Ancient as the primordial cosmic sea, the dark goddess Lilith is portrayed via a sculpture of a Hindu apsara, a demi-goddess. Images of these seductive nymphs are seen winding around tree trunks on temples in India. In the Sumerian myth of Inanna, the Venusian Queen of Heaven, Lilith appears in the tree in the garden of the goddess. Later she became associated with the serpent in the garden of Eden, sometimes taking the form of a nagini, a serpent-tailed feminine figure. The “serpent” here is a one of the oldest fossilized creatures yet discovered in China, a dinosaur that some paleontologists think was covered in proto-feathers. Its red eye glows in cosmic rays, an image of a deep space phenomenon, and breathes a star. Lilith touches the creature, taming its wild nature. A jaguar accompanies Lilith, a stealthy animal ally of Central American shamans. The jaguar has its ear open to vibrations from the Andromeda galaxy, M31, the closest sister galaxy to our Milky Way galaxy. Immense, it is visible with the natural eye, though it is 2.7 million light years distant.

This Lilith spans the cosmic realm, seen against the Hubble Deep Field, a classic and stunning astrophoto of the deep sky backdrop of galaxy after distant galaxy. She is also as close as the Moon’s surface, decorated with its craters, and as intimate to Earth as the intricate crop circle mandalas seen in the lower right. These circles mysteriously appear overnight in grain fields all over the world, messages from deep inside Earth herself. A hand, an ancient symbol perhaps colored by henna, gestures in greeting or blessing, like a Hindu mudra (sacred hand gesture).

Lilith wears the Helix nebula like a crown, topped by Sirius, the Egyptian star of Isis and the brightest star we see. This nebula shows two haloes joining in the center, making a vesica pisces, a sacred space of the two-in-one, a symbol of cosmic union. Behind her a fiery eclipsed full moon is echoed by an eclipsed Sun behind to the right, cosmic moments of transformation. The Veil Nebula trails out behind this cosmic dancer, like the veils of illusion she weaves in the world. She is surrounded by lilies, her special flower–tiger lilies and peace lilies–as well as a rose-colored hibiscus reflecting the openly expressed sexuality of the feminine in nature.