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Various
Succubi
Lilith
Origins of Lilith (From The
Lilith Gallery):
Lilith has many origins. In one version of the bin-Sira
version of the Bible, Lilith is the first wife of Adam
(before Eve) and was created at the same time that god
created Adam. In Greek myth, she is the goddess of the
dark moon (Artemis is the goddess of the full moon, and
Hecate is the goddess of the crescent moon). In
Mesopotamian legends, Lilith is a fertility/earth goddess
who protects people's children and helps to harvest food.
In both Arabic and Jewish myths however, she is a
succubus. A demon-woman who hunts men, seduces them and
drains their life with a kiss. Jewish mothers believed
Lilith would come to take their children away and eat
them.
The Lilin
(From Wikipedia)
According to Jewish folklore, the 'lilin' are the
daughters of Lilith and Adam, engendered while she was
his wife. They are demons, with their function being that
of a succubus. Men and also mothers feared the attack of
the lilin, because they were also said to kidnap
children, like Lilith.
The lilin are considered night spirits
Mara
(From Wikipedia)
'Mara' is the name of a fabulous ogress who hags
people when sleeping. People feel pressure on their
chest, and some people report that they observed Mara
laying on their chest sometimes choking their necks, and
mostly accompanying with sleep paralysis.
Rusalka
(From Wikipedia)
In Slavic mythology 'Rusalka' was a female ghost,
water nymph or succubus-like demon who lived in a lake.
Her eyes shone like a green fire. Men who were seduced by
her died in her arms, and in some versions her laugh can
also cause death (compare with the Irish banshee). She
corresponds to the Scandinavian and German Nixie. The
ghostly version of the succubus is the soul of a young
woman who died in or near a lake (many of these rusalki
were murdered by lovers), and came to haunt that lake;
this undead rusalka is not particularly malevolent, and
will be allowed to die in peace if her death is avenged.
Yuki-Ona
(From Wikipedia)
'Yuki-onna' (??, " snow woman")
is a spirit or type of spirit found in Japanese folklore.
She is a popular figure in Japanese animation, manga, and
literature. Yuki-onna is sometimes confused with Yama-uba
("mountain crone"), but the two figures are not
the same.
Yuki-onna appears as a tall, beautiful woman with long
hair. Her skin is inhumanly pale or even transparent,
causing her to to blend into the snowy landscape. She
sometimes wears a white kimono, but other legends
describe her as nude, with only her face, hair, and pubic
region standing out against the snow. Despite her inhuman
beauty, her eyes can strike terror into mortals. She
floats across the snow, leaving no footprints (in fact,
some tales say she has no feet), and she can transform
into a cloud of mist or snow if she is threatened.
Yuki-onna is winter personified, particularly the
storms common during that time of year. She is at the
same time beautiful and serene, yet ruthless in her
killing of unsuspecting mortals. Until the 18th century,
she was almost uniformly portrayed as evil. Today,
however, stories often color her as more human,
emphasizing her ghostlike nature and ephemeral beauty.
In many stories, Yuki-onna reveals herself to
travelers who find themselves trapped in snowstorms and
uses her icy breath to leave them as frost-coated
corpses. Other legends say that she leads them astray so
they simply die of exposure. Other times, she manifests
holding a child. When a well-intentioned soul takes the
"child" from her, he or she is frozen in place.
Parents searching for lost children are particularly
susceptible to this tactic. Other legends make Yuki-onna
much more aggressive. In these stories, she often
physically invades people's homes, blowing in the door
with a gust of wind, to kill them while they sleep
(though some legends require her to be invited inside
first).
Exactly what Yuki-onna is after varies from tale to
tale. Sometimes she is simply satisfied to see her
victim's death. Other times, however, she is more
vampiric, draining her victims' blood or "life
force". She occasionally takes on a succubus-like
manner, preying on weak-willed men in order to drain or
freeze them through sexual intercourse or a kiss.
Like the snow and winter weather she represents,
Yuki-onna has a softer side. She sometimes lets would-be
victims go for various reasons. In one popular Yuki-onna
legend, for example, she sets a young boy free due to his
beauty and age. She makes him promise to never mention
her again, though, and when he relates the story to his
wife much later in life, his wife reveals herself to be
none other than the snow woman. She reviles him for
breaking his promise but spares him yet again, this time
out of concern for the children she has born him. In a
similar legend, Yuki-onna melts away once her husband
discovers her true nature.
Allu: offspring of
Succubi
(from Wikipedia)
In Akkadian mythology the 'Allu' were a race of
monstrous and faceless demons that destroyed all what
they could capture. They were engendered during a man's
sleep with Lilitu or one of her demon servants (see also
succubus). When the man who had engendered them was about
to die, they surrounded his bed waiting for the moment
during which they could take their father's soul,
impeding his travel to the Underworld, and making of him
an errant spirit, feared by all living people (see also
ghost).
In Sumerian mythology 'Allu' was a demonic
power.
Belili
(from Wikipedia)
'Belili' was first a Sumerian minor goddess called
Gesht-inanna, sister of Dumuzi, and wife of
Nin-gishzida (the door keeper of An). She was later
included in the Babylonian pantheon with the name of
Belili or Belit-ili (also spelled Belet-ili), acquiring
in some time a much higher status as the wife of Bel (the
Assyrian and Babylonian equivalent to Baal). The
Canaanites called her Baalat or Baalit, the wife and
female counterpart of Baal. As the wife of Bel she can be
associated with Ishtar for Assyrians and Babylonians,
with Astarte for Semites, and with Asherah for
Philistines; in this sense Belili can also be associated
with sacred prostitution and human sacrifice (of
children, by fire). Some authors, however, relate her
with Lilith, who is commonly associated with the demon
Asmodai and considered a female demon with the function
of acting as a succubus. Other authors say that she could
have been a fertility goddess (this connects her again
with Ishtar, Astarte and Asherah), and some Neopagans
consider Belili a mother goddess.
Lamia
(from
Legends of the Succubus)
A related concept [to the succubus] is the Lamia
from old English legends. The lamia was said to appear in
graveyards as a beautiful woman who draws young men to
their deaths. She would lie in wait for a naive victim,
looking as if she needs his assistance in some way.
legend has it that, if you see such a woman in a
graveyard who appears to need help, you are supposed to
call out to her, for the Lamia cannot answer back, since
she has a snakes tongue and can only hiss.
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