lilitu

i was honored to create this portal of inanna, hekate, & lilith for another

beautiful & powerful myrto offering in the “power to your pleasure” series. 🦚🌺🦚

the figure shown is the queen of the night relief; a mesopotamian terracotta high relief of a nude, winged goddess figure with a horned crown, flanked by owls, lions, & with bird talons for feet. iconographically she is believed to be inanna // ishtar, although some have argued it depicts ereshkigal, inanna’s sister, (later mirrored by the greek pantheon’s hekate), or even lilitu // lilith - the famous jewish demon goddess and important figure among jewish women for her impact within mythologies of sexuality, misogyny, nighttime, psychic shadows, & (re)empowered deep desires.

plants include sacred, powerful, yet dangerous datura, rose vines, reeds, ivy, brugmansia / angel’s trumpet, & peony. datura asks that we face luminous darkness and turn towards mystery with curiosity & courage. 🌑

[the relief is dated to the unstable, waxing//waning isin-larsa period between 1800-1750 BCE in southern mesopotamia, as it’s stylistically similar to head sculptures found at ur, & has similar details to clay plaque fragments of lions found at nippur.]

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