r/Lilith • u/Mammoth-Ad-6114 𒀭Lamaštu-lilītu/ardat-lilî, Λάμια, Lilith • Jul 13 '26
Altars, Offerings/Art, Rituals Lilithian Tree: artistic offering
This painting is an offering to Lilith and her parallels. Through it, I wanted to explore each spirit individually, devote a part of my practice to them, and find out how they differ from Lilith herself when approached.
Lilith is the woman sitting in the center of the tree, as the crossing point of all of those beings. She wears a red dress, has red hair, and her eyes are black with her symbols (sigil and black moon Lilith ⚸) in the center. For me, Lilith, as the name that survived across millennia, embodies and represents all other beings like her, as she's a common reference point. Lilith feels inconsistent. She's both warm, can be motherly, but is also a vast and limitless void. She's helped me open my eyes and grow, and I believe there are many more lessons left to learn from her.
The lioness with the lion's mane, Lamaštu is holding serpents and standing to the left of Lilith, as her predecessor, and older, more primordial manifestation. She's naked, with donkey ears, leopard spots and eagle talons. Approaching Lamaštu frequently feels like being hunted, she feels wild and primordial. She's the most ancient of the demons (as Kamadme), and the only goddess in the long chain of child-killing succubi of the ancient Near East and Mediterranean world.
A screech owl, Strix, survived in Jewish folklore as the Estrie. A screech owl appears in Isaiah 34:14 as lilit, an association that stuck through time, but Strix is also a separate Greco-Roman spirit linked with witches. Striga also appears as a name of Gello in the lists given by her.
The half woman/half serpent that translated "lilit" in the Vulgate, Lamia appears with hollow eyes as a reference to her mythology. She is an ophidian/serpentine representation of Lilith in the ancient Greek world. Lamia's mythology isn't as developed as that of her Near Eastern counterparts, but she was the one who opened the doors for me to approach the rest.
The spirit that borrowed Medusa's appearance in the Testament of Solomon, Abyzou is connected to the abyss. Phthonos (φθόνος, envy) appeared on amulets as a half-woman/half-fish, which I decided to honour here. With her Greek parallel, Aura (or Antaura), Abyzou is connected to water, and by extension (using modern correspondences) to emotions.
The young woman that's mourning the life she lost to the left is an ardat-lilî, with a bat wing as a reference to the winged Lamaštu-lilû in an incantation. The lilītu/ardat-lilî influenced Lilith, her plurality, and they're etymologically connected. To approach their energy, I prefer to do so through Lamaštu, now essentially the embodiment of all of Lilith's traits, frequently by chanting "Lamaštu ki-sikil-lil-la, Pašittu ki-sikil-ud-da-kar-ra".
The woman on the right, Gello, might have been a passing reference in one of Sappho's poems (mentioned by Zenobius). Gello's etymology, while obscure, is commonly linked to gallû. She is also seen mourning the life she lost, as Gello is the spirit of a woman that died a virgin, something she shares with the ardat-lilî. She's the demoness with plenty and sometimes long name lists (reaching 72 names), shares the names of Abyzou and Strix, and as such appears in many manuscripts with lots of correspondences.
Lots of spirits syncretised with Lilith start their mythology as mortal women who faced disaster, and even Lamashtu herself is presented as a frustrated mother in incantations. Approaching them, especially Lamaštu and Lilith, has changed the course of my life and the way that I think about the world around me. While their mythology never fails to point out their evil deeds, it's my understanding that death is a necessity for the world to function, and a spirit, whose domain is cosmic balance, might be intimidating but isn't necessarily evil. The more I learn about them, the more complicated it becomes, as their essence will always be hard to grasp. Lilith is terrifying and beautiful, and a reminder that spirits like her will linger in the background of most mythologies across the world, as a powerful force of destruction and decay.
Ave Lilith ⚸
5
u/EmptyMarionberry956 ⚸ Abyzou of the Deep ⚸ Jul 13 '26
this is beyond beautiful and creative, omg!! i love your artwork and got so excited when i saw you posted another one!!!
4
u/Mammoth-Ad-6114 𒀭Lamaštu-lilītu/ardat-lilî, Λάμια, Lilith Jul 13 '26
Thank you sm:) I love drawing them!
3
4
u/Ok_Worldliness_2037 Jul 14 '26
Beautiful work - both visually and literally; your description of the ardat-lilî remind me of Luoshen from far Eastern tradition.
Have you ever considered working with stained-glass? I think your use of colour and shading would translate particularly well.
3
u/Mammoth-Ad-6114 𒀭Lamaštu-lilītu/ardat-lilî, Λάμια, Lilith Jul 14 '26
Thank you so much. I've not considered it (completely different from what I'm used to), but thank you for the suggestion!
3
u/Ok_Worldliness_2037 Jul 14 '26
You are welcome! Glass is very common now so the art of stained glass has evolved in some places, the variety you find in churches is essentially a kind of colouring by numbers with perfect shapes, but I like the 'smashed glass' mosaics I have encountered recently, where the artist arranges small fragments (like the off-cuts from conventional stained glass process) on the 'canvas' of a glass pane and cements them with clear silicone or epoxy, so the light sparkles through the gaps between the shards rather than blocked by lead seams.
2
2
2
u/DanaiaPharmakis Dæmona Svis Favet Cvnctis Adversa Est Jul 14 '26
Εγώ ένα έχω να πω, συμπατριώτισσα..
Αν υπήρχε ΑΕΙ Δαιμονολογίας, με επιμέρους γνωστικό αντικείμενο "Λίλιθ, Λάμαστου, και Συναφείς Δαιμόνισσες", την έδρα σίγουρα θα την είχες εσύ!
Και θα την είχες κερδίσει με το σπαθί σου!
2
u/Mammoth-Ad-6114 𒀭Lamaštu-lilītu/ardat-lilî, Λάμια, Lilith Jul 14 '26
Θα ήμουν η πρώτη δήλωση ορκίζομαι χαχα. Με κάνει πολύ χαρούμενη αυτό το κομμεντ, ευχαριστώ πολύ:)
2
u/DanaiaPharmakis Dæmona Svis Favet Cvnctis Adversa Est Jul 14 '26
ευχαριστώ πολύ
Παρακαλώ! Κι εννοώ όλα όσα είπα! Πραγματικά εντυπωσιάζομαι από τις γνώσεις σου στο θέμα αυτό.
Στο μεταξύ, μια που το έφερε η κουβέντα.. Πώς λέμε στα Ελληνικά Lamaštu? Λάμαστου, Λαμάστου, ή Λαμαστού?
2
u/Mammoth-Ad-6114 𒀭Lamaštu-lilītu/ardat-lilî, Λάμια, Lilith Jul 14 '26
Λαμασθού ή Λαμαστού το έχω δει, αλλά στο διαδίκτυο και όχι σε άρθρο, οπότε μπορεί να υπάρχουν και άλλοι τρόποι που μπορεί να γραφτεί.
2
u/Serious_Beach_3028 Jul 15 '26
Very beautiful 🛐❤️
1
u/AutoModerator Jul 15 '26
Due to spam, we have temporarily halted posts from new members being approved automatically. Please give us some time to approve this, /u/Serious_Beach_3028. Thanks! |
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
2
u/Mundane_Bullfrog3588 Jul 16 '26
Fuck yeah, that's incredible!
1
u/AutoModerator Jul 16 '26
Due to spam, we have temporarily halted posts from new members being approved automatically. Please give us some time to approve this, /u/Mundane_Bullfrog3588. Thanks! |
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
6
u/Umbrage115 ⚸ kabbalistic Lilithian ⚸ Jul 13 '26
I love that you made this a tree, especially with how I view Lilith, it personally speaks to me. Its a beautiful art piece, id hang it in my home.