I received an email, a while back asking me if I was disregarding Succubi as vampires or thinking the idea too far-fetched to even mention it. The fact is I just didn't really research the subject and couldn't write about something I didn"t know. Still today, I do not know much about it, but I will be using what little information I could gather on the Internet to talk about these creatures. Hope not to offend anyone with my lack of knowledge!
The succubus (singular form of succubi) is a seductive night demon figure closely associated with the vampyre. The succubus, female version of the incubus, was known for its habit of invading a man's bedroom at night, lying on top of him to attack and steal his sperm. The effect of such an attack could varry from extreme pleasure to absolute terror but in either case, it left the victim exhausted. Now, a point I did not find out was if the victims knew they had been attacked or slept throughout the entire act, oblivious to it, just knowing pleasure or terror for no apparent reason to them. If I was able to learn that, I would already feel a bit more enlightened, a little less ignorant if you would.
The main reason a succubus would attack while its victim slept was simply to be able to copulate with them without them fighting. During the intercourse, not only would the demon rob the man of his sperm, but it would also render him impotent. One tale goes that the succubus would steal the semen of a man and the incubus would steal the ova of a woman so that the two could mate in order to produce more demonic offspring. The child borne of such an union would be called a cambion. (another thing I will have to research no doubt.. ~s~)
The land of origin of the succubi is believed to be the Middle East, but India and Orient have also been listed as other origins for these crestures. The element which most characterize them as well as the incubi is air. Why? Probably because this is the mean they used to travel and enter their victim's room. Just like vampires in a way. Which leads me to believe this is why they are related in mythology since they are not said to drink blood.
It was once believed that anyone claiming to have had contact with a succubus was mad an they were summarily incarcerated. But the evidence for their existence is seemingly well-documented and their assaults are still going on today according to the book "A Witches Guide to Faery Folk" by Edain McCoy. Pick up any popular work on modern hauntings and there will be at least one story of a frightening sexual attack by an astral entity which has occurred in the last few years.
Persons who have been attacked by these malevolent spirits display mild to severe bruises and bite marks, many of them in places where they could not be self-inflicted. Women may also show torn vaginal tissue after an attack by an incubus.
There are two folk remedies which may help keep them from you. A peony flower taken to bed or a cauldron in the room is said to keep away the incubus, and bluebells or phallic-shapped magical tools are supposed to ward off the succubus.
I remember hearing Lilith, Adam's first wife, refered to as the Queen of Succubi. So when I came across a site on which was the Lilith Myth (ftp://d.armory.com/pub/user/leavitt/gnos... I looked this up. Nowhere is Lilith formally associated with succubi, but the description of what she is does make her the first known succubi in Creation I do believe. The following is from the book "Hebrew Myths" by Robert Graves and Raphael Patai and was found on the aforementionned site (Many thanks to the author Christeos Pir who wrote this back in 94.)
--- Lilith's Myth ---
Some say God created man and woman in His own image on the Sixth Day, giving them charge over the world, but that Eve did not yet exist. Now, God had set Adam to name every beast, bird and other living thing. When they passed before him in pairs, male and female, Adam --being already like a twenty-year-old man-- felt jealous of their loves, and though he tried coupling with each female creature in turn, found no satisfaction in the act. He therefore cried: "Every creature but I has a proper mate!" and prayed God would remedy this injustice.
God then formed Lilith, the first woman, just as He had formed Adam, except that He used filth and sediment instead of pure dust. From Adam's union with this demoness, and with another like her named Naamah, Tubal Cain's sister, sprang Asmodeus and innumerable demons that still plague mankind.(Many generations later, Lilith and Naamah came to Solomon's judgement seat, disguised as harlots of Jerusalem.)
Adam and Lilith never found peace together, for when he wished to lie with her, she took offense at the recumbent position he demanded. "Why must I lie beneath you?" she asked. "I also was made from dust, and am therefore your equal." Because Adam tried to compel her obedience by force, Lilith, in a rage, uttered the magic name of God, rose into the air and left him.
Adam complained to God: "I have been deserted by my helpmeet." God at once sent the angels Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof to fetch Lilith back. They found her beside the Red Sea, a region abounding in lascivious demons, to whom she bore 'lilim' at the rate of more than one hundred a day. (the lilim are the demon children borne to Lilith) "Return to Adam without delay," the angels said, "or we will drown you!" Lilith asked: "How can I return to Adam and live like an honest housewife, after my stay beside the Red Sea?" "It will be death to refuse!" they answered. "How can I die," Lilith asked again, "when God has ordered me to take charge of all newborn children: boys up to the eighth day of life, that of circumcision; girls up to the twentieth day. None the less, if ever I see your three names or likenesses displayed in an amulet above a newborn child, I promise to spare it." To this they agreed; but God punished Lilith by making one hundred of her demon children perish daily; and if she could not destroy a human infant, because of the angelic amulet, she would spitefully turn against her own.
Some say that Lilith ruled as queen in Zmargad, and again in Sheba; and was the demoness who destroyed Job's sons. Yet she escaped the curse of death which overtook Adam, since they had parted long before the Fall. Lilith and Naamah not only strangled infants but also seduced dreaming men, and one of whom, sleeping alone, may become their victim.
--- End of Lilith Myth ---
Somehow, I hate that I did not find more information for you and for me because the subject seems highly interesting. But I have to admit my search time today has been very limited and not having my own computer puts a glitch on running searches at home during my spare time.
I hope you liked this (and even more, I hope it made sense!) and please, if you do have more information on succubi and incubi, do not hesitate to contact me or to post them in the discussion board. It is there for all of you too.
Blessed Be, Jacynthe
Author: Jacynthe Durocher
Source: Suite101
