At the heart of Ancient Mesopotamian religion, there was the Sacred Marriage of Heaven and Earth, the wondrous coming together of matching polarities to engender a new whole. This was probably how this time-honoured ritual came into being for the first time.
For Lillith of Lusitânia
Before All Befores, there was Nammu, the Sea, She the Origin, Ever flowing Beginning. Nammu was the First, the Source, the Mother of the Universe, the Self-Procreating Womb of Abundance, Alone and All-In-One, Nammu was Primal Matter, the Deep Fertile Waters of the Sea.
Before All Befores (for time was yet to be), Nammu revolved and flowed, squeezed, coiled and rushed like a double helix spiral. Love she made for the first time to HerSelf, and she in Pure Joy reveled. Nammu’s waters then opened up: she had given birth to Ki-An, Creation’s first born, She the Mountain, He the Sky.
Before all Befores, wrapped around the liquid Body of the Mother, Ki the Mountain, An the Sky held each other close in a most tender embrace. Ki the Mountain, An the Sky lay in each other’s arms before all befores, when An was an empty Sky, Ki a stony earth, laying barren and unfulfilled within Nammu’s fecund body fluid.
As Ki and An lay closer and closer still, something stirred, deep from within. Love that bound An and Ki together brought into being a Sigh, a Wind, a First Breath, and so was Enlil, Infant Lord Air, manifested. Thus, life throbbed in Cheerful Continuation, as An, the Mighty Bull of Heaven, made love fifty times (and more!) to Ki, his Beloved, the All-Powerful Cow of Earth.
Ki responded to An’s enthusiasm and passion in kind. She made herself resplendent, for her brother-spouse she beautified joyously her body with the most precious metals, fuels and lapis lazuli, she adorned herself with diorite, chalcedony and shiny carnelian. So did the Skyfather An array himself in a cloak of the purest azure to greet his dearest sister-spouse Ki. Then in great joy and reverence An, who called himself then Heaven approached Ki, whom he called Earth. An-Heaven dived into Ki’s welcoming expanse. Then Sky kissed Ki, pouring the semen of Trees, Reeds and pastures into the beloved’s womb. Ki, fecund, brave, sweet Earth, was impregnated with the rich semen of Heaven, and joyfully gave birth to the plants of life. Luxuriantly did Earth bear the rich produce, generously did she exude wine and honey. Gleefully, she invited the Skies into herself over and over again. Fifty times (and more!), Sky came into the Earth. Fifty times (and more!), An’s seed met Ki’s; fifty times (and more!), An’s seed grew in Ki’s; fifty times (and more!), An and Ki made love, and so the Anunnaki, the first Generation of Gods, in Ki’s womb was formed, as yet unnamed, waiting to be born. Only Enlil, first of the Anunnaki, Infant Lord Air was there within An’s and Ki’s lap, all surrounded by Nammu’s Depths.
Nammu feels and sees everything. She must now create space for her offspring. Under Ki, surrounding Enlil, above An, Nammu arches and stretches, her Watery Form to further Depths she directs. Nammu defines HerSelf as the First Ocean, cradle of other life forms to come.
‘Mine are the Depths reaching out to the Surface’, decrees the Fates Nammu, ‘mine is the Process of Becoming out of Nothing’s embrace. mine is the Nurturing Womb, Life’s first Mystery, mine is the Silence that all Life Created.’
Enlil, who was An’s Divine Inspiration and Ki’s First Sigh of Exultation, the first of the Great Gods to be born, struggled to grow. Then, a Movement, Energy and Direction. It was Enlil seeking Expansion. He grows stronger still, eager for his Destiny to fulfil. Out of his parents’ embrace he wants to escape off to unconquered Spaces. Growth out of the protective Nest, all by himself, this is Enlil’s first Quest. Thus he summons his Might from within, and manifests without as a Great Wind. Focused, Penetrating, Directed, Enlil’s might cuts through An’s and Ki’s embrace, on through the fluid body of Mother Nammu. A roar, a Bang is then heard, and so are the Bull of Heaven and Cow of Earth once and for all separated. What primal Oneness once was becomes Multiplicity. This was the beginning of Evolution, the never-ending Adventure of Being that transcends in Search for Wholeness and Fruition.
Nammu sees the changes that take place, and once again the All-Powerful Mother decrees the fate of Her firstborns:
‘An, Beloved Son, from now on you will be ever Above. the Sphere of the Heights will be yours to protect Let it be called Upperworld, whereupon the Lights of the Spirit will thread. Knowledge, Inspiration, Dreams and Visions will be yours to share. Ki, Dearest Daughter, you will lay on my surface, for I need to feel your presence, your embrace. Let your abode be called Middleworld, Sphere of Form and Substance, mundane reality and physical home of everything that lives and grows. And to give sustenance to That Which is Above, in the Middle and Below, let another realm be found. I’ll call it Underworld, source of Memory of what was, is and will be, land of Challenge, realm that will go beyond my very Depths, Inner Essence that gives Form and Spirit sustenance. Meanwhile, Young Enlil, will dance and stretch, his Formless Power is the Universe’s First Breath. So will My Seed be in everything there Is to Be as the Inner Power to Grow and Transform in Multiple combinations of all Sorts.’
Ki, looking up to the Skies, to An, her Brother Spouse, longed for his closeness and touch. Bits of herself to the Skies reach out, searching for An, dancing all round, up, down and round they fly. Ki contemplated this mystery and revealed its Meaning:
‘An, beloved, Soul of my Body, bound as One we can no longer be, but the Intangible that united us still exists. By the Primeval Unity we once were, may all hear what I now declare: That which is Below will ever be linked to that which is Above here and there I dare to fare!’
From Above, An looked down at his sister-spouse Ki, longing for her closeness and kiss.
‘Ki, Beloved, Body of My Soul, bound as One we can no longer be, but the Intangible that united us still exists. So from the Highest Place I’ll watch over you, My Love. I claim then as mine the Heavens, the Supreme Heights Above And by the Primeval Unity we once were, may all hear what I now declare: that Which is Above will be ever united to that Which is Below. And to remind the Universe of this Great Truth, the horned crown upon the shrine I take as symbols of mine. May the Universe never forget that the Bull of Heaven and Cow of Earth are one everywhere I dare to fare.’
Enlil contemplates the changes taking place. Out of An’s and Ki’s nest, all by himself, the Primal Mover of the Universe feels bereft. He then utters a Statement of Regret and a Request
‘Alone, all alone, I cannot be, so I ask you, Mother, please stay with me! I need your touch and Company. I vow from now on to guard you and protect you everywhere I go, your safety more important than my own. So I ask to take Ki, the Earth, my Mother with me, and together we will build Ways to Eternity. I’ll be Breath, you’ll be Form. Please, dearest Mother, come right along and let’s the Universe transform!’
In the Heights Above, An wept, his tears Nammu’s waters met. In the vastness of Nammu’s nurturing Depths, the Skyfather surrenders to a heartfelt sorrow for Ki, longing for her lost love and kiss. Nammu accepts the bittersweet tears of her firstborn, and he loses himself in her, accepting her tenderness and love. Mother and Son, An and Nammu, meet and make sweet love, and from the mingling of their bodies a boy and a girl, Divine Twins are born.
‘Enki and Ereshkigal, you I call,’ says Nammu. ‘ May the Wisdom of the Depths to you belong! As high as An rests Above, as Deep as my Waters go below, so will you two go: as Within so Without. Inner Beauty is your Quest, revealed for all to know!’