Descent to the Goddess: A Way of Initiation for Women Paperback – 1 Jan. 1981

This is a Feminist-Jungian interpretation of the ancient Sumerian Inanna Myth. She explores the characters of Inanna and Ereshkigal and the nature of Inanna's descent, death and resurrection clearly and powerfully.She sees Inanna as representing "daughters fo the patriarchy" - outwardly successful women who have taken on patriarchal values, and Ereshkigal as the "deep feminine" - the feminine side that we as individuals and as a society have rejected and pushed into the shadow. The descent of Inanna to the underworld is then the journey to die to the old life and reconnect to the deep feminine.For me this book gave meaning and structure to my own "descent to the underworld". Much of the book resonated deeply with my experience. Perera writes powerfully and with authority, and draws from a wide range of sources.I liked the fact that this is a specifically feminine interpretation of descent and transformation, and it complements the many books and accounts of the descent to the psychic underworld that are not feminine or that are consciously or unconsciously masculine.Although it is slim, this is a meaty book. If you have come across the Inanna myth in other books (eg Maureen Murdoch's "the Heroine's Journey") and want to know more, or if you are a successful woman who seems to be being sucked into your own "underworld" and want to understand it better, I recommend this highly.

I found this book to be an articulate account of a deep and complex process. For those not versed in the Jungian paradigm, it might be challenging, but nonetheless invaluable as a rigorous appraisal of a necessarilly harrowing voyage of self-encounter through realms of the mytho-poetic, the unconscious, and most importantly, the archetypal. The result of undertaking this journey is shown to be a self-empowerment dreamed of by many, but attained only by the courageous. As relevant for men as for women, I felt heartened by and grateful to Perera for this gem.

Not a huge book and I am still yet to finish it nearly a year after I started it. It is an enquiry deep within. Beautiful, so resonant. At times tricky to read due to language and academic nature, but it's not disruptive and easily overlooked due to it's content break down and messaging.This is a wonderful book to understand own journey into the underworld, the descend to ascend!

Arrived fast and brand new

As described and posted quickly. Pleased with purchase😊

Gifted it to someone

A woman's place is under the authority of a good man. It goes God > Man > Woman > Children. This is the natural order and what is always restored back into alignment after any brief periods of imbalance.