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| Foreword by Judy Grahn | |
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| Acknowledgments | |
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| The Cultural and Historical Context | |
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| Introduction: "Through the Gate of Wonder": An early cuneiform sign of the goddess Inanna appears in the author' dream | |
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| "Great Lady Inanna":Paradoxical goddess encompasses heaven, earth, and the underworld | |
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| "The Robes of the Old, Old Gods":Ancient mythologems: Neolithic Mesopotamian parallels to Inanna' iconography | |
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| Unearthing Enheduanna: Leonard Woolley' excavations at Ur identify the high priestess Enheduanna | |
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| Enheduanna' Life Story: Sargon' daughter Enheduanna matures in an era of new consciousness of the individual | |
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| The High Priestess at Ur: Enheduanna manages the extensive temple estate and directs ritual tending of moon goddess and god from her quarters, the house of women, the gipar | |
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| The Poems and Hymns of Enheduanna: The first literary texts disclose the emotion and imagery of the poet and the systematic theology of the priestess | |
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| The Three Inanna Poems: Introduction | |
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| The First Poem: Inanna and Ebih | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Inanna and Ebih: Text of the Poem | |
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| "Terror Folds in Her Robes": Inanna, the force of nature, combats a mountain paradise | |
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| "I Will Not Go There With You": The sky god An deserts Inanna | |
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| "Fury Overturns Her Heart": Inanna assumes her full stature and autonomy | |
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| "Because You Puff Yourself Up": Parallels between Ebih and the creation story in Genesis | |
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| The Second Poem: Lady of Largest Heart | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Lady of Largest Heart: Text of the Poem | |
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| "Eldest Daughter of the Moon": The paradox of dark and light | |
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| "The Carved-Out Ground Plan of Heaven and Earth": Inanna' world without illusion | |
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| "Look at Your Tormenting Emotions": Primary emotions and the goddess | |
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| Four Spiritual paths | |
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| Warrior: Creative autonomy and senseless destruction | |
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| Priestess: Lunar spirituality and the internal sanctuary | |
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| Lover: Sexuality, sacred marriage, and the swelling of desire | |
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| Androgyne: Gender crossing and gender ambiguity | |
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| The Third Poem: The Exaltation of Inanna | |
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| Introduction | |
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| The Exaltation of Inanna: Text of the Poem | |
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| "He Robbed Me of the True Crown" | |
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| Enheduanna' expulsion: portents of things to come | |
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| "Rekindle Your Holy Heart" | |
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| Woman' self-love and the goddess | |
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| "Proclaim!" | |
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| Legacy of a woman' voice | |
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| Bibliography | |
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| Notes | |
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| Captions for Illustrations | |