Ninhursags

NINHURSAG-KI LADY OF THE LIVING EARTH, FASHIONER OF ALL, CREATRIX, FIRST BELOVED OF THE GREAT GODS Before Inanna/Ishtar, the Goddess of Love and War, and Enheduanna´s writings, the most powerful image of the Divine Feminine in Mesopotamia was Ninhursag-Ki. She is the daughter of Nammu, the Goddess of the Primeval Sea, in whose womb She was conceived together with An, the Skyfather. She and Anu awoke to life in each other´s arms within the embrace Nammu the Sea (Creation Myth, South or Eridu Model). Samuel Noah Kramer (History Begins at Sumer, 1981) believes Her name was originally Ki, or Earth (land), thus in Her we have the Sumerian first mystical understanding and rationalisation for the Physical Reality as the Living Earth that enables all sorts of growth, and the Soul Counterpart to Anu. Ki is therefore first the sister-beloved of Anu, the Sky, and both within this context, or the Eridu Creation Model, the most ancient in Mesopotamia, are the parents of all the Great Gods, the Igigi and the Anunnaki. She is known by many names, such as Ninmah (the exalted Lady), Aruru (in the Epic of Gilgamesh). Nintur, Belet-ili, Mami, Fashioner of All, Mother of the Gods, Mother of all Children, etc. As the Earth in bloom, Ki takes up the name of Ninhursag, who also presides over the stony hills and this is the reason why many scholars combine the two names as one, a choice I also have made my own. An explanation for the name Ninhursag is given in the myth Lugal-E, or the Exploits...