La Belle Dame sans Merci

In regards to Lilith, there seems to be little new information. In researching, I found much of the same story told over and over. A few sites ( Loathe to admit it tho I am, I have yet to do any book research for this page. It will come as I have time - I promise. And perhaps I may find some new material to add here) have interesting views on the subject, but the majority is repetitive. I have decided against reproducing all of that here, and so I have found a wonderful overview, and added a few worthy links. And there it is.
If anyone has a site they believe should be added below, please email me and I will include it. Although, this site is restricted to Lilith and her connection to vampirism, not paganism, so although I came across many wonderful sites about Lilith the pagan Goddess, they are not included here. If you are interested, emamil me and I will be happy to share what I have found. That said, enjoy the site.

One last thing...There are some 18+ images indexed below, so, if you don't like graphic depictions of the Lilith figure, DON'T LOOK AT THEM!


[Lilith by Aleister Crowley]

Dedicated to L.K.

The stench of the gross goat is in my nostrils instead of
the perfume of Artemis.
I plucked the Virgin by his broidered chlamys....who
could have guessed that hairry horror hidden ?
I have got gall to be my drink, who mingled my wine
with myrrh and musk and ambergris.
I made my bed of silk and and furs; and waking I found I had
swooned to sleep upon the midden.

Ah! Were those virgin lips of thine polluted with some
rank savour of Sabbatic lust ?
What spell turned thhe, the maiden, to a monkey jibbering
antiphonal blasphemies
To those chaste chants I woeed thee by, the moment that
touching thee, my fruit dissolved to dust,
Fair-seeming Sodom-apple ! Yet thy kisses smote all my
spine to shuddering ecstasies !

So strode the fool upon the mountain ridges, crying; One
step, and I attain the crest !
Lo! The loose cornice tricks him, and he tumbles, a
mangled nothing, to the glacier.
So the nun cries: One effort and I conquer; I pass the
gate, I win the appointed rest !
And passing it discovers the foul body of Sin that waits to
set his teeth in her.

So in my dreams, escaping from a monster, I turn one
corder; "there is refuge -there!"
Nay, there he lurked who never had pursued me....'twas
I who chased him to his proper holt.
Then, O thou vile adorable, my lover, my master, catch me
backward by the hair !
Fasten thy fangs upon my mouth's gasped anguish, and
split my dream-clouds with thy thunderbolt !

Though thou be God or Satan, do thaou master my death-
pand with thy life-pang, and possess
All that I am with all thou art, my Vampire, my Siren
that I thought a nightingale !
Abase me! Spit upon me! Scourge me ! Murder me !
Take thy wolf's meal of my loveliness !
Give me the reek of thy foul breath, and show me the
leper's face behind the shining veil !

Yae! Though I sink through measureless abysses, I trace
the incommensurable curve.
Thy foursqure wedge that rages in my circle shall match
it at the infinite period.
Polluted body, violated spirit, corrupted soul, stunned brain
and tortured nerve:-
These merge into thy bloody maw, Echidna, that shall
emerge the lone white flame of God.


[Lilith's History]

Early theologians had a real problem with the status of women in regard to Genesis. Here is this supposedly weak creature twisting Man around her finger and bringing death on the entire race. A "logical" answer presented itself in splitting woman into the Madonna/whore dichotomy. There was even a Biblical basis for Lilith. Genesis 1:27 reads, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." Set opposite Genesis 2, in which Adam is created first and Eve is an afterthought to appease his loneliness, many see this as evidence that Adam had two wives.
Lilith is this first wife. Since she was made of the earth, like Adam, she became proud and refused to lie beneath him during intercourse. This violated the command to be fruitful and multiply, since she was not being impregnated. Some traditions hold that she was impregnated and bore demons from him. The evidence for this is the statement in Genesis 5:3 "Adam begat a son in his image," implying there had been sons not in his image. He pushed the issue of her submission, and she uttered the Holy Name of God and flew away.
Adam complained to God and he sent three angels to reason with her. They found her coupling with fallen angels near the Red Sea and bearing more demonic children. She refused to return but promised to spare Adam's children if the names of the angels: Sanvi, Sansanvi and Semangelaf were written near them. Even today, some parents will charcoal a magic circle with the words "Adam and Eve barring Lilith" on the wall near their baby, and write the names of the angels on the door.
Eve was created out of Adam as her replacement. Some say God let Adam try making the next one, but the creation was so horrible God destroyed it before even giving it life. An amusing Victorian story claims a dog ran off with Adam's rib and devoured it before God found him, so Eve was made using one of the dog's ribs.
Lilith did not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and hence is immortal. She was rewarded for service by Asmodeus, the demon of lechery, luxuriousness and evil revenge. She now rules one of the levels of Hell in the company of Namah, Machlath, and Hurmizah. Her power is over newborn children and women in childbirth. She may take boys up to the eighth day and girls up to the twentieth. She is also the mother of the Lilim or Lilot, the Djinn, and the succubui and incubi.
Other Biblical references: Isaiah 34:14 "night hag" (NIV translates it as "Desert creatures" and "night creatures." and Psalm 91 "terror by night") ~ VO

In the cabala, Lilith is considered the Friday's demon.

Lilith's symbol is a snake.

In the mythology Lilith is also known as an invisible Earth's satellite and for this reason she's called "Black Moon".

In the end she's also considered as the first vampire of the history, as they say that she appeared in men's dreams and sucked their blood.


[Pictures]



[Links]

The Mystery of Lilith

The Lilith Page

Vampyres Only: Lilith

Lilith Painting

Lilith's World

Looking for Lilith

Who Is "Lilith" Anyway? from Musicgrrl: Lilith Fair continued...

THE MONTAUK PROJECT

The Lilith Tradition

The Lilith Shrine

A Dedication To The Beautiful Lilith

Lilian Broca: The Lilith Series

[Razor Blade Smile: A new vampire movie out of Britain]

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Most of the graphics on this page come from here, but I manipulated some of them for my own personal use:
[The graphic set on this page came from here!]