Mesopotamian Pantheon

Ishtar, Queen of Heaven and Earth

She Who Makes the Dawn Arise, Mistress of Lions

The Descent and Return

Ishtar, Queen of Heaven and Earth, you who descended and returned, whose love wakes the dead earth and whose anger shatters mountains, I bow at your gate. I do not ask you to be gentle. I ask you to be just. Let me pass through what I must pass through and emerge on the other side clothed in power, as you did when you climbed back into the light.

Offered with a cup of beer poured to the earth and a star-shaped token placed on the altar.

Ideas for Offering

  • •Pour a cup of beer to the earth at sunset in her name
  • •Place an eight-pointed star or token on the altar and hold it while speaking
  • •Offer dates and grain at a threshold or crossroads
  • •Write what you wish to leave behind and bury it at the roots of a tree

Accepted Offerings

  • •Beer, wine, and barley water
  • •Dates, figs, and grain
  • •Gold and lapis lazuli tokens
  • •Incense of cedar and juniper
  • •Red meat and roasted grain (in traditional rite)

Offering Taboos

  • ✕Do not diminish her to love alone — she is also war and sovereignty
  • ✕Never break a vow made at her gate; she is a keeper of oaths
  • ✕Avoid mocking or dismissing grief, descent, or transformation
  • ✕Do not offer her anything stolen or obtained through deceit
The Other Shrines
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