Major religions today are based on patriarchal systems, as well as patriarchal histories. I am not a feminist or a theologian, but I have some insight into these issues. I found someone who comforts me and might as well be comforting to other women and men too.
She brings balance into a world of imbalance, and she is about Spring. Christ has risen is so overdone. I have slowly pivoted to another mythology or story which occurred during the times of the Epic of Gilgamesh.
In ancient Sumer I have found Inanna.
She is Inanna Queen of Heaven and Earth and before the patriarchs came with their Gods there was a female deity. She brought equality to the sexes. She brought the joy of Sumer and the sacred marriage rite.
As an older woman Inanna’s story inspires me. In one of her stories Inanna outsmarts her father while drinking lots of beer.
I invite anyone with an open mind to study the stories and hymns from the land of Sumer about Inanna.
When we celebrate Spring, it is what it is because flowers come forth and the land warms up. There is a feeling of continuity in the air and the fragrance is feminine and beauteous!!
The Lady Who Ascends Into The Heavens
My Lady, the Amazement of the Land, the Lone Star,
The Brave One who appears first in the heavens,
All the lands fear her.
In the pure places of the steppe,
On the high roofs of the dwellings,
On the platforms of the city,
They make offerings to her:
Piles of incense like sweet-smelling cedar,
Fine sheep, fat sheep, long-haired sheep,
Butter, cheese, dates, fruits of all kinds.
They purify the earth for My Lady.
They celebrate her in song.
They fill the table of the land with the first fruits.
They pour dark beer for her.
They pour light beer for her.
Dark beer, emmer beer,
Emmer beer for My Lady.
The sagub-vat and the almsari-vat make a bubbling noise for her.
They prepare gug-bread in date syrup for her.
Flour, flour in honey, beer at dawn.
They pour wine and honey for her at sunrise.
The gods and the people of Sumer go to her with food and drink.
They feed Inanna in the pure clean place.
My Lady looks in sweet wonder from heaven.
The people of Sumer parade before the holy Inanna.
Inanna, the Lady Who Ascends into the Heavens, is radiant.
I sing your praises, holy Inanna.
The Lady Who Ascends into the Heavens is radiant on the horizon.
From the book by Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Noah Kramer, Inanna Queen Of Heaven And Earth @ 1983