In fact, the story actually begins with a death, a significant one no less. Inanna’s sister Ereshkigal, Queen of the Dead, is married to Gugalanna, the Bull of Heaven. If you are familiar with the Epic of Gilgamesh then you know this part of the story. Rejected as a lover by Gilgamesh, Inanna demanded Gugalanna to fight him, which resulted in his death at the hands of Gilgamesh and his companion Enkidu.

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"Your lovers have found you like a brazier which smoulders in the cold, a backdoor which keeps out neither squall of wind nor storm, a castle which crushes the garrison, pitch that blackens the bearer, a water skin that chafes the carrier. And if you and I should be lovers, should not I be served in the same fashion as all these others whom you loved once? Inanna snorted angrily. Her anger began to rise and the color drained away from her face until it looked like tamarisk. She was not used to being refused. She was particularly not used to being refused by the lord of her own favorite city. She went to her father An and wept. "Look at me," she pleaded, "I'm crying. All I ask is that you give me the bull of heaven to kill the lord of Uruk." Initially her father refused her wish, but she began to scream, and her screams were terrifying, it covered the land like a blanket. Her father succumbed in the end and gave her the bull of heaven, which she brought down to Earth and proceeded to treat like an unruly pet" (keep in mind this is her sister’s husband). Excerpt from The Epic of Gilgamesh

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Inanna's decision to visit the underworld was not solely a peaceful or innocent endeavor. There are elements in the story that suggest she had certain motives, and the context of her journey is important. According to the texts, Inanna dressed in her royal finery, her crown and scepter, her royal robe, she was not going for a social visit or to atone for her part in Gugalanna’s death. Her guise was to attend the funeral of her older sister’s husband, whose blood was on her hands. She knew there would be challenges in this place, it was known as a place from which no one returned, which is why Inanna told her trusted servant Ninshubar that if she did not return Ninshubar was to go to the gods and basically find a way to get her back.

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She gathered together the seven me. She took them into her hands.

With the me in her possession, she prepared herself:

She placed the shugurra, the crown of the steppe, on her head.

She arranged the dark locks of hair across her forehead.

She tied the small lapis beads around her neck. Let the double strand of beads fall to her breast,

And wrapped the royal robe around her body.

She daubed her eyes with ointment called 'let him come, let hime come.'

Bound the breast plate called 'Come, man, come!' around her chest,

Slipped the gold ring over her wrist,

And took the lapis measuring rod and line in her hand. Inanna set out for the underworld.

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When Inanna arrived at the outer gates of the underworld, She knocked loudly.

She cried out in a fierce voice: 'Open the door, gatekeeper! Open the door, Neti!

I alone would enter!'

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Neti, the chief gatekeeper of the kur, asked: 'Who are you?'

She answered: 'I am Inanna, Queen of Heaven, On my way to the East.'

Neti said: 'If you are truly Inanna, Queen of Heaven, On your way to the East, Why has your heart led you on the road From which no traveller returns?'

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Inanna answered: 'Because... of my older sister Erishkigal, Her husband, Gugalanna, the Bull of Heaven, has died. I have come to witness the funeral rites.

Let the beer of his funeral rites be poured into the cup. Let it be done.'

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I don't know about you, but reading this it doesn't sound like a sister who has come to mourn, to show remorse or humility for her part in Guglanna's death. Yeah, her sister doesn't think so either. So when Neti tells her that Inanna is at her gates, she is furious.

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Neti did as asked, and at each gate, asked the Queen of Heaven to remove one object of power, so that when she descended the seven steps she was naked and powerless. 

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When Erishkigal heard this, She slapped her thigh and bit her lip.

She took the matter into her heart and dwelt on it. Then she spoke:

'Come, Neti, my chief gatekeeper of the kur, Heed my words: Bolt the seven gates of the underworld. Then, one by one, open each gate a crack.

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Let Inanna enter. As she enters, remove her royal garments.

Let the holy priestess of heaven enter bowed low.'

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Then Erishkigal fastened on Inanna the eye of death.

She spoke against her the word of wrath. She uttered against her the cry of guilt.

She struck her. Inanna was turned into a corpse, A piece of rotting meat,

And was hung from a hook on the wall

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Among all the gods, only Enki would agree to help her return from the underworld, but of course there was a catch to her freedom. As she was about to ascend, thanks to help from the emissaries sent by Enki, the Anunnaki, the judges of the underworld, stopped her. 'No one ascends from the underworld unmarked. If Inanna wishes to ascend, she must provide someone in her place'. She was escorted by Galla demons to find her replacement. She defends her servant and her son, but when they find her lover Dumuzi on his throne, in his royal vestments, not looking in the least bit bothered about her death, Inanna becomes enraged. 'Inanna fastened on Dumuzi the eye of death. She spoke against him the word of wrath. She uttered against him the cry of guilt. Take him away! Take Dumuzi away!'. And of course Dumzi tried to escape, tried to hide, and in the end he went to his sister and they struck a bargain - that Dumzi and his sister would each spend half a year in the underworld.

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Inanna’s death and resurrection, for she did actually experience death, was an important transformation. Despite her power in Heaven and on Earth, she was willing to remove those elements of power to descend into a land where none return. That required humility and vulnerability on her part, arrogance and ego would have no place in the dark underworld, as they would not in death. Inanna needed to sacrifice herself in order to become whole. And her sister, who is heavily pregnant and mourning the loss of her beloved, had to be soothed and comforted in order to free Inanna from the realm of the dead. Part of Inanna’s resurrection involved the soothing of her sister’s pain by the emissaries sent by Enki. 

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Ereshkigal is the one who holds the key to our liberation and salvation in this story. She demands that we face our shadows humbled and naked, she demands that we embrace our darkness and soothe our pain, to face the uncertainty of what lies beyond. Through her dark path we find our greatest light, and become Inanna.