demonology
Jun. 12th, 2006 07:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thanateSo it appears that there is a rabbinic tradition which relates that after the expulsion from Eden, Adam wandered about for a hundred thirty years spilling his seed randomly about the ground, from which sprang demons (Lilith may or may not have been indirectly involved in this process) which is the explanation given for why it took him so long to produce "a son in his own image"-- and as usual, what I want to know is completely unrelated: what the heck was Eve doing for the 130 years her husband was wandering about randomly siring demons? I mean, it's not as if there was anyone else in the world for her to talk to or anything...
And then there's the story of Lilith herself... In the early medieval Alphabet of Ben-Sira you get the following passage:
After God created Adam, who was alone, He said, 'It is not good for man to be alone' (Genesis 2:18). He then created a woman for Adam, from the earth, as He had created Adam himself, and called her Lilith. Adam and Lilith immediately began to fight. She said, 'I will not lie below,' and he said, 'I will not lie beneath you, but only on top. For you are fit only to be in the bottom position, while I am to be the superior one.' Lilith responded, 'We are equal to each other inasmuch as we were both created from the earth.' But they would not listen to one another. When Lilith saw this, she pronounced the Ineffable Name and flew away into the air. Adam stood in prayer before his Creator: 'Sovereign of the universe!' he said, 'the woman you gave me has run away.' At once, the Holy One, blessed be He, sent these three angels to bring her back.
...and at the part where Adam starts whining that she's run away I lost it. I mean, it's so funny! What a dumb thing to fight about, especially with the implication that they didn't bother to do anything (like, say, have a brief conversation about "oh, hi, nice to meet you, being the only other of my species in existence, etc") first... and clearly Lilith had a point, if Adam wasn't bright enough to follow her when she ran off.
Now, I initially went in search of the concept of the demon lover, and I'm finding a lot more about succubi and related than incubi (who don't seem to have any other mythologic counterparts, at least that I'm seeing in the Wikipedia web of references, besides a passing relation to the vampire of both old slavic & victorian/gothic versions) And I'm guessing this is just one of those cultural things, where the various tendancies for religious abstinance, and men wandering off into the unknown & seeing/getting killed by strange sights, and maybe a subtle biological preference for aesthetic naked women rather than men come together to make the female secuctive demon a more comon image.
But what if instead one were to postulate some one or few incubi who didn't particularly want to be thought of by the general populace, and who... encouraged... this trend in whatever way? I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this, or what a good reason would be... Any thoughts?
And for some reason, I have a mental association with the demon lover as a face seen in a dark mirror; I'm not entirely sure why. (maybe it's just the prefect's mirror thing from Fire & Hemlock that's gotten mixed up in my head with something else, though. Or a vague memory of something![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
saladmonkeylamb wrote once (on violivia) about a novel she was writing... have I got that right? that involved a girl whose potential lover might or might not exist?)
Oh, and I'm now off the wait-list and officially signed up for the belly dance classes starting in two weeks. So I've quit choir again to free up my monday nights, leaving the poor alto section all by themselves... not that they can't do perfectly well without me; I may be loud, but it'smelaniesuzanne who can actually count & stuff. :)
And then there's the story of Lilith herself... In the early medieval Alphabet of Ben-Sira you get the following passage:
After God created Adam, who was alone, He said, 'It is not good for man to be alone' (Genesis 2:18). He then created a woman for Adam, from the earth, as He had created Adam himself, and called her Lilith. Adam and Lilith immediately began to fight. She said, 'I will not lie below,' and he said, 'I will not lie beneath you, but only on top. For you are fit only to be in the bottom position, while I am to be the superior one.' Lilith responded, 'We are equal to each other inasmuch as we were both created from the earth.' But they would not listen to one another. When Lilith saw this, she pronounced the Ineffable Name and flew away into the air. Adam stood in prayer before his Creator: 'Sovereign of the universe!' he said, 'the woman you gave me has run away.' At once, the Holy One, blessed be He, sent these three angels to bring her back.
...and at the part where Adam starts whining that she's run away I lost it. I mean, it's so funny! What a dumb thing to fight about, especially with the implication that they didn't bother to do anything (like, say, have a brief conversation about "oh, hi, nice to meet you, being the only other of my species in existence, etc") first... and clearly Lilith had a point, if Adam wasn't bright enough to follow her when she ran off.
Now, I initially went in search of the concept of the demon lover, and I'm finding a lot more about succubi and related than incubi (who don't seem to have any other mythologic counterparts, at least that I'm seeing in the Wikipedia web of references, besides a passing relation to the vampire of both old slavic & victorian/gothic versions) And I'm guessing this is just one of those cultural things, where the various tendancies for religious abstinance, and men wandering off into the unknown & seeing/getting killed by strange sights, and maybe a subtle biological preference for aesthetic naked women rather than men come together to make the female secuctive demon a more comon image.
But what if instead one were to postulate some one or few incubi who didn't particularly want to be thought of by the general populace, and who... encouraged... this trend in whatever way? I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this, or what a good reason would be... Any thoughts?
And for some reason, I have a mental association with the demon lover as a face seen in a dark mirror; I'm not entirely sure why. (maybe it's just the prefect's mirror thing from Fire & Hemlock that's gotten mixed up in my head with something else, though. Or a vague memory of something
saladmonkeylamb wrote once (on violivia) about a novel she was writing... have I got that right? that involved a girl whose potential lover might or might not exist?)Oh, and I'm now off the wait-list and officially signed up for the belly dance classes starting in two weeks. So I've quit choir again to free up my monday nights, leaving the poor alto section all by themselves... not that they can't do perfectly well without me; I may be loud, but it's
melaniesuzanne who can actually count & stuff. :)