~ Lamia ~In Greek mythology, Lamia is known as a child-devouring demon - but her origins are rooted in tragedy. A former queen of Libya, Lamia had the great misfortune of being enamored by Zeus. Hera, in a fit of rage over her husband's betrayal, killed Lamia's children by Zeus and cursed her with insomnia, so that Lamia would never have the relief of sleep to escape her grief.

I have read from different sources that Lamia was driven mad by the loss of her children and tore out her own eyes, and alternately that Zeus, feeling sorry for Lamia, gifted her the ability to remove her eyes (relief from her inability to sleep) as well as the power of transformation. In her madness and extreme grief, Lamia became a monster who fed on the children of others. Her mythology evolved in such a way that painted her as night-haunting succubus, seducing and consuming men.Interestingly, I was first introduced to this latter aspect of Lamia.

Specifically, I learned about her through a painting that I love by Isobel Lilian Gloag, 'The Kiss of the Enchantress', in which Lamia is a half-human, half-serpent and is embracing a doomed knight.In my piece, Lamia holds her eyes, consumed by an unimaginable grief. She is flanked by flowering mint of the Lamiaceae family, growing near the skull of one of her victims.Perhaps because I am a mother (who suffers from insomnia), I really connected to the energy of Lamia. I have given her a crown of poppies, to help her be reunited with her lost children in her dreams.

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