Eve, portrayed as the weak one, the second attempt, (third if one counts Adam) has gotten a bad deal from her maker. It is on her shoulder that original sin must lie, if only to appease the male of the species. And she was lied to by one she trusted, and I am not talking about the serpent.

She fell from God’s mind and landed in the palm of His hand. The emptiness shifted, and a silver thread of time unfurled across infinity. Like a wish, He blew her spinning through the starry fields of space. And she floated down like the silky seed of a dandelion towards a bright new world and came to rest in a mysterious garden. A wish landing on a dream – the secret formula for a new reality.

It was an inconceivable garden of deserts, oceans, jungles and mountains, and creatures of every shape and color moved through it. It was a garden of constant change, the unending death and rebirth of perfection. Eve wandered within a valley redolent with blossoms and fruits, and she reached up to touch a leafy branch. A shiver ran through her.

Now Adam stood before Eve. A recognition without a source, something that spoke through the shine in their eyes, made them reach out to each other. An inside force drew them together. But something made them pause.

It felt like a wind within them. When they stepped apart it receded to an unsettling breeze, and when they moved closer it was like a hurricane. Eve clung to something, a deep, unfathomable memory of glory which fluttered like a sheet snagged on a tree. And so they stood there, trapped between destiny and the divine. But time marched on and destiny followed.

The wind rose by degrees. First it was a solitary whistle climbing to a higher pitch. Then it seemed like a choir of angels. It grew into a storm of trumpets and thundering drums until it felt like mountains of ice and steel were crashing down upon them. In a final, furious moment, something was torn loose.

Linked to Tiamat and other elder goddesses of creation, it is from her prima materia that all things are made. Moreover, by being held responsible for our having to die as punishment for original sin, she completes the cycle of rebirth and regeneration in one essence. Symbolically, Eve is probably the most potent Temptress in creation.

Elizabeth Bathory was born in 1560 to George and Anna Bathory. Though frequently cited as Hungarian, Elizabeth is more likely to belong to the Slovak Republic (During this time, her land shifted hands between the armies of Europe.) Most of her adult life was spent at Castle Cachtice, near the intersection of Austria, Hungary, and the Slovak Republic. Bathory was born during a time of war between the Turks and Austria-Hungary armies. In 1571, her cousin Stephen became Prince of Transylvania and additionally assumed the throne of Poland. He was a very effective ruler, but his plans of uniting Europe against the Ottoman Empire were foiled by the invading armies of Ivan the Terrible.

In 1574, at the age of 14, Elizabeth was pregnant with a peasant’s child. Her family hid her from the public until after the pregnancy because she was engaged to Count Ferenc Nadasdy. The marriage took place in May 1575. Count Nadasdy was frequently away from home, leaving Elizabeth alone with her servants at Castle Sarvar, the Nadasdy family estate. It was in this castle that her evil torturing took place, and it is here that her legend begins.

In this day, maltreatment of peasants was commonplace. However, the “treatment” which Elizabeth’s servants went through is far worse than maltreatment. The correct term is torture. She did not only torture those who disobeyed her, she also tortured those who had done no wrong to her. She often put pins in sensitive body parts such as underneath fingernails, in armpits, and is rumored to have done the same to genitals of some of her victims. Elizabeth usually tortured young women, but was known to go after all ages and sexes in her early days of torture. In the winter she would kill peasants by having them stripped, drawn out into the snow, and drenched with water until they froze to death. Today, this would have been dealt with harshly, but back then peasants were almost viewed as possessions, and no one would mind you burning a book, or killing a peasant. Both were your possessions, and you could do anything you wanted with them.

Count Nadasdy was known to join in her torturous excursions. In fact, it is rumored that after Elizabeth was pouting about not being able to kill peasants during the summer like she does in the winter, Count Nadasdy gave her a new method of death. The woman would be stripped, covered with honey or syrup, and left outside to be bitten by numerous insects. This process could take days and was quite a spectacle to Mrs. Bathory. Count Nadasdy died in 1604, and Elizabeth moved to Vienna a short time after his funeral. She also spent time at her estate at Beckov and at a manor house at Cachtice, both in present-day Slovakia. It seems that her husband’s death had a significant impact on her crimes, for they became worse after her death.

After the Count’s death, Elizabeth sought a woman named Anna Darvulia for her cohort in crime. However this alliance of murder lasted for only four years when in 1609, her health finally failed her. Elizabeth then turned to Erzsi Majorova, the widow of a local tenant farmer. Majorova would turn out to be Elizabeth’s downfall. After advising Elizabeth to include more noble women in her torturing (She was having trouble finding young peasant women after some incriminating rumors got out, saving countless lives), Elizabeth killed a young noble woman in the year 1609. An trial was held in 1610, and a register was entered by the prosecution to the courtroom. The register was found in Elizabeth’s quarters and listed the 650 names, including the noble woman, that Elizabeth had tortured and/or killed. Elizabeth was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment which lasted for only 3 years; she died on August 21, 1614. Her cohorts were sentenced to be executed (Power has its perks, and these people had no power.)

Her evil Temptress image was not built on the mentioned torturing. It was built on what could not be proven about the rumors that surrounded her peasants’ death. She is rumored to have bathed in the blood of her murdered young women servants because she thought that bathing in the blood of the young would rejuvenate her flesh. It was said that one day, the aging countess was having her hair combed by a young servant girl. The girl accidentally pulled her hair, and Elizabeth turned and slapped the girl cutting the servant with her rings. The blood spurted onto Elizabeth’s hands. As she rubbed it on her hands, they seemed to take on the girl’s youthful appearance. This is how the baths started, and it was not until a priest uncovered the trial’s manuscripts that these events were known to have been publicly written down instead of word of mouth. Although most vampires are considered to be blood drinkers, Elizabeth qualifies due to the believed absorption of blood through the two hundred plus baths she is believed to have had.

Lilith, The First Feminist, dating to 2300 BCE or earlier. This powerful dark-mother goddess is referred to as a demon by Levite priests who wrote the Bible, likely due to her assertive behavior at a time when patriarchy was new. A Sumerian and Hebrew Goddess, she is referred to as the hand of Inanna who gathered males into the temple for sacred sexual rites. In our tradition she was the original wife of Adam, with whom she claimed equality because they were created together in the image of Elohin (a word for “God” which had feminine as well as masculine linguistic roots).

Lilith is said to be the scourge of the honorable. Lilith rides men at night. Lilith is corruption. Lilith is evil incarnate. Lilith? She is shameless.

And does her depravity disturb her? No, not Lilith –; she denies she’s depraved, blames Divinity for death, exults in her banishment. Once, may the Devil’s ears be deaf, she even dared to out-maneuver the Powerful One.

Yet she was always the equal of man, never his servant. Like a flame freed from the flint, she straddled man, her rounded form a column rising from his waist. Man watched, dumbfounded, as she felt the surge of energy build, ready for release. Man saw her absorbed, lost. He struck, hurling his body sideways so that she was thrown askew. He grabbed her roughly by the shoulders, pinning her to the ground as he heaved his hips astride hers. He released her shoulders, held her by the hair at her temples.

‘This is how it is to be. This is how it was always meant to be. I will be on top. You lie below me.’

Lilith screamed in rage. ‘We are made of the same dust, the same hand, and the same urge. Without me, you are nothing. We are equals, why should I lie beneath you? Sex is a game for two, unifying and pure. Each one has a turn. Pleasure is all.’

But would Man agree? Of course not.

And so Lilith did the unthinkable. She expressed the inexpressible name of God. Her act was one of defense, yet it enraged the Powerful One. ‘Give me wings and let me go my own way. I’ll leave Paradise and live in the caves of the Red Sea.’

The Powerful One had heard his most secret name spoken. He understood the power of Lilith, and he knew he had to let her go.

‘Go!’ he thundered, disguising his surrender as a command, ‘to the sea from which you came.’

Legends say that she was forced to act as ‘Sword of Vengeance’ for the Powerful One, carrying out his concept of ‘death’. There are many and varied stories of how to ward against her. Few indeed are those who will admit to her worship, yet it cannot be denied that she is a Temptress of the highest degree.

The figure of Melusine (or Melusina), is truly an archetypal image that can be found in mythologies and legends the world over. Her ancient Greek counterpart would be the Sirens of the Odyssey. She can also be detected in the legend of Undine as recounted by the Swiss Paracelsus. There are also stories of water sprites, or nymphs in both Gallic and Celtic mythology. She later appears in a Danish fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson as “a little mermaid.” Moreover, she eventually attains superstardom in a full-length, animated Disney cartoon in 1989.

The name “Melusine” relates to the ancient priestesses of Demeter who were called “melissae.” In fact, Selene, the moon (as mistress of water), was also known by the name “Melissa”. Furthermore, the name for the fish-woman in German is “Meerfrau” or “Meriminni,” and in Danish, she is “Maremind.” The Irish knew her as “Merrow” and the Breton peasantry called her “Marie-Morgan.” In the legendary lore of all these people, there are tales of the enchantment of mortal men by a magical, water sprite or mermaid.

Water is the ultimate mystery after all. Extremely simple stuff, two hydrogen atoms, one oxygen atom, and if it were anything else other than exactly what it is, life as we know it could not exist. It is the one element on this globe that man has not mastered, and the one environment that he cannot adapt.

It really does not matter if the ancients mistook distant narwhals and sea lions for women, finding lust on the open sea. The sea is the ultimate creatrix, and man can only worship her as the penultimate Temptress, as is her due.

Medusa means “sovereign female wisdom,” in Sanskrit. In Latin it is Medha, Greek Metis, Egyptian Met or Maat.

Medusa, a terrible monster, was once a beautiful maiden whose hair was her chief glory but as she dared to vie in beauty with Minerva (Athena). The goddess deprived her of her charms and changed her beautiful ringlets into hissing serpents. She became a cruel monster of so frightful an aspect that no living thing could behold her without being turned into stone. All around the cavern where she dwelt might be seen the stony figures of men and animals which had chanced to catch a glimpse of her and had been petrified with the sight. Perseus, favoured by Minerva and Mercury (Hermes), the former of whom lent him her shield and the latter his winged shoes, approached Medusa while she slept and taking care not to look directly at her, but guided by her image reflected in the bright shield which he bore, he cut off her head and gave it to Minerva, who fixed it in the middle of her AEgis.

Medusa was actually imported into Greece from Libya where she was worshipped by the Libyan Amazons as their Serpent-Goddess. Medusa (Metis) was the destroyer aspect of the Great Triple Goddess also called Neith, Anath, Athene or Ath-enna in North Africa and Athana in 1400 c. BC Minoan Crete.

Medusa was originally an aspect of the goddess Athene from Libya where she was the Serpent-Goddess of the Libyan Amazons. In her images, her hair sometimes resembles dread locks, showing her origins in Africa. There she had a hidden, dangerous face. It was inscribed that no one could possibly lift her veil, and that to look upon her face was to glimpse ones own death as she saw your future.

Medusa has historically been seen as the archetype of the nasty mother, however she is far more complex. She symbolizes the following: She is the ultimate truth of reality, the wholeness beyond duality. She rips away our mortal illusions. Forbidden yet liberating wisdom. The untamable forces of nature. As a young and beautiful woman she is fertility and life. As crone she consumes by devouring all on the earth plane. Through death we must return to the source, the abyss of transformation, the timeless realm. We must yield to her and her terms of mortality. She reflects a culture in harmony with nature. She is a Temptress of the spirit, as well as the flesh.