A remnant from the age of the dinosaur, the serpent was originally a symbol of arcane knowledge from the old gods. Transformed into the devil for tempting Eve to eat from the forbidden tree, the serpent has remained the villain ever since. Scott Irvines’s The Magic of Serpents is a profound search for the symbolism and worldwide mythology - at the religious, philosophical and spiritual levels - for which the serpent stands.

Ishtar and Ereshkigal are the daughters of the Moon God Sin and sisters of the Sun God Shamash, and members of a family of deities called the Anunnaki, who arrived from the heavens to the earth many thousands of years ago. Ishtar, as Inanna, was the original goddess of love and the forerunner to all of the fertility goddesses that followed. Ereshkigal was the original ruler of the underworld and the goddess of death. As the queens of heaven and the underworld, Ishtar and Ereshkigal represent the opposing forces that allow life, death and rebirth to occur in the world.