Like The Midnight Garden, the following invocation is supposed to be the words of Lilith herself. Although the two tales are separate, there’s a definite feeling of connection between them. We can see the following breakdown as the continuation of The Midnight Garden; robbed of her children and lover, Lilith promises eternal revenge, and summons the “howling spirits” of rage and temptation to her side. Descending with them, she invokes three versions of herself (or six, depending on how you wish to read it) and transforms her sorrow into a furious storm.
Even so, there are differences. While I saw each invocation performed as part of Bahari rites (during which demonic spirits and tempestuous weather really were summoned), the two were spoken on different occasions — the Garden as a summer rite, the Malediction as a winter one. Through endless permutations, performances and translations, the two pieces have taken on a similar character and rhythm; yet the original Midnight Garden is, as far as I know, oral only; the Queen of Hells was transcribed by a Sumerian lorekeeper sometime around 4000 B.C. Thanks to the old man (see “Notes”), I have seen a transcription of that piece, and have constructed the following Malediction as a bridge between both accounts.
Although the Queen of Hells is obviously somewhat more modern than its prehistoric inspiration (loaded as it is with anachronisms like winepresses and castration clamps), it gives the Bahari a voice for the rage of their Dark Mother and forges a link between the willful and compassionate Lilith of earlier tales and the Dark Mother so feared by Kindred and kine alike.
The following excerpt comes from the notes of an anonymous minor scribe in service to the English Church. The local hunters had apparently taken in a Lamia Ba’ham. Although ignorant about the nature of their captive, these gentlemen quickly learned (by way of three dismembered guards) that this particular “Wych” had to be restrained by powerful chains. Once that had been done, three priests, a torturer, several guardsmen and our scribe set to work attempting to question their powerful guest.
[After much effort, the Accused is secured to the Rack and is subject to the lightest and most simple of tortures. To these, she singest like a child in her mother’s lap. At length, she speakest in a tone more ready to the words of this Chronicle.]
Priest: Who art thou, servant of the Blackest Powers? And dost thou now renounce them and take refuge in the Lord thy God?
Accused: I am the Cat, the Owl’s get, and I do practice that which thou shunnest, and I do laugh at thee and spit at thee, and upon thy God as well. I forsake nothing.
[Here irons are applied to diverse places upon the body of the Accused. Much screaming and laughter follow. This Scribe confesses a deep and abiding fear at the sound of such celebrations.]
Priest: Dost thou abjure the Blackest Powers? And wilt thou namest thy accompanies? I promise thee pains if thou respondest not.
Accused: More fire. More irons. O gaoler, I beseech thee ten thousand more. Each excruciation bringeth unto me a thousandfold revelations, and I would drink them down as great draughts of wine.
[Much more tortures are applied, with the Accused being given to much screaming and writhing in a most Lascivious manner; two of the Saintly Fathers did quit the room before all was done and the Wych did speak again anon, with profanest litanies, of which I forbear to set down in this Chronicle. After such performances as these she did speak in a manner more pleasing to the ear of the Lord, if as a madwoman only.]
Accused: Pray do continue, good sirs. My taste for dreams has grown stale. Priest: Whence art thou born? From which province? Who art thy father and thy mother, and do they share in thy Arts?
Accused: What wouldst thou ask? My parentage? I am daughter to the Screech-owl and beloved to the Dragon. My father is the Black Lion and the bearer of the sun 11. My brothers are the roses which bloom at midnight only; my sisters are the tears that weep upon the bedclothes of lost virgins. I am not as thou. If thou doubtst it, press me again, that I might be exalted.
[Here irons are put to her nether-parts and to her eyes and to the softer regions behind her knees and elbows. The Accused doth scream anon and speaketh in tongues that are barbaric and unfamiliar to this Chronicler; yet I shall endeavor to preserve them for the future of our Great Research.]
Ai — ai — ai. Ai hamma gee tabool eer hamma quata mas. Hattabas. Akhool. Hattabas. Yin soquaa ahni anaka. Bahari latwaa — Bahari latwaa; Sin solo extro vina contolo mas. Lakhil — alhil — kataab — lilihu ah mas. Ahi hay Lilitu — Ahi hay Lilitu.12
[This last does the Accused repeat manifold as if it were a blasphemous prayer. Upon hearing it repeated, the gaolers and myself do feel a most peculiar sickness; a weakness of the head and spleen and stomach. After vomiting black bile, we beg the Torturer to burn away the Wych’s tongue, that she might accurse us no further. This he did; and thereupon a black and vile spittle came forth and fell upon the torturer’s arm. He screamed like a woman upon the wheel, and his flesh rots like a leper’s. We shall bring him out of this place and seal it with all the prayers and blessings of a true Man of God. Thus endeth this Chronicle.]13
While many animals have been regarded as sacred to the Dark Mother, the owl, cat and serpent are generally considered her “emblem” beasts.
One medieval tale (too long and rambling to be recounted here) tells how Lilith and Adam (before their epic falling-out) played games of creation in the Garden of Eden. Adam, being the Shaper, would transform mud into walls, trees into spears and sticks into cages. Lilith, being the Fertile, would create living things with her blood, urine and breath. The first three things she crafted were said to be the owl (which flew over Adam’s wall), the cat (which brought down the stag missed by Adam’s spear) and the serpent (which slipped through the bars of Adam’s cage). The combination of jealousy and fear that Adam felt over these creations probably hastened the marital spat that separated them forever.
When Lilith left the Garden, Adam is said to have violated every beast in the Garden except for the owl, the cat and the serpent; these chased him through the night until he called upon his god for help. When Jehovah cursed Lilith, the malediction fell upon those animals, too. By rabbinical lore, they followed Lilith and Lucifer into the second garden and spread outward from there. When that couple swore their revenge upon humanity and Caine, Lilith’s companions were said to have gone out as the first agents of her will.
This English song, another medieval composition, was sung to me by a young girl in a silly costume. She claimed to be a “recreationist” (an appellation I can only describe as absurd) whose passions burned for some idealized neverland based on the fanciful scribblings of fantasy authors. Nevertheless, she had a great faculty for research — the song is apparently authentic, and over 600 years old. I offer it as an example of the Dark Mother’s influence on the mortal world.
In the spirit of her songs and her penchant for things medieval, I gave my muse a taste of old law: a trip into the James River, tied in a sack with an owl, a cat and a serpent. According to the newspaper, she survived the experience. Perhaps she’s learned something from it.
I first heard this ominous prophecy as part of the industrial dance mix “Time for Breakfast,” by Shaken Baby Syndrome. It seized my attention with the opening lines and held it throughout. No mortal, I reasoned, could know so much about such supposedly hidden affairs. As we all know, our grand Masquerade is far too efficient ever to allow such information to seep out into the general public. As I listened, I could not help but be disturbed. When the song had ended, I sought out the disc jockey who had played it.
The coolly dispassionate voice intoning the words turned out to be Patricia de la Forge. When I later inquired about the source of the prophecy, she admitted it was far older than she. With the help of the old man, I found a Latin version of The Rising Tides that predated the conquest of Britannia. Thus began my quest for the origins and nature of the modern Lilith cult.
It is fitting that I end this Cycle with the words that began my journey. As anyone with an ounce of faculty knows, many of the portents outlined below have come true in recent years. Even the mortals know that the signs of a coming end have more to do with ancient proclamations than with facile calendars and ominous round numbers. While the words of Caine proclaim an end by fire, Lilith’s vision assures that fire will be extinguished by water. Perhaps the clash of both will sweep this broken earth into the pile of other “worlds of shells.” As the Ancient One’s eyes close again, oblivion descends and everything is silent. Perhaps, after a while, another earth will be born and the whole cycle will begin again.
Me, I’m just glad to have the opportunity to rest. I think the coming night will be quite unpleasant.
Sleep well, O Children of Caine. Some old debts are on the table, and your credit is overdrawn.
Tick tick, indeed.
3. In most ancient texts, Lilith is referred to as the owl. See Owl, Cat and Serpent, following.
5. A reference to Jehovah? Or to the “Ancient One” mentioned in the Genesis Fragment?
12. Transcribed verbatim. Note the repetition of several phrases from the Rite of Caine in Book II.