Hi, all! These are a few of the various fascinating books and papers which helped inspired my presentation at this weekend’s virtual Creatrix Studies 2026 Conference, hosted by Mago Academy. Enjoy!
Inanna
For more on Inanna, as well as beautiful translations of “The Descent of Inanna” and other hymns by Enheduanna, the first named author of record, I recommend any of three books:
Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer by Samuel Noah Kramer and Diane Wolkstein. Kramer was one of the world’s leading Assyriologists when he and Wolkstein wrote this book, while Wolkstein was a noted folklorist and storyteller
Princess, Priestess, Poet: The Sumerian Temple Hymns of Enheduanna by Jungian analyst Betty De Shong Meador
Inanna, Lady of Largest Heart: Poems of the Sumerian High Priestess by Betty De Shong Meador and internationally renowned queer feminist poet Dr. Judy Grahn
The Heroine’s Journey
I spent years trying to find a book on the Heroine’s Path/Journey that wasn’t just a gender-flipped version of Campbell’s faulty “monomyth,” or so-called “Hero’s Journey.” After four or five disappointing books I’d given up – when I stumbled across the following author, whom I wholeheartedly recommend. I’m currently in the process, in fact, of reading as much of her work as I can get my hands on! :)
Jody Gentian Bower’s article “We Don’t Need Another Hero,” and her book Jane Eyre’s Sisters: How Women Live and Write the Heroine Story.
Descent, the Shadow, and Jung
I’m not a Jungian, and I’m wary of Jung’s unrecognized misogyny, so I’m just sharing the interesting book which introduced me to Jung: Man and His Symbols. Consequently, since I can’t recommend anything in particular if you’re interested in shadow work, may I suggest you try a woman author? It may well offer you an interestingly different perspective.
If you’re interested in shadow work, I’ve had this book repeatedly recommended to me, and it’s on my ‘to read’ list: Betty De Shong Meador’s Uncursing the Dark: Treasures from the Underworld
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That’s all I have for now; it was just a 13 minute presentation so I had to talk very concisely. Enjoy!