Unique jewelry

2005-10-15T22:17:00.000+02:00

I recently found After Dark Jewelry, a very unique and very interesting company that makes hand-crafted jewelry. I really like their designs; they're like a better version of Alchemy, with a nice mix of Gothic, Renaissance and Medieval designs and symbols. Check them out here: http://www.afterdarkjewelry.com/index.html

I especially like the Leviathan-necklace: http://www.afterdarkjewelry.com/NecklacesLeviathan.html

A Meditation on Lilith

2005-10-04T18:08:00.000+02:00

Sitting down, eyes closed, relaxing every part of my body, starting from the feet and going up. When relaxed, I start chanting the Tibetan mantra Om Ma Ni Pe Me Hung until my mind is as blank as it can be. At that point I know if my posture is right or not. If it is, I start chanting the mantra in my mind, without speaking it, and concentrate on the breathing. The first part of the mantra, Om, is drawn out, and that is where I inhale. I exhale during Ma Ni Pe Me Hung and repeat until I am separated from the world around me. I then switch mantra, to Lepaca Kliffoth, a mantra used to open a gateway to the qliphoth. I recite that mantra, silently, while maintaining a slow and deep breathing. I visualize myself standing on a hilltop. Before me is a valley, shrouded in darkness. I see myself walking down the hill, into the darkness, without fear and of free will. [to be cont.]

The Myth of Lilith: The First True Feminist and the Mother of Magic

2005-10-01T01:34:00.000+02:00

When it comes to Lilith, the legend most well known is the one found in The Alphabet of Ben Sira, a text most scholars date bethween the 8th and 10th centuries, CE. The story might very well be much older, carried from generation to generation orally, but it is in the Alphabet of Ben Sira that we find the first written source of the legend of Lilith.

The Alphabet Of Ben Sira is a document shrouded in mystery. Many Jewish scholars find it blasphemous, and it does paint a different picture of some biblical figures than older Jewish texts. Its authenticity has been questioned.

Ben Sira tells us about Adam Kadmon, the first man; the perfect man, a physical form of the 'seven holy forms of God,' mentioned in the Bahir. Adam was created from the best parts of the earth, and in some Jewish traditions it is said that Adam came to life not by Jehovah blowing life into his form, but by a spirit (ruah) of the earth. This tradition comes from Genesis 1:24, 'Let the earth bring forth living soul.'

While Adam did come from the earth, he came from the very best parts of the earth, and was thus perfect. He was the result of a mythical marriage (gamos) between Earth and Elohim. An interesting relation to this is the Jewish myth of the golem, a creature created from the earth to do his master's bidding. In the Zohar Hadash we are told that heaven, earth and water were God's builders, but all of them were unable to give Adam soul, until 'God and earth joined to make him.' God's exclamation 'Let us make a man' was adressed not to the angels but to the earth, which brought forth Adam's golem (here simply 'body').

The perfect nature of Adam Kadmon is even more evident when one examines the numerology of his name. The four letters of the name of God (yod he vav he) have in Hebrew the numerological value of 45, which is the same value that the word Adam has, showing his divine nature.

So where does Lilith enter the picture? The Alphabet Of Ben Sira tells us that Eve was not Adam's first wife, Lilith was. There are two different myths about how Lilith was created. One tells us that she was created when a thousand spirits from the left (evil) side came down and clung to Adam's body, until God drove them away. When Adam stood up, a female was attached to his side, and God separates them. (Zohar 3:19)

The other, perhaps more well-known version, is that Lilith was created from the earth, just like Adam, but not from the best parts of the earth. Thus, she was not perfect. Adam and Lilith began to fight, when she told him 'I will not lie below,' to which Adam replied 'I will not lie beneath you, but only on top. For you are fit only to be in the bottom position, while I am to be in the superior one.' Lilith responds that they are both equal, since they were both created from the same earth. They refuse to listen to each other, and finally, Lilith leaves Adam.

This is where we see the importance of Lilith as a true feminist symbol (I here use the term “feminist” not in the sense that it is mostly used today, but rather meaning a strong woman who refuses to submit to anyone, who isn’t afraid of her own sexuality). Lilith, much like Lucifer himself, would, due to her pride and sense of justice, rather live a life separate from God, than to betray her own convictions.

Lilith is also known as a succubus; a female demon who copulates with men in their sleep, giving birth to demonic children. Yet other myths say that Lilith was not Adam's first wife, but that she came to him after his son Abel was killed by his own brother, Cain. When Adam saw that Abel was dead, the myth says, he refused to sleep with Eve, at which point Lilith and her daughter Naamah came to Adam and seduced him. Adam's generative power was misused and misdirected, and from this union stem a variety of demons, 'nigïe bne Adam', 'Spirits of harm that come from man.'

An interesting aspect is the link between magic and the story of Adam and Lilith. As the Zohar tells us, as printed in "On The Kabbalah And It's Symbolism"¹:

Magic is represented as a faculty first manifested in the fall of Adam and originating in the corruption of man, in his bond with the earth from which he came [when Adam, the pure man, lies with Lilith, sprung from the unpure earth]. The Zohar describes this magical knowledge, which is obviously not identical with that of the Book Yetsirah, as a knowledge concerning the leaves of the Tree of Knowledge. The leaves of the Tree of Death, with which Adam veilshis nakedness, are the central symbol of true magical knowledge [note by the auhor: the Tree of Death might very well be seen as Ha Ilan Ha Hizon, the shadow side of the Tree of Life or sephiroth. If that is the case, the Zohar tells us that true magical knowledge comes not from the sephiroth, but from their opposing forces, the kelippoth--the first of them being none other than Lilith herself. I will write more on this in the future.]. Magic makes its appearance as a knowledge serving to veil Adam's nakedness, which resulted when his garment of heavenly light was removed from him. It is a demonized magic, which came into being with the earthly corporeity resulting from the fall and is bound up with the existence of the body.

So Lilith was not only the first true feminist--a strong individualist who realises the power of sexuality--but born from her womb were not only demons, but magic itself; a magic which was and still is seen as demonic.

No wonder the Judeo-Christians don't mention her; imagine a whole generation of women, all strong individuals, marching under the banner of Lilith, demanding equal rights and celebrating their sexual power as the true origin of magic. To paraphrase the rock group R.E.M., it would be "the end of the world as we know it." In my opinion, that day could not come soon enough.

¹ On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism, Gershom Scholem, ISBN: 0805210512

(printed with permission)

Zazas Zazas Nasatanada Zazas

2005-10-01T00:10:00.000+02:00

Abrahadabra!

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

Welcome to my blog on all things magical, occult and mystical.

Come forth, o children, under the stars, & take your fill of love!

The word of Sin is Restricion.

A Mind Forever Voyaging

Unique jewelry

A Meditation on Lilith

The Myth of Lilith: The First True Feminist and the Mother of Magic

Zazas Zazas Nasatanada Zazas