Podcast: The Revelation Project Podcast Episode Title: The Way Of Inanna: A Heroine's Guide To Living Unapologetically Host(s): Monica Guest(s): Seana ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Intro/Outro (Outro) | 00:00:02 to 00:00:36 Welcome to the Revelation Project podcast. I'm Monica Rogers, and this podcast is intended to disrupt the trance of unworthiness and to guide women to remember and reveal the truth of who we are. We say that life is a Revelation project, and what gets revealed gets healed. You um I had a premonition of my mother's untimely death when I was six years old. I ran to my mother to share what I had seen. Monica (Host) | 00:00:36 to 00:01:21 She hugged my inconsolable self and told me in the most nonchalant way that death is not something to be feared, that it is just like changing clothes or moving from one room to another. She told me that the soul never dies, but that just as we frequently put on new outfits, we have many lives. She also explained that whenever the time of her death was to be, she would still be with me from beyond the physical. She told me that she would act as my guide through life and that I would always feel her with me. Her death came to pass when I was a teenager. Monica (Host) | 00:01:22 to 00:02:15 It led me to major in Thantology in my undergraduate school, studying shamanic, healing, and working in end of life care along with bereavement. Counseling naturally followed. Ultimately, it led me to Inana, the Sumerian goddess who willingly steps into her own death to make the unknown known. Inanna understands that death is the ultimate teacher in nonattachment, and the act of letting go is essential keys for ascension. My connection to the divine feminine runs deep, but in Inanna, I found a goddess who shares my fascination and understanding of death. Monica (Host) | 00:02:15 to 00:02:51 It is Inana who reminds us that every transition is a death that begets rebirth. Within this process is an ongoing expression of self, which ultimately assists us in transcendence. That piece is written by my next guest, Shauna Zalazzo. I'm so pleased to welcome her to the show, and you, dear listener, because this is such a sacred story for me personally. So before I begin, let me give. Monica (Host) | 00:02:52 to 00:03:11 You a little bit more background on Shauna. She's an author, psychotherapist, intuitive channel, and spiritual coach. Her book, The Way of Inanna A. Heroine's Guide to Living Unapologetically, is available. From booksellers worldwide and at Amazon, and. Monica (Host) | 00:03:11 to 00:03:22 You can learn more about her on her website. And I'll be sure to put that in the show notes. In the meantime, join me in welcoming her. Hey, Shauna. Hi. Seana (Guest) | 00:03:22 to 00:03:54 Thank you so much for having me. I'm so looking forward to this conversation. Anana is such a conversation starter. She literally has been a massive guide for me since 2008. And I realize now, I didn't then, that her myth is what I was living in, what I was kind of experiencing as this dark night of the soul. Monica (Host) | 00:03:54 to 00:04:25 And reading your book gave me so much insight into what kind of looking back, I was even able to process parts of that journey just by recognizing the way that you organized and arranged the book, it was like puzzle pieces just falling into place. And I was so, so grateful. Thank you so much for that. And I'm so glad that you were able to access that. It's it's such a powerful experience to connect with Anana and she is such a powerful force. Seana (Guest) | 00:04:25 to 00:05:04 And I mention in the book that one of my teachers literally said when I told her I was writing a book about Inanna, she literally said, are you going to put a warning label on that? Like ingest, just to highlight the power and potency of this incredible goddess? Truly, I was going to say I was just writing some words down about just all of what she touches on that. Again, without really reading your book, I hadn't have put together. So what I kind of came up with was sovereignty, sisterhood cycles, surrender, dreaming, death, ritual desire, sacred sexuality, balance. Monica (Host) | 00:05:04 to 00:05:29 It's like, whoa. And I thought maybe a great place to start for my listener who may not be familiar with this goddess. One of the things I've really found helpful is knowing that her mythology was really unearthed and kind of interpreted and is really only becoming mainstream very recently. But I'd love to hear more. Oh, absolutely. Seana (Guest) | 00:05:29 to 00:06:16 And indeed, her mythology is so fascinating and it's so rich. To your point, it really touches on this incredible I mean, your list is perfectly accurate. But ultimately what is beautiful is the way that her mythology did come to light was that it was translated and not edited the way that some other mythology that we've experienced through the lens of the patriarchy has been sort of, let's say edited significantly. And this is just delivered to us in such a beautiful way. And it's an amazing opportunity to see sort of like how the feminine was expressed and experienced prior to the denigration of the second chakra, prior to the sort of burying alive of the divine feminine. Seana (Guest) | 00:06:16 to 00:06:31 And she holds that. She embodies it and shows us how we can return to that state, which is so beautiful. She's such an inspiration in this way. I love that you said that, that she was buried alive. That feels really intentional. Monica (Host) | 00:06:31 to 00:07:11 Say more about that. Well, in the many of the ways that the patriarchy sort of took down the divine feminine is they literally took, as you know, but literally took over sacred sites of hers and built their own churches on them, right? So in that way, literally buried alive. And there was such an intention on the part of the patriarchy to separate us from this incredible sacred feminine power that resides in our second chakra and from all that that represents the energy, the feminine consciousness. Goddess consciousness is all about unity and unconditional love and compassion. Seana (Guest) | 00:07:11 to 00:08:10 And this is what we need today. And to separate us from that, to separate us from our own sense of sovereignty, our own intuitive ability to know what is right for us really feels like the agenda. And here we see this beautiful mythology that represents an incredibly sovereign heroine at the helm who is interested in always, as we journey through her mythology, we see her actualizing power and then immediately sharing that power, so she becomes empowered to help empower others. And it's very refreshing and certainly very powerful message for now. And just in case listeners are not familiar with who she is, I'll just say that she is the Sumerian goddess of love and war, but she has many epitaphs, and she's known as the goddess of thunderstorms and rain, as the evening and the morning star, as Venus. Seana (Guest) | 00:08:11 to 00:08:43 She has different ways in which she sort of evolved into ishtar, into aphrodite, these different expressions. And today we can see her in her Inanna form, wherein she fully, fully embraces her paradoxes, which I am so drawn to because it's so relatable in our human form to see this goddess, this divine being, embodying paradoxes. So we can realize that that doesn't keep us from our divinity. We can ease into our divinity. That's right. Monica (Host) | 00:08:43 to 00:09:08 And if it's okay, I'm just going to kind of read some of the preface here, please. I think it's super helpful. So, as the first epic myth ever recorded, the descent of Inanna reads like a divinely charted map to guide us back to ourselves, to the truth of our origins. Understanding our roots can help us find. Our highest evolutionary expression. Monica (Host) | 00:09:08 to 00:09:46 What I love so much about this, Shauna, is like, it's ancient. This is an ancient story. And so, as you know, I am constantly kind of hammering on this symptom of patriarchy, which is the trance of unworthiness. And what is so beautiful about these ancient writings is that they're trance breakers. They are undeniable because these mythologies existed before patriarchy. Monica (Host) | 00:09:46 to 00:10:29 And while patriarchy will continue to deny it from every rooftop I love what you said, which is patriarchy built up on her, buried her alive. I'm thinking to myself, like, how foolish can you be? Right? Because when you truly understand the benevolence and ferocity of the goddess, you better go packing because this is going to come back like the biggest boomerang. And it's a system of oppression. Monica (Host) | 00:10:29 to 00:11:17 And of course, I have to kind of remind my listener in every episode that this is not about men, it's about the system that actually also veiled men in this ignorance around hierarchy. Absolutely. Instead of co equal partnership, which is how we were always meant to be in relationship. And it's really fascinating when you allow this information to come in. And this is where understanding the denigration of the second chakra becomes so powerful, because it's by destroying our internal sovereignty and our connection to our own body that they get away with this. Monica (Host) | 00:11:18 to 00:11:28 It's like I often say that the trance is in the mind and it's. In the second chakra. Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. And I love that you highlight her mythology as a breaking trance. Seana (Guest) | 00:11:28 to 00:11:53 Trance breaking, yeah. But you're absolutely right about that. The way that our mental, emotional, spiritual and physical bodies are holding that right or have been influenced by that. And this feels truly like the era that we were born into, you and I and your listeners we were born in to break that chance, to emerge beyond that and to heal. And she's definitely a guide for this. Seana (Guest) | 00:11:53 to 00:12:29 For sure. She's definitely a guide for this. So I know that I read the intro which talked about your premonition, which I absolutely find fascinating, and I want to get curious about that because you were highly intuitive and are highly intuitive. I'm wondering, in addition to kind of this early emergence of kind of inana in your life, kind of showing up in that way, how else did she become such a central figure for you? That's such a beautiful question. Seana (Guest) | 00:12:30 to 00:13:16 Thank you. It really was in the when I opened to understanding that the heart in my heart and second Chakra were the two really like initiatory sort of let's say they really began the challenges that I encountered that affected my heart and my second Chakra really placed me on this path with her and reminded me that this was part of my mission. And ultimately it was in seeing that she represented an acceptance of her messiness. I was extremely Type A as a young person and wanting to I would always go the extra mile. It wasn't enough to have an A, I wanted the A plus plus the extra credit, you know what I mean? Seana (Guest) | 00:13:16 to 00:13:53 And this she showed me right away that healing is messy and that there is a way it created an invitation. She really emerged as my biggest teacher of self love and in a way that was tangible, not from an intellectual perspective. In seeing how she literally in diving into her mythology, you see the ways that she just accepts whatever. When she stumbles, she accepts and she moves on. And that was not me. Seana (Guest) | 00:13:53 to 00:14:34 I would beat myself up for stumbling. And it was really in working with her and why the archetype of the unapologetic heroine is really sort of ignited through her, why that was so healing for me. Because I started to realize I didn't have to be apologetic for who I am, for evolving even for shifting and changing and changing my mind or even one thing that was really interesting is the process of balancing karma. And the process of engaging in soul contracts and to play them out and to see that sometimes soul contracts, when they come to a close, maybe the relationships are complete or whatever. And that was an example of something that was challenging for me. Seana (Guest) | 00:14:34 to 00:14:58 But she helped me see, like, that's part of it. That's just part of it. It's accepting all the aspects of your process in the deepest way. And it was through engaging with her and her mythology and also taking it into practice and doing ritual with her that also really supported the way in which her medicine has transformed me. Yeah, I really do. Intro/Outro (Outro) | 00:14:59 to 00:15:30 I wondered too, if it would be helpful to our listener to just kind of point to what some of these second chakra properties are. And I know I have like this I ended up kind of like laughingly, running over to the bookshelf and grabbing a book on chakras, but maybe, you know, right off the top of your head, like, obviously you do. Yeah. So, absolutely. The second chakra is, I mean, of course, our creative center. Seana (Guest) | 00:15:31 to 00:16:00 And it doesn't matter how we identify, like, it's not a specific gender situation, but there is a creative energy in the second chakra, and it's certainly where it's located at our sex organs. So there's a way where our connection to our sexuality is part of our creative process. And so anything that we engage in from a creative perspective is a second chakra process. Anything. It's also the center wherein we give ourselves permission to play, to have joy, and to have fun. Seana (Guest) | 00:16:00 to 00:16:19 And that is key in this lifetime. So key. And also, it is the center where we learn to satiate all of our appetites. So that means we have to know, what do we want? This is a lifetime wherein we get to ask that question with that unapologetic nature and say, wait, what do I want? Seana (Guest) | 00:16:19 to 00:16:48 And when we understand what we want, we can give ourselves that nourishment, whatever it is. And that's the way in which we access the fulfillment, the joy, the play, the fun. So we have to understand and cultivating or recreating and reconnecting with that center will give us access to that which to me is all about fulfillment. Yes. And what I love about what you're talking to and kind of is this unbecoming, right? Monica (Host) | 00:16:48 to 00:17:37 Like, I always talk about unbecoming and all of the ways we have been trained that desires are unbecoming for a woman, that our sexuality is messy and unbecoming, that our feelings are unbecoming, that they're too much or too dramatic to this, to that. When we're disconnected from all of that, we also lose our capacity for joy. We lose our capacity for playfulness, we lose our capacity for imagining. Imagination is a big part of creation. So it also occurs to me as just it's like learning to satiate all of those appetites. Monica (Host) | 00:17:38 to 00:18:30 Here's where Anana's story and myth gets so powerful, is that her story? And I'll let you kind of like, take this away, but it's kind of like, yes, she's queen of heaven and Earth, and she makes this descent into the underworld and has to go through these seven initiations or seven gates. And this is where so much of our ability to bring, play, levity, imagination, connectedness, joy, that's what happens when we surrender to this underworld experience, where we. Reclaim those aspects of ourselves. And it's a requirement, I've found. Monica (Host) | 00:18:30 to 00:18:52 I want to believe that there are some women in this life that don't have to go through it. But I have yet to meet her. I have yet to meet her if she's here, if she hasn't had to go through this. Absolutely. And I think that what I love about the dissent myth. Seana (Guest) | 00:18:52 to 00:19:17 Of her numerous myths, this one is the most well known, and it's such a powerful one. And it's so timely because there are so many of us going through a dark night of the soul or having had just experienced that. I mean, collectively, with all that has transpired in the last several years. Right. So to then be able to engage with what comes up once you start like, okay, hold on, because it's a ride. Monica (Host) | 00:19:17 to 00:19:23 Hold on and let go. Exactly. Hold on and let go. Indeed. Because to your point, that's a crucial piece. Seana (Guest) | 00:19:23 to 00:20:14 The Surrender, that's definitely connected to inana, for sure. And as a teacher of Ascension, which this particular myth really positions her as one of the earliest teachers of Ascension, her mythology about the process of quote unquote resurrection or whatever term you want to use, ascension predates the story of Christ, which is so beautiful and powerful and there's so many similarities. There's the three days and three nights that both go through. And there's an incredible teaching here, which is in the surrender where she comes to the seven gates of the underworld, at each one, she has to remove an item of her royal garb. And really the way that you're describing that release to me is a readiness or a release of the wounding, our attachment to the wounding. Seana (Guest) | 00:20:14 to 00:21:07 And that that's part of the capacity to be in that high vibration state that allows us to ascend. And so when the wounding, when we're releasing one of our royal attributes, let's say, like she is, and releasing our attachment to wounding, it's so important to recognize that we need kindness, we need to be supportive. We need empathy and compassion because sometimes it's messy. And I so encourage us collectively because this is happening, right, to engage with one another from this compassionate perspective. And just even if people engage in a way that's maybe not the most graceful, it's definitely time right now to remember that they may be in the process of this initiatory experience and to offer them awe and sort. Seana (Guest) | 00:21:07 to 00:21:37 Of like a sense of almost like, great job you're doing this instead of getting really angry because they were maybe less than graceful to you. You can move on and create the sacred boundary, but it might help us collectively to move through this in a way where we're supporting each other and kind to each other. So kind. I love this because it's true. And I want to go back to giving an example. Monica (Host) | 00:21:38 to 00:22:17 When we talk about letting go of some of our wounding, I also think about the masks, the egoic masks that keep us feeling like we need to be pretty pleasing and polite. Totally. And so as you're kind of going through each of these initiatory gates, it's almost like think of it like a locked door that will not open. The key to them opening is surrendering one of these masks. It's almost like the Goddess is the first example of reciprocity to me. Monica (Host) | 00:22:17 to 00:22:45 She's like, I tell you what. You give me that friggin thing that no longer serves you, and we both know it doesn't serve you. And I know it's painful, and I know it's scary to be vulnerable, but I require that in order to unlock this door and let you see what's on the other side. And I promise you, it is so much better than you could ever even imagine. And that's what my experience always with the Goddess is. Monica (Host) | 00:22:45 to 00:23:28 She is the statement, and so shall it be, and even something better that is, like, her thing. And so she requires something from us, and it's always the thing that is no longer serving, and that will be alchemized into something else that is so far better than what we could have. Imagined, that is so beautiful and so beautifully said, because that's exactly right. And the offering is also like it's almost like emulating. It's honoring her by doing that. Seana (Guest) | 00:23:28 to 00:24:00 It's saying, I know you're capable of this, and so am I, because I see my own divine nature within me through you, in the mirror experience of witnessing you. And so I love that because it does offer, even from a clinical lens, from a psychotherapeutic lens, that when we heal, we access. If we talk about shadow work in the clinical sense, there's always power behind the shadow. So we reconnect with that power, so we get more of ourselves. Yeah, I love that. Monica (Host) | 00:24:00 to 00:24:44 Right? Like, there's a disguised gift, and it gets unveiled, and it's like we've been running from it our whole life. But then when we turn and face it, we realize that it actually has something to give us that remembers us, and that then allows us to reintegrate a part of ourselves that now we no longer have to be ashamed of. We no longer have to feel unworthiness about, that it actually gets to belong, mass and all. And so there was a way that I was similar to you, continually running away from anything that was imperfect about myself. Monica (Host) | 00:24:44 to 00:25:24 And what I came to realize, that it's actually the messy process and parts of me that people actually love the most, because in it, I create spaces where the messy can be received. And it's a superpower that I didn't realize I had until I was willing to actually let go of the perfection. And it's an ever process, because I also know that to be on this plane of reality is to forget and remember. Forget and remember. But the beauty of once you kind of ring a bell. Monica (Host) | 00:25:24 to 00:25:37 You can never unring it. And so the remembering is always right there. It's as close to us as the breath. It's literally like a breath away. Think about the breath as like a process of remembering. Monica (Host) | 00:25:37 to 00:25:56 It's like on that, oh, I forgot. I can remember again. That I get to be messy, that I can be both messy and magnificent. And so that's where the sacred and and the paradox all comes together. And so inana is the sacred and yes, she really is. Seana (Guest) | 00:25:57 to 00:26:19 She absolutely is. And I love that because you're also highlighting the shame. Right. My understanding of the way that external oppression was most effective was when it became internalized and showed up as their efforts to shame. And then we accessed a sense of being ashamed of parts of ourselves. Seana (Guest) | 00:26:19 to 00:26:37 And so we're, in essence, sort of perpetuating that external oppressive energy within ourselves, and we get to look at that and not judge it. Go, of course. I mean, it snuck in because it was so loud and it was over so long. So we don't look at that and beat ourselves up. We go, wow. Seana (Guest) | 00:26:38 to 00:26:56 And I have the capacity to shift that. I can realize that there is no need for me to have this. It was an agenda, literally, and to see it as such. And it can more easily fall away to embrace those parts that are messy that you're describing. Because to your point, you're absolutely right. Seana (Guest) | 00:26:57 to 00:27:09 It is those parts that are messy that tend to be disarming and charming and all of the things that people embrace. Yeah, they do. Because it gives them permission to be human. Exactly. 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If you've been looking for a tribe of women who are done with playing. Small and a training that is so. Advertisement (Intro, Advertisement) | 00:29:31 to 00:29:58 Much more than a certificate of completion, then I hope you'll go to Rockstarcamp Live right now to get all of the details of the full experience and apply for this next cohort. If something in your body is telling you to go for it, don't think twice. Go to Rockstarcamp Live right now and apply for this next cohort happening soon. Monica (Host) | 00:30:05 to 00:30:29 So I want to go back and get curious because you had talked about, like, the perfectionism, but I know dissents can get pretty freaking gritty in my darkest dark depth. Whoa. It's one of those things I often say, like, I don't wish it upon anyone and yet I wish it for everyone. Because, again, there's that paradox. Monica (Host) | 00:30:32 to 00:30:48 It is the reckoning. It is the place where you make a choice. And I will never forget that. Sophie Strand says it's only an initiation if you survive. Totally right. Monica (Host) | 00:30:48 to 00:31:34 Because there's a place where you really the the illusions are so thick and where you realize that this struggle to hang on, to not let go, like, under any circumstance, that some of us have been traumatized so deeply that we actually are, like in a house of mirrors where we cannot figure out what door to choose. And so what I'm going to always say here, just in case somebody's listening that can resonate with this, is that the door to choose is you. Yes. Always you. There is no other door. Monica (Host) | 00:31:34 to 00:31:47 It's you. Absolutely. And as soon as you choose, you with kindness and compassion. I'm going to go back to what Shauna said. The clue is you're beating up on yourself. Monica (Host) | 00:31:47 to 00:31:58 You're becoming desperate. You are in the dark, you are isolated, you are alone and you want to die. I'm just going to say it. You want to die. You want the pain to end. Monica (Host) | 00:32:00 to 00:32:25 That's the place, people. That's the place to be kind to yourself. And as you start being kind to. Yourself, you are literally shedding the thing in Nana wants you to shed, which is, I mean, you can name whatever that thing is for you, because for some people, it's shame. For some people, it's self loathing. Monica (Host) | 00:32:25 to 00:33:06 For some people, it's not enough. For some people, but in that kindness, if you show kindness to yourself and Inanna brings you grace, she does, because that's the first place you have to start practicing, is being kind to yourself, because it sounds paradoxical. And it is because it is that she's not going to open the door to anything else until you get this part about self love. Because she realizes, like, until you get self love, you can't get any of the other lessons. So self love has to accompany you on this journey. Monica (Host) | 00:33:06 to 00:33:28 It's literally like the first piece that has to get kind of like reckoned with. Absolutely. And what I love about emphasizing that is it's also like a protective mechanism. So even though we shed, we let go because that's part of the process. The self love positions us. Seana (Guest) | 00:33:28 to 00:33:44 It's like grounding. It's like rooting into the earth. The self love positions us in a stance wherein what comes at us is experienced very differently than if we were not in a place of self love. And if we weren't in a place of self love, it's kind of like not being grounded. We can topple over more easily. Seana (Guest) | 00:33:44 to 00:34:05 But if we're in self love, it's like we're rooted into ourself. And as such, we can hold our stance no matter what comes at us. And we can sway and bend and adapt and respond well. And I want to call it the eye of the needle moment. When things are no longer happening to you, they're happening for you. Monica (Host) | 00:34:05 to 00:34:56 It's literally like a switch in perspective that changes everything. And so if we can start to experience that this terrible thing is happening for us in this moment and bring ourselves compassion, knowing that this too shall pass. But whenever I talk about this self love piece, I immediately go to my heart. And it's interesting that you said that it was your second chakra and your heart because those two are inextricably linked. And many people would say that those of us that have been violated sexually close our heart down because it's how we survived the thing, right? Monica (Host) | 00:34:56 to 00:35:15 It's how we survived. And so there comes a point where we have to learn to receive again. We have to alchemize the violation. We have to remember the part that was cast out of the garden. We remember the part of us that was shamed. Monica (Host) | 00:35:15 to 00:35:35 Remember the part of us that disassociated in order to survive and call that part back with love and understanding because that part did the right thing at that time. Absolutely. And it's all about that. Like our healing. We have to experience a felt sense of safety to go deeper with the healing. Seana (Guest) | 00:35:36 to 00:36:04 So that's how we do that, right? We have that compassion that you're describing in honor of our process, and we were trying to keep ourselves safe. What I love about the correlation in Nana's mythology of the heart and the second chakra is she's literally known as the goddess of love, right? But her mythology, which is so refreshing and just so inspiring, is literally filled with references to her holy vulva. So there's this emphasis. Seana (Guest) | 00:36:04 to 00:36:51 It's like even the ancient artistic depictions of Inanna. Have her with her foot out on a lion's back and she's wearing the seven pleated reno, sort of referencing her seven gates of Initiation seven pleated dress, where there's this huge long slit up the dress, bringing the viewer's gaze to her holy vulva. And there's one of my absolute favorite myths of hers begins with her looking down and celebrating in literal meditation, where she's conjuring her sacred feminine power. And literally it says she applauded herself as she gazes at her holy velvet. So there's this emphasis that she's saying, to your point, they are connected as Goddess of Love. Seana (Guest) | 00:36:51 to 00:37:14 She's leading with a powerful and intact at the time, right? Like intact second chakra that we can look to and say, what was it like? Because we're in this incredible time, as we all know, all of us who have incarnated into this era know that there is so much change happening and that we are all co creators. So what do we want to create and how do we create? From the highest vibration? Seana (Guest) | 00:37:14 to 00:37:25 We have to heal so that that instrument of creation is already tuned to the highest vibration? Yes, I say three times. Monica (Host) | 00:37:27 to 00:38:28 Do you think that it is important to tell our listeners a little bit more about the myth from high level? I would also love for you, Shauna, to just kind of speak to the range, because a lot of people know about the Descent part, but including me, right? Like, I didn't realize there so much more to this mythology and also why it's important for women to understand this. I want to say as I read it, your book really illuminates for me. This literal guide to taking women through this process of initiation and normalizing it and making it super accessible and then giving with some more broad brushstrokes, giving women an understanding of like, I understand you're here now, and I'm going to hold your hand through it. Monica (Host) | 00:38:28 to 00:38:53 But here's what's possible once we kind of get through that, this whole heaven on Earth is available to you, and you will have mastered this Shadow World and this underworld. Absolutely. Thank you. Absolutely. The Descent myth, as I mentioned, is not only one of the oldest myths, but also her most well known. Seana (Guest) | 00:38:53 to 00:39:43 And so just to give an overview of it, she is reigning as Queen of Heaven and Earth with her partner Damuzi, and she's being supported by her her people, and she's in this incredible place, but she has this inner call to descend into the Underworld, and inana always honors her intuition. So even though she's not fully sure why she goes, and before she goes, she gets dolled up into her most beautiful attire, which also I just want to emphasize, because even though she ultimately releases it, it's like she literally gets dressed to the nines for her death. And the Underworld is a world from which no one is allowed to return. And still Anana goes there's just again, this unapologetic heroine. Like, I'm doing this, I have faith in myself, which is so powerful. Seana (Guest) | 00:39:43 to 00:39:59 That's one of the deepest, most profound lessons. And to me, faith is like the vibration that allows us to go through this process. We access faith in ourself and that's the self love you were talking about. They're intricately related, self love and faith in self. But once we access that, we can move to the next process. Seana (Guest) | 00:39:59 to 00:40:34 Right. So anyway, she has faith in herself. As she's going down, she does prepare a backup plan in case she's not allowed to be let out of the underworld. And she does this with her guide, her counselor, ninja. So as she goes into the underworld and proceeds to descend, what we also know is that her sister, or I think of her as her sister self, eresh Kigal, and there's many different understandings of her, but she was somewhat the mythology is that she was sort of given the domain of the underworld to rule. Seana (Guest) | 00:40:34 to 00:41:18 And she's maybe a bit miffed about it. She's like, here's Anana, who's reigning in her glory and her beauty and getting to have sex with whoever she wants and all of this wonderful stuff, and I'm down here in the darkness. So Inana goes down and finds herself at the gate and knocks really loudly, which I think is also so Inana, here's my presence. And Netty the gatekeeper, opens it and he's clearly like, just struck because she's this radiant light in the darkness and she's just larger than life. And she declares why she's there, which comes to her as she's descending and she's wanting to bear witness to or be a part of the the funeral of her sister's husband, who later on there's a correlation there. Seana (Guest) | 00:41:18 to 00:41:40 There's something that is correlated around why, which is sort of like a soul contract karmic balancing that happens that I'll sort of skip over just because it's complicated. But she goes down. She sells this to Netty, the gatekeeper. He says, Hang on, I've got to go tell Ireshkigal and see what she says. Ireshkigal hears him describe radiant, glorious, larger than life in Inanna banging at the door. Seana (Guest) | 00:41:40 to 00:42:08 And Ireshkigal is really upset. Not only is she mourning the loss of her husband, so she's grieving, but she's also really jealous. Yes, exactly. So she literally bites her lip and slaps her thigh and decides that Inana can come in if she gets rid of all that glory, if she's stripped naked and bowed low. So at every gate she has to remove one of the items that she dawned to come down and stripped naked and bowed low. Seana (Guest) | 00:42:09 to 00:42:17 Right, exactly. And Inana, of course, hears this and challenges it. She's sort of like I'm Inanna. Why do I have to do this? But ultimately she acquiesces. Seana (Guest) | 00:42:17 to 00:42:29 That's the faith in self that we see through the mythology. We see her, she has it. She already has it. But that's what's powerful as a teaching for us to remind us that we have it right. She's like, I can do this. Monica (Host) | 00:42:30 to 00:42:49 I trust myself that I can handle whatever comes. Exactly. That's right. So she ultimately comes through the last door and stands before the throne of Eresh Kigal and Ireshkigal fixes the Eye of Death upon her and turns her into a piece of meat and hangs her on the wall. So she has now died. Seana (Guest) | 00:42:49 to 00:43:18 Right. And the way that I've structured the book is I start it there and then we go through some of the other mythology and then we pick up at the end at her ascension, which, as you know, if she's a teacher of ascension, she ascends. And the way that she does this is ultimately through the heart. So there's a beautiful process that she accesses, literally. She drops into compassion for self, for her people, for the world that allows her to rise. Seana (Guest) | 00:43:18 to 00:43:42 So the focal point being the heart center as the sort of the main I mean, we need it all, but really, ultimately the GPS that we need most for our ascension process is the heart center. But the mythology is so rich, Monica. It's so beautiful and there's aspects like. You could unpack it forever. Yes, exactly. Monica (Host) | 00:43:43 to 00:44:43 Again, for my listener, the book is so actually super straightforward and very you do such a beautiful job of unpacking it and dancing back and forth between the complexities kind of buried and kind of pulling them out in ways that really kind of make sense as you go. Because I wondered, and I might as well just ask you if there was ever a point where you looked at this myth and thought it's too big, it's too overwhelming, that you got that you really understood it. But just trying to explain it at times was so daunting. And I want to say that that's how the feminine often occurs for me is like, it's so nuanced. And you can see this other world right here, right beyond the physical, material world and you can even see all of its intersecting points. Monica (Host) | 00:44:44 to 00:45:22 But it's in a language sometimes older than words. And so accessing or trying to put language from our vocabulary to express what we see and express the connections can be quite a challenge. I could not agree more. Yeah, and absolutely what you're speaking to really, too, is multidimensionality, which is so much a part of the medicine of the divine feminine because really what she's saying is she refuses to be bound. The divine feminine in general is she has all these aspects that you're describing. Seana (Guest) | 00:45:22 to 00:45:54 That's why it can be, like, a bit overwhelming when we kind of pull it together. But that's how we are and sometimes our connection. And if you struggle, for example, with how to articulate it or something, that may be because what is wanting to be articulated is not verbal and it's meant to be felt or it's meant to be seen or it's meant to be heard but not spoken. So, in other words, lean into our own multidimensionality as well. And that's one of the reasons I love her mythology, even her hymn. Seana (Guest) | 00:45:54 to 00:46:22 So I go through a couple of her hymns. My favorite hymn of hers is The Holy One, and this one is all about owning who we are. And this is a hymn that is, in my opinion, really, really significant for today because it is a foundational piece, in my opinion, about the notion of dismantling binaries of all kind, saying, like, I am not going to be bound. I'm not going to be limited to anything. I am who I am. Seana (Guest) | 00:46:22 to 00:46:59 Whoever I know myself to be is who I am. And she in her, especially Betty Miador, who just recently passed but was an incredible scholar. And she translated the poetry of Enedwana, who was a high priestess and princess, and she was a high priestess of Nana, who is Inana's father. But Anadwana's poetry reveals Inana having this capacity to sanctify the ones who know who they truly are and give Holy Office to. I mean, she she really emerges as incredibly celebratory of the queer community and inclusive in all ways. Seana (Guest) | 00:47:00 to 00:47:16 And that's part of our multidimensionality. We are who we are, the pushing backs against the limiting aspects that try to confine our multidimensionality. And then the Goddess comes in and says, hey, you don't have to do that. I am beyond yeah. I am beyond. Monica (Host) | 00:47:16 to 00:47:44 Right. I am beyond duality. Yes. And it's really again, I'm awestruck in the presence she's always here. I actually was writing something earlier, again, like, trying to capture what I was expressing, and I'll just kind of pull it up because it's so relevant in the moment. Monica (Host) | 00:47:44 to 00:48:23 I said, the world of empire is upside down, and guests on my podcast offer me portals into a more beautiful and unseen world that coexist just beyond this physical one. And it's as real as anything I've ever known. Lately, my conversations lead me into a more concentrated way, to the lap of the sacred feminine, revelations about womb, wisdom, arrows, kundalini, energy, yoni, mythologies, archetypes of the goddess, and more. Some of the most oppressive spells cast by this world are the ways in. Which the feminine side of our nature is dismissed. Monica (Host) | 00:48:23 to 00:48:44 Because she is often shrouded from our material world, her very nature is one. Of mystery, subtlety and nuance. And it's only through intention, adoration, patience and reverence that she reveals glimpses of herself. I love that. That is so powerful and it's so right on. Seana (Guest) | 00:48:44 to 00:48:59 Absolutely. And then what else belongs is she's subtle until she's not. Absolutely. And then she'll friggin hit you over the head with a two x four and say, Wake the hell up. Absolutely. Seana (Guest) | 00:49:00 to 00:49:23 And she does that in a way where it's in alignment with your free will. You've said, hey, Goddess, can you help me with this? She's like, sure. Yes, it is in alignment with her because I always say, Shauna, right before I descended into this underworld experience, that for me was nine months in bed. Like, nine months in bed. Monica (Host) | 00:49:23 to 00:49:40 I mean, when I we're talking about a takedown, you know, it's like, whoa. I remember crying out. I remember saying, please don't make me do this anymore. Please don't make I can't do this anymore. I can't do this anymore. Monica (Host) | 00:49:40 to 00:50:02 And she was like, okay. And then there were these moments where I would be like, just say, let it fall apart. And I'd say what? Then who then who's gonna like you know? And it was like, kind of like just like, silly girl, you know, like, that's the whole point, is to just let it go. Monica (Host) | 00:50:03 to 00:50:18 See? Let the world orient itself around your truth. It was like, say yes to the mess. And it was like, such a revelation for me to think, like, I don't. Have to hold it all together. Seana (Guest) | 00:50:20 to 00:50:33 No, that is so powerful. And I love that is such a beautiful way to articulate it. Let the world orient itself around your truth. That's it. That's totally the message of the goddess. Seana (Guest) | 00:50:33 to 00:50:45 Be who you are. Be your truth and let the world orient itself around you. I love that. Monica and also, how profound is it that it was nine months for you? I mean, how clearly is that a gestational period of rebirth, right? Seana (Guest) | 00:50:46 to 00:51:15 Like, wow. And that all the symbols were there. Like, I had this experience with my daughter out on the porch where we were watching a butterfly emerge from a crystallis, a cocoon, and it was a monarch. And I captured the images and all of this significance happened before. And so I was always kind of going back and being like, oh, my God, it was right there. Monica (Host) | 00:51:15 to 00:52:04 It was right there. And my daughter was such a big part of that because I think this other message of Inanna is this message about this archetype and also the triple archetype of maiden mother crone, which is that we have these different stages of death and rebirth. And, yes, we will always have access to be able to go back, but unless we initiate, unless we fully actualize, unless we let go of that old skin, which, again, that snake was co opted by patriarchy and made bad. The snake was always from the divine realm. The snake was always showing us how the goddess and how the feminine works. Monica (Host) | 00:52:05 to 00:52:34 And remember, the feminine embraces the masculine. The feminine includes the masculine. So whenever we're talking about the godass and the feminine, we have to remember that she is including and integrating the all. Absolutely. And that's totally such an important key to remember because she is in alignment with she is in balance. Seana (Guest) | 00:52:34 to 00:52:50 She's all about balance. So she is not wanting to have power over anything. She wants to empower you. Yes. And so there's this sort of alignment with the masculine versus so it's really such an important key difference, right. Seana (Guest) | 00:52:50 to 00:52:55 Like the idea of what patriarchy is. But that's also, in part, what was threatening. Monica (Host) | 00:52:57 to 00:53:05 So threatening. Right. And when we're in balance, it's very hard to be duped. It's very hard to fall under that trance. Right. Seana (Guest) | 00:53:06 to 00:53:28 So there was an agenda to sort of get us unbalanced, and that was part of it. Well, and it's also why rape is used as a tool. Yes. It's a very calculated tool that actually disconnects women from our second chakra. It's why it's used in war. Seana (Guest) | 00:53:28 to 00:53:47 Yes. It's when you disempower the women, you disempower the hand that rocks the cradle of the world. And this is what we've forgotten, is that and it's like I'm always saying, this is by design. This is by design. This is by design. Monica (Host) | 00:53:47 to 00:54:33 And we can tend to get, I think, really pissed off before we get to that place of compassion. And I think that that gets to belong, too, because it can be really overwhelming as women to actually, when you look at his story and how his story did not include and in fact, purposely excluded the feminine when the feminine would not have done that. So it's also this story of forgiveness. It's this story of reclamation. It's this story of realigning. Monica (Host) | 00:54:33 to 00:55:05 It's like we have to find our way in the Sofia century, we have to find our way back home. Which is why the myth of Inanna is so powerful for these times. Absolutely. And what you're saying about the forgiveness and the way of goddess consciousness or divine feminine consciousness, however you want to articulate it, is definitely connected to forgiveness in the heart. But this is also speaking to the release of resentment. Seana (Guest) | 00:55:05 to 00:55:46 So even from a clinical lens, when we are holding on to resentment, then we are tethered to the trauma of the past. So if we can go drop into heart consciousness and dissolve that resentment, which looks like having compassion for ourselves and for the experience, we start to, that sort of cord of attachment to that trauma begins to dissolve. And it's so hard. And I have such mad respect for anyone who goes through that, because to your point, sort of thinking about the tragic experiences that happen and how we can get really angry when we say, well, how is this like, serving me? Our human aspect embrace looks at that and says, yeah, how is this? Seana (Guest) | 00:55:46 to 00:56:05 This is so unfair. And it's hard. Right. We have to be skillful about when we say such a thing, to whom and at what point. But ultimately, if we do hold the lens of what inana's mythology represents, which is that everything in our life is showing up as a part of our spiritual training, everything. Seana (Guest) | 00:56:05 to 00:56:48 And it's coming in to help us see how powerful we are. So it's not that we caused it or whatever, but we are having an opportunity with what shows up to show ourselves where we are today with it. So if we have a traumatic experience happen or something that really is particularly triggering for us, can we today, if we're recognizing this as an opportunity for evolution and growth, can we look at that situation that we're triggered by and see how can we not give our power away? How can we be graceful with ourselves in the face of it, even if it just means we're nice to ourselves, like, it doesn't even have to be that we do something grandiose. Yes. Seana (Guest) | 00:56:48 to 00:57:31 So that's the invitation. Yes, that is the invitation. And it's beautiful. It really is. I think that the other part that really comes into focus for me with the myth of Inanna is that had I not gone through and also really released all of these egoic attachments that we can tend to feel, is so important in this very material, very masculinized world where we're faking it until we make it, and all of these other ways that we're not allowing and embracing our humanity. Monica (Host) | 00:57:31 to 00:58:34 And by not allowing and embracing our humanity, nor are we allowing and embracing our divinity. And so I think that what all of these ascension stories were trying to teach us is that it is by kind of understanding this dark aspect of death and rebirth and the cycle, that without understanding the cycle, we cannot experience what I think was always intended. If we had been kind of initiated and had we normalized this experience, and as we're surfacing the experience, it is becoming more and more normalized. But it's this idea of creating heaven on Earth. And I believe this is what we're up to now. Monica (Host) | 00:58:34 to 00:59:05 We talk about this new world that we're all in the process of birthing. We are in the process of birthing heaven on Earth. And what I also want to say about the Goddess and forgiveness and compassion is she does not suffer fools gladly. So, like, there's a way that, yes, she is this benevolent, loving force that no longer resents, but she also does not allow this trespass. Again, she is being remembered. Monica (Host) | 00:59:05 to 01:00:08 And in her remembrance and in her honor, we will know that enough is enough, and we will put the world right side up. And in doing so, there will be a lot of messiness, right? Like, it's part of it because birth is messy. And so what we're experiencing now is this disintegration of all of these systems that have been in this power over dynamic for so long. And so for my listener, again, this story is also such an antidote to anything that we might be experiencing, guaranteed that whatever you're experiencing in this physical world at this time, there is a metaphor and there is a lesson and kind of a teaching about it in this book. Monica (Host) | 01:00:08 to 01:00:21 So, Shauna. Thank you. Just honestly, wow. Is just what I have to say about your work. It's such an honor to be able to just unpack some of this today. Monica (Host) | 01:00:22 to 01:00:58 And I absolutely love that we got as far as we did because I was even kind of having that overwhelm when I was like, how am I even going to create this conversation? It even felt overwhelming to me. But I wanted to end with just also inviting you to share with our audience what you want them to know, what else you want them to know, and where else they can find you, and if you have any offerings that you want to put out there. Thank you so much. It has been such an incredible pleasure to connect with you and be able to co create with you. Seana (Guest) | 01:00:58 to 01:01:43 I'm so just grateful. So my website is probably the best way. It's Shaunazolazzo.com and I'm also on Instagram and Facebook under Shaunazalazzo Author, so you can find out whatever it is that I'm doing at the time and the book is on there and you can easily access it. I would say that the piece I want to just leave folks with is that one of the biggest sort of takeaways that I have received from Inanna is that the reminder that we already have access within. She is both a goddess of love and war, so she is, to your point, Monica, that she will not be pushed around. Seana (Guest) | 01:01:44 to 01:02:16 So we have this inner strength, but we also know that to bring about positive change is we can't fight fire with fire. We have to meet it with water, we have to meet it with the energy of transformation that comes from love. So we can be fiercely loving in our work to bring about change, but we can also begin and always it has to begin within. So to bring the attention. If we get overwhelmed about changing the world and birthing a new reality, the only place that the true origin of beginning that work is internally. Seana (Guest) | 01:02:16 to 01:02:45 So be fiercely loving with yourself and honor yourself and know that you truly are equipped. Inana is usually depicted in ancient artwork with her weapons on her back. And the artist that I commissioned to do the imagery for my book painted a contemporary version of her without the armor on her back. And I loved that because to me, I understood it as in the contemporary way. She internalizes it, she holds it within, she's embodying the tools that she needs. Seana (Guest) | 01:02:45 to 01:03:06 And that's her message to you today. We have what we need and all we have to do is drop into the heart and let it guide us because it will connect us with our second chakra, it will connect us with one another and it will connect us with our truth so we can live our truth. And that cultivates heaven on earth, in my opinion. Wow. I love that. Monica (Host) | 01:03:06 to 01:03:56 It also to me speaks of this idea that the minute we want to point our finger out there, it's like, point do your own revelation project. Don't do anybody else's that's where all the confusion and the mayhem and the drama and the war and the conflict happen, is when we're just not doing our own revelation project, frankly, and I'm trying to do somebody else's for them. And there's always something to look at, especially if it activates us. It is an invitation to look more deeply and to see what part of you is wanting your attention in that moment. So I will be sure to put all of Shauna's links in the show notes. Monica (Host) | 01:03:56 to 01:04:12 I highly recommend that everybody get a copy of this book. It is so good. Chef's kiss to you. Honestly, just so brilliantly done. And for my listener, until next time, more to Be revealed. Intro/Outro (Outro) | 01:04:15 to 01:04:38 We hope you enjoyed this episode. For more information, please visit us@jointhevelation.com and be sure to download our free gift, subscribe to our mailing list or leave us a review on itunes. We thank you for your generous listening and as always, more to be revealed. You close.