Gildenmyth

The Sleeping Almanac

Inanna's Descent to the Underworld Part 1: The Full Story of the Seven Gates

3 hours · The Sleeping Almanac · October 8, 2026

Inanna's Descent to the Underworld Part 1: The Full Story of the Seven Gates
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The voice you hear is the creator's own. He cloned it from recordings of his own voice, so every story is told in his voice. If you enjoy falling asleep to it, follow the show so each new story arrives on its own, and leave a rating on Apple Podcasts so other people can find it.

The Sleeping Almanac is also a shelf of books, bedtime stories to read and mythology coloring books: gildenmyth.com/books

The Descent of Inanna is about four hundred lines long and it is the best built thing in all of Sumerian literature, and it is built out of seven gates. Tonight is the first half: a goddess who sets her mind on the great below, the seven powers she puts on and has taken off her one piece at a time, the seven judges, the peg on the wall, and the two small creatures made from the dirt under a god's fingernails who do the one thing nobody down there had ever thought to do. A slow, calm 3 hour sleep story to help you fall asleep and stay asleep.

Settle in, close your eyes, and let it drift over you. The pacing is slow, the voice is soft, and the music never spikes. You do not have to follow it. You do not have to remember any of it in the morning.

These are retellings drawn from the real tablets and the real history. Where the old stories turn toward fear or cruelty, we turn gently toward comfort, choosing the telling that serves a calm night. Where scholars disagree, the disagreement is said out loud rather than smoothed over.

Season Five of The Sleeping Almanac: Mesopotamia. Twelve nights.

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This channel uses AI tools (script research, narration, visuals) under the direction of a human editor. Every episode is researched, reviewed, and revised before publication.

Chapters

  1. 0:00Welcome
  2. 5:12From the Great Above to the Great Below
  3. 10:40What She Abandoned
  4. 15:33The Seven Me
  5. 22:29If I Do Not Return
  6. 26:56The Door
  7. 33:35What Ereshkigal Said
  8. 38:59The Seven Gates
  9. 43:58The Hook
  10. 49:59Three Days
  11. 55:32The Dirt Under His Nails
  12. 59:07Agree With Her
  13. 1:04:41No One Ascends Unmarked
  14. 1:10:06Calm music to drift off

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