The House of Life

We have heard much of the Goddess in recent years what of Her servant, the priestess. The priestess was a familiar and accepted figure in the ancient world. Priestesses were prominent in the vanished civilizations of Sumer, Babylon, Egypt, Crete, Greece, and Rome. The priestess of Demeter enjoyed such high prestige that she was accorded a special place at the Olympic games. She sat upon a raised dais and was treated as a semi-divine person. Plutarch dedicated his study, De Iside et Osiride and a second book, Brave Deeds of a Woman to the priestess Clea.

Priestesses in shamanic guise were important throughout oriental history and were significantly found in Celtic lands and in the culture of Old Europe. Sacred women played a definite and particular role in many varied societies, but we should not make careless assumptions about their functions. We have to permit these past civilizations to speak for themselves as far as is possible. Imposing twentieth century values and assumptions on cultures long dead is dangerous and facile. It is only too easy to superimpose current values onto the past and unite the intentions of modern women's spirituality with the practices of the past. It is a trap just waiting to be sprung, we must be prepared to look beneath the surface.

My own curiosity led me into a two year voyage of discovery as I wrote the book Daughter of the Goddess - The Sacred Priestess. My odyssey into the past produced some unexpected and even disturbing realizations. I set off on my voyage filled with familiar preconceptions: that priestesses were ever the embodiment of wisdom, that priestesses represented the last bastion of female power, that matriarchal power was always beneficent and lots more besides. I returned two years later much chastened. My journey into the past revealed itself to be far more complex than I could have anticipated. I began to wonder what if anything might a Cretan priestess have in common with a priestess of Hathor, and what sense could I make of a historical priestess of the god Thoth.

As we set out to search for the priestesses of the past we are brought face to face with the difficulty of the task. It is too easily assumed that the current usage of the word is identical with past meaning. The shamanic priestess, psychic medium, and oracular mediator are not identical in psychic function. The initiator into women's blood mysteries and the initiator into the transcendent mysteries are not identical either in function or intention. Yet all fulfill sacred functions. We have to be prepared to look further than simple labeling if we are to understand what these women meant within their cultures. The further back we attempt to peer in time, the more difficult our task becomes. Artifacts and archaeological sites reveal only the bare bones of a people. The moving spirit of a civilization is far harder to touch and describe, it is as elusive as the perfume on the air, yet it is this invisible essence which breathes life into actions and most especially ritualized actions.

As my research deepened, I realized that I wanted to answer a very simple question, - But what did priestesses do? Who were the women who became priestesses? What function did they fulfill? By what authority did they take decisions or hold office? What was the nature of their service? What kind of daily lives did these women lead? My simple question like all simple questions required a highly complex answer. Like many women, I too have been swept away on an euphoric current of rediscovered Her-story. I was intrigued by the economic freedom of the naditu of Sumer, awed by the poetry written by the first recorded priestess Enheduanna, mesmerized by the bare breasted priestesses of Crete and empowered by the awesome ritual of the sacred marriage.

My insatiable curiosity led me ask deeper questions and brought me many unwelcome surprises. I discovered that the naditu, far from being free wheeling Sumerian entrepreneurs, lived celibate cloistered lives in the role of betrothed virgins. They lived together in the gagum, the locked house, betrothed, probably to the god Samas and simultaneously as symbolic daughters-in-law to his father the moon god Sin. They were well supported with female domestic staff and an administrative staff who were probably all male. The naditu women were required to be in constant attendance upon their god. Offerings were made twice daily. Special offering were made once a month and at seasonal festivals. All offerings were supplied from the individual estates. The renowned economic activity was used to finance a lifetime's offering in the temple. It is no surprise then that naditu women were often the daughters of wealthy or royal families. My research led me to conclude that the naditu have much in common with contemporary nuns, betrothed to the god, celibate and secluded.

When I researched the life of Enheduanna, I also came across quite unexpected surprises. It is unlikely that Enheduanna is a personal name, it is far more likely to be an official title, constructed from the priestly title En denoting rulership, combined with Heduanna, a manifestation of the moongod Sin. Her rise to political and spiritual power was inextricably bound up with the political aspirations of her father, the Akkadian king, Sargon. As a military conqueror Sargon needed to consolidate his position and also gain the acceptance of the gods. In good faith, he gave his daughter as bride to the God Nanna at Ur. Enheduanna clearly identified herself with Inanna but also more subtly with Ningal, the mother of Inanna who was also mythically married to the moongod Nanna. This was yet another transpersonal identification which turned myth into cultic reality. So Enheduanna princess, priestess, poetess, was also the wife of the god.

The establishment of Sargon's power, the exaltation of Inanna and the installation of a political and spiritual lineage of royal priestesses are all interwoven threads in an enigmatic tapestry. Sargon's background is obscure. His origins were humble. By tradition his mother was a Sumerian priestess. His father was described as a 'gardener' and it was also said that Sargon in the guise of a gardener had won the love of Ishtar. This odd epithet referred to a king or a king substitute who took part in the rite of the sacred marriage. Could Sargon himself have been the offspring of a sacred marriage? He could thereby claim Ishtar as his mother. This would have given him a powerful legitimacy and sense of personal conviction. The Akkadian Ishatar, the Sumerian Inanna was undoubtedly seen as guiding deity of the family line. Their rise to prominence would have been the opportunity, divinely bestowed to exalt the name of this Goddess before the people, to raise her status in the pantheon of deities. Sargon's establishment of the Sumerian-Akkadian empire and Enheduanna's sacred poetry created the perfect vehicle for the new supremacy of the omniscient sage, lady of all the lands, Inanna. Succeeding kings followed the pattern established by Sargon. For some five centuries. The king's daughter became the reigning High Priestess and wife of the god.

The theme of the sacred marriage appears as a constant and unanswered question. What did it mean in its time for the people whom it served? What did it signify for the participants? What did it represent in the relationship to the gods? Where did power lie, with the bride or the groom, the god or the goddess ? It is too easy to make assumptions that suit our modern tastes. A deeper investigation will reveal shifting power patterns and even regional variations. The sacred marriage between Inanna and Dumuzi is now well known, yet this was but one union among many. In Nippur, Enlil and Ninlil were married. At Lagash, the marriage was between Baba and Ninghirsu, at Ur, between Nannar and Ningal. At Uruk, Innin and her consort were married. At Isin, the sacred marriage was between Ishtar and her consort. At Dilmun, Enki and Nintur were married. At Eridu, the divine participants were Enki and Ninki. At Sippar, the marriage was between Samas and Aja. At Dilbat, Ninegal and Ninurta were married. Later in Babylon a sacred marriage took place between Marduk and Sarpanitum. Yet we hear very little of the changes and transitions which affected this great rite. A sacred marriage was later enacted between Horus and Hathor in Egypt. Vestigial remembrances of a hieros gamos were carried into various rites in Greece and Rome.
   

Crete is most often cited as a shining example of female spiritual power but I personally find that to be a premature conclusion - not that I doubt the existence of a female power- but I want to know more. What do we know of this priesthood? How did it relate to Cretan social and political organization? What sacred rites were enacted? Quite simply, what did Cretan priestesses do? Women were undoubtedly the power holders but how was this power exercised in relation to the social and religious structure of society? In my opinion, Crete still holds many of its secrets. In the tradition of Sir Arthur Evans whose remodeling of Knossos, remains legendary, we too are tempted to recreate the past in our own likeness. Yet Crete may offer a cultural weaving that may still prove to be unfamiliar.

Although Homer refers to the Cretan nine-year king, Crete is often regarded as a land without a king. It is of course perfectly true that a traditional easily recognized figure of kingship absent, but the cult of the bull is ever present. Marija Gimbutas, herself tells us that, 'The male god's principal epiphany was in the form of a bull.' It is obvious that the Cretan bull games were far more than mere feats of acrobatic excellence and served as the spiritual and cultural underpinning of society. How much do we really know about their purpose ?

It is likely that every ninth year the games took on a particular importance. In Crete the discrepancy between the lunar and solar cycles was resolved by the addition of an intercalary thirteenth month in three years out of every eight. The ninth year, the ennaeteris was regarded as the beginning of a new cycle. Is this cycle the nine year reign of a consort chosen at the bull games? His individuality carried no significance. His being was subsumed into the epiphany of the bull. He has no personal significance. His reign is finite. Far from being a land without a king, here the bull was king. What happened to the nine year king at the end of his limited reign? In the time honored tradition of the undying Goddess and the dying god might the old king have met his end at the hands of the new king? Did the old bull-man face the new bull-man, victor of the bull court in the darkness of the labyrinth in a dance of death? We just do not know. Crete still holds many secrets. Perhaps it is already apparent that we need to ask more questions and to remain insatiably curious about the past. Now what was my first question, 'But what did priestesses do'?

Along with my interest in the personage of the priestess there arrived a passion in Ancient Egypt. Now this passion did not grow gently from the seed of mild interest but arrived fully blown from nowhere with all the force of a tornado spinning through my life uplifting up seemingly rooted aspirations and goals which were tossed to the ground with utter disinterest. How often and how glibly do we use the word 'transformation'? Well my life underwent a radical revolution which did not cease until a full cycle was completed. My roots were truly severed, radically sliced back to the deepest root of being, to the hidden radix which in time produced its own new stock. I discovered that Egypt lay deep in my soul hidden even from my own knowing. But once re-ignited this forgotten love would not be silenced.