What is Lylythianism

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What is Lylythianism?

• A life-focused path that focuses it's energy on
  improving the earthly existence of the followers
  of the path...and so much more. Lylythianism is
  a religious path based on the acceptance of the
  base and physical around us. You won't find
  within the philosophy a path to heaven or hell
  nor to bliss or nirvana.

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Three Core Philosophies

• There are no gods or devils, save those that
  exist in the mind of the human who created them.
• The path to happiness is self worship, which is
  defined as
• Individuality
• Intelligence
• Indulgence
• Intuition
• Integrity
• Express your emotions as they are felt, and treat
  people according to what they deserve.

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Morals and Ethics

• Within the myths of the gods and goddesses that
  make up our pantheons in the Pagan community,
  there exist both tales of their great acts and
  their not so great ones. We celebrate the fact
  that all humans possess (like their gods) aspects
  of both the light and the dark, the spiritual and
  the base, the good and the bad. We seek to
  emulate the gods in their greatness, but accept
  that we will, as they have, not always be great.

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More on Morals Ethics

• Lylythians take this to the natural end point we
  accept that the morals that are handed down by
  the mythical religions do not really apply to
  anyone who does not accept them. We make our own
  moral codes based on the laws humans have made
  for themselves, and we make the conscious
  decision that we are the final arbitrators of our
  behavior. We will be held responsible by the
  laws of nature and of man for the acts we commit,
  whether they are good or bad.

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A Lylythian Moral Stance

• Don't break the law
• Treat people the way they want to be treated
  (they will show you by how they treat you)

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Symbols in Lylythianism

• The letters lamed, yod, lamed, yod, tav Hebrew
  spelling of Lylyth
• The ourobouros serpent represents life eternal
• The star is a symbol you may feel familiar with

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Lylyth

• Lylyth is a representation of a rebellious
  creation making itself like a god, which we
  attempt to do in our daily lives. Others
  worshiping us would offend our sensibilities we
  in turn do not worship gods but rather worship
  ourselves.

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Mythology of Lylyth

• The myth of Lylyth is an interesting one. The
  Midrash of Hebrew mythologies (outside their holy
  text of course) places her in the creation of
  humans, as an equal to Adam. They were "created
  from the same dust at the same time" according to
  Kenneth Hanson, author of Secrets of the Lost
  Bible, who is an authority on non-canonical
  stories prevalent in Judeo-Christian literature.
  Then according to these myths, Adam began to
  insist that she be subservient to him, however
  she rationalized that due to the equal methods of
  creation, they were equal, and she did not need
  to be subservient.

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More of the Myth

• She pronounces the secret name(s) of the Hebrew
  god(s). This gave her such great power that she
  flew away into the heavens. The Holy One
  decreed that if she would return to Adam, all
  would be fine, however if she would not, she
  would lose 100 of her children each day. She
  refused to return, so her children were sentenced
  to death. She then became a demoness and she
  decided to take her vengeance out on the children
  of Adam and his new wife Eve, who was made from
  Adam's rib, and therefore subservient to him.

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History of Lylyth

• This demonized version of her offers clues to her
  history. Ancient carvings from Egypt, Greece,
  Babylonia and Sumeria depict her as a demoness
  named Lilitu, especially the Burney Relief which
  shows her as a part owl, part human demon.
  Additionally the root of her name lyla, is
  Hebrew for night. This allows us to see the
  non-Hebrew versions of this demon-goddess,
  because she definitely existed prior to the
  Hebrew myths, in the cultures that existed in the
  same Fertile Crescent area of the Mideast.

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Why Lylyth?

• Self Worship
• Individuality
• Intelligence
• Indulgence
• Intuition
• Integrity

• The mythological demon-goddess exhibited
  behaviors that showed off these traits, and as
  such we try to emulate her, in our pursuit of
  exhibiting them ourselves.

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The Serpentis Orobourus

• The serpent represents eternal life and infinity,
  due to it's tail being swallowed, digested, and
  regrown by the serpent itself. Eternal Life is
  not viewed in the same way the Christian would
  look at it, nor in the same manner as those who
  believe in reincarnation. It is a state of
  existence that lasts after the physical death of
  the magician in the hearts and minds of those who
  knew, loved, and respected them, as well as the
  imprint the magician left on the world.

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The Inverted Star

• The most understood (or misunderstood) of these
  is the star, with it's single point down and dual
  points up. It is seen as a symbol of pure evil
  by those who have no occult training whatsoever,
  however depending on the length of your
  involvement and the paths you have had contact
  with, you may know of other meanings that are a
  lot more accurate to us.

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The House

• The first is that the star contains within it's
  center a small house, which when the star is so
  presented, stands up. To turn the star upside
  down (from our perspective) puts the house in
  complete disorder. It's a symbol of the internal
  self as well, with your life upside down, you are
  in total disarray.

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The Tree

• The second viewpoint is that the star with a
  rooted point (upside down in the majority
  viewpoint) looks like a tree, with a root down
  and the branches up. This tree is representative
  of Yggdrasil, the world tree of Aesir Norse
  Mythology. The root should point down, or again
  we have a world out of order and control.

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Rituals

• We drew a great deal of our ritual from the
  ceremonial magic of Wicca, Asatru, Satanism and
  Native American Rituals. We start our rituals
  with a Rite of Lylyth and end them with the Great
  Rite in Token.

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The Rite of Lylyth

• The ritual begins with something that many pagans
  will recognize as Cakes and Ale, however there
  is a slight difference in that we use the imagery
  of consuming the flesh and blood of our ancestors
  and descendants to remind each participant of
  their nature and who they are in the grand scheme
  of the universe, which tends to set more
  realistic expectations for a magical working.
  This also pays homage to the idea that Lylyth as
  the Earth is both the Creatrix and the Destroyer
  of all things on it.

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Great Rite in Token

• We do not use Great Rite in Truth due to the
  possibility of distracting participants, however
  it's message of the combining of masculine and
  feminine energies to create a balance is
  important, especially for those who have for too
  long been focused on either a male or a female
  deity and have excluded the other.

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The Contents of Rituals

• The content of the ritual between the Rite of
  Lylyth at the beginning and the Great Rite at the
  end will vary based on the season and the needs
  of the participants, however an observer may
  notice that several gods and goddesses are
  called upon for favors when a request is made.
  This may seem a contradiction with our belief
  that there are no gods or devils, however we also
  accept that rituals take place in a separate time
  and place, and follow different rules than the
  rest of our lives. We enter the chamber and
  create a state of suspended disbelief. Great
  emphasis is placed on emotion, psychodrama, and
  spectacle as they tend to create the mindset
  needed in a ritual for its success.

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The Ritual Chamber

• You may have already noticed that we've kept
  referring to a ritual chamber rather than a
  circle, and you may wonder what that means
  exactly. We do not practice magic in a circle
  with attempts to keep the bad spirits at bay
  while we ask for the good ones to help us.
  This eliminates the need for a circle in most
  cases, except that the circle of traditional
  practice also has the purpose of creating a
  sacred space for the working to be done in.
  Christianity does this with a church, Wicca does
  it with a circle, and almost all religious paths
  use certain words to create and leave sacred
  space. The Lylythian will set aside an indoor
  space for their rituals, maybe it also serves as
  their bedroom, basement, or living room, but it
  is transformed by the act of the Rite of Lylyth
  and the suspension of disbelief.

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Seasonal Rites

• Halloween marks the beginning of the cold
  winter
• Jul (Winter Solstice) follows marking the return
  of the sun
• Walpurgisnacht marks the end of the cold winter
• Midsummer's Eve marks the height of the sun's
  power
• Lylyth Day is a Sumerian holiday we resurrected
  for honoring the ancestors and earth

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Hallow's Eve

• Remembering our lost ancestors
• Celebrating the end of another hectic growing
  season, and enjoying the chance to start to rest
  more
• This is seen as the beginning of a new year
• Often a group meal is planned

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Jul

• Jul is celebrated in a traditional manner of both
  the Scandinavian Serbo-Croatian ethnic groups
• Porridge, Gifts, Tree, Lutefisk, Potica
  (pronounced poe-teet-sa) and other traditional
  treats

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Walpurgisnacht

• Winter's Over...Wahoooo!
• Big Bonfire is traditional as with other German
  Fire Festivals (End of April, July, October, and
  January)
• Planting is done in the ritual chamber so the
  plants get a little extra time to grow inside
  before outside planting begins, and they get a
  magical boost from the ritual

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Midsummer's Eve

• Celebration of the sun's power
• Longest day of year
• Ritual's focus on protection from the suns
  destructive powers, and celebrating it's
  life-giving rays at the same time

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Lylyth Day

• Remembrance of Ancestors
• Based on ancient Sumerian holiday
• Time to rededicate oneself to Lylythianism and
  self-worship

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Types of Rituals

• Compassion Ritual
• To help someone
• Lust Ritual
• To get some(thing)
• Destructive Ritual
• To remove a pebble from your shoe

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Compassion Ritual

• A ritual to help someone other than yourself
• Examples
• Healing Ritual
• Protection Ritual

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Lust Ritual

• A ritual to help yourself get something or
  someone you desire
• Examples
• Love Spell
• Money Spell

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Destruction Ritual

• To eliminate an enemy
• Examples
• To avenge something that was done to you or a
  loved one
• To remove an obstacle (not always animate) to
  your own success
• Possibly the binding of a person or severing a
  link to someone (could also be lust or
  compassion, based on motive)

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History of the Temple of Lylyth

• Temple was founded in 1999 CE
• Originally started as 4 people who were somewhere
  between LaVeyan Satanism and Wicca in their
  personal path

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Purpose of the Temple

• To serve the spiritual needs of Lylythians
• To provide a network of Lylythian contacts for
  new seekers
• To administer a center based path
• To provide a community for those who seek a
  center path