INANNA: DESCENT TO THE GREAT BELOW
The Ancient Myth at the Heart of the Venus Journey

A two-hour mythic immersion into one of the world’s oldest surviving stories of descent, transformation and return.

Online Gathering
Two Ceremony times available
Sunday September 13
10.30-12.30am OR 6.00-8.00pm Sydney time
OR USA: Saturday September 13, 5.30-7.30pm PST

The descent of Inanna is a profound myth of women’s initiation, of surrender, embodiment, sovereignty and reclaiming indelible self-knowing.

The myth of Inanna's descent is big, rich, healing and still utterly relevant for us today. It's offers profound guidance and renewal and is wide and deep enough to hold us through the many descents in our lives.

We'll explore how the myth mirrors the cycle of Venus, its history and meaning in greater depth.
Join us for an immersive and richly informative class. This is such a wise old tale.

This ancient Sumerian myth is the story of a Queen who ventures into the Underworld to meet with her sister, Ereshkigal.

At each of seven gates, she is asked to relinquish one of her sacred vestments, until she finally enters the Great Below stripped of everything that once defined her.

There she encounters her sister, the queen of darkness. Laid utterly bare, Inanna is killed. And there she eventually begins the long journey of return.

Inanna’s story is both deeply personal and universal; the journey into night and the loss of identity, when what once gave us certainty is gone. This is the heroine's journey, the way of feminine wisdom is to go inwards and down until a threshold is crossed, and we are no longer the person we once were.

At each gateway, Inanna is told, “The ways of the Underworld are perfect. They may not be questioned.” This myth asks us to trust something much bigger than ourselves, to yield and surrender our sense of control. To trust. And what saves both Inanna and Ereshkigal is love, compassion and the wisdom found in something created from dirt.

Perhaps you think you know this story, but often people only know the main details, missing all the richly symbolic other characters. We'll explore them too because;

This myth is far larger than Inanna alone

We will meet with other key figures, who are often passed over in modern retellings; Ereshkigal who actually predated Inanna as a goddess, the beloved witness, Ninshubur, who refuses to abandon Inanna. Enki, god of wisdom and the deep waters, and the curious genderless beings he creates, who offer immense compassion. Plus, Dummuzi and Geshtiana.

Inanna was not alone down there, and she reminds us that we too, are never truly abandoned.

An ancient story of Venus

Inanna was not only Queen of Heaven and Earth. She was intimately associated with Venus, in both her Morning and Evening Star forms.

For thousands of years people have watched this brilliant wandering light appear and disappear into the radiance of the Sun and eventually return.

Soon Venus will begin another great descent, passing through the final Venus-Moon gateways, before disappearing from our skies as the Evening Star. In November she reappears as the fiercely bright Morning star and beginning the final petal of her 8 year transit cycle.

A time of descent,
Of relinquishment and dissolution.
Of deepening intimacy with ourselves, and with what remains when the familiar falls away.

During our two hours together

Listen to and explore the myth of Inanna in depth, the background and context to the myth, and of Inanna’s priestesses and the glorious poetry of Enheduanna, the consort of the Moon.

We’ll explore the ancient Sumerian world from which the story emerged; Inanna as Queen, lover, warrior and Venus goddess; the relationship between the myth and the observed cycle of Venus; Ereshkigal and the mysteries of the Underworld; Ninshubur and the power of fidelity and remembrance; and some of the symbols that have allowed this extraordinary story to echo so strongly across thousands of years.

Along the way, we’ll consider how the myth offers us a process of greater embodiment and a map to navigate descent for our own lives.

This gathering will be more storytelling and teaching-based than my familiar experiential Venus circles, creating a rich shared mythic ground.

This class is also the foundation for an upcoming 11 month program -

WALKING THE ROSE
A Year-long Pilgrimage with Venus and Inanna

October 2, 2026 to August 29, 2027.

We will be following the Venus cycle month by month, as she descends through the gateways, enters the Underworld, undergoes her metamorphosis and eventually begins her return. Explore its reflection within your own life through myth, ceremony, embodied practice, contemplation and creative work. Before we begin our descent through the gates, we gather around the ancient story itself, to listen to the Queen who went before us and was held in the darkness of life. death and renewal.

INANNA: DESCENT TO THE GREAT BELOW is a standalone class, open to anyone drawn to exploring the myth in greater detail.

If you are joining Walking the Rose though, Inanna is a foundation class included within your program.

If you attend this class first and later decide to join Walking the Rose, your $30 class fee will be credited towards the program cost.

WALKING THE ROSE- VENUS JOURNEY info HERE

INANNA: DESCENT TO THE GREAT BELOW

Online Gathering

Two Ceremony times available
Sunday September 13
10.30-12.30am OR 6.00-8.00pm Sydney time

OR USA: Saturday September 13, 5.30-7.30pm PST

COST: $30 AUD

Recording available for all participants

‘What does it mean to both seek and guard the very old mysteries of the primordial feminine soul?’ Sylvia V Linsteadt

YOUR FACILITATOR

Jacqui Bushell has been dancing with the mythic imagination for much of her life, through her love of the archetypal wisdom held in fairy tales and her work as a spiritual herbalist, listening for the voices and stories in plans, rocks and landscape. She is passionate about encouraging others to explore their own mythology at the borderlands of psyche, body, culture and land. She has been facilitating women’s circles, ceremonies, retreats, workshops and courses in Australia and internationally for 30 years.

Jacqui guides people in awakening their creative soul through connecting with the mysteries of the earth and their own sacred nature. She weaves together plant spirit alchemy, energetic healing, embodiment practices, storytelling, journey work and earth connection to inspire transformational shifts in the way people see themselves and their world. Her work is always empowering and experiential, inviting you to come home to a deep sense of belonging and kinship with nature.

FB Jacqui Bushell or jacquibushell@me.com

jacquibushell@me.com / FB Jacqui Bushell

Contact the host of INANNA: DESCENT TO THE GREAT BELOW