The wife brought the mirror and all of the fine furnishings in the cellar to her own home and proudly displayed it. She hung the mirror in the room of their daughter, who was a dark-haired coquette. The girl glanced at herself in the mirror all the time, and in this way she was drawn into Lilith's web.... For that mirror had hung in the the den of demons, and a daughter of Lilith had made her home there. And when the mirror was taken from the haunted house, the demoness came with it. For every mirror is a gateway to the Other World and leads directly to Lilith's
cave. That is the cave Lilith went to when she abandoned Adam and the Garden of Eden for all time, the cave where she sported with her demon lovers. From these unions multitudes of demons were born, who flocked from that cave and infiltrated the world. And when they want to return, they simply enter the nearest mirror. That is why it is said that Lilith makes her home in every mirror...

"Now the daughter of Lilith who made her home in that mirror watched every movement of the girl who posed before it. She bided her time and one day she slipped out of the mirror and took possession of the girl, entering through her eyes. In this way she took control of her, stirring her desire at will.... So it
happened that this young girl, driven by the evil wishes of Lilith's daughter, ran around with young men who lived in the same neighborhood."

Great post, Elswyth!
I wonder, does anyone now the  reason why orthodox Jews will cover mirrors in their houses when a death occurs in the family? Is this something to do with folklore or is it purely a symbol that argues personal vanity should be set aside in times of mourning?

So what do you lot think? Could the bloody mary thing have started as some corruption of Jewish folklore around Lilith? Where do you think the Bloody Mary thing started? Would you want to work with Lilith and if so what does she represent to you and would you ever try calling upon her through a mirror?

I would say you are right to some extent, but the chant is not a corruption but a recognition of Mary as the dark moon. Witches never used to be frightened of xtianity as a modality, and vice versa.

I wouldn't say it is a corruption so much as that the jewish view, as you call it, of Lilith is the darker one of child stealer/vampire

As far as I'm aware, the Bloody Mary urban legend is largely an American one so yes, I imagine it could have sprung from tales told by Jewish emigrants. I wonder, does anyone now the reason why orthodox Jews will cover mirrors in their houses when a death occurs in the family? Is this something to do with folklore or is it purely a symbol that argues personal vanity should be set aside in times of mourning

When it comes to Bloody Mary, I think it is nothing more than an urban legend. Mirrors have been know to be doorways for centuries, and and little bit of knowledge in the wrong hands can be twisted in a nice little way to frighten the bejusus outta kids.

I know that some researchers into the Bloody Mary myth, have suggested that Bloody Mary might have links to Mary Queen of Scots, being confused with the legends of Elizabeth Bathory (i.e. an aging woman scaraficing young women to bathe in their blood).

There does seem to be similarities between Lilith and Bloody Mary (isn't it interesting a drink is called this!) but I too thought Bloody Mary was mostly an american urban legend?

Maybe it's from Judeo-Christian tradition that people began to consider mirrors as gateways?

I don't remember the exact jewish connection Elswyth, I was working from brief notes I made a while back as it is a couple of years since I knew a 'lilim' and took part on the Lilith forum here. I can ask them for derivations and sources if you wish. The reference I made then was to 'lilitu' the 'bloodsucking, night daemon'. I know translations from Mesopotamian and Akkadian sources are disputed.
jape

In folklore and children's street culture, "Bloody Mary" is the name of a children's game in which a ghost or witch of the same name (or sometimes other names, such as Mary Worth) is said to appear in a mirror when summoned. One of the more common ways participants attempt to make her appear is to stand before a mirror in the dark and repeat her name three times, though there are many variations. Some include chanting a hundred times, chanting at midnight, spinning around, or rubbing one's eyes. Most of these are meant to disorient people. In some versions of the legend, the summoner must say "Bloody Mary, I killed your son!" (or "I killed your baby"). In these variants, Bloody Mary is often believed to be the spirit of a mother (often a widow) who murdered her children, or a woman who was murdered shortly before or after her wedding. In stories where Mary is supposed to have been wrongly accused of killing her children, the querent might say "I believe in Mary Worth." This is similar to another game involving the summoning of The Bell Witch in a mirror at midnight. Similar rituals are also used to summon spirits in the movies Beetlejuice (1988) and Candyman (1992). The game is often a test of courage, as it is said that if Bloody Mary is summoned, she would proceed to murder the summoner, often in a quite violent way, such as ripping his or her face off. Other variations say that the querent must not look directly at her, but at her image in the mirror; she will then reveal the querent's future, particularly concerning marriage and children.

Bloody Mary Worth is typically described as a child-murderess who lived in the locality where the legend has taken root years ago. There is often a specific local graveyard or tombstone that becomes attached to the legend.

On the other hand, various people have surmised that the lore about taunting Bloody Mary about her baby may relate her tenuously to folklore about Queen Mary I. [3][4]The queen's life was marked by a number of miscarriages or false pregnancies. Had Mary I successfully borne a child, this would have established a Roman Catholic succession and threatened the continuance of her religious persecutions after her death. Speculation exists that the miscarriages were deliberately induced. As a result, some retellings of the tale make Bloody Mary the queen driven to madness by the loss of her children. [5] It is likely, however, that Queen Mary I provided only her nickname to the Bloody Mary of folklore. She is also confused in some tellings of the story with Mary Queen of Scots. Bloody Mary is sometimes said to have bathed in the blood of her child victims in order to retain a youthful complexion; this would appear to confound her with Elizabeth Báthory.

The mirror ritual by which Bloody Mary is summoned may also relate to a form of divination involving mirrors and darkness that was once performed on Halloween. While as with any sort of folklore the details may vary, this particular tale encouraged young women to walk up a flight of stairs backwards, holding a candle and a hand mirror, in a darkened house. As they gazed into the mirror, they were supposed to be able to catch a view of their future husband's face. There was, however, a chance that they would see the skull-face of the Grim Reaper instead; this meant, of course, that they were destined to die before they married.

The appearance of a ghostly figure in the mirror could be explained quite easily for the more complex rituals, for example spinning around whilst summoning Bloody Mary in front of a mirror lit by candles. The combination of dizzyness, rapid movement and flickering lighting could easily fool the eye into seeing someone, especially when the idea has already been implanted.

I'm going to have a think about the rest of this, but the epithet Bloody Mary was actually applied to Queen Mary, Elizabeth I elder sister.

Don't know if that has any connection to the mirror thing,  but there are a few nursery rhymes and songs relating to Bloody Mary (must dig them out) (and indeed, that apparently is where the drink name comes from).