The Seven Names of Lamastu: A Journey through Mesopotamian Magick and Beyond, Paperback/Jan Fries

Descriere

Description The Seven Names of Lamastu is an exploration of the religions and mysteries of the cradle of civilisation, Mesopotamia by Jan Fries, author of K l Kaula and Dragon Bones. The Sumerians developed the first functional script (3500-3200 BC), the priests wrote god lists, dictionaries, catalogues, recorded spells, myth and poetry - and committed the first known medical prescriptions and rituals into writing. In the centre of their faith lurks the lustful animal-headed goddess DIM. ME/Lamastu, exiled from Heaven for her forbidden desires, and charged by the council of Gods with a fearsome task: to cull the vulnerable and keep the human population within manageable limits. For all but a few, her name conjured terror in the hearts of Mesopotamians. Jan Fries seeks to redress the balance, by showing that this rebellious goddess, so demonized by superstitious folk and modern academics, is an essential expression of the divine. Lamastu's numerous, but rarely discussed, positive attributes bring her into focus. She is a victorious goddess, who listens to prayers, haunts both swamps and the mountain forests she loves, banishes lethal spirits, helps with the birth of wild animals and adopts stray piglets and puppies. She is a sacred woman, a priestess and a midwife to her brothers, the gods. This is a modern translation of the famous Lamastu Series, with commentary, which can be used as a dictionary and travel companion through the earliest form of religion and sorcery. It is a journey that takes us through the rise and fall of empires, the changing status of women, Sacred Marriage, everyday rituals, sacrifice, divination, ritual training, conjuration, banishment, vengeful magic, spells and counterspells, dream-magic, the dawn of science, medicine and ritual music - with teachings on how to build your own civilisation using only rivers, reeds and clay. Lamastu takes us from a lion-headed Stone-Age statuette in Central Europe all the way to China. Identified with the godde