Embracing Ereshkigal

This moon the Tao of Now (theme of my monthly inspirational newsletter, What Shines) is Embracing the Exponential, bridging the chasm between science and spirit, energy and matter, yin and yang, masculine and feminine … it's quantum, although for many of us, especially in this retrograde month of consuming fire, the dichotomy may loom much closer to home: namely, how to love our own dark side, our shadow, the part of our being that keeps us slogging through molasses, too tired to break free.

I've written and spoken often about "my Inannic journey," and my reverence for the Sumerian Queen of Heaven and Earth who descends to the metaphoric Underworld to e/merge with wisdom gained, bearing gifts for her people. What I haven't focused on is Inanna's dark sister, Ereshkigal, who summons her to the netherworld in the first place so that Inanna may expand her awareness.

For me, learning to love my root chakra, which grounds me yet is divorced from my perception of the Light, is my journey into essential darkness. In the original Star Trek series, there's an episode in which Captain Kirk is split in two due to a transporter malfunction, but the crew doesn't know this — and his "good" side becomes weak and unable to make decisions without his wild, primal essence to balance it out. Years ago I journeyed to the Underworld to meet my own darkness, and returned whole/holy/healed (all from the same root word, hale). Yet I've never loved Ereshkigal, even though she is part of Inanna, just as Kirk's split-off dark side made him the Captain he was.

I must welcome Inanna's dark sister home in order to be whole/wellthy/wealthy in the deepest sense. According to the classic Wheels of Life by chakra expert Anodea Judith, the first chakra resonates to Ereshkigal and the seventh vibrates to Inanna, anchoring me to both Earth and Spirit. Unified, I am greater than the sum of my parts, as true wholeness always is.

What parts of you are ready to be welcomed home during this fiery gateway? I invite you to embrace Ereshkigal, whatever the dark, split off, hidden, divorced aspects of your being look like, and expand the possibilities for who and what you may become on the far side of reintegration. It's time, and wholeness has never been more available for you than right now.

Blessings!