That’s a mouthful! NIN-gish-Zee-da an very old Sumerian Deity. Sooooooooooo old nobody asked them to keep a form or to be anthropomorphic. This God shifts shapes whenever they want to. It can be a tree. It can be a dragon. It can be a Lord and a Lady. It can be all these things at once. In fact to translate its name is to say, Lord lady Good tree. This deity is third-gendered if there ever was one, but it’s also a fourth and fifth gender too. Not mention Dragons! They are creators of temples. They bring in the sacred to the mundane. They are the reason for all those staffs that are raised up in the May and Midsummer festivals. If a pole gets raised, it’s Ningishzida, the blossoming and return of life. Queer Fun!
