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The goddess Inanna/Ištar is attested variously as the daughter of An/Anu, Enki/Ea or Nanna/Suen. Since Inanna/Ištar was the daughter of the moon, the moon became one of her symbols: the full moon with its perfect shining disc symbolized Ištar, as indicated by her mystic number, fifteen, coinciding with the ideal day of the full moon. Although the numerical symbolism with Ištar is not attested before the Middle Assyrian period (13th century), in Sumer she is the daughter of the moon, and as the passages from Iddin-Dagan A show, through her powers she is associated with the phases of the moon. The progressive loss of “purity” of the waning moon symbolized the gradual defilement, or “descent” of Inanna/Ištar, and its total disappearance symbolized total corruption, or spiritual death. The waxing of the moon symbolized purity, and after the conjunction, ascent and return to the original state of perfection (as described in the Descent of Ištar to the Netherworld). As a daughter of the moon, the god of wisdom, Inanna/Ištar was also the “Daughter of Wisdom.”
Moon symbolism is also found in the Song of Songs 6:10, where the bride is described as “gazing down like the morning star, beautiful as the moon,” resembling Inanna’s aspects as Venus (the morning star) and the moon. Similarly, in Jewish mysticism, the Shekhinah is symbolized by the moon, in fact, one of her epithets is “Moon.” The waning of the moon was interpreted as a symbol of the Shekhinah’s exile. The Shekhinah is the “holy moon” which has fallen from her high rank, been robbed of light and sent into cosmic exile. Since then, exactly like the moon itself, she has shone only with reflected light. Only in Messianic redemption would the moon be restored to its original state. In the Zohar, the moon and its aspects are associated with the perfection of wisdom, understood as having a feminine character. The moon is equated with the Shekhinah, which wanes or withdraws her light from man when he sins.
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Song of Songs 6:10
Bibliography
| Lapinkivi 2004, 155 | Lapinkivi, Pirjo. The Sumerian Sacred Marriage in the Light of Comparative Evidence. State Archives of Assyria Studies 15. Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Coprus Project 2004. |
Pirjo Lapinkivi
URL for this entry: http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/database/gen_html/a0001376.php
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