Lilith

Lilith is a Hebrew name for a figure in Jewish mythology who is generally thought to be in part derived from a class of female demons called Lilitu in Mesopotamian texts. The Gilgamesh appendix and the Arslan Tash amulets are the two sources used to connect the Jewish Lilith to an Akkadian Lilitu. The Hebrew term Lilith first occurs in Isaiah 34:14.

In Jewish folklore, from the 8th–10th century work The Alphabet of Ben Sira onwards, Lilith becomes Adam's first wife, who was created at the same time and from the same earth as Adam. This contrasts with Eve, who was created from one of Adam's ribs. Lilith’s legend was greatly developed during the Middle Ages. In a 13th Century writing, Lilith left Adam after she refused to become subservient to him and then would not return to the Garden of Eden after she mated with archangel Samael. She was said to have spoken the secret Holy name of God and transformed herself into an owl to fly from Eden. The name "Lilith" means "screech owl".  In some medieval folklore, Lilith does return to Eden as a serpent. She then offers forth the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge to Eve, making her a kind of proto-Sophia or wisdom Goddess.

Charles Leland associated Aradia with Lilith. Aradia, says Leland, is Herodias, who was regarded in stregheria folklore as being associated with Diana as chief of the witches. Leland further notes that Herodias is a name that comes from West Asia, where it denoted an early form of Lilith.

Gerald Gardner asserted that there was continuous historical worship of Lilith to present day, and that her name is sometimes given to the goddess being personified in the coven, by the priestess. This idea was further attested by Doreen Valiente, who cited her as a presiding goddess of the Craft: “the personification of erotic dreams, the suppressed desire for delights.”

In some Traditional covens, Lilith is viewed as the embodiment of the Witches' Goddess. She was said to have embodied herself in the form of Na'amah, the sister of Tubal Cain, and is therefore one of the original sources of Witchblood. Some see this Lilith as the Queen of the Fairies and Grandmother to them as well.

One of the old names for the moon is Lilith’s Lantern, as it was said to be the light that Witches met by. Lilith is associated with the moon, owls, and serpents.

Prayer Unto the Queen of Succubi
by Andrew Chumbly

I bless the Waters of Desire
I drink the Fountain White.
I call thee Mother Lilith
Harlot of the Night.

Mine are the Blossoms of Rousing
To Bewitch the Moon-Feast round;
Unto me thy Daughters
Ye Nymphs of Paradise ground.

I bless the Waters of Desire
I drink the Fountain White.
I call thee Mother Lilith
Harlot of the Night.

By the Mystery of the Bright Moon
And the Vessel of Quickening Fire
Thy Power is Made Flesh.

The Burney Relief, thought to depict Lilith

Witchy Blogs of Note

In days past it was difficult to find good resources on Traditional Witchcraft. Aside from the work of Andrew Chumbley, Nigel Jackson, and (of course) Robert Cochrane very few had written anything about their path.  Those that had (Chumbley for example) were nearly impossible to get your hands on.

We are now in an age when many of us have deigned to come out from the shadows and are sharing our practices with others. For some of us we have felt called by our Gods to share this information, others see it as a kind of kuthun -- a way to pass on the knowledge so it will not be lost after we are gone.  Still others look at what Neo-Wicca has done to our faith and cry "ENOUGH!"  We are sick in our souls of the watering down and selling-out of the Craft and demand a return to more traditional ideas and practices.

If you are looking for how the old Craft lives on today you would do well to visit and join these blogs.

Alchemist's Garden, The ~ one of the best online resources for learning about our plant friends and how they are used by those who walk the hedge.  Plant familiar magic has become rather faddish as of late. This blog is the idea antidote.

Art of Conjure and Hoodoo ~ witches cast spells, do they not?  You would be hard pressed to find a more vibrant spellcrafting community than that of Hoodoo. This is excellent advice on spellcraft and spell components. Do you know what a coon dong is used for?

Classic Witchcraft ~ a new blog by a very dear friend and teacher in the Craft.  I can assure you that "PJB" will be writing about provocative nitty-gritty Craft.

New World Witchery ~ part blog, part podcast, these delightful witches are doing work very similar to what we are doing here.  They are interested in the American expression of Trad Craft.

Tracks in the Witchwood ~ this is Robin Artisson's blog.  Yes, yes, we know.  Have you actually read his books?  They are a wellspring of Traditional Craft.  His blog is on occasion as well.

Walking the Hedge ~ Juniper found us before we found her, but we are so glad that she did.  This is real hedgecraft, not the domesticated kitchen-witchery that tries to pass itself off as hedgewalking.

Wild Hunt, The ~ this is not a trad-specific blog, rather it it a news service provided by one extraordinary witch, Jason Pitzl-Waters, who documents news of note to witches and Pagans throughout the world.

Witch of Forest Grove, The ~ it look like we've saved the best for last. Sarah Lawless is everything you ever thought a witch was when you were young and believed in such things with your whole heart.  That's a bit effusive, but I'm quite an admirer of her work.  She's an artist, a plant-worker, and a hedge-rider with a Scottish flare. She lives in the Pacific Northwest in a temperate rain forest.

The Toad Bone Amulet

Witches are infamous for deriving a bit of their power from a magical amulet known as The Toad Bone. The toad bone is first mentioned in Pliny's Natural History, and it disseminates throughout the western world from there. We are primarily interested in the motif of the Toad Bone in the British Isles, and its influence on American folk Craft. Given below is a first hand account of the Toad Bone ritual by Albert Love (b.1886) published in 1966.

‘Well, the toads that we use for this are actually in the Yarmouth area in and around Fritton. We get these toads alive and bring them home. They have a ring round their neck and are what they call walking toads. We bring them home, kill them, and put them on a whitethorn bush. They are there for twenty four hours till they dry. Then we bury the toad in an ant-hill; and it’s there for a full month, till the moon is at the full. Then you get it out; and it’s only a skeleton. You take it down to a running stream when the moon is at the full. You watch it carefully, particular not to take your eyes off it. There’s a certain bone, a little crotch-bone it is, it leaves the rest of the skeleton and floats uphill against the stream. Well, you take that out of the stream, take it home, bake it, powder it and put it in a box; and you use oils with it the same as you do for the milch. While you are watching these bones in the water, you must on no consideration take your eyes off it. Do [if you do] you will lose all power. That’s where you get your power from for messing about with horses, just keeping your eyes on that particular bone. But when you are watching it and these bones are parting, you’ll hear all the trees and all the noises that you can imagine, even as if buildings were falling down or a traction engine is running over you. But you still mustn’t take your eyes off, because that’s where you lose your power. Of course, the noises must be something to do with the Devil’s work in the middle of the night....’ "

This description of the Toad Bone ritual contains many of the elements common to Toad Bone folklore, primarily the stripping of the toad's flesh by placement on an anthill, and the ability of the Toad Bone to float upstream.

In Haggard (ed., 1935, pp. 13-14) we read the following account of the full toad-bone ritual. This version is recounted by an old Norfolk poacher, who states that he had learnt the charm from his grandmother, a person who was quite evidently a typical rural wise-woman. The indications given in the text for the ages of the poacher and his grandmother probably locate the grandmother’s version of the charm approximately around 1850.

‘There was one charm she told me of wich was practiced wen any one wanted to get comand over there fellow creaturs. Those that wished to cast the spell must serch until they found a walking toad. It was a toad with a yellow ring round its neck, I have never seen one of them but I have been told they can be found in some parts of the Cuntry. Wen they found the toad they must put it in a perforated box, and bury it in a Black Ant’s nest. Wen the Ants have eaten all the flesh away from the bones it must be taken up, and the person casting the spell must carry the bones to the edge of a running stream the midnight of Saint Marks Night, and throw them in the water. All will sink but one single bone and that will swim up stream. When they have taken out the bone the Devell would give them the power of Witch craft, and they could use that power over both Man and Animales.’

Natterjack Toad (Epidalea calamita, formerly Bufo calamita)

The toad in question is the British walking toad, the Natterjack Toad, beloved by Doreen Valiente. Natterjacks have short legs that give them a distinct "walking" gait, and possess a yellow line trailing down their back which could be the "yellow ring" sought for.

The Toad Bone was a common element of the society of the Horseman's Word, a group associated with folk magic.

I am indebted to the late Andrew Chumbley for his treatment on the Toad Bone, The Leaper Between, which is, alas, no longer available online other than via the Google Wayback Machine.