The Creation Myth of Mara

The Beloved Mara of Nippur

Part One

Lo, there was no there there, nor was there here here nor there. Neither distance, nor time nor light nor unlight nor up nor down nor left nor right nor movement nor stasis. Or so it seemed.
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Pure thought existed, The Bornless One, who encompassed the not-there and the not-here and the absence of distance and time and light and unlight and up and down and left and right and a multitude of other nothingnesses. His invisible boundless infinite spiritual light was all and nothing was there outside of it, for there was no outside of it.

So the Bornless One withdrew himself to form a place wherein could live that which he envisioned to bring into existence. Yes, the invisible boundless spirit light contracted itself to form an opening inside itself which it did not fill, so that it no more utterly filled the All.

First, he called forth Tiamat to exist in that space that was evacuated. Then Tiamat was not evil but she was the clay from which all mind and thought was formed. But still no time nor distance nor light nor unlight existed neither here nor there.

From Tiamat was called forth The Consort, the shining perfect one, the firstborn. From Tiamat was also called forth the beings and the souls and the minds and the creatures, to join Tiamat and The Consort to reside in that evacuated space. Yet was there still no there nor here nor light nor unlight nor distance nor up nor down nor movement.

From The Consort emerged the powers, the laws, the rules of formation, the tiny whirling ones according to their types, the chains of light, the ladders of light, the formulae of distance and of time, and also, the sounds to bring them into being.

Then spake The Consort in the invisible light to bring forth the emanations, the tiny whirling ones, the tiny chains of light and the ladders of light to guide them and the building bricks of distance and of time, and the glue to bind them and their nature and their function and their qualities and the laws ruling them. Then the Consort commanded Tiamat to enter into the words, to give them life, as she was the clay of mind.

When The Consort spake, the promise of the here and there, the up and down, the left and right, the movement and the stasis and the tiny ones, pressed together by Tiamat as if by the weight of a multitude of mighty Ziggurats, appeared like a tiny spark. Inside of it was the prediction of all that would ever be, and outside of it was the absence of here and there, no thing, no time, no distance, no light nor unlight.
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Tiamat had entered the fireseed to kindle it. Terrible was the birth pangs of that which would be, in utter anguish were the ingredients of the powers and the bricks and the cement and of time and direction squeezed together.

Hark! Movement was the firstborn.

The seed swelled out by Tiamats terrible pushing that resembled the heaviness of a multitude of mighty Ziggurats in the center of its heart. Faster than lightning, the movement made it grow as the thoughts were compressed together in no space, yeah, they struggled for space.

For the seed became a fireball, nay, the heat of a thousand furnaces could not compare. The promises inside the seed was like unto a fire but fiercer than flames, for it suffered the savage pressure of Tiamat. The seed billowed out quicker than a lighting bolt to ease the ache of Tiamats mighty pushing. Verily
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I say unto ye, not even the most stiff-necked nor the wickedest of ye will suffer the excruciating pain that the promises in the seed endured, when ye descend into the Abzu where ye are headed to be chastised and tormented. In that, ye are indeed fortunate.

The laws, the regulations and the ordinances could not yet operate, nor could the powers perform their functions, neither could the tiny whirling ones assume their names, their qualities, their forms and their tasks that The Consort had decreed, for they were all one in this terrifying fire-like thing.

But their desire to assume their names and their tasks, and the violent force of Tiamat made them press outward with urgency. Then also The Consort pitied them for the ferocious pressure they endured, and for the chaos, the harsh heat and the lack of space to assume their forms and their functions.
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Therefore The Consort divided herself in two. Half of her entered the fireball and half of her stayed outside in the infinite light with The Bornless One. Inside, The Consort speeded up the growth and the expansion, for as yet no laws were in place. The powers had no power over the tiny whirling ones, as the powers and the whirling ones were one, as were the laws one with the powers and the tiny whirling ones. They were all mixed and pressed together.

Then The Consort separated the first power. It was called The Pulling and it assumed its name and its functions. When it started doing so, it made space for the tiniest of the little whirling ones to assume their form and their appellation in the turbulent sea where the promises of the larger ones were still smashing into one another, indeed, crushing one another.

Then The Consort pulled another power free and this power made the fireball grow even quicker, a thousand times the speed of a lightning bolt, so that the heat was lessened and with it the agony. Now more of the tiny whirling ones obtained the space to take their form, on account of the lesser heat and the greater room to move.

Then The Consort split the third power into two powers and these two different powers took up their duties. The one is a merchant, the other is an alchemist. They are the powers of exchange and transformation.

This splitting of the one into two cooled the fireball so much that all the remaining whirling ones even the largest now took up their form and their function. In this, they were assisted by the merchant and the alchemist. There were no more lost, scattered and wandering tiny whirly ones that drifted aimlessly to form clouds that absorbed the light.
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Thus The Consort cleared up the smoke, blew away the clouds, indeed did she clear the skies by setting the whirlers in their appointed places. For until this time, the All was like a dirty cloud of smoke, dimly lit by a dull red glow.

When The Consort cleaned up the All, she liberated the light from the smoke and the fog that smothered it, she assigned them their places, and the All emerged in magnificent splendor. Then the ladders of light guided the tiny ones of light in straight paths. And then the Pulling force helped to form the stars of heaven that adorn the night sky like gemstones. Throughout all space the sublime song of the stars resounded in harmony.

But still there was Tiamat, untamed, wild Tiamat, who had witnessed what her formidable power had helped wrought, and she craved more. She so hated the song of the stars that she began humming a discordant tune, she started croaking a clamorous song of destruction. Not even The Consort could hush Tiamat. The most the Consort could do was to control her by the powers and the laws, to the extent that she was able.

For Tiamat had become drunk on her power, she wanted to change and rearrange the laws and the powers for her own glory, she yearned to destroy for her own enjoyment. Wherever she could, by the insidious sorcery of her shrill cackling and her hellish bellowing Tiamat pressed together large stars to cause destruction, to break the laws, to smash the rules, to render null the regulations and to overthrow the ordinances.

Thus in her hubris, Tiamat broke the laws, she pushed one star into the other, she kindled them with chants of malice and burnt up their fuel so they collapsed and verily, so terrible was their implosion that they tore and rent the brick walls of space and time. Where once their light flared brightly, now appeared the evil, hideous Abzus of the heavens, the insatiable whirlpools that devour everything, the pestilential pits that suck in even the light.

By this madness, decay entered upon the All. All that The Consort had organised and arranged and adorned fell subject to decay, the order that she had established fell victim to disintegration, the harmony of heaven was ruptured by the malice and the witchcraft of Tiamat.

Then The Consort called upon her other self in the realm of invisible boundless light. In order to repair the havoc wrought by Tiamat, large fountains opened in the heavens, portals from the sphere of infinite spiritual light, where power and light and tiny whirling ones pour in, so that whatever is devoured by Tiamats dark abysses, is replenished from that realm of inexhaustible light.

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And thus it shall be until Tiamat is slain. For verily, she dwells within ye and ye being stupid and ignorant, cannot distinguish her dissonant squalls from the healing voice of The Consort. And even when ye can, ye choose the clamorous cacophony of Tiamat on account of yer innate rebelliousness.

That is why the Abzu awaits ye, where ye shall be purified of yer wilful wickedness and yer ignorance and yer stupidity. By fire and smoke and cuts and lashes and stings shall ye learn to choose life and righteousness. And only when Tiamat is finally destroyed shall evil no more infect yer hearts, nor wickedness yer minds. Sela.

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