I. VAMA MARGA Foundations Of The Left-Hand Path - staticfly.net

attire was apparently a form of identification with the goddess, who is
occasionally pictured as a bisexual being in half-male/half-female raiment.
Ishtar was also said to exist as a hidden figure of the opposite sex within each
human being, a concept obviously prefiguring the contrasexual concept of
kundalini.
Despite her cherished role as the divine symbol of the infinitely
desirable, sexually passionate woman, once she leaves the pleasures of her
"bed that sweetens the loins" there is no denying manna's streak of cruelty,
her violence, her overwhelming aura of danger. It is rare that such an
important goddess in any mythological pantheon is so associated with the
darker aspect of the Feminine Daemonic – in this, she resembles Kali, who is
at one Kalakarshini, the destroyer of time, and Kamini, incarnation of
sensuality. Coupled with her dominion over the erotic sphere, Inanna-Ishtar
presides over the powers of war. Her lust for destroying adversaries is every
bit as ardent as her amorous desires. For the Sumerians, war was "the dance
of Innana," and the Akkadians called the battlefield the "playground of
Ishtar." In this guise, she is seen as a fierce regent of war, literally armed to
the hilt with swords and arrows, guarded by her sacred animal, a rampant
198
lion. But even when dressed to kill, she strikes a sexually provocative pose.
In lnanna-Ishtar, Whore Goddess and War Goddess, the creative chaos
energizing both lust (Eros) and combat (Ares) is united.
Astronomically, manna is the morning and evening star, the planet
Venus, eventually related to the myth of Lucifer, the light-bringer. The light
of her star, symbolized as an eight-pointed emblem, was said to guide the
way of prostitutes in the darkness of the desert. She is also a shamanic
goddess of mystical initiation who descends to the underworld, confronts
death, and returns transformed to the consciousness of day Connected to the
sacred number seven we have already encountered in other contexts, one of
her best-known myths finds her ritually removing seven articles of clothing
at the seven gates of the underworld, finally revealing her nakedness. From
this myth derives the ritual revelation of female erotic power known as the
Dance of the Seven Veils.
Something of the ambiguous nature of manna's being – and its
relevance to the sinister current – can be gleaned from the tale recounting the
goddess's encounter with Enki, the god of wisdom, the arch-magician. After
199
she literally drinks a smitten Enki under the table, the god of wisdom
"swaying with drink" bestows upon her his hidden powers, known in
Sumerian as me. Among these powers are such traditionally valued qualities
as truth, godship, certain talents and crafts, the art of song, and a variety of
magical weapons. But Innana also boasts that she was given other powers
from the drunken god of wisdom: "He gave me the art of lovemaking", "He
gave me the kissing of the phallus," "He gave me the art of prostitution," "He
gave me the cult prostitute ... the holy tavern ... the art of slanderous speech
... the art of treachery ... the plundering of cities..." When the inebriated god
sobers up, he realizes to his dismay that his seductive guest has absconded with
all of his wisdom.
Reverence for the sexual prowess and magical powers of the Great Whore
extended even to Egypt, where she was known as Astarte. In one myth
concerning the Egyptian sinister deity Set, his mother Nut offers him the foreign
goddess Astarte as a sexual consort. Set's mother hopes that Astarte's legendary
charms will distract Set from his ceaseless belligerence, so disruptive to the
static harmony sought by the other Egyptian gods. But the sexual coupling of
Set and Ishtar, both of whom are divinities of war and extreme sexuality
removed from societally respectable channels, hardly seems like an
encouraging recipe for fostering harmony. In the papyri collection of Egyptian
spells known as Leiden I, Astarte and Set are both appealed to for magical