CarsonArtist: 08

I have been doing so many ACEO cards lately that I got the bug for some large artwork so Im doing a 22x30 of Lilith. Im not sure why it went this way, but it did. The work itself is done in watercolor as a base then highlighted and worked with acrylic on 300lb cold press paper.

Let me give you a little background on Lilith....

Semitic legend describes Lilith as having a "base" nature and a taste for biting Adam and drinking his blood. She had refused to submit to Adam's authority (and a preference for being "on top"), and in a fit of pique, she uttered the ineffable name of God and flew up into the air, only to be cast down by God into the desert wastes where she took up residence. (The only mention of Lilith by name in the standard Christian Bible is in Isaiah, where a passing reference is made about her living in the desert.) Lilith is described as either a winged serpent or a screech owl (or a anthropomorphic combination thereof) who murders infants (it would appear from the perspective of modern medicine that infants who succumbed to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome would have been thought to have been victims of Lilith), and who torments men at night who sleep alone -- the original succubus.

- Lilith is called the Isheth Zenunim (Woman of Harlotry) in Jewish folk literature, and lives inside mirrors to seduce the vanity of young girls.

- Some Biblical scholars relate her to the female form of the arch-demon Leviathan, and the "Great Whore of Babylon" in Revelation.

- In the Qabalah, Lilith is associated with the Qlippothic Shell of Nehemoth, the antithesis of the Sphere of Malkuth on the Tree of Life. Malkuth/Nehemoth is the "Kingdom" of the Earth in Assiah, or the Material Plane. This is co-incides with the legends of the Zohar, where Lilith is bound to the Earth eternally, free of the curse of Death but unable to transcend to the higher realms.

- The Hebrew prophet Nahum describes the armies of Assyria as being led by Lilith: "The horsemen lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcasses; and there is no end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses: because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favored harlot [i.e. "lilitu" or Lilith], the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts". [Nahum 3:1-4]

- She returned to Eden in the guise of the Serpent, who tempted Eve with the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. This was a recurring image in Christian art of the Middle Ages, where the serpent is depicted with the head of a woman.

- Lilith was once the consort of Sameal (Lucifer) in Hell, but she proved to be too much even for the Prince of Darkness to handle, who eventually banished her back to the desert.

- As the first vampire, who came to Cain after he was banished by God for the murder of Abel and together they begot the curse of vampirism on the world.

- She coupled with the Djinns (Jinn or genies) in the desert, and so was the breeder of the "Lilum", or the earth-bound demons -- hundreds(!) every day, according to legend.

- In Teutonic legends, Lilith is often associated to the fire, as she has been described as a beautiful creature from head to navel, but as a 'burning fire' from naval to toe.

- Lilith was the war goddess who destroyed Job's sons in the desert, and freed the animals they had captured. (Lilith loves all animals, as she has since she ruled in Eden, for their feral wildness and their pure innocence.)

- Some say that Lilith ruled as Queen of Sheba, and again in Zmargad; and appeared before Solomon's throne disguised as a harlot from Jerusalem. Suspecting who she was, Solomon tricked her into exposing her owl's-feet -- he had the floor of his throne room covered with clear glass, giving it the appearence of water, so Lilith had to lift her skirts when she entered.

All this is possible because though Lilith was human, she escaped the curse of death which overtook Adam, since they had parted long before the Fall.

And Last but not least is the actual 16th century text --- The invocation spoken by the M.O. is the text of a message delivered by an unidentified spirit entity to Sir Edward Kelly in 1592 during a scrying ritual. Kelly, along with Dr. John Dee (Queen Elizabeth's Royal Astrologer), originated the Enochian system of magic. The vision of this entity so frightened Kelly that he abandoned the working of magic from that day forward. Though Kelly never identified the entity, in our opinion it represented the Lilith egregore.

"I am the daughter of Fortitude and ravished every hour from my youth. For behold, I am Understanding, and science dwelleth in me; and the heavens oppress me. They covet and desire me with infinite appetite; for none that are earthly have embraced me, for I am shadowed with the Circle of the Stars, and covered with the morning clouds. My feet are swifter than the winds, and my hands are sweeter than the morning dew. My garments are from the beginning, and my dwelling place is in myself. The Lion knoweth not where I walk, neither do the beasts of the field understand me. I am deflowered, yet a virgin; I sanctify and am not sanctified. Happy is he that embraceth me: for in the night season I am sweet, and in the day full of pleasure. My company is a harmony of many symbols, and my lips sweeter than health itself. I am a harlot for such as ravish me, and a virgin with such as know me not. Purge your streets, O ye sons of men, and wash your houses clean; make yourselves holy, and put on righteousness. Cast out your old strumpets, and burn their clothes and then I will bring forth children unto you and they shall be the Sons of Comfort in the Age that is to come."

I believe this section of text will be included in the artwork itself in some way.