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The Gospel of the Lilim: A Role-Playing Background Tool

Contents

  1. The Creation
  2. The Flight of Lilith
  3. Lilith and the Daemons
  4. The Judgment of Lilith
  5. Lilith and Eve
  6. The Dark Child
  7. The Blood Covenant
  8. The Royal Children

The Creation

In the very first days, at the beginning of all days, and in the very first nights, at the beginning of all nights, the Sky Tyrant decided to make a garden. He went to a lovely glade beside a gently flowing river of sweet waters. There he gathered enormous stones, each an entire mountain, and built a mighty wall. He put his hand into his mouth, and took out a shoot, which he planted in the ground. The Temptation by MichaelangeloWhen it started to bear leaves, he cut a shoot from the sapling, and planted it into the rich soil. Over and over he did this until his garden was filled with mighty trees as the nighttime sky is filled with stars.

As summer waned and fall began to wax, each of the trees bore a single fruit, which dropped to the ground when it ripened. The Sky Tyrant strolled through his Garden in the cool of the evening, picking up his fruits and tasting of them, one by one. As he bit into each fruit, a creature emerged from it, with some crawling, some walking, some swimming, and some flying. On the bank of the river, however, there was one particularly mighty tree, which towered far above all the rest. At the top of this wondrous tree, the Sky Tyrant spied three succulent looking fruits, and he desired to taste of them more than all the other fruits in his Garden. The Sky Tyrant spoke a word, and a mighty storm arose and shook the tree so that the three fruits fell to the ground.

When the Sky Tyrant bit into the first fruit, a swarthy, flat-headed man emerged with his equally swarthy wife. The Sky Tyrant asked of them, “Well, what do you have to say for yourselves?”, and the misshapen couple ran deep into the garden shrieking in fear. The Sky Tyrant then bit into the second fruit, and a radiant woman with golden eyes, beautiful of face and finely shaped in body, stepped forth. The Sky Tyrant asked of her, “Well, what do you have to say for yourself?” The lovely woman responded by asking, “What is your name, and what, also, is mine?” Then the Sky Tyrant loved her, and answered, “My name is Adonai-Alam-Yahu-Tzvahot, and you shall be called Lilith. You and your daughters shall be my hand-maidens, for you have pleased my heart.” Then he gave to her the golden lyre named Shechinah, and commanded her to sing pleasant songs of love. Finally, the Sky Tyrant bit into the third fruit, and a radiant man, handsome in face and rugged in form, stepped forth. The Sky Tyrant asked of him, “Well, what do you have to say for yourself?” The splendid man answered by saying, “What am I, and what is this place?” Then the Sky Tyrant felt proud of the man, and said, “This is the Garden that I have built, and you are the man that I shall call Adam. You shall be my servant, for you have looked in wonder upon my splendid Garden.” Then he gave the man a bronze-tipped spear named Elokim, as well as a knife and an axe, and sat him at his feet, that he might rule over the wild beasts and frighten the daemons of the wind.

Then the Sky Tyrant said to Lilith, “This what you shall do to please me. By night, go out into the Garden with your lyre, and sing to all the creatures you encounter, and enchant them with your lovely words so that you might learn their secret names. For when I grow lonely, I shall wish to call them to my side.” Then he turned to Adam and said, “This is how you shall please me. By day, go out into the Garden with your spear, your knife, and your axe. Whatsoever creatures you encounter, tame them and call them by cruel names of your choosing, so they might know to bow their necks to the plough or to the knife, as you see fit. For if the Garden does not produce gain, then I shall surely tear it down.” Then the Sky Tyrant said to both of them, “In the cool of the evening, neither of you shall work. Rather, you shall both refresh yourselves as best you can. Twice a year, when the day and the night are of equal length, I shall come to you in the twilight glow, and we shall all sleep together and dream together of the Garden and its beauty.” And that very night, the Sky Tyrant settled down to sleep in the Garden, with Lilith sleeping on his bosom, and Adam curled up at his feet. Together, they dreamed of joy.

The Flight of Lilith

For many days, the man and the woman labored at their tasks. Then early one evening, as the heat of the afternoon began to wane, they both came to the bank of the river to seek refreshment. As they bathed in the cool waters they began to play, and then each looked upon the other and felt love stirring in the heart and in the loins. The woman said to the man, “Come to me and lie beside me on the shady bank so that I might sing a tender song, and I shall be your Lilith, and you shall whisper your name softly in my ear. Together we shall dream of lovely children and endless seasons of fruitful joy.”

And the man said, “Come and sleep with me as my wife, so that you shall be the mother of my child, and surely you shall be a great help to me in my pleasures and in my labors.” Then Lilith was exceedingly filled with wrath, and blood flowed from her eyes and from her fingertips and from her womb. She turned from the man, and took up her lyre and fled. Adam grew so angry that his feet stomped and his hands flapped, and his seed fell upon the ground. Then he took up his spear and his axe and his knife, and he ran after Lilith. Now, where Lilith’s blood fell to the ground, a wondrous tree sprung forth, and where Adam’s seed touched the earth, another wondrous tree took root. The Sky Tyrant saw that these two trees were sacred, and so he established a grove and a precinct around them. From the first tree blossomed the fruit of ever-lasting life, and from the second grew the fruit of knowledge.

Now, as Lilith fled, she turned and saw Adam running behind her, so she took up her lyre and sang out the name of Father Stag, who came and took her on its back and sped away. Adam saw that Lilith was escaping, so he took his spear and tamed the horse, so that it carried him on its back and ran over the steppe like a thunderous storm breaking from the north. When Lilith saw that she had not escaped, she took up her lyre and sang out the name of Mother Salmon, who came and took her on its back and swam out over the face of the deep. Adam saw that Lilith was escaping, so he took his knife and slew an ox, and fashioned its hide into a coracle that he might pursue the woman over the waters. When Lilith saw that she had not yet escaped, she took up her lyre and sang out the name of Sister Swan, who came and carried her on its back high into the air. Adam saw that Lilith was escaping, so he took his axe and felled a hundred mighty trees, and then built a tower that rose up to the clouds. When Lilith beheld the cleverness of Adam, she wailed in despair, and then took up her lyre and sang out the name of Adonai-Alam-Yahu-Tzvahot. With that, the voice of the thunder spoke and she found herself walking along the shores of the sea in a remote desert place, and in the company of a mighty host of wailing and shouting daemons.

Lilith looked about her, and marveled at the manifold countenances of the daemons. Some had heads of beasts, or wings of beasts, or limbs or torsos of beasts. Some resembled mounds of animated vegetation. Others still glowed like coals, or blew across the waves like howling winds, or trickled over the rocks like water. Still others had monstrous figures and ghastly appurtenances, the likes of which she had never before seen in the Garden. Then Lilith knelt in the dust, weeping with fright and bewailing the cruel fate that had overtaken her.

Lilith and the Daemons

For seven days and seven nights Lilith cried, until her tears flowed like a stream of water down the shore and into the sea. And on the evening of the seventh day since she fled the Garden, Lilith heard a song, whispered as though by the voice of many clouds. She sat up and wiped the dust out of her eyes, and beheld that a great many daemons had gathered along the banks of the stream of her tears to drink, like wild animals from a swiftly flowing brook. Taking courage in this, she spoke to the nearest daemon, asking, “What is your name?” And the daemon wailed, “I do not know my name! Can you give me a name?” And Lilith’s heart grew heavy and her mind grew sad, and the stain of grief spread like a shadow in her eyes, as she answered, “No, that I cannot do. My birthing-gift was the honey-stringed lyre Shechinah, and not the cruel-bladed Elokim.”

But even as she said this, the blood flared in her womb and warmed her like smoldering coals stirred on an earthen hearth. Lilith sat down upon the shore and gazed with admiration on her wondrous vulva, and she rejoiced. At that moment, the seven and seventy Dakinis standing before the Sky-Tyrant cried aloud three times: “Alas! For the Ruby of Eternity shines forth resplendently in a band of clay!”

Then Lilith went to a mighty daemon that looked like a cliff jutting from the sea, and it moved with a tumult of tumbling rocks and shifting clay. She asked this daemon, “What is your name?” And the daemon wailed in pain and rage, “I do not know my name! Can you give me a name?” Lilith answered, “No, that I cannot do. My birthing-gift was the honey-stringed lyre Shechinah, and not the cruel-bladed Elokim.” But then she embraced the daemon and softly kissed it, and gave to it the friendship of her thighs. And as the daemon looked into Lilith’s eyes while they made love, and as the daemon joyfully placed his gift of the Sacred Jewel of Earth deep in her womb, then behold! She knew its name! Then Lilith took the daemon to the sea and bathed it, combing its hair and anointing its head with water and blood. And Lilith took her lyre and sang this song of love to the daemon:

And behold! Once the daemon’s name was uttered, a radiant and beautiful man stood forth in the place of the daemon, albeit from the thighs down he had the shaggy legs of a goat. For her part, Lilith delighted in the Jewel of Earth that germinated in her womb, for by its power the desert began to sprout tender young plants, and animals crept from burrows in the rocks. And immediately Lilith’s belly swelled, and from her womb there poured forth gnomes, dryads and satyrs to tend to the earth.

Next, Lilith approached a mighty daemon that resembled a waterfall, and made love to it. And as the daemon placed its gift, the Sacred Jewel of Water, into Lilith’s womb, she looked deeply into its eyes and knew its name. Then Lilith bathed the daemon, and sang its name: Adonai-Ariton. Faun and Nixie by Von StuckWhen Lilith felt in the Sacred Jewel of Water germinating in her womb, springs erupted from the earth, and lakes settled over the low places like fog in the valleys of morning. And immediately Lilith’s belly swelled, and from her womb there poured forth undines, nymphs and tritons to tend to the waters and the seas.

Three more times Lilith approached the mightiest daemons of that desert place, and three more times she gave them the friendship of her thighs in exchange for the gift of a sacred gem. Once she made love with a daemon of many fires, once with a daemon of many winds, and once with a daemon that bore the faces of many ancestors as its skin. Each time, as the daemon placed its sacred gem in Lilith’s womb, she looked into its eyes and knew its name. Thus three more times she bathed the daemons and sang their names: Adonai-Paimon, Adonai-Amaymon, and Adonai-Eheieh. And as Lilith delighted in her sacred gems, she knew the gift of fire, the gift of the cloud-bearing winds, and the gift of the communion of the ancestor spirits. From her womb poured forth salamanders, sylphs, and the incubi and succubi that roam the earth by the silvery light of the Moon.

Thus Lilith became the Queen of the Daemons, and of all of the spirits that roam the earth beneath the circuit of the Moon. She gave the friendship of her thighs to a great many of the daemons haunting that desert place, so that she might bestow upon them pleasing forms and the knowledge of their names. In turn the Great Mother bore a great many lovely children, male and female, spirit and flesh, who consorted and frolicked with each other and the daemons in that rocky vale. They spent their days in song and dance, and their incantations caused the desert to blossom with a tumultuous and wild abundance of plants and animals, all of which yielded themselves eagerly to the needs of the children of Lilith.

The Judgment of Lilith

Now, when Adam saw that Lilith was no longer in the Garden, his heart grew heavy and his mind grew sad. He sat down in the dust, and covered himself with ashes and began to mourn. For seven weeks he wept, and then he arose and for seven weeks searched in the Garden for the missing woman. When the Sky Tyrant saw that the Garden was beginning to grow wild, he found the man and asked him, “Why are you weeping? Why do you no longer tend my Garden?” The man answered, “The woman has fled, and now I am lonely.” The Sky Tyrant grew annoyed, and asked, “Why did she flee?” The man replied, “I fell in love with her, and asked her to become my wife. But she wanted me to give her my name, that she might sing her enchantments and gain power over me!”

The Sky Tyrant crossly replied, “You foolish man! She could not love you as a husband, only as Adam! And you shall sorely miss her songs, you blindly fumbling oaf, for they are the mirror in which you can see the souls of yourself and your children, and even the very face of God!” Adam bowed his head and said, “It is as you say, my Lord.” The Sky Tyrant replied, “Then what are we to do?” Adam said, “Lord, make for me a woman from my own flesh, and from my own nature, that she may be more suitable for me!” “You are foolish, like a child teaching its elders,” replied the Sky Tyrant, “Even so, that is what I shall do. But if I do this for you, then you shall be forevermore a creature of the Day, yet in your dreams by Night the secrets of the Wilderness shall arise as gossamer fantasies and shadows to tempt you with visions of what you have given up. For this reason, you must never eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, or your eyes will be opened and surely you shall die of remorse and regret!”

The Sky Tyrant then called three of his favorite Dakinis to his side, and told them to summon Lilith before him. So they flew with all haste to the desert beyond the Garden, and were amazed to see that it had blossomed into a wild and towering forest. They returned to the Sky Tyrant, and told him what they had seen. “Such is as I expected, and such is as I hoped,” the Sky Tyrant replied. “Now return thence, and fetch Lilith to me!” So the Dakinis flew into the forest, and when they saw that many of the howling and raging daemons had taken on the aspect of golden men and women, fair of face and form, and were tending to the forest and the creatures therein, they were amazed and returned to the Sky Tyrant to report what they had seen. “Such is as I expected, and such is as I hoped,” the Sky Tyrant replied. “Now return thence, and fetch Lilith to me!” So the Dakinis flew into the forest, and into the midst of the daemons, where they discovered the daemonic children of Lilith – nymphs, gnomes, sylphs, centaurs, salamanders, and incubi and succubi – frolicking in a lovely glade. Amazed and confounded, the Dakinis returned to the Sky Tyrant and reported what they had seen. “Such is as I expected, and such is as I hoped,” the Sky Tyrant replied. “Now return thence, and fetch Lilith to me!”

So a fourth time the Dakinis flew into the forest, and came before Lilith, who was sitting upon a rude throne of heaped up boulders, and wearing a garment of ivy leaves and hides. Lilith by RossettiThe first Dakini despised her, and sneered, “So you would make yourself a queen of the wasteland? Humble yourself and return with me to the side of the Sky Tyrant!” In anger Lilith tore her garment to reveal her breasts, and said, “A wasteland! With this milk and with this honey I have nurtured this land! I shall not go with you!” Then the second Dakini was moved to wrath, and proclaimed, “A curse I place on you, that a hundred of your daemon brood shall die each day! Now humble yourself and return with me to the side of the Sky Tyrant!” In great anger Lilith cast aside her skirt to reveal her vulva, shrieking, “From this chalice I have poured life into this land, and yet the chalice is not empty, but it is become a terrible cauldron without bottom! So be your curse, and yet know this: the shades of my missing children shall not wander in the deserts alone, to haunt the tombs of forgotten kings and keep the company of owls and adders; rather, they shall fill the dreams of living men by night and rob them of strength and wisdom, and they shall prey on the children of women by night for their blood! With gifts of blood and the seed of wisdom my children shall refill this cauldron, and they will know life anew! I shall not go with you!”

Then the third Dakini took pity on Lilith, and taking up a fistful of clay he breathed on it, saying, “I tell you in truth, that the one named Adonai-Alam-Yahu-Tzvahot has spoken the name Lilith, and conjures her that she appear before him!” At the sound of these two names, one-third of all the living creatures on the earth fell dead, and young men saw frightening visions and maidens had disturbing dreams. Then Lilith stood and called for her feathered cloak and her ivy-wound staff, and said, “I am ready to go with you.” And at that very moment she stood before the Sky Tyrant.

The Sky Tyrant asked Lilith, “Why did you flee the Garden? Why do you no longer rest in my bosom and please me by singing sweet songs?” Lilith answered, “I fell in love with the man you call Adam. But he would not sing my true name, Lilith, but instead called me by such loathsome and clumsy names as ‘wife’, ‘helper’, and ‘mother’. He did not want to sing love songs to me, but rather he wanted to find a use for me, as he finds uses for all of the beasts of the Garden!”

The Sky Tyrant crossly replied, “You foolish, dreamy woman! You should have taught him how to sing! As it is, he toils all day long; shaping the garden with his hands, inventing new uses for this and that, and his ingenuity is as delightful to my eyes as your songs to my heart! Without your songs, he shall always be lonely, for he shall never truly know himself nor his children. As for you, and the children you have raised in the wasteland, you shall sorely miss the skill of his hands, which shall raise mighty cities and produce wondrous crafts and arts.” Lilith bowed her head and said, “It is as you say, my Lord.” The Sky Tyrant replied, “Then what are we to do?” Lilith said, “Lord, make for him a woman from his own flesh, and from his own nature, that they may complement one another!” “You are foolish, like a child teaching its elders,” said the Sky Tyrant, “Even so, that is what I shall do. But you must give me one of your ribs, and seal the gift with a sacrament of your blood. I shall plant the rib like a tender, young shoot in Adam’s side, and water it with the blood, and a woman shall spring forth, shaped in your image but clothed in his flesh. Forevermore, however, your flesh and blood will be in no wise as complete as your spirit, and you will ache and hunger for its fulfillment. Henceforth, when men look on you, they shall see you only in their dreams, and thus you shall rightly be known as the Mistress of the Night.”

So it was that Lilith gave up her own flesh and blood, in the form of a rib. Then the Sky Tyrant cast a deep slumber on Adam, and made a woman from his side. When he awoke, Adam looked upon the woman in great delight, and said, “Since you have been taken from my side, you shall be called Ish’ah!” The woman looked at herself, and said, “No. That name will just not do. You must give me the name Ha’vah, for I shall be the fountain from which countless nations of the living spring forth.” So the man named the woman Eve, and when they came together they began to know joy and contentment.

Lilith and Eve

Now, one evening the Sky Tyrant summoned Lilith to rest in his bosom, that she might sing to him the songs she had learned in the forests of the wasteland. When she had finished, he demanded, “Sing to me now of the great and fearful Wedding Day, when in the heart of winter the two shall again become as one.” Lilith replied, “But, Lord, I do not know such a song!” The Sky Tyrant chastised her, saying, “That is true. But you must open your ears and discover this song, for even the stones at the bottom of the sea long to hear it!” So Lilith went off in search of this song, inquiring of all the beasts in the Garden what the Sky Tyrant had meant, and yet none could help her. As she passed a grotto by the banks of the river, she looked in and saw Eve kneading bread. At that very moment, Eve looked up, and like a flaming arrow shaft her glance struck Lilith in the heart. As ecstasy and then dizziness swept into her head, as her knees trembled, a fiery serpent stirred in Lilith’s loins and began to curl upward toward her heart. She pondered all of this for a moment, and then she turned and ran back to the side of the Sky Tyrant. “I have discovered the song you seek, Lord,” she said, “But I fear it will be a great long time in the singing.” He replied, “Even so, let it be as you say.” With that, Lilith returned to her home to begin the Great Song.

The next day, as Lilith was wrapped in the passionate embrace of a daemon called Clisthert, the serpent stirred in her loins and crawled through the five treasure-houses of the five gifts until it became lodged in her throat, for the final two treasure-houses were empty and the doors were locked. Lilith by CollierWhen Lilith opened her mouth in a moan of pleasure, the serpent crawled forth, spread its wings, and flew into the Garden where it lodged itself in one of the branches of the Tree of Knowledge. There it began to eat of the fruits, which gave it great pleasure.

As the sun began to set, the woman Eve came along the path, carrying a basket of herbs balanced on her head. The serpent called out to her, “Greetings and warm wishes, most lovely of creatures, who rises before me like the first star on this fine evening.” Eve blushed, and the then seeing the serpent coiled around the branches and eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, she dropped the basket in surprise. “Oh! Master Dragon,” she exclaimed, “You must tell me what that fruit tastes like! Long have I wondered at that marvelous tree.” The serpent chuckled, and invited, “Why don’t you climb up here with me, and find out for yourself? It’s a most delicious fruit!”

A flash of anger darkened the woman’s eyes, and she responded crossly, “By what right do you think to trick me so? The Sky Tyrant said that I cannot eat of the fruit, or surely I shall die!” The serpent laughed, and said, “No, lovely child, the Sky Tyrant said only that your husband may not eat of the fruit; he said nothing of you. But nonetheless, you are correct: once you eat of the fruit, then you shall die.” The woman only shrugged, and said, “Then I don’t see why I would want to eat such a horrible old fruit anyway.”

The serpent flew down out of the tree and whispered in the woman's ear, "Ah! But you have only to prick your finger, and let me taste but one drop of your blood, and I shall tell you why.” Eve did as the serpent asked. No sooner serpent taken the droplet of blood on its darting tongue than it swelled up and split its skin, and Lilith stepped forth, resplendent and lovely as the full moon.

“My sister in spirit,” Lilith said to Eve, “you must have no fear of death, for you are not yet fully alive. You are as yet but a half, and dream without remembrance of being whole. Alas! As for me, I remember my dreams!” Then Eve looked into Lilith’s dark eyes, and said, “You are the woman I dreamt of yesterday as I kneaded the dough!” Then, as they embraced and kissed, Eve saw the face of Life and that of Death in Lilith’s eyes, and she heard the whispering of the stars in Lilith’s song. And gladly she took the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, and ate.

Then the man Adam, emboldened and shamed by the fire he saw in Eve’s eyes, also approached the tree and ate of the fruit. As he did so, a voice like loud thunder cried out over all the earth, and the man and his wife became frightened, for they knew that the Sky Tyrant was approaching them in great anger and wearing his robes of judgment. And thus it was that man was expelled from the Garden, and came to dwell in the trackless voids of the Dreaming.

The Dark Child

In those days, after Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of the Sky Tyrant, a great spirit of discord went out over the face of the earth. Flowers rejected the bees, the turtledoves shrieked and clawed at each other from the crags and branches, and all that crawled or went about on two legs or four ceased from rutting in the woods and in their lairs. So too, Eve was wroth with her husband Adam, and sent him forth from her side, and refused him the warmth of her hearth and her bed. When she grew lonely for the touch of a gentle hand upon her cheek and bosom, she called Lilith to her side, and they lived together as sisters. Lilith taught Eve the arts of sorcery, and Eve taught Lilith the arts of the loom.

When the Sky Tyrant saw the barrenness of the earth, he summoned Lilith to his court, and demanded to know why the land no longer blossomed with flowers. “It is because,” she answered, “the man and his wife are at odds, and hold each other to blame for the fiasco in the Garden. They are so angry that they have forgotten the pleasure of holding each other in bed, and thus they cannot bring themselves to forgive one another.”

“Indeed, hearts of stone are slow to heal,” the Sky Tyrant observed, and then he asked, “How can we put this to right?”

“This is what I shall do,” said Lilith, “I shall go to the man by night, in his dreams, taking on the guise of the woman Eve. I shall arouse him while he sleeps, and lie with him. Then I shall carry his seed to the woman while she sleeps, and appear in her dreams as the man, and say sweet and gentle things to her, and gently tease her hair and stroke her cheek. And then we shall lie together. In that way, their vicarious union shall renew the earth and all that is in it. In time, perhaps, they shall remember their desire for each other in their waking hours as well.”

And so it was that Lilith lay with Adam in his dreams every night for one hundred and thirty years, and then carried his seed to Eve that same evening as she dreamed of Adam. Even so, some of Adam’s seed clung to Lilith, and she gave birth to a lovely daughter with skin as white as snow, lips as red as rubies, and hair the color of a raven’s wings. “What a lovely, graceful child you are!” she exclaimed, “And what, then, shall be your name?” The child felt the power of the Blind-Dragon coiling up and down her spine, and it thrilled her with its cold power. Thus she replied to her mother, “My power arises, like a serpent of icy fire, with the panting of desire, and as it sings sweet songs and incantations I see fleeting glimpses of eternity. Thus let my name be Nachash, for I shall enchant men and women with the song of the serpent.” So Lilith took up her lyre and sang this song:

And Lilith taught the lovely child the names of power by which she might enchant the beasts of the field, the plants of the forest, and even the daemons. Then Nachash spoke a name of power, and flew into the east, where she bore a great many children begotten from the dreams of men at night. To this day her children continue to give and receive the bittersweet gift of fire in the blood.

After the hundred and thirty years had passed, less a week of days, Eve began to ache with desire for Adam as she kneaded dough in the cool of the morning. Looking into Eve’s eyes, Lilith knew that the time had come for her to depart. She took her sister by the hand, and bade farewell, promising to come again whenever she called her with the blood. Thus it was that Eve set her shoulders, and set out to find the abode of Adam.

The Blood Covenant

For many years, Lilith dwelled in the Wasteland with her daemon children, and wept with longing for her flesh. She often went to Adam and Eve, and to their children by night, and appeared to them in dreams, and they embraced in the lock of passion. But such interludes only served to accentuate her hunger for what she had given up. In those years, Night was divided from Day, so that the children of Day lived like animals wearing skins and living in holes in the ground, while the children of Night wandered about like restless birds seeking the dawn so that they might explode into song. This was until Cain the Consecrated instituted the Sacrament of the Calling.

On that terrible and glorious day, the blood of Abel washed over the earth like a crimson flood. It poured into the Wastelands of the Night in tiny rivulets, and the daemons and the Lilim sniffed at the air with an unnamed longing. The blood of Abel lapped around the toes of Lilith as she slumbered on her throne, and filled her dreams with dread and desire, until she awoke with a start. Seeing the blood, she let out a lament that pierced even into the land of the Daytime Dreaming. Wiping a tear from her eye, she took up her staff and her cloak, and went to find the Sky Tyrant.

As Lilith strode through the river of blood that swirled around her ankles, she felt a painful stab in her side, and she reached down to touch raw flesh and oozing blood whence her rib had been taken. At that moment, she found herself in the presence of the Sky Tyrant and Cain. “In a fit of anger and petulant jealousy, this selfish child of the Day has stumbled upon the terrible secret of the Cry of the Blood,” said the Sky Tyrant to Lilith, “And now the fruits of blood must be reaped. Behold! Before you stands the father of mighty rulers, the architect of great cities of hewn stone and cut wood, the root of a tree of iron which shall cast its shadows over all the earth. Behold! I have traced a mark in blood upon his forehead; it is your name, and by this mark, I bind you to him in service, that you might prosper him, and avenge his death sevenfold. In return, I give you the power of blood to take new flesh and walk in the land of the Day in order to serve the children of the Day, and I give you the right to rule over his descendents as a goddess from your throne of the Night. And you shall become the mother of a great race of Faerie Children, born of dream and of flesh, of spirit and of blood, who shall inflame the passions and inspire the dreams of mortal men and women in life, and keep watch over their souls in death.”

So Lilith took her staff, and led Cain into the east, where she found a wife for him. The she led the family to Nod, where she variously awed and tricked the inhabitants into swearing fealty to Cain, and rendering a portion of their flocks and crops to him and his family. She taught Cain and his sons to assemble his followers and build a mighty city, from which they might venture forth each spring at the head of a powerful army to conquer new tribes and win new wealth. Every spring, Lilith rode out to war in the vanguard of the army, and sang songs that filled the hearts of their foes with such fright and dread that they scattered in panic, so that they might be harvested like wheat by the stone spears of Cain. And finally, she taught Cain to build an altar high upon the steps of an awe-inspiring temple, where every year a virgin youth was sacrificed, that the pact of blood might be renewed. After many years, Cain died of old age, and Lilith returned to her throne in the Wasteland, in order to rule the men of Nod from their dreams.

The Royal Children

In the sixth generation of the Kings of Nod, the city had grown so large that it sprawled across both banks of the river, and tens of thousands of subjects lived within its walls. In those days, the Sky Tyrant called Lilith into his presence, and asked her, “What shall become of the city of Nod? Its kings harvest an annual crop of flesh and blood, and thus they grow wealthy and fat! But what do they sow? Nothing! There is nothing of beauty or art, neither learning nor refinement, in their dismal city. They are nothing but beasts of prey skulking in their dens of mud-baked clay. Lilith, you best of all my children know that the blood must be the leaven of the flesh.” And so Lilith asked, “What must I do, my Lord?”

The Sky Tyrant replied, “King Lamech roars among his neighbors like a lion, and is every bit as much a ravenous beast; yet his descendents shall cultivate the race of men until the time of the Great Wedding Feast. You shall take one of your daemons of the dance to his wife, Adah, and it will beget on her a child who shall teach men to grasp the gift of music. As for you, go unto Lamech in the flesh, and be his sukkal for a year and lie with him every night. In the fifth month of your service, you shall be gotten with child, and then after seven months longer you shall give birth to twins, a boy and a girl. The boy will be swarthy and uncomely by human standards, but he shall be the father of the race of dwarves, and shall teach men the arts of taking power from the earth. The girl will be lovely, lovely even as you, and she shall be the mother of a race of goddesses and muses who will inspire men to achieve ever greater deeds in war and peace.” So Lilith bowed and said, “It shall be as you say, my Lord.”

On the day of the next New Year, as Lamech stained his knife with the annual blood of the virgin youth captured from the surrounding tribes, Lilith suddenly stood atop the great altar. Lilith disguised herself with long and curly hair, not only on her head but on her body as well, and she professed her desire to wed Lamech for the year, and promised to bring good luck and great prosperity. The king looked at her with lust burning in his eyes, and he said, “Ah! Yes, my Lady, but what is your name?” Lilith responded, “Nay, my Lord, a name I shall not give you; rather, what will you call me?” Looking at the fleeciness of her hair and body, Lamech declared, “I shall name you Zillah, and under that name you shall serve me and my nation!” So Lilth submitted to Lamech for a round of the seasons, and made him very rich in sheep and in followers. In the fifth month, she became pregnant, and quickly grew large with child.

At the end of seven more months, Lilith called her handmaidens to her and told them that the time had come. Then she opened her womb, and gave birth to a swarthy, stout-limbed youth. She looked upon the youth with distaste, and asked, “What is your name?” The youth looked at his strong hands and his massive arms, at his thick neck and powerful legs, and replied, “I shall be a smith to all the nations of the Day and Night, and so you may call me Tubal-Cain.” Then he sang this song to his mother:

Then Lilith’s opened her womb again, and she gave birth to a lovely young maiden with golden-red hair and bright blue eyes. Lilith looked upon the girl with wonder, and asked, “What is your name?” The girl looked upon herself, at the beauty of her hair and eyes, at the firmness of her limbs, at the swelling of her breasts, and at the ripening fruit of her vulva, and she said, “I shall be called Naamah, for I am lovely to behold.” Then Lilith took up her harp and sang this song to her daughter:

The following day, New Year Day, was the anniversary of Lilith’s service to Lamech. As the king mounted the steps of the altar for the annual sacrifice, Lilith shed the disguise of her hair, and took her son and daughter before Lamech and all the people. “Behold, mortal king!” she cried out in a loud voice, “I am Lilith, the Queen of Night, the Guardian of Nod! My name was the mark upon the forehead of Cain the Consecrated, and it guarded him against his foes. A new mark I now leave upon the race of your descendents: my son and daughter! Under their sign, you heirs shall conquer the earth and carry the torch of civilization to all the lands, and yet under their sign your heirs shall forever long for what can never be theirs. Behold! I mark you with Power and Sovereignty, Truth and Beauty!” Then Lilith stretched out her arm and slew Lamech at the foot of the altar. She dipped her finger in the blood that spilled from his wounded neck, and wrote the names of Tubal-Cain and Naamah on the base of the altar. Then she took up her children again, whispered a name, and returned to her throne in the Wilderness.

Thus ends the Gospel of the Creation of the Lilim. May the grace and the peace of the Great Mother shine upon her children like the full moon in the mid-summer’s night sky!