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Temple Zagduku is a spiritual tradition based in Alabama comprised of men and women who are dedicated to Lilitu, to themselves, and to each other. The word "Zagduku" comes from Sumerian words meaning "dark threshold".
The Sumerian name
"Lilitu" is derived from "lil" which means
"wind,"
"breath," and
"space." We freely admit that there is no documentation
in the surviving Sumerian
literature about any cult of Lilitu
whatsoever. Our material is
revelatory, supported by scholarship
where that is possible.
We use the image of the Burney
relief to represent Her, following
Samuel Noah Kramer, who could
have been wrong in his identification, but
it does not seem to matter to Her. The Burney relief image is the
prototype of thousands of "Potnia Theron" (Lady of the
Beasts) icons from all over the ancient world, and it seems to fit Her
very well.
The Hebrew legend of Lilith in
its modern form (first wife of Adam,
later mother of demons) comes
from a 10th-century text called _The
Alphabet of ben Sira_ which was
mistaken for authentic Midrash by
people who quite possibly should
have known better. The
characteristics of the Hebrew
Lilith, the one most known to the
modern world, seem to us to have
been derived as much from the
Sumerian "demon"
Lamashtu as from Lilitu, despite the similarity of
the name to the latter one.
Temple Zagduku is dedicated to her, but we do not worship her. We
view her more as one might
view a trusted relative or advisor.
The tradition and the adjective for adherents to this tradition is "Lilian"; so one would say that a Lilian is a practitoner of the Lilian tradition. |