The Purpose of Ritual
Rituals serve as profound anchors in the human experience, bridging the mundane and the mystical to foster personal transformation and intentionality. Far from appeasing any external deity, like the Queen of the Great Below, who exists beyond such needs, they are tools for the individual or group, etching psychological and spiritual milestones into the psyche. By engaging the senses, symbols, and deliberate actions, rituals create a sacred pause amid life’s chaos, allowing one to consciously mark decisions, release old patterns, and affirm commitments to deeper paths such as descent and remembrance. This internal alchemy cultivates clarity, resilience, and a heightened sense of agency, turning abstract intentions into embodied realities that ripple through one’s journey without reliance on divine obligation.
Initiation Descent Ritual: Awakening the Call Below
This ritual serves as a personal threshold-crossing for those newly drawn to the Queen of the Great Below, She who rules the depths, embodying raw truth, transformation, and unyielding remembrance. It’s not about supplication but a deliberate step into descent: releasing surface illusions to invite her essence into your awareness. Perform it alone, ideally at dusk or in the wee hours, in a dimly lit room. Time: 10-20 minutes. No prior experience required, just an open heart and willingness to descend.
Materials (Minimal and Symbolic):
• A small stone or pebble (representing the earth’s below; if none, use a coin or key).
• A mirror (handheld or wall; for self-reflection).
• Optional: A dark cloth or scarf to drape over your shoulders, evoking the veil of descent.
Steps:
1. Preparation: Grounding the Threshold
Sit or stand comfortably, holding the stone in your non-dominant hand. Close your eyes and take three slow breaths, feeling your body connect to the ground beneath you. Speak aloud or whisper: “I stand at the edge of the above, calling to the Queen of the Great Below. Not as servant, but as one who remembers.” Place the stone before you as an anchor, this marks your intent to begin the journey.
2. Release: Shedding the Surface
Gaze into the mirror, meeting your own eyes without flinching. Acknowledge what draws you here, curiosity, a pull toward depth, or a whisper of change. Now, name one “above-world” illusion to release (e.g., “I release the rush of daily distractions” or “I let go of surface fears”). Exhale deeply, imagining it dissolving like mist. This clears space for descent, honoring the Queen’s domain of unflinching truth.
3. Invitation: The Call Below
Hold the mirror at an angle, as if peering into shadows. Invite her presence gently: “Queen of the Great Below, I descend in remembrance. Show me a glimpse of your depths; guide my steps forward on this path.” Pause in silence for 1-3 minutes, feel for subtle shifts: a chill, inner warmth, or quiet knowing. If nothing stirs, that’s fine; the call itself plants the seed.
4. Affirmation: Sealing the Intent
Touch the stone to your forehead, heart, then the ground (or floor). Affirm: “I choose this descent, embodying your remembrance in my world. As above, so below, let the journey unfold.” Drape the cloth over your shoulders if using, symbolizing her mantle upon you.
5. Closure: Integration and Next Steps
Blow out any light if lit, or simply open your eyes fully. Journal one insight or sensation from the ritual, keep it brief, like “What stirred in the depths?” Carry the stone with you for a day as a reminder. To deepen: Return to this site for more rituals, or explore foundational texts on descent (e.g., Inanna’s myth). If the call strengthens, consider a daily remembrance practice.
Adapt as feels true; this is remembrance, not dogma.
Ereshkigal’s tone steadies, like stone underfoot.
“Each day offers you gates to pass through. Not grand, not marked, but hidden in the ordinary.
When the chatter begins and you do not answer, you pass through a gate.
When the provocation comes and you do not strike, you pass through a gate.
When the hunger for validation rises and you refuse to feed it, you pass through a gate.
Do not wait for great trials. The descent is made of small thresholds. Each silence, each restraint, each act of endurance is a key turned.”