I’m reading Lilith by Nikki Marmery. It is the story of Lilith, the first, first woman, told in Lilith’s voice. I will confess, found the book a little slow, and maybe a tad incredulous in the first few pages, but am I ever glad that I persisted. Lilith takes us across time, across cultures, in search of the prophet who will reclaim reverence for Asherah, the Goddess of creation; the prophet who will lead the way to each of us reclaiming the goddess in ourselves. On page 238 (of about 320), Lilith find the prophet. She is not what Lilith expected, and Lilith doubts whether others will be open to hearing her. In response, the prophet stands on the edge of a precipice, and shouts into the void:
I am the first and the last!
I am the honorured and the mocked!
I am the whore and the holy one;
the wife and the virgin; the mother and the daughter!
I am a barren woman with many children!
I am the silence that is incomprehensible
and the voice whose sounds are many!
I am Wisdom and ignorance; I am shy and proud!
I am disgraced and I am great!
I am compassionate and cruel; I am witless and wise!
You who deny me, know me!
I am the one they call Life and you call me Death!
I am the one they call Law and you call me Lawless!
I am the one you seized and I am She you scattered!
I am She you despise, and yet you profess me!
I am peace, yet war had come because of me!
I am Perfect Mind!
A powerful proclamation if ever I read one. And yet, I think you need to read it in context to get the full power of it. So, go get yourself a copy of the book. Get thee to the library, or your local independent book store. If they don’t have it in stock, they will order it up for you. If you don’t have a local independent bookstore, reach out to the Frenchtown Bookshop, tell them Mary sent you and they will take great care of you (of course they will take great care of you even if you don’t tell them I sent you J).
https://frenchtownbookshop.com/
908-628-9297
frenchtownbookshop@gmail.com
Read on my friends, read on.
JustAlchemy 