Lamia

June Brigman

Dimmekr, hateful daughter of heaven, Lillomma, killer of newborn, most foul Keskildimmen, taking the form of seven, Lamma, like the wild hound her howl.
1

O beware ye the delinquent daughter of heaven*1 with the power of seven! Indeed is she not the Lilith*2 but worse by far, deadly as Tiamats darkest star. Her embrace a trap, verily death her kiss. Cruel is she, her voice a serpents hiss. Quick as the snake is she, like the bird she soareth searching for thee.

For she resenteth the pregnant, yea, she desireth the young. She lureth with the demons tongue. Thereby she poisons the water, heavens evil daughter, she summons the fever, of disease shes the weaver. She deceiveth the midwife, she tricketh the wet nurse in order to spread her curse.

Lo! Lamma is fiercer than Lilith and a shape shifter too. She mixeth and matcheth her appearance as it suiteth, yea she vesteth her malevolence in the shapes of diverse animals. Is she not a blender? The pure malice of her essence disguised by stripe, spot and ember.

To the head of an hyena or lion, she addeth the face of the Imgig*3 and the ears of a horse. Yea she covereth her body with scales, talons for fingers and claws for feet. She suckleth the serpent, she nurtureth the snake.

Lamma resideth in the ruins, in the caves where people lived of ancience. In olden times did she verily manifest more but the curses of the righteous rained on her, indeed still do these incantations like branches restrict her movements.

Yet, well wise be it for thee to bar her from thy dwelling! Prudent indeed to take no chances, nay, play not with fate. First she sendeth the nightmare and she will send also the fear, to gain entry, to afflict and bring tears.

Make then with clay seven figurines of guard dogs. Before thou bakest them, name them Slayer, Biter, Guard, Piercer, Jaws, Growler and Chaser. Lo! Let one of them be the Fox Dog*4, the cheeky one with pointed ears and curly tail.

Load them with seven virtues as the Sanga priest of good repute instructeth thee. Loyalty, bravery, duty, obedience, decency, discernment and affection willst thou load into them. And thou willst charge them with the power of the full moon at the confluence of two canals, with running water willst thou charge them according to the wisdom of the Sanga priest of good repute.

Then placest thou the seven statuettes in thine house, verily around the room of the child, shouldst thou have, placest thou them.

Indeed will these guardians even leap outside to attack Lamma should she in hubris approach thine home.

Why then, thou askest, should the mighty Lamma fear the small statuettes of baked clay? For this reason, that in her world existeth neither big nor small, she knoweth not such meaning in her ghostly realm. She will see the fangs, the angry faces, as of equal size to her and she will flee forthwith.

The load and the charging by which thou charged them, those will be like blinding lightning, like shaking thunder, like the drowning wave and the blasting gale to her.

The fox said to his wife: "Come! Let us crush Unug between our teeth like a leek; let us strap Kulaba on our feet like sandals!" Before they had yet come within a distance of 600 u from the city, the dogs began to howl from the city. "Geme-Tummal! Geme-Tummal! Lets flee to our lair ! Wicked things are howling at us from the city!!!" K dammani annabbe: gnu! Unugga raar ginzu gmgaz-endn; Kullabaki kesir rme agammasig! Genden irie 600 unu tba, kudde irida egamda-g. Geme-tummal, Geme tummal! Durzu ea nammada! Irida nn ule g!!!

FOOTNOTES
1 Bau called this one Dimmekr (Great Ghost?), Lillomma (Spirit Magic), Keskildimmen (Maiden Ghost) and Lamma (An ancient Sumerian word for magic or giant). The later Babylonian word was Lamashtu. In Europa, this demon is called Lamia. 2 Lilith is another type of entity. 3 Imgig is the Anzud or Imdugud, a flying demon. 4 Kukgan, a dog like the fox.

SOURCES
Illustrations:

June Brigman Giulia Pellegrini Yomandas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamia http://exaltedpast.wikidot.com/artifact:demasutra http://archive.org/stream/LamashtuDaughterOfAnu/WiggermannLamashtu_djvu.txt http://i.imgur.com/FKFmq.jpg http://vampirelegends.wordpress.com/2010/03/17/child-eater-daemon/ http://vampirelegends.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/lamia.jpg http://www.quierodibujos.com/cat/dibujos-de-egipto/72/pag/3 http://img.wikinut.com/img/xmriqgmmcwc5mr1r/jpeg/700x1000/an-ancient-Goddess-of-power...jpeg http://demonhunterscompendium.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-lamia.html http://yomandas.deviantart.com/art/Lamia-Demon-W-I-P-141210136 https://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/201204/monsters.from.mesopotamia.htm

Lamia by John Keats http://www.online-literature.com/keats/2055/

Translated from Sumerian by Pieter Uys From: The Bestiary of Bau Mara, the great seer of Nippur Text: All rights reserved. Pieter Uys 2014