeth St John Chrysostom |
| In the beginning god created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the spirit of god moved upon the face of the waters .........and she was WOMAN |
| Reference: (1) Sir Laurence Gardner - Gensis of the Grail Kings - pg 153 (2) R Patai - The Hebrew Goddess (3) Eliezer Segal (4) Genesis of the Grail Kings pg 105 (5) Genesis of the Grail Kings pg 110 |
| Ashtoreth was originaly a Mesopotamian deity named ASHRATU in Babylon, while the Assyrians knew her as ATIRAT, consort of the great god Ashur, who was synonymous with the Sumerian Enlil and the Hebrew's Jehovah. She was the partner, the wife, the supreme consort of, EL- Jehovah and as such was an integral part of religious life in Judah untill the reforms of King Josiah at the time of the Babylonian Invasion.. Her daughter was ANATH who was called QUEEN OF HEAVEN. However, ANATH, the QUEEN OF HEAVEN was also known as INANNA in SUMER, as ASTARTE in Syro-Phoencia and ISHTAR, to the Greeks. Her royal seat was the town of BETH-ANATH or ANATHOTH north of Jerusalem, now called Anatha. However in the Jewish tradition the female figures of ASHTORETH and daughter ANATH of Jehovah, became merged into a single spiritual entity, an overall consort known as the SHEKHINA. (1) SHEKHINA became, by the late 1st century, the overall mother goddess of the Jews.(2) She, SHEKHINA, was deemed the spouse and female representative of god upon earth. Her original dwelling was the Tabernacle and her later abode was Solomons Temple of Ashtoreth in Jerusalem. She was considered the Holy Spirit, the epitome of Wisdom, referred to as SOPHIA by the Greeks. She represented Jehovah, but was opposed to him in matters of retribution, as related by the doctrines of Solomon in the book of Proverbs. She says " I will not do unto the man as he hath done to me, I will render to the man according to his work". Totaly opposite to what we have come to know as the life for a life, eye for an eye concept that plauges us today. For she was WISDOM to Jehovah's strength, and this will become important later, as we begin to uncover the complementary nature of women and men. Wisdom (The Holy Spirit ) was always female, 'moving on the face of the waters. Wisdom was TIAMAT, wisdom was SOPHIA, wisdom was ASHTORETH, her daughter ANATH and wisdom eventually became the SHEKHINA who embodied them all. As the story goes, when the temple of Jerusalem was destroyed at the time of the Babylonian captivity (c586) she, SHEKHINA, flew away ! Thus even though it was rebuilt, SHEKHINA had never returned, and Jehovah had been left to rule alone, something the mystics (THE WISE COUNSIL) claimed he could not do without the bride who was the source of his WISDOM |
| ANATH The Queen of Heaven was the Daugher of ASHTORETH and JEHOVAH ANATH was also known as: ASTARTE INANNA ISHTAR SHEKHINA/SOPHIA |
| The Old testament has given us a discription of the Jewish faith, the exploits of its hero's, its battles and its victories. But most of all it has given us a concept of its god Jehovah, the one god, the god of wrath and retiribution, a one sided story that is still being taught to millions of fertile minds. However the concept of a sole male creater, a HE as a FATHER, who created the ALL by himself, was not considered a viable possiblity orginally, for as we have seen, ASHTORETH was the kown and recognized, equal partner, consort and wife of Jehovah, who people loved, adored, RESPECTED and celebrated in equal measure. Although she and her daughter ANATH, were later merged into the SHEKHINA, the overarching FEMININE PRINCIPAL, she at least existed in the minds and hearts of her people. Likewise for other cultures, such as the Egyptians who had a divine partnership in ISIS and OSIRIS. ASHTORETH and JEHOVAH, then, were the Jewish/Hebrew female and male creators of life on earth, a divine partnership of feminine and masculine energy. WISDOM (female) and STRENGTH (male) NOTE: Althought ASHOTORETH and her daughter ANATH, along with all the other female goddess of the differing cultures became assumed under the one name of the SHEKHINA, she was also known as SOPHIA to the Greeks and SOPHIA, also assumed the various goddess of the differing cultures of those lands. So it becomes important to understand that the over arching FEMININE PRINCIPAL can be found in these two names, names that validate and legitamize the role, identity and place of all women as being equal partners from the begining. The curical point for us as women, is that in our reclaiming of the feminine (ourseleves) within the religious story, is that we recognise the partnership aspects that were always present in the union of feminine and masculine energies. For it is this divine union/partnership of WISDOM and STRENGTH, that sits at the core of who we are as women and men. It is this inherent knowing, that presents it's self as an inner yearning deep within that seeks this union with the other. This inner yearning is a natural part of who we are as feminine/masculine beings for our world was created by the energies of the two, and if we look around, we see only women and men and the product of their divine partnership in action, children. This is not to say that men cannot have WISDOM, nor women STRENGTH, for both are part of each other, feminine/masculine = HUMAN. Yet toady this divine union has become askewed, a dysfunction, a profound seperation sits at the core of who we are as women and men. STRENGTH without WISDOM will always create chaos. WISDOM without STRENGTH will never effect any outcome. |
| El = The FATHER Y Ashtoreth =The MOTHER H Baal = The SON W Anath = The DAUGHTER H |
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| The information pertaining to the truth of herstory as opposed to the history of men that we have been given is a recorded fact written eons ago in Sumeria. The Hebrew rendetiton of these, as they saw them, became the writings of the new testament, however this document has been censored over time to reduce the role and signifigance of women as a race, in keeping with the changing beliefs of the time. However a far more accurate translation of the perserved Sumerian texts have been made by the eminent scholar, Zecharia Sitchin. These are tens of thousands of clay tablets and cylinder-seals containing everything from administrative and taxation records to essays and literature, many are from a distant era, older by far than the Iliad and the Odyssey.. The Sumerian writing is the oldest sophisticated form of writing in existence, having first appeared in about 3400.bc and it is from these that not only the identity of women's role as co-creatix are very clearly established, but her complementary nature with her partner, man is also evidenced. For this reason, I will base my work upon the known women of Sumerian record, for if the truth be told, these are the original women upon which all goddess were to come. At the head of the Sumerian pantheon sits TIAMAT the primordal MOTHER, her consort was Aspu together they had two sets of male and female twins, LAHAMU and her brother Lahmu along with KISHAR and Anshar. From KISHAR and Anshar came a son Anu, whose consorts were his sisters ANTU, known as LADY OF THE SKY, and KI, known as THE EARTH MOTHER. From ANTU - Lady of the sky, came a son, Enki - lord of the earth and waters, while her sister KI - the earth mother, gave birth to Enlil - lord of the air. However they had a half sister NIN - KHURSAG whose name meant MOUNTAIN QUEEN, she was known as THE LADY OF LIFE, and her title will become self evident in due course. KI - THE EARTH MOTHER's son Enlil, had himself a son called Nanna whose wife was NINGAL, they were the parents of INANNA, QUEEN OF HEAVEN (also known as ANATH and ISHTAR.) INANNA married the sheperd King Dummu-zi also known as Tammuz, and it was from this union that the SACRED MARRIAGE later evolved. Howver INANNA had a sister, ERESH KIGAL - known as QUEEN OF THE NETHERWORLD whose own daughter was the legendary LILITH who herself, was handmadien to her maternal aunt INANNA (for a more detailed genology please refer to Sir Laurence Gardner's book GENESIS OF THE GRAIL KINGS). It is to LILITH who we now turn, for it was she who was made into a demoness, a devourer of children, whose equivalant is the great Indian goddess KALI. To many LILITH is presumed to be the first EVE, or the first consort to Adam, however neither assumption is entirely correct. LILITH, it was reckoned was made by god out of the 'filith' of the earth as a companion for Adam, as opposed to the 'pure' earth of which Adam was made. Here we have the first open debasement of women. LILITH was born from within the Royal Sumerian Family and as such was not made by 'god' as many believe, rather she is the great, great, great, GRAND DAUGHTER of TIAMAT - THE PRIMORDIAL MOTHER, and niece to INANNA, QUEEN OF HEAVEN, thus she was of high royal ranking LILITH the demoness, the devour of children originates in a medieval manuscript called THE ALPHABET OF BEN SIRA, eventually it was included in a popular english language compendum of Rabbinic legend, from here it became cited as a representative of Rabbinic legend on the subject, until it became an unchallenged historical fact (3) |
| It is from NIN - KHURSAG, The LADY OF LIFE that EVE and Adam came, indeed, it is from her, that many believe the Sumerian race was created, but that is another story and not within the scope of this essay. (However for further understanding on the subject read Sir Laurence Gardners Books available at ) From the ancient Sumerian texts, it is revealed that NIN KHURSAG and the Royal Sumerian Family, had the knowledge of artifical insemination, the art that we moderns have only recently (within the past 20 yrs) discovered. Together with her half brother, Enki, Lord of the Earth and Waters, who was also known as Nudimmud, meaning 'the archetype' of orginal form, together they created life. And it is said that from his sperm artifically mixed with the eggs of sumerian women did NIN KHURSAG, The LADY OF LIFE, insert into her self a cultured embryo to incubate what was to be the very first humans to be mixed with the Royal Sumerian blood line. And so, Adam and EVE, were born from a WOMB, by a surrogate MOTHER, NIN KHURSAG, THE LADY OF LIFE. However it should be mentioned at this point that the Sumerian Enki was synomous with the Hebrew Jehovah and NIN KHURSAG was part of the title SHEKHINA. Yet SHE was much more than that, for she was the mother of all, the creatix who in her advanced scientific knowledge was " a highly regarded anatomical specialist.........her workplace was the documented 'creation chamber' which was called the House of Shimti, from the Sumerian sh-im-ti meaning...BREATH - WIND- LIFE" (4) NIN KHURSAG was also known as NIN KI, LADY EARTH and LADY OF THE EMBRYO. Thus, EVE and Adam was "born from the womb of LADY EARTH herself. This was well known in those times, as testomony of the future King Gudea of Babylon in around 2100.BC who recognised NIN KHURSAG as "THE MOTHER OF ALL CHILDREN" For so long, under the present understanding of biblical text, no woman can have her identity affirmed as having been made in the image of god, as Adam can. She, they tell us was made from Adam's rib, and therefore somehow a superiority complex has arisen in the minds of men, which has legitmized and actively created an inferority complex in women throughout the world, which for many BILLIONS of women, continues to this day. How did this arise ? Let us turn to the translation of words, for it is in the differening meanings ascribed to words that one of the biggest frauds ever perpetrated against the feminine orginiate. "In Genesis, EVE is named MOTHER OF ALL LIVING, in Hebrew, EVE was known as HAWAH (AVA) the verbal root which gave rise to the name HAYAH meaning to live, hence EVE was akin to the Sumerian NIN TI which meant LADY OF LIFE who was infact NIN KHURSAG. The Sumerian word T^I meant TO MAKE LIVE, but another Sumerian word also TI but prounonced TEE meant RIB. so when NIN TI was transposed to the name EVE it was correctly interpreted by the Genesis compliers, but its further association with Adams rib was wholly inaccurate and had nothing whaterver to do with the original accounts" (5) The mis intepretation of the words Ti meaning LIFE to Ti (tee) meaning RIB has created a major strategic manipualtion that has been responsible for the validation and justifaction of women's inferoir status to men. By association it has given rise to the horrendous legitamization of violence against women as an inferior being. It has also caused her to invalidate herself and go along with the male order of things, simply because she did not have the knowledge of her own herstory to validate her existence. This childish and deliberate mistake has been passed down generation after generation to the present day proving that erronours assiocations and mistruth can colour a entire belief system, so much that we have believed the male order of things and their strategic manipulation of the truth for so long that this one comment could easily be dicounted, yet it is the truth of the truth and changes everything about who Eve was and who we are as women. Let us now correct this. From the outset, EVE was born from the surrogate womb of THE LADY OF LIFE - NIN KHURSAG. She was born in the same way that adam was and therefore equal in status. In those ancient of days EVE was considered MOTHER OF ALL LIVING, NIN TI, meaning lady of LIFE, an association Gardner tells us was "given her by the genesis compilers with obvious respect" We can now honour that respect, by redeeming EVE and acknowledging our own inherent knowing as women We need to heal this rift that sits deep in our consciousness. A rift that has legitimized male power and female subservience to that power which still continues to ravish our world today. |
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| HERSTORY |
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| "Male and Female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name ADAM, in the day when they were created" (Genesis 5.2) |
| what you will read here, has been gained from various authors, which has given me the ability to piece together a story that reveals a herstory that we as women have never been told - inspired by the poem below - the research has been liberating |
| If you are interested in what you have read here, please feel free to email me I am open to discussion and exploring |
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