"The First Woman and the Gift of the Moon"
By Carolyn McVickar Edwards

In the beginning was the woman Lilith and the man Adam.  They were wife and husband and lived in a garden called Eden.  The garden was so green it rested the eyes like a cool cloth.  Its fruits were as many as the stars of the sky.  Together Lilith and Adam grew to know the plants and animals they lived with and to lie together, quiet and joyful, under the whispering trees.

But one day Adam took an idea into his head.  "Lilith," said Adam, "let's think up a name for each of the animals."

"I don't see a need for that, Adam.  Seems like we're all just fine here without names," said Lilith.

But Adam said to Lilith, "Lilith, have you ever noticed how big I am?  Why, I'm bigger than you.  See?"  Adam showed his muscles.  "And look how tall I am."

Lilith looked quietly at Adam.

"Lilith, you know what my name is going to be?" said Adam.  "King.  King.  I'm king of this garden."

"I don't like the sound of that, Adam," said Lilith.

"It doesn't really matter if you like the sound, Lilith," said Adam.  "I am the biggest and the strongest.  So you've got to do what I say."

"You know, Adam, there are other ways to measure bigness than in inches, and other ways to measure strength than in muscles," said Lilith.

"Oh, come on, Lilith," said Adam.  "I'm the king, and you're my queen."

"That's not for me, Adam," said Lilith.  "The way I see it is that we're all sisters and brothers in this garden.  Each of us is as important as the other.  Nobody's king and nobody's queen."

Adam didn't listen, so Lilith walked away.  The third time Adam started the argument, Lilith took herself out of the garden.  Through its gates she went and into the Netherworld.  There she sat still and quiet in the dark.

Adam was so furious at Lilith's leave-taking that even when he married the woman Eve and had a family of children, he continued to fume against her.  "Snake lover!" he spat.  "Not a woman, but a demon!"

"Hush, Adam!" said Eve.  "Not in front of the children!"

Lilith alone in the Netherworld grew large.  She was going to have a child.  Waiting for the child, She gathered a gift to give to the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve.  To a girl and a boy sleeping deep in a field She sent the dream of farming.

Soon after that dream was dreamed by the girl and boy, Lilith had Her child.  On a black night at the edge of the sea, hanging hard to the dark with Her hands and pushing against it with Her feet, Lilith gave birth to the Moon.
 

Hera

Pre-Hellenic Myth

On the morning of the new moon, the women of Argos left their homes and walked together to the Stream of the Freeing Water.  They bathed and then gathered branches from the nearby lygos bushes, which they laid in a large circular bower.  On this ring they sat throughout the day, each seated with the women of her mother's clan.  With the blessing of the Goddess, the lygos encouraged the flow of their sacred blood that would complete the cleansing they had begun in the stream.  Although the women fasted, their mood was not somber.  They talked of their crops, their herds, their children and listened to stories told by the elders.  As twilight approached, they began chants and songs that summoned Hera in Her manifestation of the new moon.  When Hera appeared as a pale sliver climbing above the horizon, the women responded by lighting a fire in the center of their circle and continued the songs.  Gradually Hera drew forth the blood of purification and renewed fertility.  Gradually the chanting increased in tempo.  Those who had received Hera's gift shared it with the young, the pregnant, and the old women by painting a red crescent moon on their foreheads.  All rose, giving praise to the Goddess, and returned in a torch lit procession to their homes.

Hidden in the foothills nearby, the spring call Kanathos flowed secretly, silently from the Earth's womb.  Each year Hera appeared to the Argive women at the spring.  She bathed in the cool water and emerged with Her virginity renewed once again ... One-In-Herself, the Celestial Virgin.  The women received the blessing of Hera's grace and crowned one another with wreaths of aster, blossoming with the Goddess' starflowers.  They followed Hera to a broad terrace on the side of Mount Euboia, Her sacred ground.

The Goddess looked down onto the plain stretching out before Her.  All the people of Argos, all the animals, all the colors of spring had come together for the Sacred Marriage.  Hera presided over the joining of the lunar cow and the sacred bull.  Then she looked out over the assembly and blessed the Argives with unfailing fecundity of field and womb.  They celebrated the promise of their survival with dances and feasting.  On that day began again the homage to Hera which continued throughout the year.

Every four years the benevolence of the Goddess was celebrated at the feast of Heraia.  At Olympia Hera watched the foot races run in Her name.  The races were run by girls divided into three age groups to represent the three phases of the moon and the corresponding three stages of woman's life.  The winners were awarded an olive wreath and the honor of resembling the Goddess more closely.  As Hera crowned the youngest winner, the girl addressed the crowd:  I am the new moon, swelling with magic, pure in my maidenhood, ever growing stronger.  The second winner spoke: I am the full moon, complete in my powers, making people with my rhythms, bathing them in light.  The third said:  I am the waning moon, shrinking into peace, knowing all that went before, I am the old one.

Blessed Be!