When we think of Aphrodite or Venus, we often imagine a beautiful woman emerging from the sea, surrounded by roses, doves and romance.
She has become the goddess of beauty, love and desire.
But if we follow her story back through time, we discover something extraordinary.
Before Aphrodite...
Before Venus...
There was Inanna.
And she was so much more than a goddess of beauty.
She was a goddess of life itself.
Inanna: The Original Goddess of Heaven and Earth
Over 4,000 years ago, the Sumerians worshipped Inanna, Queen of Heaven.
She governed love and sexuality, but also war, justice, fertility, political power and transformation. She was wild, complex and deeply human.
Unlike many later goddesses who became softened into symbols of beauty alone, Inanna embodied paradox.
She was sensual and fierce.
Creative and destructive.
Tender and courageous.
She reminds us that women do not need to fit neatly into one role.
The Morning Star
One of Inanna's most enduring symbols was the planet Venus.
The brightest object in the sky after the Sun and Moon, Venus appears first as the Morning Star before disappearing into the light, only to return later as the Evening Star.
Ancient cultures saw this disappearance and return as deeply symbolic.
The cycle mirrored death and rebirth.
Descent and return.
Loss and renewal.
Long before astronomy explained the movement of Venus, our ancestors understood it through story.
From Inanna to Ishtar
As civilisations evolved, Inanna became known as Ishtar in Babylon.
Although her name changed, much of her essence remained.
She was still associated with Venus.
Still fiercely independent.
Still a goddess of love and power.
Many scholars believe the myths of Inanna and Ishtar influenced later Greek understandings of Aphrodite.
Stories evolve.
Cultures borrow from one another.
The goddess wears different names while carrying echoes of the same ancient wisdom.
Aphrodite and Venus
The Greeks introduced Aphrodite.
The Romans later called her Venus.
Over time, the emphasis shifted.
Where Inanna represented a vast spectrum of feminine experience, Aphrodite became increasingly associated with romantic love, beauty and attraction.
She still carried symbols such as roses, doves, shells and mirrors, but many of her wilder qualities faded into the background.
Yet if we look closely, traces of Inanna remain.
Every time we feel fully alive in our body.
Every time we create beauty.
Every time we experience desire—not only for another person, but for life itself.
We glimpse the older goddess beneath the newer stories.
The Descent
One of Inanna's greatest myths is her Descent into the Underworld.
She passes through seven gates, removing a piece of clothing or jewellery at each one until she stands completely vulnerable before her sister Ereshkigal.
It is one of humanity's oldest stories of transformation.
Rather than conquering the underworld, Inanna surrenders to it.
She dies.
She is reborn.
And she returns forever changed.
It is a story that still speaks to us today.
Every woman who has experienced heartbreak, illness, motherhood, menopause, grief or profound change knows what it is to descend.
The gift is not avoiding the darkness.
It is discovering who we become because of it.
Remembering the Whole Goddess
Today, many women are reclaiming these ancient myths because they offer something modern culture often forgets.
We are not here simply to be beautiful.
We are here to be fully alive.
Beauty then becomes something much deeper than appearance.
It becomes vitality.
Presence.
Creativity.
Compassion.
Courage.
As I grow older, I find myself less interested in beauty as perfection and more interested in beauty as life force.
Perhaps that is the true inheritance of Inanna.
She reminds us that our power has never come from looking young.
It comes from remembering who we are.
When I wear symbols inspired by Inanna, Venus and Aphrodite, I don't see them as decorations.
I see them as quiet reminders.
To love deeply.
To create fearlessly.
To embrace beauty without apology.
To descend when life asks it of us.
And to trust that, like the Morning Star, we too will rise again.
"The goddess has worn many names throughout history. Perhaps her greatest gift is reminding us that we, too, are allowed to have many faces throughout our lives."