Inanna, Venus Retrograde, and Barbie

In episode 412 astrologer Demetra George joins the podcast to talk about the connection between the ancient Mesopotamian goddess Inanna, the Venus retrograde cycle, and the Barbie movie!

During the course of the episode we talk about the ancient Mesopotamian myth of the descent of the goddess Inanna into the underworld, and how it is connected to the Venus synodic cycle, and especially the retrograde phase of Venus.

I saw Demetra give a lecture in 2005 connecting the myth of Inanna with Venus retrograde, and then I was really pleasantly surprised to see a number of parallels with the myth show up in the Barbie movie that was released recently right when Venus stationed retrograde.

Some of these parallels between Barbie and Inanna were pointed out in an article by a writer named Meg Ellison titled “Barbie is the new Inanna”:

https://wildhunt.org/2023/07/barbie-is-the-new-inanna.html

Demetra and I have been talking about a lot of this for the past few weeks, and decided to record an episode on it, in order to dive deeper into some of these ancient myths surrounding the Venus retrograde cycle and talk about how they are still relevant today.

In the process we covered a lot of interesting ground, and touched on a number of important and fascinating figures, including the first author in history who signed her name to her writings, a priestess of Inanna named Enheduanna that lived around 2300 BCE.

In that way this episode builds a little bit on the previous discussion Demetra and I did earlier this year on Heliodora and the early history of women in astrology.

We also talked about the nature of archetypes, planetary significations that have been lost through time, and a deeper understanding of the complex yet profound meanings of Venus and her cycles.

We also delved into some Barbie astrology facts, and I should say that there are spoilers for the Barbie movie in this episode, so if you care about spoilers then maybe watch the movie first before listening to the episode.

For more about Demetra visit her website:

Demetra-george.com

This episode is available in both audio and video versions below.

Timestamps

00:00:00 Introduction

00:00:30 Inanna, Venus retrograde, and Barbie

00:03:01 Meg Elison: Barbie is the New Inanna

00:07:00 Barbie movie released on Venus retrograde

00:08:45 Greta Gerwig born on Venus retrograde

00:09:37 Inanna book published when Gerwig was born

00:11:14 1959 Venus retrograde when Barbie became popular

00:12:30 Goddess Inanna in Ancient Mesopotamia

00:27:40 Venus synodic cycle

00:29:45 Inanna’s descent into the underworld

00:43:24 Heliacal set under the beams of the Sun

00:48:36 Seven gates to the underworld

00:54:00 Emergence from the underworld

00:59:39 Inanna finds husband on her throne

01:04:40 Venus stations direct and maximum elongation

01:05:25 Venus as morning star vs. evening star

01:12:00 Morning setting and superior conjunction

01:15:44 Venus retrogrades and breakups

01:18:00 Archetypes

01:25:52 Contradictory meanings of Inanna

01:41:55 Barbie, Marilyn Monroe, Margot Robbie connection

01:46:41 Solar Fire & AstroGold

01:47:21 Enheduanna

02:03:42 Mesopotamian influence on Greeks planet names

02:12:16 Dual characteristics of Inanna in Enheduanna

02:17:15 Feminine rage and seeking vengeance or justice

02:20:00 Identifying your natal Venus phase

02:29:30 Concluding remark

02:30:52 Demetra’s work and events

02:37:35 Patrons, sponsors, credits