Inanna's Descent: Stripping Away to Find Truth

BY NICOLE LAU

She was Queen of Heaven and Earth, crowned in power, draped in divine authority. Then Inanna chose to descend to the underworld—not because she was taken, but because she heard the call. At each of the seven gates, she was stripped. Crown, jewels, robes, power—everything that defined her was removed. She arrived in the underworld naked, powerless, and was killed. This is the oldest recorded descent myth, and it's the most honest about what transformation costs.

The Myth: Inanna's Seven Gates

The Decision to Descend

Unlike Persephone, Inanna chose her descent. She decided to visit her sister Ereshkigal, Queen of the Underworld. Some say she went to attend a funeral. Others say she went to conquer the underworld. But the myth suggests something deeper: she went because wholeness required it. You cannot be Queen of Heaven and Earth without also knowing the underworld.

The Seven Gates of Stripping

At each gate, the gatekeeper demanded Inanna remove something:

Gate 1: Her crown—her authority and identity as queen
Gate 2: Her lapis lazuli necklace—her status and adornment
Gate 3: Her double strand of beads—her spiritual power
Gate 4: Her breastplate—her protection and armor
Gate 5: Her golden ring—her commitments and bonds
Gate 6: Her measuring rod and line—her ability to measure and judge
Gate 7: Her royal robe—her final covering and dignity

She arrived naked. Powerless. Stripped of everything she used to define herself.

The Death

Ereshkigal, her shadow sister, killed Inanna and hung her corpse on a hook. For three days and three nights, the Queen of Heaven was dead in the underworld. This isn't metaphor—this is ego death. Everything Inanna was had to die.

The Resurrection

Inanna was eventually rescued and resurrected, but she couldn't leave the underworld without sending a substitute. She returned to find her consort Dumuzi sitting on her throne, unmourning. She sent him to the underworld in her place. The myth is clear: you can't return from the underworld without sacrifice. Something must stay behind.

The Modern Practice: Your Seven Gates

Inanna's descent is the blueprint for ego death and authentic transformation. Modern spirituality wants transformation without stripping, power without vulnerability, rebirth without death. But Inanna's myth teaches: you must be willing to lose everything to find your truth.

Identifying Your Seven Gates

Your descent has gates too—the layers of false identity you must strip away to reach your truth. These aren't the same for everyone, but here are common gates:

Gate 1: Your Title/Role

Who are you without your job title, your role as parent/partner/provider, your position in the world? The first gate asks you to remove the crown of external identity.

Gate 2: Your Achievements

Your degrees, your accomplishments, your resume. The second gate strips away what you've done to prove your worth. Who are you without your achievements?

Gate 3: Your Spiritual Identity

Your beliefs, your practices, your spiritual status. The third gate removes even your spiritual armor. Who are you without your enlightenment, your healing, your awakening?

Gate 4: Your Defenses

Your walls, your armor, your protection mechanisms. The fourth gate demands vulnerability. Who are you without your defenses?

Gate 5: Your Relationships

Your identity as someone's partner, friend, family member. The fifth gate asks: who are you when you're alone, undefined by connection?

Gate 6: Your Judgments

Your ability to measure, compare, judge yourself and others. The sixth gate removes your measuring rod. Who are you without your standards and judgments?

Gate 7: Your Dignity

Your final covering—the last shred of who you think you should be. The seventh gate demands complete nakedness. Who are you with nothing left to hide behind?

Your Inanna Descent Ritual

Preparation: Identify What Must Be Stripped

Before you descend, you must know what you're carrying. In your Eleusinian Mysteries Journal, write your seven gates. What identities, achievements, defenses, and dignities are you clinging to? Name them. Acknowledge them. Prepare to release them.

Creating Your Descent Space

Set up your underworld sanctuary. Light the Persephone Descent Candle. This ritual requires sacred space—you're about to strip away everything you use to define yourself. You need container and support.

The Seven-Gate Meditation

Use the Lunar Descent · Moon-Guided Descent Audio to guide your journey through the seven gates. At each gate, visualize removing one layer of false identity. Feel the vulnerability. Feel the fear. Feel the liberation.

Gate 1 Meditation: Remove your crown. "I am not my title. I am not my role. I release my external identity."

Gate 2 Meditation: Remove your achievements. "I am not what I've accomplished. I am not my resume. I release my need to prove my worth."

Gate 3 Meditation: Remove your spiritual identity. "I am not my beliefs. I am not my practices. I release my spiritual armor."

Gate 4 Meditation: Remove your defenses. "I am not my walls. I am not my protection. I release my armor and choose vulnerability."

Gate 5 Meditation: Remove your relationships. "I am not defined by my connections. I am whole alone. I release my identity through others."

Gate 6 Meditation: Remove your judgments. "I am not my standards. I am not my comparisons. I release my measuring rod."

Gate 7 Meditation: Remove your dignity. "I am not who I think I should be. I am naked truth. I release my final covering."

The Underworld Arrival: Meeting Your Naked Truth

After the seventh gate, sit in the silence. Who are you with everything stripped away? This is terrifying. This is liberating. This is your naked truth—the self that exists before identity, before achievement, before defense.

Journal this experience immediately in your mystery journal. What did you discover? Who are you without your gates? What truth emerged in the nakedness?

The Death: What Must Die

Like Inanna, something must die in the underworld. You can't return as the same person. The ego that needed those seven gates to feel safe, worthy, and defined—that ego must die.

This isn't comfortable. Ego death feels like actual death. You may grieve. You may rage. You may feel lost. This is the process. The guided descent audio provides structure, but the death itself is yours to experience.

Ritual of Ego Death: Write on paper what must die—the old identity, the false self, the defended ego. Burn it with your Persephone Descent Candle. Say: "I release who I thought I was. I allow the death of my false self. I trust the resurrection of my truth."

The Return: What You Bring Back

Inanna was resurrected, but she couldn't return without sacrifice. Something had to stay in the underworld. For you, what stays behind is the false self—the identity built on external validation, achievement, and defense.

What you bring back is your naked truth—the self that exists without gates, without armor, without pretense. This self is more powerful than the crowned queen because it's real.

Integration Practice: As you return from your descent, journal your insights. Who are you now? What truth did you find in the nakedness? How are you different? What will you no longer carry?

Living as the Stripped Queen

After Inanna's descent, she was never the same. She had died and returned. She knew both heaven and underworld. She was whole because she had been stripped and found herself still standing.

You too will be different. The gates you passed through revealed what was false. What remains is true. You may find:

- You no longer need external validation to know your worth
- You no longer need achievement to prove you matter
- You no longer need defenses because you're no longer afraid of your truth
- You no longer need to perform because you know who you are without the performance

This is the gift of Inanna's descent: radical authenticity born from radical stripping.

When to Walk Through Your Gates

During the Waning Moon: As the moon strips away her light, walk through your gates. Each night of the waning moon, pass through one gate. By the dark moon, arrive naked in your underworld.

During Life Transitions: When life is already stripping you—job loss, relationship end, identity crisis—recognize it as your Inanna descent. Don't resist the gates. Walk through them consciously.

When You Feel Called: Sometimes the underworld simply calls. You feel the need to strip away, to find your naked truth. Trust this call. It's your soul demanding authenticity.

Your Inanna Journey Begins

The seven gates await. Will you walk through them, or will you cling to your crown, your achievements, your armor? Will you risk the stripping to find your truth?

Gather your descent tools: guided meditation for the seven-gate journey, ritual candle for sacred space and ego death ceremony, mystery journal for recording what you discover in the nakedness.

Inanna descended as a crowned queen and returned as a truth-bearer. You will descend with your gates and return with your naked truth. This is the oldest mystery. This is your initiation.

The gates are waiting. Each one will ask you to surrender something you thought you needed. Trust the stripping. Your truth is waiting on the other side.