Plow My Vulva: Fertility in Mythical Literature

Throughout the course of man's existence, he has often sought nature's highly ordered patterns of operation to account for similar patterns found within himself. Its predictable cycling of birth, thriving, yielding forth seed, and dying easily mimics man's own cycles of birth, growth, procreation, and death. In literature, myth, and daily life, the fertility of nature is embraced by mankind on a number of levels. Man uses his connection to the order of natural fertility both as an urgent invitation to ensure its continuance and as a reference point for understanding the origin of his own desires, qualities, and similar need for a system of order. Nature, acknowledging the parallels, demonstrates a show of solidarity by yielding forth seed and thriving abundantly either physically or figuratively. The influences of mankind on vegetation and his perceived responsibility to the same are given a scholarly definition in James Frazer's work, The Golden Bough, and can be found imbedded throughout Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Kramer's work, Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth, as a framework for establishing natural order.

The Golden Bough
Frazer defines the relationship between man and vegetation as one that is sympathetic in nature. He believes that primordial, uncivilized man based his theories of "like yields like" on what he specifically calls "imitative" or "homeopathic" magic, which he asserts, "commits the mistake of assuming that things which resemble each other are the same" (14). Throughout the text, Frazer provides excellent examples of man's perceived connectivity to nature and his desire to assist in accomplishing the naturally predestined. In these examples, man "sets the mood" for nature by engaging in male and female human acts of copulation at the exact time and place of the desired earthly fertile emergence. The acts are done with the belief that they will secure a bountiful harvest. Frazer writes, ". . . we may infer that our rude forefathers personified the powers of vegetation as male and female, and attempted . . . to quicken the growth of trees and plants by representing the marriage of sylvan deities . . .and that in the opinion of those who performed them the marriage of trees and plants could not be complete without the real union of the human sexes" (163).

A man governed by homeopathic logic feels that as an integral, viable part of the natural system, it is his responsibility to encourage the continued momentum of its processes. According to the laws of homeopathic magic, the sowing of the male human seed into the "fertile ground" of the female human should induce a similar "blooming-of-the-field" type occurrence in the earth's own reproductive cycle. Individuals who subscribe these homeopathic beliefs acknowledge the obvious connections and attempt to invoke the systematic nature of the vegetation cycle by engaging in the same act that would encourage their own reproductive cycles. Because the copulative acts of men and women easily mirror the fertilization and the bringing forth of seed in the personified world of vegetation, it is not odd that parallels would be drawn between the two. By the laws of homeopathic magic, the predictable cycling of nature's seasonal and vegetation phases year after year is wholly attributed to the ritual intervention of "pious" human beings. The systematic returning and flourishing of vegetation each season symbolizes nature's approval of mankind's acts of preparation.

Innana: Queen of Heaven and Earth
Elements of James Frazer's theory of homeopathic magic theory can be found in Wolkstein and Kramer's work, Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth. In this myth, the embracing of homeopathic logic in the personal context of relationships allows the main character, Inanna, to draw upon a natural ideal to select an appropriate mate. Rather than fueling nature's fertility by simply engaging in coitus, she uses her equally fecund mate to simulate nature's fertile harmony in an attempt to promote that ideal in her own relationships. Ultimately, nature's fertility and order are the benchmarks upon which Inanna determines the feasibility of a potential mate, establishes her own sense of order, and qualifies the success of these unions.

Securing the perfect mate is the key to maintaining a sense of natural order in Inanna's tale. Her mate must complement her perfectly just as the fertile earth is perfectly complemented by the elements that invoke its fertility. The natural order expressed in homeopathic logic requires the union of "male" and "female figures that share a complementary fecundity. In Inanna's case, suitability implies being able to join her in establishing the required natural order needed for invoking the earth's fertility through a preliminary qualifier, occupation. Her choice rests between a farmer and a shepherd. Understanding the feat before her, Inanna calls upon her brother, Utu, to help in her search. Utu, valuing material wealth and stability, insists that his sister marry the shepherd rather than the farmer; but, Inanna, recognizing the shepherd's non-relevance to the essential elements of earth, harvesting, and fertility refuses. In Inanna's mind, the farmer is the perfect man because his life's work is encouraging the earth to bring forth seed, a characteristic highly favored by the laws of homeopathic magic. She believes that a man's ability to cultivate the earth is a strong indication of his ability to cultivate the fertile garden within her, her womb. She says:

No, brother! The man of my heart works the hoe. The farmer! He is the man of my heart! He gathers the grain into great heaps. He brings the grain regularly to my storehouses. (32)

Before Inanna can simulate nature's order, she must decide whether the shepherd or the farmer is the more compatible mate. In this myth, the farmer represents the experienced, proven lover, while the shepherd represents the virgin, untested lover. Inanna can depend on the farmer to be the superior lover because he has successfully been with another woman, the earth. Year after year, he "seduces her" by hoeing and preparing the ground, "copulates with her" by laying down his seeds, and finally "supports her and yields forth the fruit of his labors" by caring for her until the harvest has ripened. Unfortunately, the shepherd's connection to fertility, pleasure, and the ability to replicate its order is not as clearly defined. Ultimately, nature's order and the laws of homeopathic magic rule in favor of the farmer.

It is important that Inanna find a mate with a favorable, fertile disposition. Embracing the shepherd may essentially thwart any chance of invoking the privileges of homeopathic magic, a risk Inanna is not willing to take. Though her brother does not fully understand her reluctance to accept the shepherd, he rightly assumes that her reluctance is based on the shepherd's lack of experience in the world of fertility, human or earth-wise. He says, "Why are you unwilling? . . . You who adorn yourself with the agate necklace of fertility, why are you unwilling?" (33) In these lines, Utu ultimately delivers a message that can easily be likened to a feminist, pro-masturbation/self-servicing speech. He reminds Inanna that as the goddess of fertility, she can make up for any lack of fertility or ability to cultivate that the shepherd may have on her very own. He essentially tells her that she alone yields the power to pleasure herself. As one who embodies natural fertility, she does not need an earth cultivator to provide the excess. She can still enjoy the privileges that homeopathic magic lovemaking affords its participants. Because she is connected to nature and nature to her, the power of fertility is innately hers.

Inanna's conversation with Utu ushers in a period of self enlightenment. Persuaded by the realization of her own powerful fertility, Inanna understands that a relationship ruled by the ideals of homeopathic magic need not involve typical, outwardly acceptable characters. True love and satisfaction transcend outward appearances. She accepts the shepherd as her husband and lover despite his perceived shortcomings, but does not totally abandon her homeopathic ideal for order. Inanna believes that she, like the vegetation of the field, can be self-sustaining but only for a time. She still requires a system of order, or a "plowing and cultivating" in order to thrive. Without cultivation and direction she is like a field overgrown with wild weeds, lacking both structure and order. The potential yield of such a field is never realized and is essentially lost. She cries out to the shepherd amidst their lovemaking, "Who will plow my vulva?" Who will plow my high field? Who will plow my wet ground?" (37) Inanna continues to desire some form of natural order to enhance and complete her lovemaking experiences. She cannot resist tying her standard of pleasure and order to the cultivation of the field: a strong indication of the depth and intensity of her homeopathic convictions.

In homeopathic magic, nature is always pleased at the displays of human reverence. As the shepherd reciprocates Inanna's love embrace, the authors of the text inform the reader that Inanna and nature itself are well pleased with the performance. The authors write, "At the King's lap stood the rising cedar. Plants grew high by their side. Grains grew high by their side. Gardens flourished luxuriantly" (37). Inanna attributes the value of the love act to the flourishing of the field. Because nature responds favorably to her union with the shepherd, Inanna knows that a perfect order has been established and fulfilled. Inanna's myth demonstrates an example of Frazer's homeopathic magic theory at work because the act of human copulation with a compatible, fecund mate is honored by a similar showing of fecundity in nature itself.

Men have drawn parallels between nature and human nature since the beginning of time. Whether we understand nature's likeness to ourselves to be some sort of calling to intervene and propel nature on its course, or whether we simply use the connections as devices for understanding our deeper emotional and sexual selves, we come to learn more about ourselves. The similarities, no matter how crude or rudimentary Frazer may see them, are actually intricate and quite complex. When nature responds to man's interventions and desire for explanations by yielding forth seed, it encourages man's sense of importance in the greater scheme of things. We are in fact components of nature and its experience is interwoven with that of our own. We cannot deny the fact that human nature is still indeed, nature.

References
Frazer, James. The Golden Bough. London: Penguin Books. 1996.

Wolkstein, Diane., and Kramer, Samuel. Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth. New York: Harper& Row Publishers, Inc. 1983.