From the Great Above she opened her ear to the Great Below.
From the Great Above the goddess opened her ear to the Great Below.
From the Great Above Inanna opened her ear to the Great Below.
My Lady abandoned heaven and earth to descend to the underworld.
Inanna abandoned heaven and earth to descend to the underworld.
— The Descent of Inanna
The Crown of Inanna is a devotional charm created in honor of the shugurra, the sacred crown of the goddess Inanna. Known in some texts as the “crown of the steppe,” the shugurra was the first of her seven divine garments to be removed as she descended into the underworld. Its relinquishment marked the beginning of her voluntary passage through the seven gates, each one demanding a further stripping of status, protection, and power. This act of surrender was not a loss, but an initiation. Inanna entered the Great Below not as a victim, but as one who understood the cost of transformation.
This charm draws from that mythic moment when Inanna stepped through the first gate and removed her crown. It is a symbol of sovereign vulnerability and the beginning of descent, when outer signs of authority are exchanged for deeper forms of knowing. In Sumerian myth, the underworld is not simply a place of death, but a realm of stillness, confrontation, and renewal. Inanna’s return was not guaranteed. She rose only after facing silence, dismemberment, and the suspension of her former identity.
This piece was conceived and birthed during Venus retrograde, the planetary katabasis in which the goddess vanishes from the evening sky and begins her underworld journey, later emerging as the morning star. In this case, Venus retrograded through Aries, a sign ruled by Mars, drawing particular attention to Inanna’s martial aspect and her dual nature as both a goddess of love and war.
At its center is a round carnelian cabochon, set above powdered bull horn and rose petals. Carnelian has long been associated with Inanna and her later forms as Ishtar and Astarte. It is a stone of blood, vitality, and courage, and reflects the fierce, sovereign current that flows through Inanna’s many roles. Rose is sacred to her through its ties to Venus and is associated with erotic love, grief, and devotional longing. Bull horn was selected not only for its ritual associations with strength and fertility, but also for its connection to the visual structure of the shugurra itself, which was often tiered in form and may have echoed horned imagery linked to power and divine authority in Mesopotamian iconography.
Each charm was hand-sculpted in wax and cast into solid sterling silver. The piece measures approximately 1.4” tall and comes on your choice of black satin cord or oxidized sterling silver chain. Only 7 are available.
This piece may be worn in ritual or as a devotional object by those who walk with Inanna, for Venusian devotion, identity work, or rites of transformation. May it serve as an anchor for those on the path of descent, where sovereignty is earned through surrender.