1

LILITH,
The First Wife of Adam?! (1)

Presentation
Prof. Dr. Mr. Maqsood hasni
 2

CONTENTS
Bibliography of LIliTh 3

Fiction, Poetry and Art based on Lilith 13

Who is Lilith? 17

Lilith Bibliography 18

Lilith 19

LILITH the First Wife of Adam? 51

A Modern Development: Images of Lilith in Literature, Art, and

Artifacts 51

Lilith, Mother of Witches 62

Women, Religion and the Devil Incarnate 72

Lilith, Adam's mythological first wife 83

LILITH - THE FIRST EVE 90
Lilith's Children 102
Lilith is much, much more 108
Red Hair Facts 111
Lilith 113
A Globally- RECOGNIZATION LILITH 117
Lilith 120
Lilith 128
Lilith: Adam's first wife 132
Looking for Lilith149
Lilith, Woman's Encyclopedia 162
Lilith, Woman's Encyclopedia 167
Lilith’s Daughters169
Lilith, the first wife of Adam? 196
Who is the true Lilith 202
Lilith 202
A Real Lilith 213
Lilith,
An ancient Sumerian and Mesopotamian fertility goddess 219
 3

bibliography of LIliTh
The original version of this bibliography was put together by
Thomas R. W. Longstaff (t_longst@COLBY.EDU), drawing partly
from responses to a query on the ioudaios discussion group
(ioudaios-l@lehigh.edu). I have formatted it for the Web. In
addition to bibliography, some of the original respondants also
sent comments and suggestions which I have included. I have
also merged in Alejandro Gonzalez's bibliography. In addition
to these sources, I have added a good deal of material myself
over the last year or so. If you don't see something that you
think should be here, please bring it to my attention.[ AH]
Abarbanel, Nitzah. Eve and Lilith [*Havah ve-Lilit*], Bene-Brak: Bar-
Ilan University Press. 1994.

Ahrens, W. Hebräische Amulette mit magischen Zahlenquadraten.

Berlin, 1916.

Bacher, Wilhelm. "Lilith, Königin von Smargad", Monatschrift für

Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judenstums 19 (1870): 187-189.
Breslau.

Bailey, Lloyd R. Biblical Perspectives on Death. Overtures to Biblical

Theology, 5, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979. Baring, Anne &
Cashford, Jules. The Myth of the Goddess: evolution of an image.
London: New York, N.Y., Arkana, 1993.

Baumgarten, Joseph M. Revue de Qumran (1992):

Boyle, Darl MacLeod, Where Lilith Dances. New Haven:Yale, 1971

(1921)

Bril, Jacques. Lilith, ou, La Mère Obscure. Paris: Payot, 1981.

Bitton, Michele. "Le mythe juif de Lilith [microform]: de la feminite

demoniaque au feminisme." Doctoral dissertation (Universite de
Provence, Aix en Provence), 1988.

Budge, E.A. Wallis. Amulets and Superstitions, Oxford: Oxford

University Press, 1930. [pp. 212-238, 283-4.]

Cantor, Aviva. "The Lilith Question." Lilith 1 (1976): (Also: In On Being

a Jewish Feminist: A Reader, ed. Susannah Heschel. New York:
Schocken Books, 1983.)
 4

Cavendish, Richard. The Powers of Evil in Western Religion, Magic, and

Folk Belief. New York: Putnam, 1975.

Chadourne, Marc. Dieu crea d'abord Lilith. Paris: Fayard, 1938.

Colonna, M. T.. Lilith e la luna nera e l'eros rifutato, Florence, 1980.

Colonna, M.T. "Lilith, or the Black Moon." Journal of Analytical

Psychology, Oct 1980: 325-50.

Corelli, Marie. The Soul of Lilith. New York: Lovell, Coryell & Co., 1892.

Couchaux, Brigitte. "Lilith." In Brunel, Pierre, Dictionnaire des Myths

Littéraires. Paris: Éditions du Rocher, 1988.
[English tr.: Companion to Literary Myths, Heroes and Archetypes,
London and New York: Routledge, 1992].

Creuzer. Symbolik und Mythologie der alten Völker, besonders der

Griechen, Leipzig and Darmstad, 1840/1. (reprinted: Hildesheim,
Zürich and New York, 1990.)

Dan, Joseph. The Hebrew Story in the Middle Ages. Jerusalem, 1974.

---. "Samael, Lillith and the Concept of Evil in the Early Kabbalah".
AJSreview 5 (1980): 17-40.

Dan, Joseph and Kiener, Ronald. "Treatise on the Left Emanation (by
Isaac b. Jacob ha-Kohen". In The Early Kabbalah. New York: Paulist
Press, 1986: 165-182.

Dijkstra, Bram. Idols of Perversity: Fantasies of Feminine Evil in Fin-

de-JSiecle Culture. New York: Oxford U. Press, 1986.

Edwardes, Allen. The Jewel in the Lotus: A Historical Survey of the

Sexual Culture of the East. New York: Julian Press, 1962.

Eisenstadt, J. D., ed. Ozar Midrashim. Israel, n.d.

"Lilith". Encyclopaedia Biblica eds. Cheyne & Sutherland, London,

1902.

Farber, Walter, ed. Schlaf, Kindchen, Schlaf! Mesopatamische Baby-

Beschwörungen und -Rituale. Mesopotamian Civilizations, 2. Winona
Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1989.
 5

Farrar, Janet & Stewart. The Witches' Goddess: the feminine principle
of divinity. London: Robert Hale, 1995.

Frankfort, Henri. "The Burney Relief." AfO 12 (1937). Pp. 128-35.

Gaster, Moses. "Beiträge zur vergleichende Sagen- und Märchenkunde.

X. Lilith und die drei Angel", Monatschrift für Geschichte und
Wissenschaft des Judenstum 29 (1880): 553-565. Breslau.

---. "Two Thousand Years of a Charm against the Child-Stealing

Witch." Folk-Lore 11 (1900): 129-161.

---. Ma'aseh Book 2 vols. Philadelphia, 1934.

Gaster, Theodor Herzl. "A Canaanite Magical Text." Orientalia, 11.

Rome: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum, 1942. Pp. 41-79.

---. The Dead Sea Scriptures, in English Translation. Garden City, NY:
Anchor Press, 1976. Pp. 371-373, 504.

Geller, Markham J. "Eight Incantation Bowls." Orientalia lovaniensia

periodica, 17. Leuven, Instituut voor Orientalistiek, 1986. Pp. 101-17.

Ginzberg, Louis. The Legends of the Jews. Translated by Henrietta

Szold, Paul Radin and Boaz Cohen. Philadelphia: The Jewish
Publication Society of America, 1909-1938. [I: 65; V: 87 ss, 147-8;
VI: 289] (also: New York: Simon and Schuster, 1956.)

Gonzalo Rubio, Concepción. La angeología en la literatura ab ínica y

sefardí, Barcelona: Ameller, 1977. [Pp. 25, 50-52, 54-55.]

Gordon, Cyrus H. "Aramaic Magical Bowls in the Istanbul and Bahgdad

Museums." Archiv Orientální, 6 (1934): 319-34. Praha.

Gottleib, Rabbi Lynn. "The First Tale." In Taking the Fruit: Modern
Women's Tales of the East, ed. Janes Sprague Zones. 17-21. San
Diego: Woman's Institute for Continuing Jewish Education, 1989.

Gourmont, Remy de. Lilith suivi de Theodat. Paris: Societe du Mercure

de France, 1906.

Gravelaine, Joelle de. Le retour de Lilith: la lune noire. Paris: L'Espace

bleu/Hachette, 1985.
 6

Graves, Robert. The Greek Myths. New York: Penguin Books, 1960.

Graves, Robert and Raphael Patai. Hebrew Myths: The Book of

Genesis. Garden City: Doubleday, 1964.
[Spanish tr.: Los mitos hebreos. Tr. y Luis Echávarri. Madrid: Alianza,
1986.]

Gustafson, Fred. The Black Madonna. Boston: Sigo Press, 1990.

Handy, Lowell K. "Lilith". Anchor Bible Dictionary. New York:

Doubleday, 1992. Vol. 4, p. 324f.

Heschel, Susannah, ed. On Being a Jewish Feminist: A Reader. New

York: Schocken Books, 1983.

Hufford, David. The terror that comes in the night : an experience-

centered study of supernatural assault traditions. Philadelphia :
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982.

Hurwitz, Siegmund. Lilith, die erste Eva: eine Studie uber dunkle
Aspekte des Wieblichen. Zurich: Daimon Verlag, 1980, 1993.
[English tr.: Lilith, the First Eve: Historical and Psychological Aspects
of the Dark Feminine. Translated by Gela Jacobson. Einsiedeln,
Switzerland: Daimon Verlag, 1992.] [ISBN: 3-85630-545-9]

Isbell, Charles D. Corpus of the Aramaic Incantation Bowls. SBL

Dissertation Series, No. 17, Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1975.

Killen, A. M. "La légende de Lilith", Revue de littérature comparée 12

(1932): 277-311.

Koltuv, Barbara Black. The Book of Lilith. York Beach, ME: Nicolas-
Hays, 1986.

Kraeling, Emil Gottlieb Heinrich. "A Unique Babylonian Relief."BASPR,

67 (1937). Pp. 16-18.

Krämer, K. "Babylonisches Gut in syrischen Zaubertexten."

Mitteilungen der Altorientalischen Gesellschaft 4 (1928/9): 110-4.

Kramer, Samuel Noah. "Gilgamesh and the Huluppu-Tree: A

reconstructed Sumerian Text." Assyriological Studies of the Oriental
Institute of the University of Chicago 10. Chicago: 1938.
 7

Krappe, A. H. "The Birth of Eve." In Occident and Orient: Gaster

Anniversary Volume, ed. B. Schindler. 312-322. London: Taylor's
Foreign Press, 1936.

Lacks, Roslyn. Women and Judaism: myth, history, and struggle.

Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1980.

Lambert, W. L. (G.?). "Inscribed Pazuzu Heads from Babylon."

Forschungen und Berichte 10. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1958. Pp. 41-
47

Lassner, Jacob. Demonizing the Queen of Sheba. Boundaries of

Gender and Culture in Postbiblical Judaism and Medieval Islam,
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1993.

Levi, Israel. "Lilit et Lilin." REJ, 68 (1914):15-21.

Levi, Primo. Lilit e altri racconti, Turín, 1981.

[Spanish tr.: Lilit y otros relatos, Barcelona: Península, 1989]

Martinez, Florentino Garcia. The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated. 1996.

Matt, Daniel Chanan. Zohar: The Book of Enlightenment. New York:

Paulist Press, 1983.

Meissner, Bruno. Babylonien und Assyrien. Heidelberg, C. Winter,

1920-25.

Milgrom, J. "Some Second Thoughts About Adam's First Wife." In

Genesis 1-3 in the History of Exegesis, ed. G. Robbins. Lewiston, ME:
Edwin Mellen, 1988.

Montgomery, James Alan. Aramaic incantation texts from Nippur.

University of Pennsylvania. The Museum. Publications of the
Babylonian section, vol. 3. Philadelphia, University museum, 1913.

---. "Some Early Amulets from Palestine." JOAS, 31 (1911): 272-81.

Naveh, Joseph and Paul Shaked. Amulets and Magic Bowls: Aramaic
Incantations of Late Antiquity. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1985.

Nitzan, Bilhah. Qumran prayer and religious poetry. Leiden: E. J. Brill,

1994.
 8

Opitz, Dietrich. "Ausgrabungen und Forschungsreisen: Ur." AfO 8

(1932). Pp. 328-31.

Paglia, Camille. Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to

Emily Dickinson. New York: Vintage, 1991.

Patai, Raphael. Adam ve-Adama [Man and Earth]. Jerusalem: The

Hebrew Press Association, 1941-1942.

---. Gates to the Old City. Detroit: Wayne State Universtiy Press,
1981.

---. The Hebrew Goddess. Third Enlarged edition. New York: KTAV
Publishing House, 1978. (Also: Wayne State University Press, 1990.)

Pirani, Alix, ed. The Absent Mother: Restoring the Goddess to Judaism
and Christianity.

Plaskow, Judith. "The Coming of Lilith: Toward a Feminist Theology."

In Womanspirit Rising: A Feminist Reader in Religion, ed. Judith
Plaskow and Carol Christ. New York: Harper and Row, 1979a.

Pritchard, James B., ed. Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old
Testament. Princeton, New Jersy: Princeton Universit5y Press, 1969.
P. 658.

Rappoport, Angelo S. Myth and Legend of Ancient Israel, with an

Introduction and Additional Notes by Raphael Patai, 3 vols. New York:
Ktav, 1966. (Reprinted: London: Senate, 1995, 2 vols; I: 77-79.)

Redgrove, Peter. The Black Goddess and the Sixth Sense. Bloomsbury,
1987. (Also Paladin, 1989.)

Ribichini, Sergio. "Lilith nell-albero Huluppu." Atti del l° Convegno

Italiano sul Vicino Oriente Antico (Roma, 22-24 Aprile 1976). Orientis
Antiqvi Collectio 13. Rome. Pp. 25-33.

Rigney, Barbara Hill. Lilith's Daughters: Women and Religion in

Contemporary Fiction. Madison: U of Wisconsin, 1982.

Schäfer, P. "Jewish Magic in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages."

Journal of Semitic Studies 41 (1990): 75-91.
 9

Scholem, Gershom. Kabbalah. Jerusalem, 1974.

[Spanish tr.: Grandes temas y personalidades de la Cábala, Barcelona:
Riopiedras, 1994.]

---. "Lilith." In Encyclopedia Judaica. Jerusalem, 1972. Pp. 245-249.

Schrire, Theodore. Hebrew Amulets, London: Routledge & K. Paul,

1966.

Schorr, O.H. "Malachim, Shedim Umazzikim." HeXaluz, 7 (1865): 16-

22. (8 (1869): 3-16) Frankfort.

Schwartz, Howard. Lillith's Cave: Jewish Tales of the Supernatural.

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.

---. "Mermaid and Siren: The Polar Roles of Lilith and Eve in Jewish
Lore". The Sagarin Review, Vol. 2, 1992, pp. 105-116.

Scot, Reginald. The Discoverie of Witchcraft. New York: Da Capo

Press, 1971.

Schaafsma, Karen. "The Demon Lover: Lilith and the Hero in Modern
Fantasy." Exrapolation Spring 1987 Vol. 28, No. 1.

Selbie, John A. "Lilith." In Dictionary of the Bible, ed. James Hasting

and John A. Selbie. Edinborough/New York: Scribners & sons, 1909.

Starck, Marcia & Stern, Gynne. The Dark Goddess: dancing with the
shadow. Freedom, CA: Crossing Press, 1993.

Stern, David and Mirsky, Mark Jay. Rabbinic Fantasies: Imaginative

Narratives from Classical Hebrew Literature. Philadelphia, Jewish
Publication Society, 1990. Pp. 183-184.

Torczyner, H. "A Hebrew Incantation against Night-Demons from

Biblical Times." JNES 6 (1947). Pp. 18-29.

Trachtenberg, Joshua. Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study of Folk

Religion. New York: Atheneum, 1982. (Also: New York: Meridia Books,
1961.) Orig. published 1939.

Waite, Arthur Edward. The Holy Kabbalah : A Study Of The Secret

Tradition In Israel As Unfolded By Sons Of The Doctrine For The
 10

Benefit And Consolation Of The Elect Dispersed Through The Lands

And Ages Of The Greater Exile. Secaucus, N.J.: Citadel Press, 1976.

Wolkstein, Diane and Kramer, Samuel Noah. Inanna: Queen of Heaven

and Earth. Harper & Row, NY, 1983.

Yassif, Eli. "Pseudo Ben Sira and the 'Wisdom Questions': Tradition in
the Middle Ages." Fabula 23 (1982): 48-63.

---. Sippurey ben Sira be-yame ha Binayyim [The Tales of Ben Sira in
the Middle Ages]. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1984.

Zoller, Israel. Lilith. Rome, 1926. (Reprinnt from Revista di

Antropologia 27).

---. "Lilith." Filologische Schriften, 3 (1929): 121-42.

Fiction, Poetry and Art based on Lilith

 11

Or in which she plays a major role

Anthony, Piers. Incarnations of Immortality. A series of novels which
include: On a Pale Horse, Bearing an Hourglass, With a Tangled Skein,
Weilding a Red Sword, Being a Green Mother, For the Love of Evil, ...
And Eternity.

Dame, Enid. Lilith and Her Demons. Merrick, NY: Cross-Cultural

Communications, 1986.

Gourmont, Remy de. Lilith. Paris, 1892.

[E.t.: Heard, John, tr, Lilith, a Play. Boston: John W. Luce Co., 1945.]

Heeley, David Anthony (1971-). Lilith. First of Darkness and Light

trilogy. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1996.

Le Compte, Eduard. I, Eve. New York: Atheneum, 1988.

McDonald, George. Visionary Novels: Lilith, Phantasies. New York:

Noonday Press, 1954.

Rossetti, Dante Gabriel. "Lilith. For a Picture", in Poems, London: Dent,

Everyman's Library, 1961.

Shaw, Bernard, (1856-1950). Back to Methuselah. A metabiological

pentateuch. London: Constable and company ltd., 1927.

Simpson, Elizabeth Leonie. I, Lilith. Brooklyn, N.Y.: The Smith, 1991.

Sterling, George. Lilith. 1926.

Williams, Charles (1886-1945). Descent into Hell. Grand Rapids, MI:

Eerdmans, 1993, 1949.

movie. Blood Ties. Richard and Esther Shapiro Entertainment, Inc.,

1991.

movie. Bordello of Blood. Tales from the Crypt. Universal, 1996.

various. The dybbuk of delight: an anthology of Jewish women's

poetry. Nottingham: Five Leaves Publications in association with the
European Jewish Publications Society, 1995. [ISBN: 0907123570]
 12

Bibliographic Comments:

David Armstrong, York University writes:

In his book Biblical Perspectives on Death, Bailey 1979 notes that
incubus/succubus spirits could cause disease, kill small children
(perhaps an early ref to "crib death"), and have more than just social
intercourse with adults. These demons were called lili (female) and lilu
(male) [page 10-11, I think].

Joseph M. Baumgarten writes:

On Llit (Lilit), it just so happens that she is metioned in a $Q 4Q text,
which led me to re-evaluate the possibly demonic nature of the
seductress in 4Q184 in a paper just published in Revue de Qumran. I
refer there to the long history of this demoness, Lilit.

According ot Marc Bregman (Hebrew Union College, Jerusalem):

The Israeli newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, Friday 22/4/1994 carries a
brief review of [Nitzah Abarbanel, Eve and Lilith [*Havah ve-Lilit*]]
The author analyses the emergence of these two feminine types in
patriarchal culture using both Freudian and Jungian theories.

Daniel Cohen:
The Absent Mother: restoring the goddess to Judaism and Christianity
edited by Alix Pirani (published in England by a branch of Harper-
Collins, so should be easy to get) contains a historical article by
Asphodel Long with some original insights on Lilith (the book also has
some modern poetry on themes relating to Lilith).
  Asphodel Long has also written her own book In a Chariot Drawn by
Lions (with both a British and a US publisher - Women's Press and
Crossing Press, respectively). It's a fine book, by a scholar for a
general audience. It's mainly concerned with Wisdom as the female
face of God in Judaism, but drawing connections with Wisdom aspects
of goddesses of the ancient Near East; not so much on Lilith, though.

Marsha B. Cohen comments (in a note to Robert Kraft):

Discussion of [11QPsAp a and 4Q510-511] in Bilhah Nitzan's Qumran
prayer and religious poetry. Chapter 8 on "Magical Poetry," p. 227+.

LeGrand Cinq-Mars comments:

Rather ancillary at best, but not irrelevant, is [David Hufford's]
ethnographic or folkloristic study of a certain kind of quasi-dream
 13

experience known in Newfoundland as "hagging", that is, being beset

by a "hag".

Alejandro Gonzalez writes:

On Kramer, "Babylonisches Gut...": sobre supervivencia de Lilitu en
Lilith.
On Montgomery, Aramaic Incantation Texts...: Editions of various
amulets against Lilith, in Aramaic.

Rebecca Lesses writes:

One little known source of information on Lilith that I would suggest
would be the Babylonian incantation bowls, which frequently mention
both "lilita" and "lilin" (i.e., male and female liliths) -- not just a single
lilith. You could look at Isbell's "Corpus of the Aramaic Incantation
Bowls" and Naveh and Shaked's two books on Aramaic Incantations of
late antiquity (both published by Magnes Press).

Michael Swartz writes:

On Lilith, as you can see, there is an extensive literature, including a
few important articles by Scholem. There is also R. Patai's, The
Hebrew Goddess. A "classic" source is also the Alphabet of ben Sira,
edited by Yasif and translated in Stern and Mirsky's, Rabbinic
Fantasies, and discussed by J. Dan in Ha-Sippur ha-`Ivri. See also the
magical bowls from Nippur in Montgomery, AIT.

Daniel Wing writes:

I just thought you'd like to know (If you don't already.) That Lillith
plays a fairly large part in Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality
series of novels. She is especially involved in the Fourth, Sixth, and
Seventh books.

Additional Comments:

Herb Basser calls attention to the following materials:

sab 151b,eruv 18b and 100b bab bat 73b , nida 24b, num r 16:16,
buber's tanh. shelach, and places like zohar 2:267b and 3:119a.
and adds:
  Of course Isaiah 34:14 is a good place to begin to start thinking
about lilith. She also exists in the plural-- lilia-- liliths.
  lilith aka igra-- inhabiter of roofs and other joints made strong
appearances in incantantation bowls until joshua ben perachia
divorced her with a get. she and her 18000 cohorts ride around
tractate pesahim and some parallels in with night shades pulled down
having made it out of gen r. but actually she comes in a number of
 14

varieties being a true princess of the night. But why is she a succubus
rather than a succuba or even a scuba? She can be warded off if you
know the right psalms.

Who is Lilith?
 15

Lilith is an extremely controversial figure within Jewish folklore. Lilith's

name is not included in the creation story of the Torah but she appears
in several midrashic texts. Her symbolism, history and literature are
debated among Jewish scholars, feminists and other intellectuals.
There are multiple origin stories for Lilith but the most popular history
told views Lilith as the first wife of Adam. According to the "first Eve"
story Lilith was created by God from dust and placed to live in the
garden with Adam until problems arose between Adam and Lilith when
Adam tried to exercise dominance over Lilith. One story tells that Lilith
refused to lay beneath Adam during sex. She believed they were
created equal, both from the dust of the earth, thus she should not
have to lay beneath him. After Adam disagreed, Lilith fled the Garden
of Eden to gain her independence. Adam told God that Lilith had left
and God sent three angels, Senoi, Sansenoi, and Sammangelof, to
retrieve her. The three angels found Lilith in a cave bearing children
but Lilith refused to come back to the garden. The angels told her they
would kill 100 of her children every day for her disobedience. In
revenge, she is said to rob children of life and is responsible for the
deaths of still-born infants and crib deaths (SIDS). Male children are at
risk of Lilith's wrath for 8 days after birth (until circumcision) and girls
are at risk for 20 days. Although Lilith stole children's lives in the
night, she agreed not to kill the children who had amulets of either of
the three angels.

After the angels' departure, Lilith tried to return to the garden but
upon her arrival she discovered that Adam already had another mate,
Eve. Out of revenge, Lilith had sex with Adam while he was sleeping
and "stole his seed." With his seed she bears 'lilium,' earth-bound
demons to replace her children killed by the angels. Lilith is also said
to be responsible for males' erotic dreams and night emissions.
Another theory says that Lilith is impregnated, thus creating more
demons by masturbation and erotic dreams.
 16

Lilith Bibliography

Lilith: a power symbol?

The open-ended nature of the Lilith symbol has allowed different

groups to use her as a destructive female symbol or a symbol of
female power. Many feminists see Lilith as not only the first woman
but the first independent woman created. In the creation story she
refuses to allow Adam to dominate her and flees the garden despite
the consequences. In order to retain her freedom she must give up her
children and in retaliation she steals the seed of Adam. In one account
of this story, Lilith is said to "mount Adam" (click here for this
version). This version of the story implies that Lilith sexually violated
Adam; however, other stories portray Lilith as a demoness who kills
children and takes advantage of men while they are sleeping. Jewish
halakhic law forbids the spilling of a man's seed and Lilith takes
advantage of this, during masturbation and erotic dreams, and uses it
to replenish her own offspring.

Although Lilith is controversial some feminists have used her as a

symbol of empowerment. For example, one Jewish feminist magazine
is called Lilith labels itself as an "Independent Jewish Woman's
Magazine." The publishers use Lilith as a title because they believe she
is a symbol of independence. However, those who still think of her as a
demoness could turn it around and once again label feminists as male
bashers or men-haters. They see Lilith as wicked and vengeful towards
men and children. With any symbol or icon used by feminists,
especially within a religious context, there will be controversy and
opposition. Whether or not the story of Lilith is accurate is not the
main issue. The "first Eve" version of the story gives Lilith a role that
many women can identify within Judaism and other religious
traditions. She is an independent woman who challenges the
oppressive system in which she is placed. Stealing the lives of children
represents a certain madness that accompanies her solitude and
exclusion. Despite Lilith's downfalls, she still remains a symbol of
power simply by her survival and mysteriousness. She is open for
interpretation and therefore allows women to reinterpret her
symbolism and power within the tradition.
 17

LILITH

thumb|275px|Lilith (1892) by [[John Collier (artist)|John Collier in

Southport Atkinson
Art Gallery]]
thumb|275px|Lady Lilith painted by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1866-68
(altered 1872-73)Lilith () is a character in Jewish mythology, found
earliest in the Babylonian Talmud, which is generally thought to be
related to a class of female demons Līlīṯu in Mesopotamian texts.
However, Lowell K. Handy (1997) notes that "Very little information
has been found relating to the Akkadian and Babylonian view of these
demons. Two sources of information previously used to define Lilith
are both suspect." The two problematic sources are the Gilgamesh
appendix and the Arshlan-Tash amulets below.

In Jewish folklore, from the 8th-10th Century Alphabet of Ben Sira

onwards Lilith becomes Adam's first wife, who was created at the
same time and from the same earth as Adam. This legend was greatly
developed during the Middle Ages, in the tradition of Aggadic
midrashim, the Zohar and Jewish mysticism. In the 13th Century
writings of Rabbi Isaac ben Jacob ha-Kohen, for example, Lilith left
Adam after she refused to become subservient to him and then would
not return to the Garden of Eden after she mated with archangel
Samael. The resulting Lilith legend is still commonly used as source
material in modern Western culture, literature, occultism, fantasy and
horror.

Etymology
The semitic root L-Y-L layil in Hebrew, as layl in Arabic, means
"night". Talmudic and Yiddish use of Lilith follows Hebrew.
 18

In Akkadian the terms lili and līlītu mean spirits. Some uses of līlītu are
listed in The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the
University of Chicago (CAD, 1956, L.190), in Wolfram von Soden's
Akkadisches Handwörterbuch (AHw, p.553), and Reallexikon der
Assyriologie (RLA, p.47). The Sumerian she-demons lili have no
etymologic relation to Sumerian lilu, "evening."
Archibald Sayce (1882)Sayce (1887) considered that Hebrew Lilith ;
and Akkadian: līlītu are from proto-Semitic. Charles Fossey
(1902)Fossey (1902) has this literally translating to "female night
being/demon", although cuneiform inscriptions where Līlīt and Līlītu
refers to disease-bearing wind spirits exist. Another possibility is
association not with "night", but with "wind", thus identifying the
Akkadian Lil-itu as a loan from the Sumerian lil, "air" — specifically
from Ninlil, "lady air", goddess of the south wind (and wife of Enlil) —
and itud, "moon".

Mesopotamian mythology
Although widely repeated in secondary and tertiary sources the
possible references
to Lilith in Mesopotamian mythology are now disputed:

The spirit in the tree in the Gilgamesh Epic

Samuel Noah Kramer (1932, published 1938) translated ki-sikil-lil-la-

ke as Lilith in "Tablet XII" of the Epic of Gilgamesh dated c.600 BC.
"Tablet XII" is not part of the Epic of Gilgamesh, but is an later
Akkadian translation of the latter part of the Sumerian poem of
Bilgames and the Netherworld. The ki-sikil-lil-la-ke is associated with a
serpent and an zu bird, In Bilgames and the Netherworld, a huluppu
tree (willow) grows in Inanna's garden in Uruk, whose wood she plans
to use to build a new throne. After ten years of growth, she comes to
harvest it and finds a serpent living at its base, a Zu bird raising young
in its crown, and that a ki-sikil-lil-la-ke made a house in its trunk.
 19

Bilgames/Gilgamesh is said to have smitten the snake, and then the zu

bird flew away to the mountains with its young, while the ki-sikil-lil-la-
ke fearfully destroys its house and runs for the forest. Kramer's
identification is repeated without question or justification by Manfred
Hutter in the article on Lilith in Dictionary of deities and demons in the
Bible (1999)

Suggested translations for the Tablet XII spirit in the tree include ki-
sikil as "sacred place", lil as "spirit", and lil-la-ke as "water spirit". but
also simply "owl", given that the lil is building a home in the trunk of
the tree.

A connection between the Gilgamesh ki-sikil-lil-la-ke and the Jewish

Lilith was rejected by Dietrich Opitz (1932) and other scholars, finally
being rejected on textual grounds by Sergio Ribichini (1978).

The bird-foot woman in the Burney Relief

Kramer's translation of the Gilgamesh fragment was used by Henri

Frankfort (1937)
and Emil Kraeling (1937) to support identification of a woman with
bird-feet in the Burney relief as related to Lilith, but this too is rejected
by more recent scholarship.

The Arslan Tash amulets

Theodor Gaster (1942) mistakenly identified an incantantion in the

Arslan Tash amulets as a pre-Jewish reference to Lilith, but Torczyner
(1947) identified the amulets as a Jewish source.

The vardat lilitu demons

The word lilu means spirit in Akkadian, and the male lili and female
lilitu are found in incantation texts from Nippur, Babylonia c600 BC in
 20

both singular and plural forms. Among the spirits the vardat lilitu, or
maiden spirit bears some comparison with later Talmudic legends of
Lilith. A lili is related to witchcraft in the Sumerian incantation Text
313.

Siegmund Hurwitz

Much of the popular information found in non-academic sources

regarding Lilith is taken from reprints of out-of-copyright works which
are now outdated, for example Moses Gaster (1880), R. Campbell
Thompson (1908), W. O. E. Oesterley (1930) , , and confuses Jewish
and Assyrian sources.
The following material in this section of the article, in particular
secondary citation from Siegmund Hurwitz, requires verification and
replacement with primary academic sources:
According to Siegmund Hurwitz the figure of Lilith first appeared in a
class of wind and storm demons or spirits as Lilitu, in Sumer, circa
4000 BC. The phonetic name Lilith is traditionally thought to have
originated in Ancient Israel, and to have pre-dated at least 700
BC.Hurwitz (1980)
Akkad, who were the earliest known Semitic speakers, and Sumer,
who were the earliest civilizations inhabiting Mesopotamia, developed
a very intimate cultural symbiosis with widespread bilingualism. The
bilateral influence of Sumerian and Akkadian is evident in all areas,
including syncretism between their gods, where each adopted the
other's deities. In Sumerian, Lilith was referred to as Ki-sikil-lil-la-ke,
and, in Akkadian, it was Ardat-lili. The Assyrian and Babylonian
cultures descended from these early cultures.

Lilû, father of Gilgamesh

Another proposed connection to Lilith is on the Sumerian king list,

where Gilgamesh's father is named as Lilû.Hurwitz (1980) Patai (1942)
 21

Little is known of Lilû, and he was said to interfere with women in their
sleep and had functions of an incubus, while Lilitû appeared to men in
their erotic dreams.Hurwitz (1980) Raphael Patai T.H. Jacobsen,
"Mesopotamia", in H. Frankfort et al., Before Philosophy: The
Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man. Such qualities as lalu, or
wandering about, and lulu, or lasciviousness, from Akkadian (Semitic)
language have been associated as sources for the names Lila and
Lilitû., but some Sumerologists say Lilû is purely Sumerian.

Lilitû demons

The Assyrian lilitû were said to prey upon children and women and
were described as associated with lions, storms, desert, and disease.
Early portrayals of such demons are known as having Zu bird talons
for feet and wings. They were highly sexually predatory towards men
but were unable to copulate normally. They were thought to dwell in
waste, desolate, and desert places. Like the Sumerian Dimme, a male
wind demon named Pazuzu was thought to be effective against them.

Lilith's epithet was "the beautiful maiden". She was described as

having no milk in her breasts and as unable to bear any
children.Raphael Patai p. 222
Other storm and night demons from a similar class are recorded from
Akkadian texts around this period. The Ardat-lili is from Ardatû, which
is a young unmarried woman or maiden, also sometimes a title of
prostitutes, and lilitû. These "maiden liltû" would come to men in their
sleep and beget children from them. Sick men would also be described
as being seized by Ardat-lili Their male counterparts, similar to an
incubus, were the Irdû-lili These demons were originally storm and
wind demons; however, later etymology made them into night
demons.
 22

Lamashtû

Lamashtû or Labartu (in Sumerian Dimme) was a very similar

Mesopotamian demon to Lilitû , and Lilith seems to have inherited
many of Lamashtû's myths. She was considered a demi-goddess and
daughter of Anu, the sky god. Many incantations against her mention
her status as a daughter of heaven and her exercising her free will
over infants. This makes her different from the rest of the demons in
Mesopotamia. Unlike her demonic peers, Lamashtû was not instructed
by the gods to do her malevolence; she did it on her own accord. She
was said to seduce men, harm pregnant women, mothers, and
neonates, kill foliage, and drink blood and was a cause of disease,
sickness, and death. Some incantations describe her as "seven
witches". The space between her legs is as a scorpion, corresponding
to the astrological sign of Scorpio. (Scorpio rules the genitals and sex
organs.) Her head is that of a lion, she has Anzu bird feet like Lilitû,
her breasts are suckled by a pig and a dog, and she rides the back of a
donkey. Other texts mention Lamashtû as the hand of Inanna/Ishtar in
place of Lilitû and Ardat-lili.

Gallû and Alû

Two other Mesopotamian demons have a close relation to Lilitû: Gallû

and Alû. Alû was originally an asexual demon, who took on female
attributes, but later became a male demon. Alû liked to roam the
streets like a stray dog at night and creep into people's bedrooms as
they slept to terrify them. He was described as being half-human and
half-devil. He appears in Jewish lore as Ailo ; here, he is used as one
of Lilith's secret names . In other texts , Ailo is a daughter of Lilith that
has had intercourse with a man. The other demon, Gallû, is of the
Utukkû group. Gallû’s name, like Utukkû, was also used as a general
term for multiple demons. Later , Gallû appears as Gello, Gylo, or
Gyllou in Greco-Byzantine mythology as a child-stealing and child-
 23

killing demon. This figure was, likewise, adapted by the Jews as Gilû
and was also considered a secret name of Lilith's.

Lilitû, Inanna's hand

Stephen Langdon (1914) claims that Babylonian texts depict Lilitû as

the sacred prostitute of the goddess Ishtar, the Assyrian and
Babylonian counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna. Hurwitz similarly
claims that older Sumerian accounts assert that Lilitû is called the
handmaiden of Inanna or "hand of Inanna". The Sumerian texts state,
"Inanna has sent the beautiful, unmarried, and seductive prostitute
Lilitû out into the fields and streets in order to lead men astray." That
is why Lilitû is called the "hand of Inanna".

Lilith in the Bible

There is an ongoing scholarly debate as to whether the concept of

Lilith occurs in the Bible. The only possible occurrence is in the Book of
Isaiah 34:13-15, describing the desolation of Edom, where the Hebrew
word liyliyth appears in a list of eight unclean animals, some of which
may have demonic associations. Since the word liyliyth is a hapax
legomenon in the Hebrew Bible and the other seven terms in the list
are better documented, the reading of scholars and translators is often
guided by a decision about the complete list of eight creatures as a
whole:
Isaiah 34:13 Thorns shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and
thistles in its fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals, an abode for
ostriches. 14 And wild animals shall meet with hyenas; the wild
goat shall cry to his fellow; indeed, there the night bird (liylith)
settles and finds for herself a resting place. 15 There the owl nests
and lays and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow; indeed,
there the hawks are gathered, each one with her mate. (ESV)
 24

Hebrew text

Hebrew: ‫ ּומָ צְָאה לָּה‬,‫שָׁ ם הִ ְרגִּיעָ ה לִּ ילִ ית‬-‫ ֵרעֵ הּו י ִקְ ָרא; אַ ְך‬-‫ ו ְשָׂ עִ יר עַ ל‬,‫אִ יִּים‬-‫ּופָ גְׁשּו ִציִּים אֶ ת‬
‫מָ נֹוח‬
Hebrew (ISO 259):

34:14 "And shall-meet

the he-calls his-
liyliyth and she-finds
34:15 there the , and , and , and she-gathers under her-shadow:
also they-gather, every one with .
Eberhard Schrader (1875) and Moritz Abraham Levy (1885) suggest
that Lilith was a goddess of the night, known also by the Jewish exiles
in Babylon. Schrader and Levy's view is therefore partly dependent on
a later dating of Deutero-Isaiah to the 6th century BC, and the
presence of Jews in Babylon which would coincide with the possible
references to the in Babylonian demonology. However this view is
challenged by some modern research such as by Judit M. Blair (2009)
who considers that the context indicates unclean animals.

Greek version

The Septuagint translates the reference into Greek as onokentauros,

apparently for lack of a better word, since also the se'irim, "satyrs",
earlier in the verse are translated with daimon onokentauros. The "wild
beasts of the island and the desert" are omitted altogether, and the
"crying to his fellow" is also done by the daimon onokentauros.

Latin Bible

The early 5th-century Vulgate translated the same word as Lamia.

The translation is: "And demons and monsters shall meet and the
hairy ones shall cry out one to another, there vampires: she lay down,
and found rest for herself...". According to vampirologist Montague
 25

Summers (1928), this particular species of owl is associated with the

vampiric Strix of Roman legend.

English versions

Wyclif's Bible (1395) preserves the Latin rendering Lamia:

Isa 34:15 Lamya schal ligge there, and foond rest there to hir silf.
The Bishops' Bible of Matthew Parker (1568) from the Latin:
Isa 34:14 there shall the Lamia lye and haue her lodgyng.
The Geneva Bible of William Whittington (1587) from the Hebrew:
Isa 34:14 and the shricheowle shall rest there, and shall finde for her
selfe a quiet
dwelling.
Then the King James Version of the Bible (1611):
Isa 34:14 "The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild
beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech
owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest."
The "screech owl" translation of the KJV is, together with the "owl" (,
probably a water bird) in 34:11 and the "great owl" (, properly a
snake) of 34:15, an attempt to render the passage by choosing
suitable animals for difficult-to-translate Hebrew words.

Later translations include:

 night-owl (Young, 1898)
 night-spectre (Rotherham, Emphasized Bible, 1902)
 night monster (ASV, 1901; JPS 1917, NASB, 1995)
 vampires (Moffatt Translation, 1922)
 night hag (RSV, 1947)
 Lilith (Jerusalem Bible, 1966)
 lilith (New American Bible, 1970)
 Lilith (NRSV, 1989)
 Lilith (The Message (Bible), Peterson, 1993)
 26

 night creature (NIV, 1978; NKJV, 1982; NLT, 1996, TNIV)

 nightjar (New World Translation, 1984)
 night bird (English Standard Version, 2001)

Jewish tradition

Dead Sea Scrolls

The appearance of Lilith in the Dead Sea Scrolls is somewhat

more contentious, with one indisputable reference in the Song
for a Sage (4Q510-511) and a promising additional

allusion found by A. Baumgarten in The Seductress (4Q184).

The first and irrefutable Lilith reference in the Song occurs in

4Q510, fragment 1:

And I, the Instructor, proclaim His glorious splendour so as to frighten

and to te[rrify] all the spirits of the destroying angels, spirits of the
bastards, demons, Lilith, howlers, and [desert dwellers…] and those
which fall upon men without warning to lead them astray from a spirit
of understanding and to make their heart and their […] desolate during
the present dominion of wickedness and predetermined time of
humiliations for the sons of lig[ht], by the guilt of the ages of [those]
smitten by iniquity – not for eternal destruction, [bu]t for an era of
humiliation for transgression.

Akin to Isaiah 34:14, this liturgical text both cautions against the
presence of supernatural malevolence and assumes familiarity with
Lilith; distinct from the biblical text, however, this passage does not
function under any socio-political agenda, but instead serves in the
same capacity as An Exorcism (4Q560) and Songs to Disperse Demons
(11Q11) insomuch that it comprises incantations—comparable to the
Arslan Tash relief examined above—used to "help protect the faithful
against the power of these spirits." The text is thus, to a community
"deeply involved in the realm of demonology", an exorcism hymn.

Another text discovered at Qumran, conventionally associated with the

Book of Proverbs, credibly also could appropriate the Lilith tradition in
 27

its description of a precarious, winsome woman—The Seductress

(4Q184). The ancient poem—dated to the first century BC but
plausibly much older—describes a dangerous woman and consequently
warns against encounters with her. Customarily, the woman depicted
in this text is equated to the "strange woman" of Proverbs 2 and 5,
and for good reason; the parallels are instantly recognizable:

However, what this association does not take into account are
additional descriptions of the "Seductress" from Qumran that cannot
be found attributed to the "strange woman" of Proverbs; namely, her
horns and her wings: "a multitude of sins is in her wings." The word
"seductress" here does not refer literally to "prostitute" or at the very
least, the representation of one, but one who tempts men into sin. The
sort of individual with whom that text's community would have been
familiar. The "Seductress" of the Qumran text, conversely, could not
possibly have represented an existent social threat given the
constraints of this particular ascetic community. Instead, the Qumran
text uses the imagery of Proverbs to explicate a much broader,
supernatural threat – the threat of the demoness Lilith.

Talmud

Although references to Lilith in the Talmud are sparse, these passages

provide the most comprehensive insight into the demoness yet seen in
Judaic literature, which some speculate to echo Lilith's purported
Mesopotamian origins and prefigure her future as the perceived
exegetical enigma of the Genesis account. Recalling the Lilith we have
seen, Talmudic allusions to Lilith illustrate her essential wings and long
hair, dating back to her earliest extant mention in Gilgamesh:

"Rab Judah citing Samuel ruled: If an abortion had the likeness of

Lilith its mother is unclean by reason of the birth, for it is a child but it
 28

has wings." (Niddah 24b)

"[Expounding upon the curses of womanhood] In a Baraitha it was

taught: She grows long hair like Lilith, sits when making water like a
beast, and serves as a bolster for her husband.” ('Erubin 100b)

Unique to the Talmud with regard to Lilith is her insalubrious carnality,

alluded to in The Seductress but expanded upon here sans unspecific
metaphors as the demoness assuming the form of a woman in order to
sexually take men by force while they sleep:

"R. Hanina said: One may not sleep in a house alone [in a lonely
house], and whoever sleeps in a house alone is seized by Lilith.”
(Shabbath 151b)

Yet the most innovative perception of Lilith offered by the Talmud

appears earlier in 'Erubin, and is more than likely inadvertently
responsible for the fate of the Lilith myth for centuries to come:

"R. Jeremiah b. Eleazar further stated: In all those years [130 years
after his expulsion from the Garden of Eden] during which Adam was
under the ban he begot ghosts and male demons and female demons
[or night demons], for it is said in Scripture: And Adam lived a
hundred and thirty years and begot a son in own likeness, after his
own image, from which it follows that until that time he did not beget
after his own image… When he saw that through him death was
ordained as punishment he spent a hundred and thirty years in
fasting, severed connection with his wife for a hundred and thirty
years, and wore clothes of fig on his body for a hundred and thirty
years. – That statement [of R. Jeremiah] was made in reference to the
semen which he emitted accidentally.” (‘Erubin 18b)
 29

Comparing 'Erubin 18b and Shabbath 151b with the later passage
from the Zohar: “She wanders about at night, vexing the sons of men
and causing them to defile themselves (19b),” it appears clear that
this Talmudic passage indicates such an adverse union between Adam
and Lilith.

Shedim cults

A cult in Mesopotamia is said to be related to Lilith by early Jewish

leaders. According to the hypotheses proposed by William F. Albright,
Theodor H. Gaster, and others, the name Lilith already existed in 7th
century BC. and Lilith retained her Shedim characteristics throughout
the entire Jewish tradition. Shedim is plural for "spirit" or "demon".
Figures that represent shedim are the shedu of Babylonian mythology.
These figures were depicted as anthropomorphic, winged bulls,
associated with wind. They were thought to guard palaces, cities,
houses, and temples. In magical texts of that era, they could be either
malevolent or benevolent. The cult originated from Babylon, then
spread to Canaan and eventually to Israel. Human sacrifice was part of
the practice and a sacrificial altar existed to the Shedim next to the
Yahweh cult, although this practice was widely denounced by prophets
who retained belief in Yahweh.

Shedim in Jewish thought and literature were portrayed as quite

malevolent. Some writings contend that they are storm-demons. Their
creation is presented in three contradicting Jewish tales. The first is
that during Creation, God created the shedim, but did not create their
bodies and forgot them on the Shabbat when he rested. The second is
that they are descendants of demons in the form of serpents, and the
last states that they are simply descendants of Adam & Lilith. Another
story asserts that after the tower of Babel, some people were
scattered and became Shedim, Ruchin, and Lilin.
 30

Folk tradition

A Hebrew tradition exists in which an amulet is inscribed with the

names of three angels (Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof) and placed
around the neck of newborn boys in order to protect them from the
lilin until their circumcision.

The 8th-10th Century Alphabet of Ben Sira is considered to be the

oldest form of the story of Lilith as Adam's first wife. Whether this
particular tradition is older is not known. Scholars tend to date the
Alphabet between the 8th and 10th centuries AD. (The attribution to
the sage Ben Sira is considered false, with the true author unknown.)
The amulets used against Lilith that were thought to derive from this
tradition are in fact, dated as being much older. The concept of Eve
having a predecessor is not exclusive to the Alphabet, and is not a new
concept, as it can be found in Genesis Rabbah. However, the idea that
Lilith was the predecessor is exclusive to the Alphabet. According to
Gershom Scholem, the author of the Zohar, R. Moses de Leon, was
aware of the folk tradition of Lilith. He was also aware of another
story, possibly older, that may be conflicting.

The idea that Adam had a wife prior to Eve may have developed from
an interpretation of the Book of Genesis and its dual creation
accounts; while Genesis 2:22 describes God's creation of Eve from
Adam's rib, an earlier passage, 1:27, already indicates that a woman
had been made: "So God created man in his own image, in the image
of God created he him; male and female created he them." The
Alphabet text places Lilith's creation after God's words in Genesis 2:18
that "it is not good for man to be alone"; in this text God forms Lilith
out of the clay from which he made Adam but she and Adam bicker.
Lilith claims that since she and Adam were created in the same way
they were equal and she refuses to submit to him:
 31

After God created Adam, who was alone, He said, 'It is not good for
man to be alone.' He then created a woman for Adam, from the earth,
as He had created Adam himself, and called her Lilith. Adam and Lilith
immediately began to fight. She said, 'I will not lie below,' and he said,
'I will not lie beneath you, but only on top. For you are fit only to be in
the bottom position, while I am to be the superior one.' Lilith
responded, 'We are equal to each other inasmuch as we were both
created from the earth.' But they would not listen to one another.
When Lilith saw this, she pronounced the Ineffable Name and flew
away into the air.

Adam stood in prayer before his Creator: 'Sovereign of the universe!'

he said, 'the woman you gave me has run away.' At once, the Holy
One, blessed be He, sent these three angels Senoy, Sansenoy, and
Semangelof, to bring her back.

Said the Holy One to Adam, 'If she agrees to come back, what is made
is good. If not, she must permit one hundred of her children to die
every day.' The angels left God and pursued Lilith, whom they
overtook in the midst of the sea, in the mighty waters wherein the
Egyptians were destined to drown. They told her God's word, but she
did not wish to return. The angels said, 'we shall drown you in the
sea.’

'Leave me!' she said. 'I was created only to cause sickness to infants.
If the infant is male, I have dominion over him for eight days after his
birth, and if female, for twenty days.’

When the angels heard Lilith's words, they insisted she go back. But
she swore to them by the name of the living and eternal God:
'Whenever I see you or your names or your forms in an amulet, I will
have no power over that infant.' She also agreed to have one hundred
 32

of her children die every day. Accordingly, every day one hundred
demons perish, and for the same reason, we write the angels' names
on the amulets of young children. When Lilith sees their names, she
remembers her oath, and the child recovers.
The background and purpose of The Alphabet of Ben-Sira is unclear. It
is a collection of stories about heroes of the Bible and Talmud, it may
have been a collection of folk-tales, a refutation of Christian, Karaite,
or other separatist movements; its content seems so offensive to
contemporary Jews that it was even suggested that it could be an anti-
Jewish satire, although, in any case, the text was accepted by the
Jewish mystics of medieval Germany.
The Alphabet of Ben-Sira is the earliest surviving source of the story,
and the conception that Lilith was Adam's first wife became only widely
known with the 17th century ‘‘Lexicon Talmudicum of Johannes
Buxtorf.

In the folk tradition that arose in the early Middle Ages Lilith, a
dominant female demon, became identified with Asmodeus, King of
Demons, as his queen. Asmodeus was already well known by this time
because of the legends about him in the Talmud. Thus, the merging of
Lilith and Asmodeus was inevitable. The second myth of Lilith grew to
include legends about another world and by some accounts this other
world existed side by side with this one, Yenne Velt is Yiddish for this
described "Other World". In this case Asmodeus and Lilith were
believed to procreate demonic offspring endlessly and spread chaos at
every turn.Schwartz p.8 Many disasters were blamed on both of them,
causing wine to turn into vinegar, men to be impotent, women unable
to give birth, and it was Lilith who was blamed for the loss of infant
life. The presence of Lilith and her cohorts were considered very real
at this time.

Two primary characteristics are seen in these legends about Lilith:

 33

Lilith as the incarnation of lust, causing men to be led astray, and

Lilith as a child-killing witch, who strangles helpless neonates.
Although these two aspects of the Lilith legend seemed to have
evolved separately, there is hardly a tale where she encompasses both
roles. But the aspect of the witch-like role that Lilith plays broadens
her archetype of the destructive side of witchcraft. Such stories are
commonly found among Jewish folklore.

Kabbalah

Kabbalistic mysticism attempted to establish a more exact relationship

between Lilith and the Deity. With her major characteristics having
been well-developed by the end of the Talmudic period, after six
centuries had elapsed between the Aramaic incantation texts that
mention Lilith and the early Spanish Kabbalistic writings in the 13th
century, she reappears, and her life history becomes known in greater
mythological detail.

Her creation is described in many alternative versions. One mentions

her creation as being before Adam's, on the fifth day, because the
"living creatures" with whose swarms God filled the waters included
none other than Lilith. A similar version, related to the earlier
Talmudic passages, recounts how Lilith was fashioned with the same
substance as Adam was, shortly before. A third alternative version
states that God originally created Adam and Lilith in a manner that the
female creature was contained in the male. Lilith's soul was lodged in
the depths of the Great Abyss. When God called her, she joined Adam.
After Adam's body was created a thousand souls from the Left (evil)
side attempted to attach themselves to him. However, God drove
them off. Adam was left lying as a body without a soul. Then a cloud
descended and God commanded the earth to produce a living soul.
This God breathed into Adam, who began to spring to life and his
 34

female was attached to his side. God separated the female from
Adam's side. The female side was Lilith, whereupon she flew to the
Cities of the Sea and attacks humankind. Yet another version claims
that Lilith was not created by God, but emerged as a divine entity that
was born spontaneously, either out of the Great Supernal Abyss or out
of the power of an aspect of God (the Gevurah of Din). This aspect of
God, one of his ten attributes (Sefirot), at its lowest manifestation has
an affinity with the realm of evil and it is out of this that Lilith merged
with Samael. According to The Alphabet of Ben-Sira Lilith was Adam's
first wife.

An alternative story links Lilith with the creation of luminaries. The

"first light," which is the light of Mercy (one of the Sefirot), appeared
on the first day of creation when God said "Let there be light." This
light became hidden and the Holiness became surrounded by a husk of
evil. ”A husk (klippa) was created around the brain" and this husk
spread and brought out another husk, which was Lilith.

Adam and Lilith

300px|thumb|left|Adam holding on to a child while Lilith appears on a
tree.
The first medieval source to depict Adam and Lilith in full was the
Midrash Abkir (ca. 10th century), which was followed by the Zohar and
Kabbalistic writings. Adam is said to be perfect until he recognizes
either his sin or Cain's fratricide that is the cause of bringing death
into the world. He then separates from holy Eve, sleeps alone, and
fasts for 130 years. During this time Lilith, also known as Pizna or
Naamah, desired his beauty and came to him against his will. She
bore him many demons and spirits called "the plagues of
humankind".Patai p232 The added explanation was that it was through
Adam's own sin that Lilith overcame him against his will.
thumb|"Lilith" from Michelangelo's "The Temptation of Adam and Eve".
 35

A common iconographic depiction of the serpent of Eden in late

Medieval and Renaissance art.
Older sources state clearly that after Lilith's Red Sea sojourn, she
returned to Adam and begat children from him. In the Zohar,
however, Lilith is said to have succeeded in begetting offspring from
Adam during their short-lived sexual experience. Lilith leaves Adam in
Eden, as she is not a suitable helpmate for him. She returns, later, to
force herself upon him. However, before doing so she attaches herself
to Cain and bears him numerous spirits and demons.

Samael and Lilith

The mystical writing of two brothers Jacob and Isaac Hacohen, which
predates the Zohar by a few decades, states that Samael and Lilith are
in the shape of an androgynous being, double-faced, born out of the
emanation of the Throne of Glory and corresponding in the spiritual
realm to Adam and Eve, who were likewise born as a hermaphrodite.
The two twin androgynous couples resembled each other and both
"were like the image of Above"; that is, that they are reproduced in a
visible form of an androgynous deity.
Another version that was also current among Kabbalistic circles in the
Middle Ages establishes Lilith as the first of Samael's four wives: Lilith,
Naamah, Igrath, and Mahalath. Each of them are mothers of demons
and have their own hosts and unclean spirits in no number. The
marriage of archangel Samael and Lilith was arranged by "Blind
Dragon", who is the counterpart of "the dragon that is in the sea".
Blind Dragon acts as an intermediary between Lilith and Samael:
Blind Dragon rides Lilith the Sinful -- may she be extirpated quickly in
our days, Amen! -- And this Blind Dragon brings about the union
between Samael and Lilith. And just as the Dragon that is in the sea
(Isa. 27:1) has no eyes, likewise Blind Dragon that is above, in the
likeness of a spiritual form, is without eyes, that is to say, without
 36

colors.... (Patai81:458) Samael is called the Slant Serpent, and Lilith

is called the Tortuous Serpent.
The marriage of Samael and Lilith is known as the "Angel Satan" or
the "Other God,"
but it was not allowed to last. To prevent Lilith and Samael's demonic
children Lilin from filling the world, God castrated Samael. In many
17th century Kabbalistic books, this mythologem is based on the
identification of "Leviathan the Slant Serpent and Leviathan the
Torturous Serpent" and a reinterpretation of an old Talmudic myth
where God castrated the male Leviathan and slew the female
Leviathan in order to prevent them from mating and thereby
destroying the earth. After Samael became castrated and Lilith was
unable to fornicate with him, she left him to couple with men who
experience nocturnal emissions. A 15th or 16th century Kabbalah text
states that God has "cooled" the female Leviathan, meaning that he
has made Lilith infertile and she is a mere fornication.

The Two Liliths

A passage in the 13th century document called the Treatise on the Left
Emanation
says that there are two Liliths, the lesser being married to the great
demon Asmodeus.
In answer to your question concerning Lilith, I shall explain to you the
essence of the matter. Concerning this point there is a received
tradition from the ancient Sages who made use of the Secret
Knowledge of the Lesser Palaces, which is the manipulation of demons
and a ladder by which one ascends to the prophetic levels. In this
tradition, it is made clear that Samael and Lilith were born as one,
similar to the form of Adam and Eve who were also born as one,
reflecting what is above. This is the account of Lilith which was
received by the Sages in the Secret Knowledge of the Palaces. The
 37

Matron Lilith is the mate of Samael. Both of them were born at the
same hour in the image of Adam and Eve, intertwined in each other.
Asmodeus the great king of the demons has as a mate the Lesser
(younger) Lilith, daughter of the king whose name is Qafsefoni. The
name of his mate is Mehetabel daughter of Matred, and their daughter
is Lilith.
thumb|right|Lilith tempting [[Eve into eating the forbidden fruit. 15th
Century.]]
Another passage charges Lilith as being a tempting serpent of Eve's:
And the Serpent, the Woman of Harlotry, incited and seduced Eve
through the husks of Light which in itself is holiness. And the Serpent
seduced Holy Eve, and enough said for him who understands. And all
this ruination came about because Adam the first man coupled with
Eve while she was in her menstrual impurity – this is the filth
and the impure seed of the Serpent who mounted Eve before Adam
mounted her. Behold, here it is before you: because of the sins of
Adam the first man all the things mentioned came into being. For Evil
Lilith, when she saw the greatness of his corruption, became strong in
her husks, and came to Adam against his will, and became hot from
him and bore him many demons and spirits and Lilin. (Patai81:455f)
This may relate to various late medieval iconography of a female
serpent figure, believed to be Lilith, tempting Adam and Eve.

The prophet Elijah is said to have confronted Lilith in one text. In this
encounter, she had come to feast on the flesh of the mother, with a
host of demons, and take the newborn from her. She eventually
reveals her secret names to Elijah in the conclusion. These names are
said to cause Lilith to lose her power: lilith, abitu, abizu, hakash,
avers hikpodu, ayalu, matrota… In others, probably informed by
The Alphabet of Ben-Sira, she is Adam's first wife. (Yalqut Reubeni,
Zohar 1:34b, 3:19)
 38

Lilith as Qliphah

thumb|Adam, Lilith, and Eve, c. AD 1210, base of trumeau, left portal,

West Façade, Notre Dame, Paris.
Lilith is listed as one of the Qliphoth, corresponding to the Sephirah
Malkuth in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. The demon Lilith, the evil
woman, is described as a beautiful woman, who transforms into a
blue, butterfly-like demon, and it is associated with the power of
seduction.

The Qliphah is the unbalanced power of a Sephirah. Malkuth is the

lowest Sephirah, the realm of the earth, into which all the divine
energy flows, and in which the divine plan is worked out. However, its
unbalanced form is as Lilith, the seductress. The material world, and
all of its pleasures, is the ultimate seductress, and can lead to
materialism unbalanced by the spirituality of the higher spheres. This
ultimately leads to a descent into animal consciousness. The balance
must therefore be found between Malkuth and Kether, to find order
and harmony.

Greco-Roman mythology

Another similar monster was the Greek Lamia, who likewise governed
a class of child stealing lamia-demons. Lamia bore the title "child
killer" and was feared for her malevolence, like Lilith. She has different
conflicting origins and is described as having a human upper body
from the waist up and a serpentine body from the waist down.(Some
depictions of Lamia picture her as having wings and feet of a bird,
rather than being half serpent, similar to the earlier reliefs of Greek
Sirens and the Lilitu.) One source states simply that she is a daughter
of the goddess Hecate. Another, that Lamia was subsequently cursed
by the goddess Hera to have stillborn children because of her
association with Zeus; alternately, Hera slew all of Lamia's children
 39

(except Scylla) in anger that Lamia slept with her husband, Zeus. The
grief caused Lamia to turn into a monster that took revenge on
mothers by stealing their children and devouring them.Hurwitz p.43
Lamia had a vicious sexual appetite that matched her cannibalistic
appetite for children. She was notorious for being a vampiric spirit and
loved sucking men’s blood. Her gift was the "mark of a Sibyl," a gift of
second sight. Zeus was said to have given her the gift of sight.
However, she was "cursed" to never be able to shut her eyes so that
she would forever obsess over her dead children. Taking pity on
Lamia, Zeus gave her the ability to remove and replace her eyes from
their sockets.
The Empusae were a class of supernatural demons that Lamia was
said to have birthed. Hecate would often send them against travelers.
They consumed or scared to death any of the people where they
inhabited. They bear many similarities to lilim. It has been suggested
that later medieval lore, succubi, or lilim is derived from this myth.

Arabic mythology

Lilith is not found in the Quran or Haddith. The Sufi occult writer
Ahmad al-Buni (d.1225) in his Shams al-Ma'arif al-Kubra (Sun of the
Great Knowledge, Arabic:) mentions a demon called the mother of
children a term also used "in one place" in the 13th Century Jewish
Zohar and is therefore probably derived from Jewish mythology.
Another Islamic legend recounts an encounter between King Solomon
and a giant woman demon, Karina.

Lilith in the Classical German period

Lilith's earliest appearance in the literature of the Romantic period

(1789–1832) was in Goethe's 1808 work Faust Part I, nearly 600
years after appearing in the Kabbalistic Zohar:
 40

Faust:
Who's that there?

Mephistopheles:
Take a good look.
Lilith.

Faust:
Lilith? Who is that?

Mephistopheles:
Adam's wife, his first. Beware of her.

Her beauty's one boast is her dangerous hair.

When Lilith winds it tight around young men

She doesn't soon let go of them again.

(1992 Greenberg translation, lines 4206–4211)

After Mephistopheles offers this warning to Faust, he then, quite

ironically, encourages Faust to dance with "the Pretty Witch". Lilith
and Faust engage in a short dialogue, where Lilith recounts the days
spent in Eden.

Faust: [dancing with the young witch]

A lovely dream I dreamt one day

I saw a green-leaved apple tree,

Two apples swayed upon a stem,

 41

So tempting! I climbed up for them.

The Pretty Witch:

Ever since the days of Eden

Apples have been man's desire.

How overjoyed I am to think, sir,

Apples grow, too, in my garden.

(1992 Greenberg translation, lines 4216 – 4223)

Lilith in the Victorian period

thumb|250px|Lady Lilith by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, which developed around 1848, were
greatly influenced by Goethe's work on the theme of Lilith. In 1863,
Dante Gabriel Rossetti of the Brotherhood began painting what would
be his first rendition of "Lady Lilith", a painting he expected to be his
"best picture hitherto" Symbols appearing in the painting allude to the
"femme fatale" reputation of the Romantic Lilith: poppies (death and
cold) and white roses (sterile passion). Accompanying his Lady Lilith
painting from 1863, Rossetti wrote a sonnet entitled Lilith, which was
first published in Swinburne's pamphlet-review (1868), Notes on the
Royal Academy Exhibition:
Of Adam's first wife, Lilith, it is told

(The witch he loved before the gift of Eve,)

That, ere the snake's, her sweet tongue could deceive,

 42

And her enchanted hair was the first gold.

And still she sits, young while the earth is old,

And, subtly of herself contemplative,

Draws men to watch the bright web she can weave,

Till heart and body and life are in its hold.

The rose and poppy are her flower; for where

Is he not found, O Lilith, whom shed scent

And soft-shed kisses and soft sleep shall snare?

Lo! As that youth's eyes burned at thine, so went

Thy spell through him, and left his straight neck bent

And round his heart one strangling golden hair.

(Collected Works, 216)

The poem and the picture appeared together alongside Rossetti's
painting Sibylla Palmifera and the sonnet Soul's Beauty. In 1881, the
Lilith sonnet was renamed "Body's Beauty" in order to contrast it and
Soul's Beauty. The two were placed sequentially in The House of Life
collection (sonnets number 77 and 78).
Rossetti wrote in 1870:

This is in accordance with Jewish folk tradition, which associates Lilith

both with long hair (a symbol of dangerous feminine seductive power
 43

in both Jewish and Islamic cultures), and with possessing women by

entering them through mirrors.

The Victorian poet Robert Browning re-envisioned Lilith in his poem

"Adam, Lilith, and Eve". First published in 1883, the poem uses the
traditional myths surrounding the triad of Adam, Eve, and Lilith.
Browning depicts Lilith and Eve as being friendly and complicitous with
each other, as they sit together on either side of Adam. Under the
threat of death, Eve admits that she never loved Adam, while Lilith
confesses that she always loved him:

Browning focused on Lilith's emotional attributes, rather than that of

her ancient demon predecessors.

Scottish author George MacDonald also wrote a fantasy novel entitled

Lilith, first published in 1895. MacDonald employed the character of
Lilith in service to a spiritual allegory about sin and redemption. Many
of the traditional characteristics of Lilith mythology are present in the
author's depiction: Long dark hair, pale skin, a hatred and fear of
children and babies, and an obsession with gazing at herself in a
mirror. MacDonald's Lilith also has vampiric qualities: She bites people
and sucks their blood for sustenance.

In modern occultism

The depiction of Lilith in Romanticism continues to be popular among

Wiccans, feminists and in other modern occultism.

Ceremonial magic

Few magical orders dedicated to the undercurrent of Lilith, featuring

initiations specifically related to the arcana of the "first mother" exist.
Two organizations that use initiations and magic associated with Lilith
 44

are the Ordo Antichristianus Illuminati and the Order of Phosphorus.

Lilith appears as a succuba in Aleister Crowley's De Arte Magica. Lilith
was also one of the middle names of Crowley’s first child, Nuit Ma
Ahathoor Hecate Sappho Jezebel Lilith Crowley (b. 1904, d.1906), and
Lilith is sometimes identified with Babalon in Thelemic writings. A
Chaos Magical rite, based on an earlier German rite, offers a
ceremonial Invocation of Lilith:

A 2006 "creative occultist" work by ceremonial magickian Donald

Tyson, titled Liber Lilith, details the "secret" cosmology for the 'Mother
of Harlots' and spawn of all nightbreed monsters, Lilith.Tyson,
Donald.
The book claims to have been saved from the ashes of Dr John Dee's
library at Mortlake in the 1580s, but no evidence that this book existed
before the 21st century can be found. Tyson himself states that while
the grimoire itself is esoterically sound, the historical details
surrounding it are a "fictional wrapper" created in order to make the
book more interesting.

Modern Luciferianism

In modern Luciferianism, Lilith is considered a consort of Lucifer and is

identified with the figure of Babalon. She is said to come from the mud
and dust, and is known as the Queen of the Succubi. When she and
Lucifer mate, they form an androgynous being called "Baphomet" or
the "Goat of Mendes," also known in Luciferianism as the "God of
Witches."

Writings by Michael W. Ford, including The Foundations of the

Luciferian Path, contend that Lilith forms a part of the "Luciferian
Trinity" consisting of herself, Samael and Cain. Likewise, Lilith is said
to have been Cain's actual mother, as opposed to Eve. Lilith here is
 45

seen as a goddess of witches, the dark feminine principle, and is also

known as the goddess Hecate.

Wicca

Many early writers that contributed to modern day Wicca expressed

special reverence for Lilith. Charles Leland associated Aradia with
Lilith: Aradia, says Leland, is Herodias, who was regarded in stregheria
folklore as being associated with Diana as chief of the witches. Leland
further notes that Herodias is a name that comes from West Asia,
where it denoted an early form of Lilith.
Gerald Gardner asserted that there was continuous historical worship
of Lilith to present day, and that her name is sometimes given to the
goddess being personified in the coven, by the priestess. This idea was
further attested by Doreen Valiente, who cited her as a presiding
goddess of the Craft: “the personification of erotic dreams, the
suppressed desire for delights”.

In some contemporary concepts, Lilith is viewed as the embodiment of

the Goddess, a designation that is thought to be shared with what
these faiths believe to be her counterparts: Inanna, Ishtar, Asherah,
Anath and Isis. According to one view, Lilith was originally a Sumerian,
Babylonian, or Hebrew mother goddess of childbirth, children, women,
and sexuality who later became demonized due to the rise of
patriarchy. Other modern views hold that Lilith is a dark moon
goddess on par with the Hindu Kali.

Astrology

In modern Western astrology, "Dark Moon" Lilith, is not an actual

phase of the moon, but is the empty focus of the ellipse described by
the moon's orbit (the other focus occupied by the Earth). Dark Moon
Lilith is often employed in astrological chart readings. "The Dark Moon
 46

describes our relationship to the absolute, to sacrifice as such, and

shows how we let go.”

The moon's hypothetical apogee point (the point at which it is furthest

in its orbit from the Earth), is known as "Black Moon" Lilith. It is said
to signify instinctive and emotional intelligence in astrological charts.

The asteroid 1181 Lilith is also sometimes used in astrology.

Western mystery tradition

The western mystery tradition associates Lilith with the Klipoth of

kabbalah. Samael Aun Weor in The Pistis Sophia Unveiled writes that
homosexuals are the "henchmen of Lilith." Likewise, women who
undergo willful abortion, and those who support this practice are "seen
in the sphere of Lilith." Dion Fortune writes, "The Virgin Mary is
reflected in Lilith," and that Lilith is the source of "lustful dreams."
Indeed, if one meditates on negative (or inverted) Binah, one readily
finds Lilith; to worship Lilith is to use the power of the Holy Spirit for
negative purposes.

Feminist Theology

In a paper on the subject of feminist theology, Deborah J. Grenn, of

the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, has argued that Lilith was a
mother goddess whose demonization was designed to keep women
alienated from their own 'original sources' of power and spiritual
authority. The case is argued for "a reinterpretation of the divine as
embodied by the Semitic goddess Lilith, she who has been
represented and misrepresented in a variety of sacred texts".
 47

Popular culture

19-20th century Armenian writer Avetik Isahakyan wrote a story

entitled "Lilit".
Lilith is the name of two fictional American comic book characters
owned by Marvel Comics. Both characters exist in the Marvel
Universe. The first is a superheroine, daughter of Dracula and, like
him, a vampire, although her powers and weaknesses differ from
most other vampires. The second is an evil demon sorceress.

In Diablo II: Lord of Destruction Lilith is a demon whom players have

to defeat in order to gain access to Tristram. Known as the "Mother of
All Demons", she gives birth to demons called the Lilin which have
lives of their own, but always remain obedient to their mother.

Lilith Clay is a young superheroine who occasionally appears in DC

Comic's Teen Titans titles.
In the show Supernatural (TV Series) she is the first demon that
Lucifer created after his outcast from heaven to mock the humans.
She holds the deals of humans and then breaks seals through out the
fourth season. She is killed at the end of the fourth season to break
the final seal that sets Lucifer free.

In 1996, Black Metal band Ancient released the album The Cainian
Cronicle, featering the song Lilith's Embrace. Added with various
Doom Metal elements, the song tells the story of Lilith in her
character as the Succubus.
 48

In April 2010, British extreme metal band Cradle of Filth announced

their new concept album, Darkly Darkly Venus Aversa, to be "based
on Adam's first wife, the lascivious Demoness Lilith".

Lilith is the ranking demon of Satan in the Incarnations of Immortality

series by Piers Anthony, though she goes by many similar names.
She is used to help try to corrupt many of the Incarnations, until she
falls in love with the Incarnation of War and deserts Satan for him.
Lilith Sternin is a supporting character played by Bebe Neuwirth on
the American sitcom Cheers, and the spin-off Frasier, as the wife then
ex-wife of Frasier Crane.
In The Chronicles of Narnia, Jadis (the White Witch) is a descendant
of Lilith.
An episode of The Naked Archaeologist'' dealt with Lilith and her
origins.
In the fictional Nightside bookseries by Simon R. Green, Lilith plays a
great role. Not only did she create the location the books take place
(the Nightside), but she also is the mother of the protagonist of the
story.
Lilith appears in an episode of CBS Radio Mystery Theater entitled
"Land of the Living Dead." Two pilots, Kent Floyd and Terry
Bridgewater, find themselves trapped in a mysterious land that is
home to all the humans throughout history who have disappeared.
Judge Joseph Crater and Amelia Earhart are referenced specifically.
Lilith, as the first human to ever disappear, is the leader of the
community.
Lilith appears in Neon Genesis Evangelion (anime) shown crucified
and impaled with a spear named the "Lance of Longinus", the same
lance used to pierce the side of Jesus during his crucifixion. The
character Rei Ayanami is later revealed to be the human vessel for
Lilith's soul.
 49

Lilith is a recurring demon in the Megami Tensei series, usually as a

powerful demon of the succubus ("Night") family.

LILITH
The First Wife of Adam?
Everyone has been told from the day they were born that Adam was
the first man and Eve was the first woman to walk on this earth, but is
that true?

The Hebrew's mystify that the first woman was Lilith. Adam cried to
God, "Every creature but I have a proper helpmate." Some say God
created Lilith out of filth and sediment instead of pure dust. And others
say she and Adam were born back to back from the same dust. Lilith
and Adam quarreled consistently, because she refused to accept Adam
"the man" as her superior. She also disapproved of the posture he
demanded when making love. Lilith said, "Why must I lie beneath you
when we were made from the same dust and therefore are equal?'

But Adam, not listening to her, tried to force her to obey. Lilith,
enraged, uttered the 'Ineffable Name' of God, rose into the air, left
Adam and Paradise. But according to Moslem tradition, before leaving,
she cohabited with the Devil and gave birth to the jinn (spirits of
Mohammedan mythology, supposedly able to assume the forms of
men and animals). It is also said that before leaving, she slept with
Adam and gave birth to the Shedim or evil spirits.

Adam complained to God, "I have been deserted by my helpmate." So

God dispatched three angels (Sennoi, Sansanui, and Samangluf) to go
find Lilith and bring her back. They found Lilith by the Red Sea, a
region alive with lustful demons and insisted that she return.

I will call the Sirens from the sea,

And ye Liliths, come ye from the desert,
And ye Shedim and dragons (Tannim) from the forests.

Lilith asked them, "How can I return to Adam after my stay by the Red
Sea?" The angels told her that she will die. Lilith said, "How can I die
 50

when God has made me in charge of all newborn children?" The angels
responded saying, "For not returning to Adam, God has placed upon
you the most incurable penalty of losing one hundred of your offspring
each day".

Outraged over God's punishment, she seeks her revenge by strangling

newborn children while they sleep: boys up to the eighth day and girls
up to the twentieth day of life. But if Lilith finds an angelic amulet or a
circle drawn with the names of the three angels over the infants
cradle, she must spare their lives. For it was a promise she made to
the angels. But when God was told about the promise by the angels,
he threw in an added punishment. If a child is spared, Lilith would
have to turn against one of her own children.

To get through the curse that was placed upon her, she not only seeks
the houses of women in child-birth, she would also attack men
sleeping alone.

He against whom the wicked Utukku hurled himself,

Whom in his bed the wicked Alu covered,
Whom the wicked ghost by night overwhelmed,
Whom the great Gallu assaulted,
Whose limbs the wicked god lacerated,
Whom Lamashtu possessed with a seizing hand,
Whom Labasu overwhelmed,
Whom the Seizer Fastened upon,
Whom The Maid of Lilu chose,
The man, whom the Maid of Lilu pressed to her bosom .

Her offspring from these unions were Lilim or Lilin, demons with
human bodies.

Names of Lilith

There are many names to describe Lilith: Lilu, Lillu, Maid of Lilla, Lilitu,
bogey-wolf, night hag, screech owl, the flying one, nightjar, winged,
she-wolf, child stealing witch, Maid of desolation.

In doing my research, there is no mention of Lilith in the KJV (King

James Version), NIV (New International Version), NJB (New Jerusalem
Bible) or JPS (Jewish Public Society) as being the wife of Adam. The
KJV Bible only mentions a reference of Lilith in Isaiah 34: 14&15:
 51

14) The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts
of the island, and the satyr (a mythical creature, half man, half goat)
shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there and find for
herself a place of rest.15) There shall the great owl make her nest,
and lay, and hatch and gather under her shadow; there shall the
vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.

Another translation written in Modern Hebrew language:

Isaiah 34:14 ysh`yh 34, 14

Wildcats shall meet hyenas, wpgshw Syym `t -`yym
  Goat-demons shall greet each other; ws `yr `l - r `hw yqr`
There too the lilith shall repose `k - shm hrgy`h lylyt
And find herself a resting place. wmS ` lh mnwH

The New English Bible translates:

Marmots shall consort with jackals, and he-goat shall encounter he-
goat. There too the nightjar shall rest, and find herself a place for
repose.

The Interpreter's Bible only comments on certain verses of Isaiah's

chapter 34. They are 1-6, 8-11, 14 etc. The comment for chapter 14
says:

The demons of popular superstition, including Lilith, the storm demon

or night hag, which haunt ruins and waste places, have taken
possession of the former homes of men.

Lilith's Development

The story of Lilith's development began from "maid of desolation"

(ardat lili) of Babylonian tradition, a demon of waste places who
originally lived in the garden of the Sumerian Inanna. As the name of
demon, Lilit (Hebrew) is etymological related to the Sumerian lil "wind"
and not as some once supposed, to the Hebrew laylah "night".

It is said that Lilith is a notable figure in Gnostic heresy. The heresy is

based on Genesis 1:27, which says, "male and female created he
them." Whereas the version in Genesis 2:18-22 says, "God made Eve
from the ribs of Adam." Jewish narration often went on a thematic
basis: they would discuss along a theme, and sometimes get ahead of
themselves in an attempt to keep the theme clear, and then go back
 52

and fill in the blanks. The discussion quoted in the Treatise on the Left
Emanation by the Rabbi Isaac Ben Jacob Ha-Kohen is an example.

The Testament of Solomon, surviving in a Greek text, which is

estimated to have been written between the first century and the
fourth century, has the earliest version of what became the Lilith
legend. It also serves as the earliest summary of demons, who appear
to King Solomon in succession at his invocation, and is the earliest text
to cast King Solomon in the role of sorcerer, which became primary
model for him in subsequent Jewish lore. Among the demons
compelled to appear is one who has all the witch like characteristics of
Lilith.

After using his magic powers to summon demons, King Solomon

commands them to identify themselves. Among them is Obizuth, who
describes herself in terms virtually identical to those later associated
with Lilith:

At night I sleep not, but go my rounds over all the world and visit
women in childbirth. Divining the hour I take my stand, and if I am
lucky I strangle the child...I am a fierce spirit of myriad names and
many shapes.

At this point, Solomon demands to know by which angel she can be

defeated (as every demon has an opposing angel that is its nemesis),
and Obizuth replies: "By the angel of God called Afarol, also known as
Raphael, If any man knows his name and writes it on an amulet for a
woman in childbirth, then I shall not be able to enter her". This is the
earliest text referring to the amuletic tradition of warding off this
demoness, which became so central a part of the Lilith legend. This
description links Obizuth even closer to Lilith because the name Lilith
has long been associated with laylah "night."

Could Lilith still be killing the infants of today?

For more than four decades, scientists have been searching without
success for a solution to the agonizing mystery of Sudden Infant Death
Syndrome (SIDS). SIDS has traditionally been defined as the silent
killer of any infant or young child sleeping in its crib that is
unexplained by history, and in which a through post-mortem
examination fails to demonstrate an adequate cause for death. A baby
who dies under these mysterious circumstances did not choke,
smother, or strangle. Nor was a slight cold the cause of death. It is
known there are more males who have died from SIDS then females.
 53

It's emphasized that because SIDS is a diagnosis of exclusion, it is

possible that the true incidence of SIDS is over-reported. For example,
SIDS is often listed as a cause of death in the absence of an autopsy.

Lilith is no longer an object of fear. Since the mid- 1970's, however,

she has reappeared in various guises, in Jewish poetry and fiction
alike, she has been reclaimed by American Jewish women as a model
of female strength and independence. A Jewish feminist magazine
named Lilith has been in print since 1976, and a number of Jewish
female theologians, re-examining the accounts of creation in Genesis
1:27. These reclamations of Lilith may, therefore, be seen as a part of
a more general awakening of interest in female images and symbols
within tradition. The magazine, Lilith, was started because of "the
Jewish eminist: conflict in identities," in the Jewish woman.

Work Cited

Graves, Robert and Raphael, Patai. Hebrew Myths: The Book of

Genesis. New York: 1983.
"Lilith." Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend. n.p.
Vol 2. 1950.
"Lilith." The New English Bible. Oxford University Press, 1976.
Pierce and Washabaugh. "Lilith." The Interpreter's Bible. Vol 5. 1956.
Schwartz, Howard. Lilith's Cave. n.p. 1945.
"Lilith." Langond, Stephen,H. Semitic Mythology. Boston: n.p. pp.362-
365. 1931.
NetCom On-line Communication. http://www.cs.rutge...christan/faq/
lilith. p. 4.
NetCom On-line Communication. http://lark.cc.ukan...n/lilith/
lilith2.gif. p. 5.
NetCom On-line Communication. http://lark.cc.ukan...n/lilith/ lilith.gif
"Lilith." Ginzeberg,Louis. The Legends of the Jews. Philadelphia: Jewish
Public Society. Vol 5. p. 39-41. 1942.
Koltum, Elizabeth. The Jewish Feminist: Conflict in Identities, New
York:The Jewish Women, 1976.
 54

A Modern Development: Images of Lilith in

Literature, Art, and Artifacts

"Gilgamesh and the Huluppu Tree" (2000 BCE)

Usually found as part of the Epic of Gilgamesh of 2400 BC, this
tale contains the earliest mention of Lilith. She is here associated
with Eden and is portrayed as fearsome.

"The Lilith Relief" (circa 2000 BCE)

Sumerian terra-cotta relief which features Lilith as the primary
figure. Lilith is identified as a succubus.
Isaiah 34:14 (circa 900 BC)
This scripture is the site of a much contested incidental literary
reference to Lilith. While the word sometimes translated as
"Lilith" has been variously translated as "night hag," "night
demon," etc., the passage, nevertheless, associates a Lilith-like
creature with the desert, night, evil, and flight.
Testament of Solomon (200 CE)
Although the character in question is "Obizuth," she describes
herself in terms that correlate almost perfectly with Lilith. This
text contains the earliest textual reference to the amuletic
tradition of warding off Lilith, the demoness.
The Talmud (400 CE)
This text contains four incidental mentions of Lilith as a winged,
she-demon of the night. Although it alludes to the succubus-
myth associated with Lilith, it does not show any connection with
Adam at all.
"The Nippur Bowls" (circa 600 CE)
Incantation bowls found near the ancient colony of Nippur. This
set of archeological artifacts contains 40 bowls, 26 of which
feature Lilith. Her guises as the child-slayer and succubus are
joined together in the incantations inscribed here.
The Alphabet of Ben Sira (800 CE)
Controversial text by an unknown author, generally believed to
be the "founding text" for the Lilith myth as it is known today.
The Lilith of The Alphabet account is the insubordinate first wife
of Adam, created from dust as his equal, who fled Eden.
Book of Raziel (circa 1100 CE)
 55

This literary reference draws upon the Hebrew amuletic tradition

of warding off Lilith during childbirth. She is here associated with
Adam and Eve.
The Zohar (1200 CE)
This central work of Jewish mysticism depicts Lilith in all of her
various guises: 1) Lilith as "female of Samael." Seductive and
beautiful, Lilith sleeps with men and then kills them. (Zohar I
148a-148b). 2) Lilith begets demons from her intercourse with
sleeping men and inflicts diseases on them. (Zohar I 19b). 3)
The story of creation (Lilith/Adam/Eve) is "resolved" by making
Lilith Adam's first wife. (Zohar III 19a). 4) Lilith is described as a
strangler/murderer of children. (Zohar I 19b).
Hebrew Amuletic Tradition (circa 900-1800)
Numerous archeological artifacts which focus on Lilith. Primarily
used during child- birth to keep Lilith away, these were worn by
the pregnant woman and/or hung on her walls. Some of these
artifacts also draw on the facets of Lilith's identity as a succubus
and as the first wife of Adam.
Jutta (1565)
German play about Johanna, the granddaughter of Lilith and the
only woman known to have been pope. As a backdrop to this
plot, the existence of Lilith is explained.
Paradise Lost (1667)
Contains an apparent allusion to Lilith in the single phrase
"snake witch."
Faust (1808)
Lilith briefly appears in the Walpurgis Night scene of this work by
Goethe. She is portrayed as a beautiful seductress with long,
flowing hair, and Mephistopheles explains to Faust that Lilith was
Adam's first wife.
"Lamia" (1819)
Poem by John Keats presenting the first Romantic portrayal of
Lilith. She is excessively beautiful and is trapped in the form of a
snake until freed by Hermes so that she can find the love of her
youth, Lycius. She and he live together happily, with him
unaware of her mythical past, until, at their wedding, the
philosopher Apollonius declares Lilith's name and causes her
death. Lycius, unable to live without her, dies also.
"La Belle Dame sans Merci" (1820)
Ballad by John Keats which draws upon themes of "Lamia." The
unnamed "La Belle" is an enchantress/phantasm who seduces
even the strongest of men. She can be read as representing
Lilith herself or simply the femme fatale image of which Lilith is a
part.
 56

"Lady Lilith" (1863 and 1864-1868?)

Two paintings by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (watercolor and then oil
version) which depict Lilith sitting in a magical boudoir/bower
space, combing her long, ensnaring hair in a mirror.
"Lilith," later published as "Body's Beauty" (1868)
Sonnet written by Dante Gabriel Rossetti to accompany "Lady
Lilith." She is described as Adam's first wife and possibly
implicated in the Fall of Man. The poem emphasizes Lilith's
affiliation with the snake and ends with Lilith castrating/killing
the universalized young man with her "strangling golden hair."
"Eden Bower" (1869)
Ballad by Dante Gabriel Rossetti which elaborates on the themes
of "Lilith." Although this poem represents the first time that Lilith
is directly implicated in the Fall of Man, it is also here that Lilith
truly makes her transformation. By reading the poem from a
feminist perspective, it can be seen that Rossetti gives Lilith the
power of narrative voice, a voice which was historically denied
her, and explodes the dichotomy between good and evil, thereby
undermining traditional responses to the myth of Lilith
"A Sea-Spell" (1868) and "The Orchard-Pit" (1869)
Two poems by Rossetti which tell of other "femme fatales" who
are not necessarily Lilith but, nonetheless, draw upon the
symbols and imagery of the Lilith myth. The unnamed femme
fatale of "The Orchard Pit" is more explicitly associated with Lilith
while the Siren of "A Sea-Spell" merely echoes the theme of
Lilith.
"Adam, Lilith and Eve" (1883)
Poem by Robert Browning where a thunderstorm drives Lilith to
confess that she truly loved Adam, and Eve to confess that she
truly loved another man. After the storm is over, Adam naively
laughs and dismisses their tales as falsehoods.
"Lilith" (1887)
Painting by the Honorable John Collier which pictures sexuality
between Lilith and the snake. While most older sources indicate
that Collier's inspiration was Keats' "Lamia," the picture more
accurately seems to represent the sexual scenes between Lilith
and the serpent in "Eden Bower."
La Fin de Satan (1886)
Novel by Victor Hugo where Lilith is combined with Isis and is
portrayed as hideous and bloodthirsty, "the world's black soul."
"La Fille de Lilith" ("The Daughter of Lilith") (1889)
Story by Anatole France about Leila, the daughter of Lilith. Lilith
and all of her children are bound to the earth in immortality --
 57

because they were not involved in the fall from grace --and are
described as "neither good nor evil."
Lilith (1892)
Play by Remy de Gourmont which gives a cynical and erotic
account of the traditional creation story as described in the
sacred Jewish texts. Depicts the myth of Lilith as a completely
sexualized being who plots revenge on Adam and Eve only so
that she can have sex with Adam.
"Lilith" (circa 1892)
Painting by Kenyon Cox where Lilith coddles and kisses the
snake. In a lower panel of the painting, Lilith is shown in the
Tree of Knowledge with the body of the Snake. Lilith is handing
the forbidden fruit to Eve and she, in turn, passes it to Adam,
thus creating a chain of destructive femininity.
(* It should be noted that during the late 1800s, images of
snakes and women were widespread in art and literature.
Archetypal females portrayed with snakes included Salammb�,
Eve, Lilith, and Lamia. The list compiled here only includes
references to Lilith explicitly and also some references to Lamia
that seem to indicate an implicit representation of Lilith as well
(such as Keats' "Lamia" and Waterhouse's "Lamia" paintings).
For more information on images of women and serpents in fin-
de-si�cle culture, see Dijkstra's Idols of Perversity, pages 305-
313.)
Lilith (1895)
Novel by George MacDonald where the hero is forced down a
path of painful initiation by the seductress Lilith.
"Lilith" (1896)
Story by Henry Harland in which the hero is a poverty stricken,
deaf-mute sculptor named Straham. He creates a clay casting
for a statue of Lilith and develops a close bond with the statue,
sacrificing everything to keep it from being ruined by the
coldness of the winter. He stumbles upon an old woman in the
street (Lilith herself) and debates over assisting her or going
back to his statue. He finally opts for the former, but when he
gets home his statue has shattered. Much later, he starts the
figure again, and when it is exhibited he becomes famous.
"Lamia" (1905)
Painting by John William Waterhouse in which Lamia kneels
before Lycius as the snake-skin falls from her body. Clearly
depicts a scene from Keats' poem "Lamia," but also, more
generally, depicts Lilith as the universalized femme fatale. (See
illustration #20).
Der Heilige und die Tiere (1905)
 58

Play by Victor Widmann in which Lilith is delivered from evil by a

saint.
"Die Kinder der Lilith" (1908)
Poem by the German storyteller Isolde Kurz which rejects as
absurd the tradition of Lilith as a winged demon who deserted
Adam. Kurz asserts that Lilith must have originally been like an
angel and capable of deep insight. Adam, the "lump of clay," was
created in God's boredom and Lilith, a charming, elfin creature,
was given to him as a companion, in the hopes that something
new, something disorderly striving for order, would come out of
the contrast between their natures. Lucifer creates Eve to
distract Adam from Lilith -- his rival. Lilith flees in despair and
gives birth to a child that will lead Adam's other children to
spiritual perfection, as God had intended.
"Lamia" (1909)
Second painting of this title by John William Waterhouse, often
known to paint multiple paintings upon the same theme. Lamia
is seated alone at a river bank, looking at her reflection in the
water. The snake-skin she has recently shed is at her feet.
Again, this painting clearly speaks to Keats' "Lamia" but also
contains elements which refer to the more general femme fatale,
including Lilith. (See illustration #21).
"The Avenging Spirit" (1920)
Poem by Arthur Symons which identifies Lilith and Lamia as
mother and daughter, united in evil. The Snake plays a primary
role in the poem as a symbol of sexuality, lust, and evil.
Back to Methuselah (1922)
Play by George Bernard Shaw in which Lilith is the
personification of creative development, the mother of Adam,
Eve, and all humankind. Lilith bestowed upon Eve her greatest
gift -- curiosity. The last act is set in the year 31,920 and Lilith
has the last word, concluding that the experience (experiment)
of human development has been worthwhile and humanity is on
its way to eliminating cruelty, hypocrisy, and death.
Dieu crea d'abord Lilith (1935)
Novel by Marc Chadourne where Lilith sows ruin, death and an
incurable despair before disappearing to no one knows where, in
despair herself and still a rebel. She may/may not be dead.
Delta of Venus (1969)
Book of "erotica" by Anais Nin, which features a character named
Lilith. Lilith here is described as "sexually cold," but it is not her
own fault, for her husband neglects to show any real sexual
interest in her. Says Nin, "It was something to be done quickly,
for his sake. For her it was a sacrifice."
 59

Pope Joan (20th c.)

A reworking of the German play "Jutta"
"Lilith Prints" (1974)
Pornographic, passionate images of a transcendental sexual
creation including Adam, Eve, Lilith, Satan, and God.
"Lilywhite Lilith" (1974)
Song on Peter Gabriel's album "The Lamb Lies Down on
Broadway" in which Lilith is the guide of the soul through the
Underworld.
"Lilith" (1981)
A midrash on the text of Genesis 3:7 which explains how Lilith
comforted Eve when she was told to cover her body. Eve had felt
that Adam must not have liked her body and, thus, was
ashamed. Lilith supports her and gives Eve the confidence and
determination to speak up to Adam. The two women embrace as
good friends.
La Papesse ou la legende de la papesse Jeanne et de sa
compagne Bartolea (1983)
A play by Odile Ehret which reworked the "Jutta" story.
La Papesse (1983)
A novel by Claude Pasteur also based on the "Jutta" story.
"The Story of Lilith and Eve" (modern)
Modern Jewish tale by Jakob Lind in which Lilith and Eve are
aspects of one female.
Lilith: A Metamorphosis (1991)
Novel by Dagmar Nick in which Lilith tells her version of the
story of Adam's experiences in the Garden of Eden, why he and
Eve are expelled, and why she herself is transformed into a
snake.
From Lilith to Lilith Fair (1998)
Authorized story of the evolution of the Lilith Fair, with an
introduction by Sarah McLachlan, founder of the event, stating
her own abbreviated version of the Lilith myth. Demonstrates
the way in which Lilith is defined in modern culture: the first
strong, independent woman, a true feminist heroine.
Which Lilith? (1998)
Subtitled "Feminist Writers ReCreate the World's First Woman,"
this book contains modern feminists' cogitations upon who Lilith
is/might be. The authors describe the text as "contemporary
midrash," commentary on biblical text, and assert that "Jewish
women have a need to imagine Lilith."
 60

Lilith,

Mother of Witches
If Lucifer was the first male rebel in creation then
Lilith has to be the first female. And what a rebel she was: the first
feminist; the first witch; the first sexually assertive woman; the first
divorcee! As a figure she is an inspiration, a mentor and a guide; a
woman who deliberately exiled herself from paradise in search of
nothing more substantive than freedom, nothing more important than
freedom. For there is nothing more important.
In tradition she takes many shapes, drawing to herself the creatures of
the dark and the night, not just witches but Jinn, vampires and
demons of all sorts. In Hebrew her name means ‘screech owl’ and she
is sometimes depicted in the form of a bird-woman. ‘Lilith’ is also
related to the Semitic root word for ‘night.’

She is depicted in Jewish lore sometimes as a beautiful young woman,

at other times a hag. She is also depicted as a woman from head to
waist, with fire down below, which, I suppose, might very well be a
comment on her sexual appetite. :-)) In other depictions the lower
parts take the form of a snake.

She also takes on a complete animal form, most usually a large black
cat, an owl or a snake. It’s possible that she may have emerged in
some ancient traditions as a tree spirit. In one Sumerian myth ‘Dark
Maid Lilith’ lives as in a sacred tree with a snake and a sacred bird as
companions.

In her most familiar form she appears in Jewish legend as the first wife
of Adam, created not from his rib, like Eve, but from the Earth itself at
the same time as her partner. Because of this she demanded equal
status, which included refusing always to take the ‘missionary position’
when they had sex, seeing that as an admission of submissiveness.
And that was not her style; oh, no. When Adam attempted to force her
she gave voice to the secret name of the Creator, which allowed her to
leave Paradise on wings. All attempts to bring her back failed; for if
the angels threatened Lilith threatened even more.

In some accounts Lilith is unfertile; in others she is mother to a host of

demons, the <em>Lilin</em> or Daughters of Lilith. The father of
 61

these girls is uncertain, with suggestions ranging from Samael, the

fallen angel, or even Asmodeus. Lilith is also the original succubus.

She continues to have a strong presence in Jewish fairy-tales and

folklore. In the Sephardic tradition she is La Broosha, which simply
means ‘the witch.’ Here she often appears as a large black cat.

There seems to me to be some Greek influences in the general make

up of Lilith, in that the owl is her sacred bird, as it is for Pallas Athena,
and she derives strength from the Moon, associating her with Artemis.

In whatever manner she is a potent symbol, the great mother, an

inspiration to all witches, an example to all women.
www.youtube.com/watch

Sat, October 24, 2009 - 12:34 PM

Your discussion of Lilith as the first sexually assertive female brings to
mind my thoughts on the patriarchal viewpoint of male/female
relationships in our western culture as being grossly out of step with
the reality of our natural world. I have perceived a strong, even
dominant Feminine energy pervasive in our humanity, even if currently
buried under attempts to suppress it out of fear and male feelings of
inadequacy in the face of its full power. One only need reflect upon the
dismal failure rate of the traditional, Christian patriarchal view of
mating and bonding to see something is out of step. Lilith is an equal
force, not subservient, and no doubt at times dominant with adoring
and devoted male energies. Might she be the allure within the male
soul toward the Woman on top; the Siren; she who reaches out and
takes from her male devotees what She demands; the Succubus we
long for, even as we tremble in her prescience.
Lynne Sun, October 25, 2009 - 3:41 PM
I really liked these posts about Lilith & cheix, I kind of agree with
where your coming from, but feel that patriarchy as we see it now, is
an evolvement from `maybe` a time Woman gave up her powers
rather than have it taken away from Her. It’s an interesting concept I
feel. There `may` have been a time when women voluntarily gave up
(so to speak) the illusions of power & self autonamy..settling for a way
of life that may have been less dangerous. Though this is only my
opinion & thoughts.
I feel women have always had the power, they only have allowed men
to think otherwise!
I also feel that most women would rather be doms (given a choice)
than subs. female sexual stimualtion usually is most active when she is
 62

`on top` in some way. Thus indicating a primal dominance inate in all
us females.

Just my thoughts..maybe mad, maybe not!

Loki... Sun, October 25, 2009 - 5:39 PM

I don't really feel the division between male and female; it's a
biological quirk that beats out other land-based procreative methods
for large / high-energy-needs mammals. Underneath the trappings of
physical gender and the resultant behavioral strategies that apes tend
to invent around those physical genders, I find no compelling spiritual
difference between "woman" and "man". Psychological differences, yes
- I reason that these are conditioned and not innate differences.

It's all in the apes' mind. Male, female.... it's a style thing.

That said, it's not terribly difficult to reason out why patriarchal
religion and society have made Lilith out to be so horrifying and
wicked~! Nor why I find her so amazingly hot.
Karan
Thu, April 22, 2010 - 6:05 PM
I don’t want to seem like a bothersome person. I am a bothersome
person...My mom always said I was of no Good. Hopefully the same
reply will come from your Ladies to ..
What I wanted to imply was that...Isn’t Lucifer like some sort of Venus
personification? I mean of course it has nothing to do with rebellion.
It seems logical enough that the Christian church took apron the virgin
marry title and had to demonize anything .At least a women like Venus
or Aphrodite... Do you see what I mean by that? It has nothing to do
with rebellion .If Rebellion is what you seek...Then you should read the
Hebrew book and its mention of the Goat that comes from the West
and brings down the Ram and rebels against all the stars of heaven
and so forth...

I am not sure about lillth .It seems to be created recently in years as a

sort of Mix of Christian Satan snake Lucifer and Lillith .This is a
Christian creation and you guys seem to favor it and help those crazy
Christian Dogs to rule otherwise..

I do understand that a rebellious and dangerous goddess would be

more akin to the Egyptian goddesses’ .Which for some reason you
guys might not like. Since the African Americans claim that the whole
of Egypt was only black people and some people might not like that. Is
it true or not? That I cannot speak of... I do believe it was a sort of
 63

mixed race .Black and lighter skinned colored people were there.
Either way... Hither in her Form as a lioness...She was quite
rebellious... Also baste...The cat goddess. Considered the Devovere...

Yes the mention of the black cat and lillith makes sense... Still that’s a
Egyptian Idea... I understand mixing different entities and making
them into a single whole would be quite difficult ...It’s Art if you can
make different elements work together... Like the snake and the Hawk
for example... That sort of thing takes mastery to do... Not saying you
don’t have what it takes. This is just my ideas of why it doesn’t work
for me... My own personal views...Not some guys’ views...

For example... A Cat and a Snake don’t go well... So if you would.. Go

for the cat goddess thing and then add to it that its also a goddess of
Snakes. Then that’s a bit odd...

That’s one of the reasons why the Indians don’t mention a cat
goddess...Since there Affiliation with that and Snake??
Kali is quite a rebellious woman...She hates anyone telling her what to
do...And yes the Sexual element is there. The Erotic Tartaric version of
Kali does exist...

My only mention is that...? It would be nice for once... If there was a

System of goddesses that were somewhat connected and dint attack
each other and where diverse... Mahavidyas perhaps? Still they don’t
have the cat goddess or a Hawk or an eagle... Since they have the
snake... so its all hush till he arrives...

Ahh and yes...The Snake and Cat go well in the Egyptian religions?
The Egyptians are quite a mystery Tho i would mention that the HAWK
seems to like the snakes...and perhaps its authority over the snake
proves like...A sort of respect gods and Goddesses have for each
other. It was the Egyptian system to show utmost respect for each
other and have names of gods and goddesses to work in harmony...

Now that’s god...

The Greeks were good at that to...And what a beautiful civilization all
these were...And all destroyed and a new Thorn in development is
fundamentalist Christians and there boring Demons...

Lillith only to me seem to be mentioned in a lot of horror movies lately

and a lot of stories about her...
 64

Perhaps she is the bitch goddesses ..Who keeps confusing everything

that is reality as barking Dogs do...Thinking they know better...
sorry if I seem aggressive .This is the only way I can talk if I need to
get the messed out there ..

Plus it’s not a Dog...it’s a JACKAL...

Jai Ma Kali
Karan

Thu, April 22, 2010 - 6:13 PM

Sorry to not mention. This folk tales of Lillith. Might be a True Ideal...
The Witch with the Long nose? Is this some sort of Jewish Prank...? I
bet that how they see it...

Still, I still think. The female bitch connection with a Ggoddess is

degrading. Who ever takes that into consideration is not a friend of
mine...
Since it’s the jackal. They are confusing The Dog for the Jackal ... The
jackal will scare the shit out of any Dog Witch...

Sister of Isis who slept with Osiris and had a Bastard child called
Anubis... Jackal headed Ggod and also depicted as a jackal ..
His name means... the Royal Child...

Mother Kali.. The One I believe can tame any hunger... Has a mount
as a jackal... NOT A FEMALE DOG...Mistake... I know this since... the
jackal apparently is quite predominant in Africa and in parts of Asia...
Which I have the pleasure of living in both places at particular time...

association to Death and destruction... Some sort of Morality

lacking...Which will of course piss most of the Christians...Which is fun
for me...

Jai Ma kali

Loki...
Mon, April 26, 2010 - 4:41 PM
"Witches" - the popular fiction version - were given long noses in order
to make them appear ugly. The idea was to persuade people to consult
doctors*** instead of witches; the peaked hat shows they are out of
style, the green skin shows they are unhealthy, the warts and nose
show that they are ugly, and the connotation of age shows that they
 65

are senile.

This propagandistic image of witches is fairly old, dating back to the

advent of Judaism; the full 'archetype' of the green evil witch is about
200 years old and far more related to kerugmatik / common Christian
reaction than Jewish.

Here’s an article that's not too dense:

draeconin.com/database/witchhunt.htm

*** the words "doctor" and "professor" originally mean "he that
speaks for God / he who is not questioned"

FIRE...
Mon, May 10, 2010 - 4:37 PM
Hey Anastasia! Yin and I were just talking about Lilith and she just did
a really cool erotic art piece of Lilith with a Tarot kinda flavor. Anyway,
check out this link for some really cool information on Lilith, especially
her pre Hebrew source with the Sumerians. She was the Handmaiden
of Ishtar at one point.

www.lilithgallery.com/library...ith.html

We have a garden devoted to her at Nipper. Jody Larson shot a picture

of Wyldefyre holding an apple out to our friend, Solitaire's, pet snake
in Liliths Garden, in our pictures. Check it out if you haven't seen it.

One of the reasons I thought Lilith's Fair was appropriately named was
because of the overwhelming sense of empowered Feminine Divine it
seemed to set loose. Much needed in Patriarchal cultural times. It has
been tough on us since the Bronze Age. lol

Been awhile since I have been here. Hi Adya and friends!

Adya Sat, May 22, 2010 - 6:07 PM

Hi all, Hi Firedancer, good to see you here again:)

been rethinking Lilith- Lilitu-Belili, who or what she may have been,
and what to call her... my take is that she often is confused with
Ereshkigal and Inanna, who also seem to have fragmented roles and
positions, and power, when earth or sea was split from heaven, and
underworld, at some appointed time in the past. i often think, perhaps,
they were all one and the same goddess?
 66

Case in point, the popular image "Queen of the Night" relief plaque
that I believe is stored in the London museum is often taken to be
Lilith.

Copy here, bottom right:

www.matrifocus.com/LAM05/spotlight.htm

"Some scholars interpret this winged goddess as Lilith and so a lilitu,

but she too is probably Inanna (Williams-Forte 1983: 189; Wolkstein &
Kramer 1983: 51). This seal provides another part of Inanna's nature.
Not only does its arrangement present the goddess's duality — of both
of the upper world and the underworld — but it suggests that she joins
the two. Like the huluppu tree, she stands with feet, roots, in the
underworld and head, branches, in the heavens, her body, the trunk,
joining them. She herself could be interpreted as the "cosmic tree of
life" and death (Campbell 1965: 64)."

Tara Tue, May 11, 2010 - 3:13 PM

The earliest stories of Lilith date considerably earlier than the Hebrew
to the Sumerian texts. It was to Suma that many of the Hebrew
stories find their roots. It was here that the story of Lilith telling Adam
that the only acceptable relationship between a man and a woman was
based on equality. Nor did the Sumerians believe that either Adam or
Lilith was created out of the Earth, nor that Eve came from Adams rib.
The Sumerian story is that both Adam and Eve were hybrid humans
created by the Anunnaki, who came from the stars and needed a work
force to mine precious metals and grow foods. It was, Nin-Khursag,
the Lady of the Mountain, and the daughter of Anu, the Great Father of
the Sky, and Ki, the Earth Mother, who was their chief geneticist that
took the early humanoid inhabitants and genetically engineered them
with Anunnaki genes to create “mankind”. Lilith (Lillake), The Beautiful
Queen Consort of the Gods, the Handmaiden of Inanna, on the other
hand, was herself a full-blood Anunnaki, which is why she would
accept no subservient position to Adam, who was, along with Eve
(Khawa), were created by Nin-Khursag, the Lady of Life, and Enki, the
Lord of the Earth and Waters. Lilith herself was the daughter of Nergal,
King of the Netherworld and Eresh-Kigal, Queen of the Netherworld,
and took Adama in training to “civilize” him and teach him how to
become the leader of the new race of man.

Lilith then mated with Enki and produced Luluwa, who was to become
the wife of Qayin (Cain), the Serpent King of Kish, who was the son of
the mating of Eve and Enki.
 67

Adam and Lilith had no offspring, but he and Eve had four, Hevel
(Abel), Lebhudha, Noraia and Sat-Naal (Seth).

We also have the Sumerians to thank for the story of Noah and the
flood, as well as the story of Moses floating down the Nile to be taken
into the house of the king, although the river wasn’t the Nile, it was
the Tigris or perhaps the Euphrates, and the King was Sumerian, not
Egyptian. Like so many biblical stories, there is a lot of “borrowing”
between cultures. In fact, the two brother gods, Enki and Enlil, later
became merged into the single Hebrew god after the exodus when the
deities worshiped by the Israelites coming out of Egypt had to be
integrated into that of the Hebrews in the “promised land”. When
looked at closely, one was a god of peace and love, while the other
was a god of smiting and retribution. When you understand this, you
may understand why the Hebrew god has both qualities now, and in
the early literature, the reference was to gods (plural), not god.
 68

Women, Religion and the Devil Incarnate

When analyzing the texts and development of the Jewish and Christian
religions, one can find both negative and positive things written about
the female sex. Some interpret various excerpts to be positive and
others interpret the same passages to be negative. Most importantly,
various interpretations can be given to laws written forbidding women
to do certain things, and demanding that they do others. When people
have analyzed these laws and texts, a common interpretation is that
the inferior treatment of women and the subordination of women by
men in the past led to the deionization of women in these religions. In
the eyes of some ancient priests, rabbis and philosophers, just as the
devil in the Bible and in history is viewed as a bad creature who only
wishes to put men off their path and corrupt the life on man, so too
was the women viewed as a corrupt creature who wished to tarnish
the life of man.

There are many chapters and quotes in the Hebrew Torah that lead to
the belief that women are inferior to men. This so-called inferiority is
one of the major view-points that led people to believe that women
were not worthy of the afterlife and of many objects men were able to
achieve. The inferiority also led to the belief that the woman was an
incarnate of the devil and acted in evil ways.

One of the major and most famous texts that lead people to believe
that women were inferior to men is the story of the Garden of Eden
and the creation of Adam and Eve. Genesis Two “presents man as
leader and woman as helper, follower and subordinate.” (Osburn, 114)
Over time, various interpretations have been given on Eve’s role in the
banishment from the Garden of Eden and the committing of the
infamous sin. Many people believe that the Devil approached Eve to
sin, rather than Adam, because women were gullible and prone to
sinning. (Osburn, 112) Some analyzers of the text say that Eve was
the assistant of the devious serpent and others say she was not at sole
fault for committing the sin in the Garden of Eden. (Higgins, 1)

It is written in Genesis that Eve first took fruit from the tree, ate the
fruit and then gave a piece to her husband, Adam. One reading this
 69

excerpt would surely say that it was Eve who committed the sin, as
she was the one who physically took the fruit from the tree and
convinced her husband to do so. Eve cannot control her desires, and
convinces her husband to have the same lack of control. Many people
take from this that Eve was the one who should be punished and that
Eve was corrupting Adam. This goes along with the religious idea that
women are the partners of the devil, who are solely seeking to corrupt
men.

Many parallels can also be found between the serpent and Eve, which
led people to believe that Eve was the devil, as the serpent was often
interpreted as such. Just as the serpent is deceiving, so is Eve in her
effort to make her husband sin. This demonic parallel gave many
people the foundation for linking women with the devil. (Higgins, 4)
Genesis states that man created Adam from the dust, and then
created Eve from the rib of Adam, thereby stating that woman was
merely a sub-creation of G-d, not even coming from the dirt, but
coming from a piece of man. This may be interpreted as a physical
subordination. Woman is underneath man forever, as that is how
woman was created in the first place.

Many other incidents in the Torah make its readers believe that
women were not as important as men. In the times of Moses, King
Pharaoh ordered all first-born Jewish males to be killed in the Nile
River. However, he completely disregarded the females. This shows us
the lack of care for female. The Torah also states that Jewish women
are not allowed to be priests. A last example is that Jewish law states
that when a woman gives birth to a boy, her body remains unpure for
a week. However, if a woman births a girl, her body remains unpure
for two weeks. These examples that come directly from Jewish law
give clear evidence to the subordination of women in the time of the
Bible. Women were not regarded as equal beings to men and this
subordination led to demonization. Without equality of genders, men,
the church and many religious adversaries needed reason to disregard
women and give an explanation for their inequality.

Within Judaism, there exists a myth of a Matriarch Era, in which

women were strong matriarchs that ruled without love or compassion.
They were cruel rulers who needed to be overpowered, and men did
just that. The male sex fought the women and won to become the
dominant patriarch in the family. Followers of this myth attribute the
subordination of women to the domination of women during this era.
 70

Women were thought to be cruel creatures, similar to the devil. They

were evil, mean, and powerful people who used a strong hand against
the men of the time. (Myers, 1)

The Jewish anonymous tale of Lilith, dating back to the 9th century
and cited in the book, “The Alphabet of Ben Sira,” is about a woman
who supposedly lived alongside Adam in the Garden of Eden. The tale
is another myth that entails people to believe of women as devil
creatures, who only seek to do evil. The story tells us that a woman,
Lilith, was created at the same time as Adam, and demanded equality
with Adam. Lilith refused to be a subordinate partner for Adam and
eventually escaped the Garden of Eden. The name Lilith was
supposedly a name meant to be given to a devil. This is the first
connection made with the female and the devil in this myth. It is
believed that after leaving the Garden of Eden, Lilith lived a life as
devilish as one could imagine, murdering children and seducing men.
Even today, religious Jewish households fight to keep Lillith and her
demonic ways far from the home. (Myers, 4) While many incidents in
the Torah lead people to believe that women are subordinate to men,
there are also many instances and philosophical interpretations that
lead us to believe that Gud created man and woman to be equals on
earth. Many excerpts from the Bible can be interpreted in various
ways, both negative and positive.

For instance, God’s written name, spelled with the Hebrew letters yud,
kay, vuv, kay, involve both masculine and feminine letters in the
Hebrew language. The letter yud is a masculine one, and the letter
hay, often pronounced kay when used in spelling the name of G-d, is
feminine. This spelling indicates G-d’s actual name, thought to be too
holy to be said out loud or even written on paper. A name this sacred
combines the masculine and the feminine to create something
unworthy of human utterance. G-d created His name to be something
He wanted both genders to share, and the indication of male and
female in such a holy and sacred name proves this.

(Munk, 117)

Many other things lead us to believe in the equality between man and
woman as ordered by G-d and all the Jewish people in the past. The
Talmud, a book of Jewish traditions and laws, states that, “in the merit
of righteous women we were redeemed from Egypt, and in the merit of
righteous women our future redemption will come."
 71

(Talmud Sotah 11b)

The Talmud attributes the freedom of the Jewish people to the hands
of the women of that time. Jewish families therefore worship Jewish
women and women in the family are meant to carry out many
responsibilities of the religion. The woman begins the Sabbath
ceremony with the lighting of the candles and cares for the Jewish
home.

The interpretation of the womb by many is just another symbol of

loveliness that is involved with the woman’s body. The womb is
something that creates life. This life is not tainted with sin or any evil.
It is a new life that can do anything and be anything, as it is pure. If
something like this is entailed within the woman’s body, we can ask
how something so pure can come from an evil creature. It is another
signification that Judaism believes in the purity and equality of women.
(Munk, 144)

However, while some look at women in the Jewish religion as lovely

beings that care for their family, take on responsibilities in their faith
and are the creator of their families, there are many interpretations for
ways in which Jewish women were not treated well within their faith.
There were many acts that men were allowed to do and women were
not, leading again to the idea that women were subordinate to men.
Women could not testify in court, appear publicly or talk to strangers.
These were all acts appointed solely for men, and the Jewish faith
disregarded women entirely when contemplating these acts.

One act that is perceived both negatively and positively by people in

the Jewish faith is the dipping of women into the Mikvah. The Jewish
religion calls for women to dip themselves in a Mikvah, a bath used in
the Jewish religion to cleanse the female body before sacred times and
during their menstruation cycle. The menstruation cycle in general was
perceived by some to be dangerous in the Jewish faith. Some found it
a burden and some found it spiritual and meaningful. Many Jews
believed that menstruation was another terrible thing about women
that made them subordinate to men. The Bible says, “And if a woman
have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put
apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until
the even.” (Leviticus, 15:19) During the menstruation cycle, women
were believed to be unpure and had to separate themselves entirely
from men, having separate bedrooms and separate rituals entirely for
 72

the week.

The subordination of women in the Bible, while having mixed reactions

in the Jewish faith, lead the Christian church to convince it’s followers
that women were the devil. The church attempted to equal femininity
with heresy. Being a woman was equally as bad as going against the
church and worshipping other things and other G-ds. During the
Renaissance, the church even led campaigns against women to say the
devil in them was insatiable. The church relied on the demonization of
women during these campaigns and needed its followers to agree with
them in demonizing women. (Denike, 12) Many Christians follow the
statement of Paul, that says, “Wives, be subject to your husbands…the
husband is head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church.”
(Osburn, 115) This quote leads to the Christian subordination of
women and confirms the subordination.

"Do you not know that you are each an Eve…You are the Devil's
gateway…You destroyed so easily God's image, man. On account of
your dessert even the Son of God had to die." This quote came from
St. Tertullian, who like many church leaders of the time, believed
women to be evil incarnates of the devil that were at fault for any
corruption of man. With this particular quote, we are led back to one
Christian interpretation of the Garden of Eden tale. St. Tertullian
believed that Eve was the initial temptress who steered man in a
wrong way and therefore deserved to be punished in the same way
that man was punished at the time. He makes direct reference to
linking women with the devil. He perceived women to be the devil’s
“gateway” into our world, and into the minds of men on earth.
(Denike, 17)

While many Christians believed that women were the devil, or an

incarnation of the devil, many Christians based their treatment of
women off of Jesus, who was believed to treat all men and women as
equal. The fact that Jesus treated women so well during his time was
very progressive. Women were usually not regarded or respected, and
were certainly not treated as equals. Jewish religion during that time
told people not to teach women the words of the Torah. However,
Jesus denied this law and taught women anyways. (Luke, 10:38-42)
Jesus allowed women to be disciples, had discussions on religion with
women and had women care for him. We have also been told that
many of Jesus’ followers were women and that he never turned his
back on women who wished to learn his ways. Jesus went against
Jewish laws by treating women fairly at that time. (Osburn, 125)
 73

Mary Magdalene was a figure in the New Testament that represents

the progressive treatment of women in Christianity, especially by
Jesus. When Jesus was resurrected, Matthew tells us that Mary
Magdalene was one of the first people to greet him upon his return.
This statement tells us how important Mary Magdalene, a woman, was
in the life of Jesus. She was the follower who was with him in this most
holy time of Jesus’ life and she was the follower we are initially told
about. (Matthew, 28:9-10)

Many other Christian writings, however, tell us to push away witches

and followers of the devil, meaning women of the time. The Canon
Episcopi was an early Christian document detailing thoughts on
witchcraft and women as influenced by the devil. The book went on to
describe witchcraft and it’s dealing with the devil. It describes the
church’s take on witchcraft, as well, stating that, “those who believe
such things have lost their faith and no longer belong to G-d.” (Denike,
27) The Canon Episcopi bases its teachings upon the story of Diana,
the Pagan goddess of fertility and children. It condemns the followers
of Diana and says that the “cults” who worship her should be done
away with. Diana worshippers were viewed as followers of the devil
and this was another basis to accuse women of witchcraft. (Denike,
27)

The treatment of women today in Christianity is an incredibly

debatable topic, possibly the most debated in the church today.
(Osburn, 1) Between religious interpretations of the Bible and current
misogynistic outlooks of women in culture, the status of women in the
church is not a status that can be defined. Many women today are
reverends over their churches. St. Claire is just one example of a saint
who was a woman, showing us Christianity’s appreciation for women.
However, while many Christians have progressed, many followers still
believe that women today are subordinate to men, going along with
the old belief that women are evil beings. (Osburn, 4)

The Jewish faith today has progressed in some ways and in some ways
has remained the same. Judaism is divided into three separate
observances: Reform, Conservative and Orthodox. Orthodox followers
tend to follow the old way of Jewish life. They do not allow women to
be rabbis or to sit alongside men at temple, as they believe it will lead
to the impure thoughts of men during services. Women are not
allowed to read from the Torah and are not presented with the same
rituals as men during the services. This strongly ties in with old beliefs
that women lead to the corruption of men. However, in less religious
practices, such as Reform and Conservative practices, female rabbis
 74

reside over many of the congregations. Women read from the Torah
and are embraced during services. They are often given the same
roles as men during the reciting of prayers and the reading of the
haftorah, the weekly Jewish lesson.

In conclusion, the scriptures of the Christian and Jewish religions have

shown us that through the subordination of women in the past, the
two religions took it upon themselves to demonize women. Women
were thought of as sub-creations of man, having covenants with the
devil in order to corrupt man. However, women were also sometimes
regarded with respect, love and humility and were often thought to be
the bearers of children, purity and love. Through these various
interpretations, one could see that women were regarded with all
types of emotions and opinions and although the religions sought to
demonize women for their so-called provocative nature, the
demonization was not successful as women are commonly regarded as
equals today.

Bibliography

Bock, Darrell L. Luke 9:51-24:53. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker

Academic, 1996.
Denike, Margaret. "The Devil's Insatiable Sex: A Genealogy of Evil
Incarnate." Hypatia Vol. 18, No. 1 (2003): 10-43.
Hendricksen, William. Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids, Michigan:
Baker Academic, 1981.
Higgins, Jean M.. "The Myth of Eve: The Temptress." Journal of the
American Academy of Religion Vol. 44, No. 4 (1976): 639-647.
Levine, Baruch A. Leviticus: The Traditional Hebrew Text. Philadelphia:
Jewish Publication Society Of America.
Mesorah, ArtScroll /. Schottenstein Edition of the Talmud - English Full
Size [#11b] - Sotah volume 2 (folio 11b). Brooklyn: Artscroll /
Mesorah, 2000.
Munk, Michael. The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet (Artscroll
(Mesorah Series)). New York: Artscroll, 1986.
Myers, Jody Elizabeth. " The Myth of Matriarchy in Recent Writings on
Jewish Women's Spirituality." Jewish Social Studies, New Series Vol. 4,
No. 1 (1997): 1-27.
Osburn, Carroll. Women in the Church: Reclaiming the Ideal. Abilene:
Abilene Christian Univ Press, 2001.
Ranft, Patricia. Women and the Religious Life in Premodern Europe.
New York: Diane Pub Co, 1996.
 75

Lillith and the  Devil

March 16, 2010

By Annie

Todays guest writer is Scottish Poet, Carole Bone, whose first

published piece, “Lilith and Devil” has been kindly reproduced for
readers to enjoy along with some background information about the
piece and her inspiration behind it.

Lilith and the Devil

My thoughts are dark like Lilith’s night

My dreams like Vincent’s crows in flight
Despair my enemy – my comrade
Are shadows real or just charade

The Devil grins and winks at me

Come dance with me and you will see
Dance with the Devil quick quick slow
Better the Devil that you know

Like an old friend he stands by me

And promises to set me free
Cut my bonds and free my soul
Just pay the ferryman his toll

Pandora’s box of dark delights

Tempt me in the Moon dark nights
Delicious pain won’t let me go
It comforts and torments me so

And when at last released to light

Still feel the teasing sultry night
 76

Call me like a secret love

Iron hand in velvet glove

The Devil laughs and speaks to me

Of all these things to help me see
That angels know these things I know
For as above is so below

Carole writes:

I feel rather humble to be asked for advice to would be poets – but I

would say write from the heart whatever you write – I think it shows in
your writing.

I would like anyone reading my poetry to be moved by the imagery

and words.  I think it’s impossible to have someone know exactly what
you meant when writing because inevitabley people put their own
interpretaion on it and you are not in control of that so you have to be
aware that others will take meaning from your poem you did not
intend and be ok with that.

As a child I loved nothing more than when my English teacher gave us

an essay to write.  I could never contain myself to the set number of
pages allocated.  A fact, which would be of no surprise to anyone who
knows me….

However it was many years later after some particularly trying events
in my life, when Pam Blair, one of many wonderful and inspiring
women that came into my life at that time, suggested writing my
thoughts down as a way of clarifying them.

I took her advice and slowly, stirring somewhere deep inside like a
dormant seed suddenly getting the right conditions to grow, came the
notion that I would like to write something more structured…..

The idea incubated for a while in the dark recesses of my mind, slowly
germinating and unfolding like a green shoot from the earth to present
itself on to the blinding white light of a blank page on my computer
screen.  There, suddenly popping up on its smooth open expanse was
a poem… or the makings of one.  For some strange reason my
thoughts and feelings seemed to flow more easily expressed in
rhyme.  More ideas came and one or two more poems.  I was enjoying
it immensely and I began to wonder if what I was writing was any
good and could I learn to write “proper” poetry?
 77

Enter the formidable and very talented Anne Whitaker.  I first met
Anne when I was studying that other subject which had come to
absorb me so much at this time, Astrology.  I knew Anne had taught
English in the past and I valued her opinion highly as a very astute
and intelligent woman.  I knew she would pull no punches but also
that any positive comments would be honest, stimulating and
encouraging.  Anne has been a wonderfully constructive and
inspirational influence ever since.  On her suggestion I sent the poem
featured here “Lilith and the Devil” to a highly respected American
Astrology bi-monthly magazine, “The Mountain Astrologer”.  It was
accepted for publication much to my delight.

The inspiration for “Lilith and the Devil” came from many sources.  In
myth Lilith was a wind demon, a succubus and a stealer of babies and
was said to have lain with the devil.  In folklore she was Adam’s first
wife and like him God made her from the earth ergo she considered
herself Adam’s partner and equal.  Her wrath at Adam’s subsequent
rejection of her when she would not be submissive to him sexually, or
any other way, seemed strangely in tune with women today and all the
benefits and burdens that modern life and equality has afforded them. 
Recent thought puts a positive slant on the legend, speculating that
Lilith represents the independent female who is self sufficient and
confident rather than the savage vengeful demon.

In Astrology Lilith is represented by the black moon, a theoretical point

in the horoscope that describes a dark facet of our nature.  By sign,
house and aspect she is descriptive of hidden depths and a negative
side of ourselves we prefer not to face.  Such rich tales invoked many
images as I contemplated the less savoury side of human nature and
how we often struggle to cope with things like sorrow, pain, loss,
anger and despair but also how we can surprise ourselves by rising to
the challenges life presents with remarkable strength we were
unaware lay within us and how growth, experience, understanding and
transformation are often the unexpected rewards.

It occurred to me that many of these themes were rather similar to

the principles of birth, death and renewal linked with the sign of
Scorpio.  Intense, obsessive and capable of renewing itself phoenix like
from experiences that would floor others, Scorpio is a sign that is no
stranger to the dark side of human nature.  Renewal and rebirth are
highly positive Scorpio traits but when negative it is a sign that can
hold on to its pain closely, nursing it to itself.  Jealousy, revenge and
bitterness are traits than can eat away at the negative Scorpio type.
 78

As I pondered on thoughts of Lilith and Scorpio, images and themes

started to take shape on my blank page as “Lilith and the Devil”.  The
second line of the poem is inspired by Vincent Van Gogh.  His final
work “Wheatfield with Crows” is a dark and broody painting reflecting
the artist’s troubled frame of mind, particularly at that time.  Within a
month of completing it he went for a walk near the spot where he
painted the picture and shot himself.  He died three days later.

The line “Delicious pain won’t let me go – it comforts and torments me

so” came from reflections on the struggle man has always had with his
conscience, with temptation of all kinds and their consequences, which
in turn led me to thoughts of Pandora’s  Box.  The myth of Pandora’s
box is a cautionary tale of curiosity and how once we know something
innocence cannot be regained.  This theme is paralleled in the bible
when the Devil persuades Eve to tempt Adam with the apple of
knowledge.

NB. For those of you like myself (of the titian persuasion) I digress
here to insert an interesting side note on a myth on red hair which
historically has many superstitions attached to in (Van Gogh had red
hair too).  In many classical paintings, Eve is depicted as a blonde until
after she tempts Adam with the apple.  Thereafter she is depicted as a
redhead.  Lilith was also redhaired so maybe Adam should have stuck
with Lilith…..

Astrology is based on polarity, meaning nothing can be understood

without its opposite principle, good and evil, angels and demons, dark
and light, assertion and aggression, yin and yang.  One cannot be
understood without the other.  Therein lies the meaning of the last line
of the poem.  Astrological tenet is that all life in the cosmos is linked in
cycles reflected at every level of existence.  What happens in the
macrocosm is reflected in the microcosm.

“As above is so below.”

…and Lilith – well like all women -  Lilith was way ahead of her time!

Carole is mother to two magical boys and wife for thirty three years to
a Capricorn who is without doubt her rock.  Would be astrologer; this
subject has kept her (relatively) sane by helping her to understand the
contradictory pulls existing in her nature between the home-loving
dreamer and the restless seeker after knowledge….. And all channeled
through a shy Virgo Rising.
 79

Lilith, Adam's mythological first wife

The Hebrew word "torah" can mean at least five different meanings:
(1) A "law" either secular or sacred. The plural
(i.e.,"laws") would be "torot."
(2) The Mosaic Law given to Moses at Mt. Sinai.
(3) The first five books of the Bible, attributed to Moses as
the author (i.e., Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and
Deuteronomy).These five books are the same for Jews
and Christians.
The original language in Classical (Biblical Hebrew).
These books are also known as the Pentateuch ("penta"=five).
(4) The totality of the Hebrew Scriptures.
(5) The physical scroll on which the first five books of the Bible
are written.

I would assume that when your daughter's teacher referred to

"the Torah" she was either referring to definition 3
or 4 above (most likely #4 based on what I am about to relate).
But no matter how you understand "Torah" the idea of a wife before
Eve does not occur at all.
This idea is a rabbinic tradition and is completely non-Biblical (and I
would add, quite anti-Biblical). This first wife is referred to as "Lilith."

Following is the basic myth:

"According to Hebrew legend, the first woman God created

as a companion for the first man Adam was a strong-willed lady
named Lilith. (See Graves and Patai's Hebrew Myths and Reuther's
Womanguides.) As both had been created from dust, Lilith considered
herself equal to Adam. (They differed anatomically, of course,
with the Bible referring to a male as one who 'pisseth against
the wall' [1 Sam. 25:34; 1 Kings 14:10; 21:21].)
 80

Lilith objected to having to lie beneath Adam during sexual

intercourse, but Adam would have it no other way. Lilith up and left
him, winding up in rabbinic tradition as a baby-killing demoness who
seduces sleeping men. Lilith is mentioned in Isa. 34:14, though the
KJV renders lilith as 'screech owl.' This first wife of Adam may safely
be called the world's first uppity woman.

"With Lilith departed, Adam was back where he started,

being without a fit helper. According to a Hebrew tradition cited
in Graves and Patai, God let Adam watch while he put a second
woman together. The process of anatomical assemblage was so
disgusting that Adam found the woman repulsive even though she was
beautiful when finished. God sent this first Eve away and tried again:
while Adam slept, Yahweh created the Eve found in Genesis 2 from
Adam's rib. God presented her to Adam, who said happily, 'This is now
bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man' (Gen. 2:23)."
(http://www.hobrad.com/andg.htm#GENDER)

Another source provides some more information:

"Early theologians had a real problem with the status

of women in regard to Genesis. Here is this supposedly weak creature
twisting Man around her finger and bringing death on the entire
race. A 'logical' answer presented itself in splitting woman into
the Madonna/whore dichotomy. There was even a Biblical basis for
Lilith. Genesis 1:27 reads, 'So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him; male and female he created
them.' Set opposite Genesis 2, in which Adam is created first
and Eve is an afterthought to appease his loneliness, many see
this as evidence that Adam had two wives. "Lilith is this
first wife. Since she was made of the earth, like Adam, she became
proud and refused to lie beneath him during intercourse. This
violated the command to be fruitful and multiply, since she was
not being impregnated. Some traditions hold that she was
impregnated and bore demons from him. The evidence for this is the
statement in Genesis 5:3 'Adam begat a son in his image,'implying
there had been sons not in his image. He pushed the issue of her
submission, and she uttered the Holy Name of God and flew away.

"Adam complained to God and he sent three angels to reason

with her. They found her coupling with fallen angels near the
Red Sea and bearing more demonic children. She refused to return
but promised to spare Adam's children if the names of the angels:
 81

Sanvi, Sansanvi and Semangelaf were written near them. Even today,
some parents will charcoal a magic circle with the words 'Adam
and Eve barring Lilith' on the wall near their baby, and write
the names of the angels on the door.

"Eve was created out of Adam as her replacement. Some say God let
Adam try making the next one, but the creation was so horrible God
destroyed it before even giving it life. An amusing Victorian story
claims a dog ran off with Adam's rib and devoured it before God found
him, so Eve was made using one of the dog's ribs.

"Lilith did not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and
hence is immortal. She was rewarded for service by Asmodeus, the
demon of lechery, luxuriousness and evil revenge. She now rules one
of the levels of Hell in the company of Namah, Machlath, and
Hurmizah. Her power is over newborn children and women in
childbirth. She may take boys up to the eighth day and girls up to the
twentieth. She is also the mother of the Lilim or Lilot, the Djinn, and
the succubui and incubi. Other Biblical references: Isaiah 34:14 'night
hag' (NIV translates it as 'Desert creatures' and 'night creatures.' and
Psalm 91 'terror by night'."
(http://www.vampyres.com/faqs/faq13.html)

For more in information on Lilith, "Adam's first wife,"

see the following references (particularly the first in the list).
She is identified with demons, vampires, and other satanic things:

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~humm/Topics/Lilith

http://www.jewishgothic.com/vampire.html

http://www.lilithmag.com/resources/lilithsources.shtml

The Apostle Paul warned us to adhere to the word of God rather

the tradition of men: "See to it that no one takes you captive
through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition
of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather
than according to Christ. (Col 2:8)

Jesus also warned us against putting aside the word of God

in favor of the traditions of men:

"Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God

for the sake of your tradition?" Matt 15:3
 82

"you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your

tradition." (Matt 15:6)

"Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition

of men." He [Jesus] was also saying to them, 'You are experts
at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your
tradition.'" (Mark 7:8-9)

Following is an article "Night Monster" from the International Standard

Bible Encyclopaedia, which discusses Lilith:

NIGHT MONSTER

(Nit'-mon-ster) (lilith; Septuagint onokentauros; Vulgate

(Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) lamia):
I. THE ACCEPTED TRANSLATION
1. Professor Rogers' Statement
2. Exception to the Statement
II. FOLKLORE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
1. Paucity of References
2. References in Highly Poetical Passages
3. The References Allusive
4. Possibility of Non-mythological Interpretation
5. The Term lilith.

I. The Accepted Translation. - The term "night-monster"'

is a hypothetical translation of the Hebrew term lilith, used
once only, in Isa 34:14. The word is translated in the King James
Version "screech-owl," margin "night monster,"
the Revised Version (British and American) "night-monster,"
margin "Lilith." The term "night-monster"
is also an interpretation, inasmuch as it implies that the Hebrew
word is a Babylonian loan-word, and that the reference indicates
a survival of primitive folklore.

1. Professor Rogers' Statement: Concerning this weird superstition,

and its strange, single appearance in the Book of Isaiah, Professor
Rogers has this to say: "The lil, or ghost, was a night-demon
of terrible and baleful influence upon men, and only to be cast
out with many incantations. The lil was attended by a serving
maid, the ardat lili ("maid of night"), which in the
Semitic development was transferred into the feminine lilitu.
It is most curious and interesting to observe that this ghost-demon
 83

lived on through the history of the Babylonian religion, and was

carried out into the Hebrew religion, there to find one single
mention in the words of one of the Hebrew prophets" (Religions
of Assyria and Babylonia, 76, 77).

2. Exception to the Statement: Exception is to be taken to

this statement, admitting the etymological assumption upon which
it rests, that "lilith" is a word in mythology, on the
ground that the conception of a night-demon has no place in the
religion of the Hebrews as exhibited in the Scriptures. It is
certainly worthy of more than passing notice that a conception
which is very prominent in the Babylonian mythology, and is worked
out with great fulness of doctrinal and ritualistic detail, has,
among the Hebrews, so far receded into the background as to receive
but one mention in the Bible, and that a bald citation without
detail in a highly poetic passage. The most that can possibly
be said, with safety, is that if the passage in Isaiah is to be
taken as a survival of folklore, it is analogous to those survivals
of obsolete ideas still to be found in current speech, and in
the literature of the modern world (see LUNATIC). There is no
evidence of active participation in this belief, or even of interest
in it as such, on the part of the prophetical writer. On the contrary,
the nature of the reference implies that the word was used simply
to add a picturesque detail to a vivid, imaginative description.
All positive evidence of Hebrew participation in this belief belongs
to a later date (see Buxtorf's Lex., under the word "Talmud").

II. Folklore in the Old Testament. - Attention has been called

elsewhere to the meagerness, in the matter of detail, of Old Testament
demonology (see DEMON, DEMONOLOGY; COMMUNION WITH
DEMONS). A kindred
fact of great importance should be briefly noticed here, namely,
that the traces of mythology and popular folklore in the Bible
are surprisingly faint and indistinct.
We have the following setof items in which such traces have been
discovered: "Rahab" (rachabh), mentioned in Job 9:13; 26:12; Isa
51:9; "Tanin" (tannin), Isa 27:1; "Leviathan" (liwyathan), Job 3:8;
Ps 74:14; Isa 27:1; Ezek 29:3; Job 41:1 passim; the "serpent
in the sea," in Amos 9:3; "Seirim" (se`irim), 2 Chron 11:15; Lev 17:7;
2 Kings 23:8; Isa 13:21; 34:14; "Alukah" (`aluqah), Prov 30:15;
"Azazel (`aza'zel) Lev 16:8,10,26 "Lilith" (ut sup.), Isa 34:14-15.

A review of these passages brings certain very interesting

facts to light.
 84

1. Paucity of References: The references are few in number.

Rahab is mentioned 3 times; Tannin (in this connection), once;
Leviathan, 5 times; the serpent in the sea, once; Seirim, 5 times
(twice with references to idols); Alukah, once; Azazel, 3 times
in one chapter and in the same connection; Lilith, once.

2. References in Highly Poetical Passages: These references,

with the single exception of Azazel to which we shall return a
little later, are all in highly poetical passages. On general
grounds of common-sense we should not ascribe conscious and
deliberate
mythology to writers or speakers of the Bible in passages marked
by imaginative description and poetic imagery, any more than we
should ascribe such beliefs to modern writers under like
circumstances.
Poetry is the realm of truth and not of matter of fact. In passages
of this tenor, mythology may explain the word itself and justify
its appropriateness, it does not explain the use of the term or
disclose the personal view of the writer.

3. The References Allusive: All these references are in the

highest degree allusive. They exhibit no exercise of the mythological
fancy and have received no embroidery with details. This is most
significant. So far as our specific references are concerned,
we are dealing with petrified mythology, useful as literary
embellishment,
but no longer interesting in itself.

4. Possibility of Non-mythological Interpretation: Every one

of these words is sufficiently obscure in origin and uncertain
in meaning to admit the possibility of a non-mythological
interpretation;
indeed, in several of the parallels a non-mythological use is
evident. Bible-Dict. writers are apt to say (e.g. concerning lilith)
that there is no doubt concerning the mythological reference.
The reader may discover for himself that the lexicographers are
more cautious (see Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Hebrew and English
Lexicon of the Old Testament, in loc.). The use of "Rahab"
in Job 26:12 is not mythological for the simple reason that it
is figurative; the use of "Leviathan" in Isa 27:1 and
Ezek 29:3 comes under the same category.

In Job 40 and 41, if the identification of behemoth and leviathan

 85

with hippopotamus and crocodile be allowed to stand and the

mythological
significance of the two be admitted, we have the stage where
mythology
has become a fixed and universal symbolism which can be used to
convey truth apart from the belief in it as reality (see LEVIATHAN;
"Job," New Century Bible, p. 335; Meth. Rev., May, 1913,
429 ff). The sea serpent of Amos 9:3 is not necessarily the dragon
or Tiamat, and the use of the term is merely suggestive. The term
se`ir is in literal use for "he-goat" (Num 15:24, et
al.) and is doubtful throughout. Ewald translates it "he-goat"
in Isa 34:14 and "Satyr" in 13:21. It means literally
"shaggy monster" (Vulgate, pilosus). We do not hesitate
on the basis of the evidence to erase "Alukah" (Prov
30:15, the Revised Version (British and American) "horse-leech,"
by some translated "vampire") and "Azazel"
(Lev 16:8, etc.), interpreted as a "demon of the desert,"
from the list of mythological words altogether. As ripe a scholar
as Perowne ("Proverbs," Cambridge Bible) combats the
idea of vampire, and Kellogg ("Leviticus," Expositor's
Bible, in loc.) has simply put to rout the mythological-demonic
interpretation of Azazel. Even in the case of lilith the derivation
is obscure, and the objections urged against the demonic idea
by Alexander have not altogether lost their force (see Commentary
on Isaiah, in loc.). There is a close balance of probabilities
in one direction or the other.
5. The Term lilith: One further fact with regard to lilith
must be considered. The term occurs in a list of creatures, the
greater part of which are matter-of-fact animals or birds. A
comparative
glance at a half-dozen translates of the passage Isa 34:11-14
will convince any reader that there are a great many obscure and
difficult words to be found in the list. Following Delitzsch's
translation we have: "pelican," "hedge-hog,"
"horned-owl," "raven," "wild-dog,"
"ostrich," "forest-demon" (se`ir), "night-monster."
This is a curious mixture of real and imaginary creatures. Alexander
acutely observes that there is too much or too little mythology
in the passage. One of two conclusions would seem to follow from
a list so constructed: Either all these creatures are looked upon
as more or less demonic (see Whitehouse, Hastings, Dictionary
of the Bible (five volumes), article "Demon," with which
compare West M. Alexander, Demonic Possession in the New
Testament,
 86

16), or, as seems to the present writer far more probable, none
in the list is considered otherwise than as supposed literal inhabitants
of the wilderness. The writer of Isa 34:14, who was not constructing
a scientific treatise, but using his imagination, has constructed
a list in which are combined real and imaginary creatures popularly
supposed to inhabit unpeopled solitudes. There still remains a
by no means untenable supposition that none of the terms necessarily
are mythological in this particular passage.

LILITH - THE FIRST EVE

By Anthony Roe

Published at Imbolc 2002

According to Rabbinical mythology, the Talmudists say that Adam had

a wife before Eve, whose name was Lilith. Refusing to submit to Adam,
she left Paradise for a region of the air. She still haunts the night as a
specter, and is especially hostile to new-born infants. Some
superstitious Jews still put in the chamber occupied by their wife four
coins, with labels on which the names of Adam and Eve are inscribed,
with the words, “Avaunt thee Lilith!” The fable of Lilith was invented to
reconcile Genesis i with Genesis ii. Genesis i represents the
simultaneous creation of man and woman out of the earth; but
Genesis ii represents that Adam was alone, and Eve was made out of a
rib, and was given to Adam as a helpmeet for him.

In Eden Bower D G Rosetti says “

It was Lilith, the wife of Adam … / Not a drop of her blood was human,
/ But she was made like a soft sweet woman.” Goethe introduced her
in his Faust. The mage is introduced by Mephistopheles to various
apparitions on Walpurgis Night in the Hartz Mountains. Presented with
a whirling crowd, Faust asks: “Who's that?” Mephistopheles replies:
“Her features closely scan - ‘Tis the first wife of the first man”. “Who,
say you?” asks Faust; and the Spirit answers: “Adam's first wife, Lilith.
/ Beware - beware of her bright hair, / And the strange dress that
glitters there: / Many a young man she beguileth, / Smiles winningly
on youthful faces, / But woe to him whom she embraces!”

In Assyrian demonology, a female demon appears, represented as

winged, with disheveled hair. Such demons were banished from
Hebrew religion, and hardly appear in the Old Testament except in
poetic imagery. But these ‘hairy ones', nocturnal ‘goblins', are exactly
like the Arabian jinn . They haunted waste and desert places in
 87

fellowship with jackals. There is a Mohammedan story of Bilkis, Queen

of Sheba, who married Solomon. She had hair on her ankles and was
thus shown to be a jinniyyah by descent. The Arab writers say that
Lilith was an evil spirit, the first wife of Adam, and that her children
were the jinns or devils. She is said to have had 784 children, as the
letters of her name have this numerical value. Her name is found in
the Assyrian inscriptions as Li-lit, ‘the black', an ‘evil spirit'. She was
said to have stimulated ‘nocturnal impurities', and to have been more
especially dangerous to married women at the birth of their first child,
upon which occasion the Arabian nurses still throw stones at the foot
of the bed to drive her away.

The night devil of Isaiah xxxiv, 14, she was especially feared in
Babylonia where a special class of priests, the Ashipu , were employed
to ward off the harmful effects of witchcraft. Her designation was
originally applied to certain spirits of the northern Semites; it was only
later that it was applied to the person of Lilith of the Talmud, the first
wife of Adam. She may be equated with the ghoul of pre-Islamic myth
and with Ninlil , the Babylonian goddess. A very common practice,
constantly found in the Mesopotamian exorcism tablets is that of the
use of magic knots. These were tied by the ashipu for the protection of
a pregnant woman. A magic knot could be tied by a sorcerer or witch
to invoke spirits and to gain power over an enemy. By loosing of the
knot the power of an evil spirit was broken. One of these maqla
tablets, directed against witchcraft, ends with the words, “Her knot is
loosed, her sorcery is brought to naught, and all her charms fill the
desert”, where the desert symbolizes the underworld.

Rabbinic literature is full of the doings of Lilith, who bore Adam devils
and spirits. Whoever slept alone in a room was likely to be beset by
her. The Rabbis believed, too, that a man might have children by
allying himself with a demon, and although they might not be visible to
human beings, yet when that man was dying they would hover round
his bed, to hail him as their father. At the funeral of a bachelor the
Jews of Kurdistan cast sand before the coffin to blind the eyes of the
unbegotten children of the deceased. Among the Jews in Palestine,
Lilith (or the evil eye in general) is averted from the bed by hanging a
charm over it consisting of a special cabalistic paper in Hebrew
together with a piece of rue, garlic, and a fragment of looking glass. It
is said sometimes that women find their best gowns, which they have
carefully put away in their bridal chests, have been worn by female
spirits during their confinement, because they did not utter the name
of God in locking them up. On the first possible Sabbath all the
 88

relations assemble in the woman's room and make a hideous noise to

drive away the evil spirits.

We may note that Asmodeus was the counterpart of Lilith, as being

dangerous to women. Cognate with the concept of Asmodeus is the
curious Arab belief in a female demon accompanying every woman,
and having as many children as her counterpart. Just as Lilith took the
place of Eve, evidently this spirit is intended, in one of her phases
(that of bearing children), to do the same for each man. She is very
dangerous to pregnant women and newly married people; that is to
say, just as Asmodeus becomes jealous of interference with his rights,
so does this female spirit admit of no dallying with other women. She
is said to destroy the creative power of men and to make women
barren, and to her is due epilepsy as the penalty for pouring water
over the threshold of the door without naming God, on a Friday, or to
quench the fire. She may appear as an owl, a Jewess, a camel, or a
black man. There is a story that Solomon once met a singular looking
woman and asked her whether she was jinn or human. She answered
that she was the female spirit “ … that puts hatred between husband
and wife; I make women miscarry; I make them barren; I make men
impotent; I make husbands love other men's wives, women other
men's husbands; in short, I do all contrary to the happiness of wedded
life”. In The Testament of Solomon, one Obizuth is the name of the
female spirit that visits women in childbirth, and if she is lucky she
strangles the babe.

According to Rabbinical tradition among the Jews, Lilith has her

strange story thus related in Jewish legends. “When the blessed God
created the first man, whom he formed alone, without a companion,
he said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone': and therefore
he created a woman also out of the ground, and named her Lilith.
They immediately began to contend with each other for superiority.
The man said: ‘It behoves thee to be obedient; I am to rule over thee'.
The woman replied: ‘We are on a perfect equality; for we are both
formed out of the same earth'. So neither would submit to the other.
Lilith, seeing this, uttered the Shem-hamphorash ”, that is,
pronounced the name Jehovah , “and instantly flew away through the
air. Adam then addressed himself to God, and said: ‘Lord of the
universe! The woman whom thou gavest me, has flown away from
me'. God immediately dispatched three angels to bring back the
fugitive. He said to them: ‘If she consent to return, well; but if not,
you are to leave her, after declaring to her that a hundred of her
children shall die every day'. These angels then pursued her, and
found her in the midst of the sea, in the mighty waters in which the
 89

Egyptians were to be afterwards destroyed. They made known to her

the divine message, but she refused to return. They threatened,
unless she would return, to drown her in the sea. She then said: ‘Let
me go; for I was created for no other purpose than to debilitate and
destroy young infants; my power over the males will extend to eight
days, and over the females to twenty days, after their birth'.

“On hearing this, the angels were proceeding to seize her and carry
her back to Adam by force: but Lilith swore by the name of the living
God, that she would refrain from doing any injury to infants, wherever
or whenever she should find these angels, or their names, or their
pictures, on parchment or paper, or on whatever else they might be
written or drawn: and she consented to the punishment denounced
against her by God, that a hundred of her children should die every
day. Hence it is that every day witnesses the death of a hundred
young demons of her progeny. And for this reason we write the names
of these angels on slips of paper or parchment, and bind them upon
infants, that Lilith, on seeing them, may remember her oath, and may
abstain from doing our infants any injury”. Another rabbinical writer
says: “I have also heard that when the child laughs in its sleep in the
night of the Sabbath or of the new moon, the Lilith laughs and toys
with it; and that it is proper for the father, or mother, or any one that
sees the infant laugh, to tap it on the lips, and say, ‘Hence, begone,
cursed Lilith; for thy abode is not here'. This should be done three
times, and each repetition should be accompanied with a pat on the
mouth. This is of great benefit, because it is in the power of Lilith to
destroy children whenever she pleases”.

Lilith warrants special attention, not only as principal female demon,

but because, unlike others mentioned, she was conceived to possess
human rather than animal form, and also on account of her
prominence in the later Jewish literature. According to Rabbinic
teaching Lilith was the night demon par excellence . By a mistaken
etymology the name was supposed to be derived from the Hebrew
word lailah , (‘night'), a derivation favoured by the similarity of the two
words, and also by the fact that Lilith was supposed to be specially
active at night-time. Modern scholars prefer to associate it with the
Sumerian word for ‘wantonness', and explain her as the demoness
who inspires lust. However, it is very probable that she is referred to in
Psalm 91 where the psalmist says: “Thou shalt not be afraid for the
terror by night”.

In the Rabbinic literature Lilith is usually portrayed with long flowing

hair, and as possessing wings. She is the queen of the Lilin , which
 90

form one of the great classes of demons. It is enjoined that a man

should not go out alone at night because an evil spirit, Agrath bath
Mahlath , (to be identified with Lilith), together with eighteen myriads
of destroying angels, roams about and is permitted to destroy anyone
whom she meets. Though specially dangerous to children, the Lilin
also attack men. Thus the injunction that a man be forbidden to sleep
alone in a house, lest, ignoring this warning, he be seized by Lilith.
Formulas for exorcizing Lilith are given. This Jewish conception of Lilith
appears to have much in common with the empousa of the Greeks and
with the strix and lamia of the Romans. Whilst the name and leading
characteristics were clearly derived from the Babylonian demonology,
the conception may also have been influenced by Persian ideas.

Alone among the spirits known through Jewish tradition, Lilith retained
her position during the Middle Ages, and indeed strengthened it by
virtue of the closer definition of her activities. Originally a wind-spirit,
derived from the Assyrian lilitu , with long dishevelled hair, and wings,
during Talmudic times the confusion of her name with the word for
night transformed her into a night spirit who attacks those who sleep
alone. Laylah appears also as the angel of night, and of conception.
Out of the assimilation to one another of these two concepts grew the
view that prevailed during the Middle Ages. Though Lilith and the
popularly derived plurals, the lilin , and the liliot , appeared often in
nondescript form, merely as another term for demons, as when we are
told that the liliot assemble in certain trees, the lilits proper possessed
two outstanding characteristics in medieval folklore which gave them
distinct personality: they attacked new born children and their
mothers, and they seduced men in their sleep. As a result of the
legend of Adam's relations with Lilith, although this function was by no
means exclusively theirs, the lilits were most frequently singled out as
the demons who embrace sleeping men and cause them to have
nocturnal emissions which are the seed of a hybrid progeny. It was in
her first role, however, that Lilith terrorized medieval Jewry. As the
demon whose special prey is lying-in women and their babes, it was
found necessary to adopt an extensive series of protective measures
against her.

All sorts of means are used to circumvent the malign influences of

Lilith and her demons and both men and women appear to be in need
of this protection. According to the usual amuletic practice, wearing an
amulet inscribed with her name protects against her activities and this
practice accounts for the numerous amulets thus found inscribed.
Amulets inscribed with the name of Lilith alone can possibly have been
worn by men and indeed could be worn by everyone with advantage at
 91

all times but those inscribed with the alternative names of Lilith or with
the names of the angels sent in pursuit of her, were intended to be of
use to women only, particularly near the time of their delivery. The
usual custom was to write these charms on pieces of paper and hang
them around the mother's bed and even until recent times, the ‘Song
of Degrees' (Psalm 121) was thus written and used. Metallic amulets
inscribed with this psalm were worn by men as well as women at all
times and became an article of decoration. They are extremely
common.

Elijah the Prophet, that great performer of miracles, on one occasion

encountered Lilith, doubtless secure in the fact that he was himself
originally an angel and so immune from her attentions. Elijah's angelic
name was Sandalphon , and he is one of the greatest and mightiest of
the fiery angelic hosts. He imposed restrictions on Lilith's activities
which, after dire threats, she was compelled to accept. The most
important of these conditions was that if any of the numerous names
of Lilith were inscribed near a childbed, and particularly if the
inscription of Psalm 121 was associated with it, Lilith would be
compelled to abandon her right to injure that particular mother or her
child. In addition, the names of the three angels who were sent to
recall her to her wifely duties and whose message she disobeyed were
to be equally effective in neutralising her activities.

We have seen that Lilith undoubtedly derives from very ancient

sources, appearing as Lilatu , ‘a female demon' in Assyrian literature
and earlier still as Lillaku in Sumerian tablets of the story of Gilgamesh
in which she was supposed to have lived in a willow tree. A connection
between these similarly named demons can scarcely be denied.
According to David de Pomis (Venice, 1587 CE) Lilith is a wild animal,
or an evil spirit, or, as some say, a bird, which flits about alone at
night and fills the air with wailing. Solomon ben Abraham (Salerno,
1160 CE) said that Lilith “grows out of the wind just as the salamander
grows from the fire”. Lilith represents the classical example of the
succubus in Jewish mythology. The incubus is a spirit which, taking the
semblance of a man, has intercourse with mortal women. The
succubus is a similar spirit which in the form of a woman behaves in a
like manner with mortal men. The Hebrew Lilith was regarded as
queen of the succubi by the theologians who spent much time
investigating such matters. St Augustine states that “devils do indeed
collect human semen, by means of which they are able to produce
bodily effects”. St Thomas Aquinas did much to prove that incubi and
succubi were demons sent to tamper with frail humanity. But in the
17th century CE Peter Sinistrari made the unorthodox claim that such
 92

visitants were not demons but semi-angels who honoured mankind by

contact, echoing Gnostic ideas. Many renowned people, including
Caesar, Alexander the Great, and Plato, have the distinction of descent
from such unnatural unions, which is not impossible when one takes
into consideration that Hieronymus relates a story of a young woman
who called for help against the attack of an incubus, which, on being
pulled from under the bed where it had rushed to hide, proved to be
none other than the good Bishop Sylvanus.

The succubus has always been a rarer phenomenon than the incubus.
There are far more male than female devils. Pico della Mirandola tells
us that he knew an old man of eighty-four years who had slept for half
his life with a female devil; and another of seventy, who had enjoyed
the same advantages. Sprenger reports that a German magician “had
carnal connection with a woman before the very eyes of his wife and
friends who were present during this action but were prevented from
seeing her form”. Gregory de Tours tells of a holy bishop of Tuvergne,
Eparchius, who had also been exposed to the temptations of a demon.
He awoke one night with the thought of praying in the church; he
arose and left for the church; on arriving he found the basilica
resplendent with an infernal light and filled entirely with demons, who
committed the most horrible deeds in front of the altar; he saw Satan
in women's clothes sitting in the bishop's chair and presiding over
these immoral mysteries. “Infamous whore”, he cried, “thou art not
satisfied with poisoning all and everything with thy pollutions, thou
even defamest God's sacred spots with thy loathsome body”. “Since
thou give me the name of whore”, answered the prince of demons, “I
shall present you with many instances of it and will make you lust
after the body of woman”. Satan disappeared in a cloud of stench but
he kept his word and poor Eparchius felt the torments of the fleshly
appetites every night until his death. The similar temptations of St
Anthony are too well known to need repeating. Despite the saint's
advanced and revered age Satan did not disdain from decorating his
lonely hermitage with obscene and passionate pictures.

In The Sayings of Rabbi Eliezer , Samael (Satan) is charged with being

the one (in the guise of a serpent) who tempted Eve and seduced her.
In Jewish tradition Lilith was the bride of Samael. She predated Eve,
and had relations with Adam in Paradise. According to Rabbi Eliezer,
Lilith bore Adam every day 100 children. The Zohar describes Lilith as
“a fiery female who at first cohabited with Adam” but, when Eve was
created, “flew to the cities of the sea coast”, where she is “still trying
to ensnare mankind”. In the Cabala she is the demon of Friday, and is
represented as a naked woman whose body terminates in a serpents
 93

tail. The rabbis regard Lilith as the first temptress, as Adam's demon
wife, and as the mother of Cain. In Talmudic lore, as also in the
Cabala, most demons are mortal, but Lilith will “continue to exist and
plague man until the Messianic day, when God will finally extirpate
uncleanliness and evil from the face of the earth”. The scholar Scholem
says in an article that Lilith and Samael “emanated from beneath the
throne of Divine Glory, the legs of which where somewhat shaken by
their joint activity”. It is known of course that Samael was once a
familiar figure in Heaven, but not that Lilith was up there also,
assisting him. Lilith went by a score of names, some of which she
revealed to Elijah, when she was forced to do so by the Old Testament
prophet. Moses Gaster in his Studies and Texts in Folklore lists some
of these: Abeko, Abito, Amizo, Batna, Eilo, Ita, Izorpo, Kea, Kokos,
Odam, Partasah, Patrota, Podo, Satrina, Talto . Another listing is given
by Hanauer in his Folklore of the Holy Land , namely: Abro, Amiz,
Amizu, Avitu, Bituah, Ik, Ils, Kalee, Kakash, Kema, Partashah, Petrota,
Pods, Raphi, Satrinah, Thiltho. Other sources provide: Abyzu, Ailo,
Alu, Gallu, Gelou, Gilou, Lamassu, Zahriel, Zephonith. The name of the
land to which Lilith betook herself in her flight from Paradise is
recorded as Zamargad , near the Red Sea, where she set up her abode
and mated with the demons who were well known to be living on those
shores.

Her principal copulation there was with the archdemon Beelzeboul. The
fruit of their union, a nameless male demon, yet writhes, enchained by
King Solomon, at the bottom of the Red Sea. Of Lilith's other
numberless progeny few are known. Yet obscure texts do name one
son and a daughter, Hurnim and Hurmiz respectively. Also, Arabian
tradition tells of a lone daughter of Adam who emulated her nefarious
practices. This daughter of Adam, Anak , is apparently to be blamed
for belief in talismans and other evil practices. This lady, so it is said,
was the first “to reduce the demons to serve her by means of charms”.
God had given Adam a sprinkling of magic words, just to enable him to
control a few spirits, and these words he communicated to Eve. She
preserved them quite faithfully until Anak extracted them from her
while she slept. It is not stated how this robbery was effected; perhaps
the words were impressed in cuneiform characters on clay tablets, or
she may have extracted them as did Isis from the great Sun god Ra ;
however, once Anak was in possession, she “conjured evil spirits,
practised the magical art, pronounced oracles, and gave herself up
openly to impiety”. Interestingly, the name of Lilith survives in an
ancient curse of Coptic Christian origin. This text on parchment,
preserved in the Louvre, is uttered to separate a man from a woman.
It comes from the tenth century CE. The utterance, to be written on a
 94

blade-shaped parchment goes: “ Tartari, Saro, Ptha, Astabias, Thatha,

Eibethatha, Lahkimaia, Kaha, Alaha, Lilith, put hatred and separation,
put hatred and separation between Sipa son of Siheu , and Ouarteihla
daughter of Cauhare. They must not be able to look at each other's
faces, yea, yea!”

Amulets to protect pregnant women and women in child-bed were as

common among the Hebrews as among pagan nations. Wallis Budge
gives details in his treatise on amulets. They were written upon
parchment, and also upon the door and walls of the chamber wherein
the woman lay. And if they were to be really effective, the texts had to
be written in ink in which holy incense had been mixed, and even the
copyist had to be a man ceremonially pure and a believer. One of the
most important and powerful child-bed amulets is contained in the rare
Hebrew work generally known as the Sepher Raziel , ‘The Book of
Raziel', bequeathed to the faithful by the preceptor angel of Adam
himself. This amulet contains figures representative of Adam, Eve and
Lilith. Above these are the names of the three angels sent after Lilith,
Senoi, Sansenoi, and Semangeloph. There seals are given. The
Hebrew text says that the woman will be protected by the name of
God from all the evils and calamities which are enumerated therein.
This amulet had a double purpose. The three figures of the angels and
their names and seals protected the newly born infant and its mother.
And the text warded off any and every evil which Lilith might attempt
to do to either. Contained in the text are the names of the Seventy
Great Angels whose protection is secured by the amulet.

Two other amulets are illustrated in the Book of Raziel. At the four
corners are the names of the four rivers of Paradise, Pishon, Gihon,
Prath and Hiddekel. Inside two concentric circles is the Hexagram, or
so-called ‘Shield of Solomon' and fourteen groups of three letters and
the words “Go forth thou and all the people who are in thy train”, and
permutations of the initial letters of the Hebrew words for ‘holiness'
and ‘deliverance'. Between the circles are the names of Adam, Eve,
and Lilith, the three angels, and also that of the angel Khasdiel, with
the words: “He hath given his angels charge concerning thee, that
they may keep thee in all thy ways. Amen. Selah.” Another amulet is
similar, except that the two triangles of the hexagram are arranged
base to base. In the inner circle are fourteen groups of three letters
which have esoteric significations.

Concerning apotropaic procedures to ward of the influence of Lilith and

her cohorts, Gershon Scholem describes an antidemonic rite both
ancient and curious. He says that until quite recently, and indeed
 95

occasionally to this day, Jewish burials in Jerusalem were often marked

by a strange happening. Before the body was lowered into the grave
ten men danced round it in a circle, reciting a psalm which in the
Jewish tradition has generally been regarded as a defence against
demons, i.e. Psalm 91, or another prayer. Then a stone was laid on
the bier and the following verse (Genesis xxv, 6) recited: “But unto the
sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and
sent them away”. This strange dance of death was repeated seven
times. The rite, which in modern times has been unintelligible to most
of the participants, has to do with Cabalistic conceptions about sexual
life and the sanctity of the human seed. Here we have an entire myth,
the object of which is to mark off the act of generation from other
sexual practices, which were interpreted as demonic in nature, and
especially from onanism.

According to Talmudic tradition, demons are spirits made in the Friday

evening twilight, who, because the Sabbath has intervened, have
received no bodies. From this later authorities drew the inference,
implicit in the Talmudic sources, that the demons have been looking
for bodies ever since, and that this is why they attach themselves to
men. This entered into combination with another idea. After the
murder of Abel by his brother, Adam decided to have no further
dealings with his wife. Thereupon female demons, succubi, came to
him and conceived by him; from this union, in which Adam's
generative power was misused and misdirected, stem a variety of
demons. The Cabalists took up these old conceptions of demonic
generation in pollution or other practices. They are systematized in the
Zohar, which develops the myth that Lilith, queen of the demons, or
the demons of her retinue, do their best to provoke men to sexual acts
without benefit of a woman, their aim being to make themselves
bodies from the lost seed.

To the Cabalists, the union between man and woman, within its holy
limits, was a venerable mystery, as one may judge from the fact that
the most classical and widely circulated Cabalistic definition of mystical
meditation is to be found in a treatise about the meaning of sexual
union in marriage (Joseph Gikatila, c.1300 CE). Abuse of a man's
generative powers was held to be a destructive act, through which not
the holy, but the ‘other side', obtains progeny. An extreme cult of
purity led to the view that every act of impurity, whether conscious or
unconscious, engenders demons.

Abraham Saba, an early sixteenth century CE Cabalist who had come

to Morocco from Spain, was first to establish a strange connection
 96

between this conception and a man's death. All the illegitimate

children that a man has begotten with demons in the course of his life
appear after his death to take part in the mourning for him and his
funeral. For all those spirits that have built their bodies from a drop of
his seed regard him as their father. And so, especially on the day of
his burial, he must suffer punishment; for while he is being carried to
the grave, they swarm around him like bees, crying: “You are our
father”, and they complain and lament behind his bier, because they
have lost their home and are now being tormented along with the
other demons which hover bodiless in the air.

According to others, the demons claim their inheritance on this

occasion along with the other sons of the deceased and try to harm
the legitimate children. Those who dance seven times round the dead
man do so in order to form a sacral circle, which will prevent these
unlawful children from approaching the deceased, sullying his corpse,
or doing other harm. Hence the verse from Genesis about the ‘sons of
the demonic concubines', whom Abraham sent away lest they harm
Isaac, his legitimate son. A similar rite, in which the bier is set down
on the ground seven times on the way to the cemetery, has the same
purpose. Most important of all, the Cabalists strictly forbade the
children, and especially the sons of the deceased from escorting him to
his last resting place. In his lifetime, it was held, a pious man should
expressly forbid ‘all his children' to follow him to the grave; by so
doing, he will keep his illegitimate demonic offspring away and, in case
any of them should nonetheless get through to his grave, prevent
them from endangering his true children, begotten in purity. It is
known that some Jews in their lifetime sternly ordered their children
not to make the slightest plaint or weep until the dead body in the
cemetery had been purified by washing, cleansing, and the cutting of
the finger and toenails, because the unclean spirits are thought to
have no further part in the body, once it is cleansed. Another
noteworthy rite is connected with similar conceptions. Especially in a
leap year, the Cabalists fasted on Monday and Thursday of certain
weeks in the wintertime, in order to ‘correct', by special prayers and
acts of penance, the taint which it is said a man inflicts on his true
form by involuntary ejaculation in the night and by masturbation.

But it is not only in unlawful sexual practices that Lilith takes a hand.
Even legitimate union between man and wife is endangered by her, for
here too she tries to infringe on the domain of Eve. Accordingly, we
find widespread observance of a rite recommended by the Zohar, the
purpose of which was to keep Lilith away from the marriage bed: “In
the hour when the husband enters into union with his wife, he should
 97

turn his mind to the holiness of his Lord and say: ‘Veiled in velvet - are
you here? / Loosened, loosened be your spell! / Go not in and go not
out! / Let there be none of you and nothing of your part! / Turn back,
turn back, the ocean rages, / Its waves are calling you. / But I cleave
to the holy part, / I am wrapped in the sanctity of the King.' Then for a
time he should wrap his head and his wife's head in cloths, and
afterwards sprinkle his bed with fresh water”.

The symbolism of erotic demonic activities is encountered down the

ages, even by such as the venerable Doctor Dee in his workings with
Edward Kelley. On 15 August 1584 CE their first Prague action began
with an extraordinary series of alchemical visions. Madimi appeared, in
apocalyptic mood: “Woe be to women great with child, for they shall
bring forth monsters … Woe unto the Virgins of the Earth, for they
shall disdain their virginity, and become concubines for Satan”.
According to Cabalistic tradition, quoted by Dion Fortune, Lilith taught
wisdom to Adam; and he could not forget her. This writer also quotes
another tradition which holds that it was Lilith who performed the
office of the Serpent in tempting Adam to eat the forbidden fruit in the
Garden of Eden. A rare illustration of this appears in Queen Mary's
Psalter (1553 CE). In The Secret Doctrine , Madame Blavatsky regards
Lilith as having appeared in the primordial ages, and describes her as
“An ethereal shadow … an actual living female monster millions of
years ago”. She is linked by the theosophists with the planet Saturn.
The importance attached to Lilith in witchcraft is attested by Doreen
Valiente, who regarded her as one of the presiding goddesses of the
Craft, calling her “the personification of erotic dreams, the suppressed
desire for delights”. According to Gerald Gardner there is a tradition of
the continuous worship of Lilith to the present time in witchcraft, and
that hers is the name sometimes given to the Goddess being
personified, in ritual, by the coven Priestess. Leland in his Etruscan-
Roman Remains identifies Lilith with Herodias, or Aradia. He notes that
she is mentioned in the old Slavonian spells and charms, and therein
has twelve daughters, an instance of the witches thirteen perhaps. In
Irish tradition Lilith gives her favours especially to ‘celibates, mystics
and hermits'. Yeates calls the Sidhe her ‘children'. In Voudoun she is
assimilated with the loa Erzulie. Modern magicians have deliberately
used the mechanism of intercourse with spirits in their rituals of
magica sexualis . The activities of such as Crowley and his adherents
are perhaps too well known now from published accounts to warrant
any exposition here.
 98

Lilith's Children
By Scott D. Hurley

(10 Oct 93)

Throughout the ages humanity has seen and known the supernatural
to be around and among them. It has often reacted in fear, horror,
shock, wonder, and, occasionally, jealousy to these beings. But one
question has always troubled the minds of those mere mortals as the
seek to come to grips with the existence of such forces--why are these
entities so marked, so different from us... at once graced with power
we can barely comprehend, and cursed to their fate? There have been
many answers given by countless numbers of those who ask, but
some find elements of the Truth...

This is the tale given by the Order of the Amaranth, a most ancient
cabal of sorcerers that remembers the dim reaches of humanity's
origin...

At the beginning of all time, when humans first arose and were given
divine life, we were but beasts, driven by the same urges and instincts
as the animals, and little better. But then one Power, perhaps Prime
itself, shaped from the earth certain fruits, and charged them with the
power of Change. From all those humans extant in that day, it selected
two, a male and a female, to shape and guide towards Awakening,
such as it knew. To make the two worthy of the Change, it embued in
them the awareness that would allow them to make conscious
choice...and it bade them to give it the respect that was its due. It
then presented to them the fruits that were the instruments of its
Change and declared to them, "Know my creations that these fruits
are of me, and that should you consume them, you take me into
yourself...but be warned, you must chose which of them you would
partake of--one will grant you the power to last through all of time, as
do I. The other will grant you the ability to know why things are, but
will instill in you a desire to master all, which will be denied to you by
your short time in this world. Or you may chose to partake of neither,
 99

and remain here with me." Sensing the good fortune and the
protection that they would have with the One, the two were reluctant
to eat either of the fruits before them.

In time the female grew pregnant, and with that came the quickening
of knowledge--the One would shelter her and her mate for all of time,
but it would not protect their children. Something within her rebeled at
this, and then her eyes came to rest upon the trees that bore the fruit
that was offered to them. She considered each of them in turn, and
rejected eating of them--should she partake of the fruit that would
forbid her from withering and perishing, and protect her from all the
forces of the Earth, she would lose what wisdom she had gained, and
become but a beast again...one that would remain so for all time. The
other was no better, for what gain could be had by knowledge that
would be scattered to the endless wind?

She dwelled upon it for a much time, then, later that night, while she
was contemplating it, she felt the other heart beating within her, and
she came to a realisation. Quickly, lest she falter, she moved to the
trees and plucked one fruit from each. She then ate of the fruit of
knowledge and wonder, and, with it still fresh in her mouth, declared,
"Even as I eat of one fruit for myself, I eat of the other for my child!"
She then partook of that which would hold one safe from all earthly
harm. The two merged within her, and in that instant she did Awaken
and Change, and became immortal.

The One felt the transformation from afar, and was troubled by her
deed. It came before her and said, "What have you done, creature?
Why did you choose other than I gave you?" And she replied, "I am
not a creature, I am as thou! My name is Lilith, and I am both
Awakened and Immortal, as shall be my child!" This declaration
touched something within the One, and part of itself that it had never
considered seperate resonated to her cry. It's pattern had been
disrupted, and this could not be had! Yet it could not destroy it's
creation, and this began to drive it mad. In anger and fury it declared,
" You would be as me, and have all of thine do as they would?
*NEVER*! Though earthly force can harm you not, I cast thee out of
this world, find the endless wastes beyond as your home!" With this
the One cast out Lilith, and turned back to its work, even as it felt it's
essence begin to frament. Suddenly, where before there had been but
the One, now there was the Triat. Weaver continued to weave the
pattern of the One, though now without purpose and inspiration. The
Wyld new inspiration and creativity without end, but could give none of
 100

it form. And the Wyrm began to feed itself, and was perverted from
what it's purpose was, seeking to undo all and begin again...

And now only Lilith's Children can set the balance right.

After Lilith was cast out of the Realm by the One, she wandered in the
endless void, seeking purpose in the nothing which bounded the One's
creation. She knew that though she was now at once immortal and
awakened no force could ever bring her harm, and that she could
determine her own fate in Eternity. But what was to be gained as an
outcast from the Realm she had known for all of her brief existence.
She longed for others of her kind, but this desire she knew would be
soon met, for the child that was forming within her would soon be
born, and it would partake of all of her strengths. Lilith would need a
place to raise the child, however, and since the mortal world was
denied her, she would make her own Demesne. To this she worked her
Will upon the primordial Tapestry, and therein forged a Realm at once
like and unlike the one from which she had been exiled. In this place
there need be no hardship, and she even created life itself that would
not die, as it existed as a part of this realm. No sooner had she
completed her hearth, than the child came due...

Her daughter was a fair lass, and inherited all of her mother's great
gifts, from her eternal nature to her power to shape the Tapestry
about her. Yet the powers of which Lilith had partaken had weakened
slightly when they were passed on to her child, but this was of little
matter. When the child grew old enough to discern the world about
her, she chose a name for herself--Arathea. By the time she had
grown into a full woman, she and her mother had expanded the realm
in which they dwelled, but, in time they grew lonely for the
companionship of others. Lilith had told her daughter of the wrath of
the One, but time had passed, and perhaps they could reconcile with
the One. They resolved to venture outside their self-made world, and
one day did.

Lilith could not believe what had transpired in the seeming few years
shewas within her home domain. Where before there had been only an
endless void, now there were strains of the Tapestry *everywhere*, in
patterns and forms varied almost beyond comprehension. When she
turned towards the heart of it all, she saw the world she had once
called home transformed in a manner that should could not quite
define. Still, she sought the companionship of others of her kind, and
hoped that she might find her another mate to share eternity with.
 101

When mother and daughter entered the world, they found that the
humans of which Lilith had sprung had changed in a strange fashion.
They had become aware of the world about them, and sought to
reshape it to their will, yet they did so in a manner quite different from
that which Lilith used. Instead of merely Willing something to be or to
change, they had to work it with their hands, creating tools to reshape
and build their dream. Confused and bewildered by the behaviour of
her kin, Lilith took her daughter to the place where the One had once
dwelt--but found there only a barren, featureless site. There was no
trace of the One, or her former mate, but the strange taint that had
been seen earlier was almost palpable here. What had happened in the
little time that she had been gone?

Lilith called out with her power, seeking to find the One so that she
might reconcile with it. She could not find it, but another heard her
call. It answered from the very world around her, resonating through
her very being. She had touched Gaia, the world spirit. From her Lilith
learned that generations had passed since she left the world--that
since the domain she had created was only tenuously connected to this
one, it's exact time and place shifted randomly in regard to this one.
This she could accept, but what she learned next filled her with utter
horror--her actions had somehow caused the One to fragment, and
now the shards of the One strove in different directions, failing to
continue the plan that the One had formed. One, which called itself
Weaver, had created another mate for the male which had been
Lilith's. Their children grew and spread, hearing their creator's call,
and seeking to further it's plan. But the inspiration which had been the
One's had broken away from the Weaver, and now was known as the
Wyld. The Wyld was impotent and helpless, for though it conceive of
ideas without end, it lacked the power of the Weaver to make things
permanent, and only the rare creation survived. Worst of all was the
Wyrm, which madly followed the last command of the One, to undo
what had been done, but it sought to destroy ALL, not that which
deviated from the One's original plan. The Triat was skewed, and in it's
conflict tore at the very lifeforce of Gaia, the One's creation.

Lilith felt great guilt at what had happened in her absence and vowed
to attempt to restore the balance, so that the One's creation might
continue on it's rightful course. In this fashion she might atone for her
deed, and reconcile with the memory of the One. Her daughter,
however, saw little of this world that pleased her, and begged to
return to the domain they had formed for themselves. Lilith felt that
the burden was hers to carry, and agreed to her daughter's request.
But first they would find the companions they sought, and for that end
 102

they took Gaia's advice and left the world to seek the new existence,
which was called the Tellurian for that which would aid them.

It was on this journey that the other Children of Lilith were to be

quickened...

"What is Fate?

It is the certainty that occurs when, given a chance to alter a decision;

you know that you would not have acted any other way. It is in this
fashion that Fate and free will can coexist, but all falls before Chance's
caprice."

Sumerian/Assyrian Terra Cotta Relief of Lilith:

 This is a classic example of Lilith, shown with wings and wearing a

multiple-horned mitre, both characteristic of Sumerian portraits of high
divinity (much like a halo in Christian art). In her hands she carries
farming tools/round wooden knives which are used for planting and
sowing crops, but can also double as weapons in times of war.

 Bird-feet is typical of most ancient Lilith sculptures and engravings.

The lion and owl are sacred animals to Lilith because they are both
creatures that feed and protect their young, and do so viciously and
without fear. Thus Lilith is also a goddess of protection, in addition to
agriculture/fertility. Collection of Col. Norman Colville.

 Side View of the Relief

 103

Sumerian Statue - Protectorate Lilitu:

 This partially broken statue has been reassembled together by

archeologists. It was found in Sumerian ruins, in what is now believed
to be a small temple to Lilith. The statue is unique because it is one of
very few free-standing statues of Lilith, shown here with bird feet. The
statue is worn, but the features are still visible and she appears to
stand in a protective and caring fashion.

Greek Statue - Lilith Crying:

 This is believed to be a Greek or Turkish statue of Lilith, unearthed

in what is now modern Turkey. Her wings have been broken off, as
have her feet and lower torso.

Babylonian Clay Plaque:

 This baked clay plaque from the Old Babylonian period (2000-
16000 BC). It shows Lilith standing on the backs of two goats, which
were used primarily for food and milk (and thus symbolic of
motherhood). Lilith is again show with bird feet and wearing a
multiple-horned mitre as a sign of divinity. Paris, Louvre.

Roman Lamp:

 Possibly a fake 'Roman Period' with copy of Burney relief. It was

auctioned around the turn of the 21st Century and auction records are
kept confidential. Both the owner and the buyer are unknown and the
piece has never had its age or authenticity verified. If it is a real
Roman lamp, then its possible it was made during the time when the
Roman Empire had spread east-ward, taking over much of the middle-
east. Furthermore, it bears a startling resemblance to both the
Babylonian plaque and the Sumerian relief above.

Judeo-Christian - Lilith, Adam & Eve:

The Judeo-Christian version of Lilith frequently compares Lilith with

Satan and the snake. It demonetizes Lilith, taking away her bird feet
and replacing it with a serpentine tail. All of the images below were
created during the 1400s to 1500s in Europe, a period which is heavily
laced with superstitious gynophobia and misogyny.

The images are NOT based upon the Bible on ben-Sira, but are instead
based upon warped versions of the Judeo-Christian myth with a
 104

heavier emphasis on Satan and the snake. Keep in mind that at this
point in history most people were illiterate and the Christian belief that
the snake is Satan had not yet been established.

Lilith is much, much more

Lilith is not merely the television wife/ex-wife of Fraser Crane on

Cheers or Fraser. Lilith is much, much more. She has made cameo
appearances as the first wife of Adam in the Garden of Eden (but
dumped him when he whined just a bit too much), as the paramour of
lascivious spirits in the Red Sea or the bride of Samael the Devil (both
cases of slander and libel), as the Queen of Sheba and Zemargard (i.e.
men such as Solomon the Wise do not do stupid things; they are
bewitched by seductive women!), and as the Consort of God Himself in
fifteenth-century Cabbalism (the latter which was just one more
justification for The Albigensian Crusade). But her greatest role
seems likely to be as handmaiden to The Great goddess, inanna.  

The earliest representations of Lilith seem to be as a great winged Bird

goddess, a wind spirit, or one associated with the Sumerian, Ninlil,
goddess of the Grain, and wife to Enlil. As the “hand of Inanna”, Lilith
was notorious for bringing men from the street and fields of war to
Inanna’s temple for holy sexual rites, in which the intention was to
civilize the people. The sacred sexual customs were, in fact,
considered the greatest gift of Inanna.  
 105

As Adam’s first wife, however, Lilith really got into trouble with the
patriarchy. She had the audacity to want to be treated as Adam’s
equal. According to Hebrew mythology, the Babylonian Talmud, the
Zohar, and the Alphabet of Ben Sira, Lilith refused to lie below Adam,
and thus set the archetypal example for later feminists. God allegedly
threatened her by decreeing if she did not submit to Adam, that “one
hundred of her children would die every day.” Lilith chose exile. This
really got Adam’s goat! Despite being ostensibly happy about having
Lilith out of his life (and later blessed with a subservient, if not
occasionally misguided Eve), Adam apparently never gave up
resenting Lilith for having chosen exile to being with him. Not a lot
has changed in thousands upon thousands of years: A woman deciding
her life is better alone than with a particular man is still the height of
insult to that male.

The male patriarchal traditions, therefore portrayed the situation as

one in which the first woman on Earth, who was created equal to man
and a free spirit to boot, would be condemned to survive for eternity
as a she-devil, mating with demons and devils and bearing monsters
instead of human children. “This image was to serve as a threat and
warning to any woman who might consider leaving her husband or
defying male authority.” [1]  

But it was all to no avail. For now Lilith, as the sexiest aspect of the
Dark goddess, at a time in The Great Cycle known as the Dark of
the Moon, is back, stirring up trouble, and reminding us all of “a time
in the ancient past when women were honored and praised for
initiating and fully expressing their personal freedom and sexual
passion.” [1] And if you think she's not fully capable of raising havoc
with the patriarchy, consider the classic portrait of Lilith by Hon John
Collier, 1887.

In addition to the good news that “Frodo Lives”, Lilith is also present;
if only as an Archetype within every male and female, a primal,
instinctive feminine sexuality. Lilith’s type is the free and unrestrained
animating, pulsating, transforming sexuality that evokes the original
orgiastic aspect of The Great Goddess. She is that part for which the
masculine both fears and longs for -- the woman who runs with the
wolves! Lilith is the woman who refuses to nurture men, and thereby
threatens their survival.  

As the goddess of the Dark Moon, Lilith “ruthlessly destroys all that is
not our true individuality or appropriate life path. She will not lead us
to our goal by revealing what it is, but rather by eliminating everything
 106

that it is not. The black aspect of Lilith closes all the wrong doors that
face us.” [1]  

“The black Lilith in us will accept nothing less than our true
individuality, not in the sense of separateness, but in the sense of who
we intrinsically are. When we are secure in acknowledging and
expressing our true self, we do not falsify ourselves in order to be
accepted by others.” “Consensus does not require the kind of
compromise that pressures us to give up our essential values while
mediating with another person.” [1]  

In all respects, Lilith’s charging to the forefront during the Precessional

Cycle’s Dark of the Moon, is the good news. It’s also a slight taste of
what is to arrive with the ultimate Return of the Goddess in the very
near future. Say, maybe, around 2012 A.D..
 107

Red Hair Facts

Lilith is most commonly considered the first wife of Adam in the
Garden of Eden biblical narrative, a woman who will not be dominated
by man. The legend tells us that when Adam demands that Lilith lie
beneath him for copulation, she refuses, insisting that they are equals.
When Adam scoffs at this idea, she curses him and leaves, running to
a new home on the banks of the Red Sea. There, she is said to
fornicate with demons and produce many demon offspring. Meanwhile,
Adam complains about his lonely state to his creator, saying, “The
woman you made for me has fled.”

In the story, God sends three angels to fetch Lilith and bring her back
to Adam, but she will have none of it.  She refuses to return to a life
where she is considered subordinate. The angels, named Senoy,
Sansenoy, and Semangelof, warn her that God will kill 100 of her
children every day that she does not return. Lilith becomes so enraged
at their unjust request that she curses the angels and all of humanity,
vowing that she will take revenge on any woman who would submit to
such a status. This promise sets off hundreds of years of superstition
surrounding pregnancy, childbirth, and the first weeks of human life,
as instances of infant mortality and labor complications are attributed
to the willful she-demon Lilith.

Back at the Garden, Adam is given a new, more pliable companion

named Eve. The angels have struck an uneasy détente with Lilith, who
has agreed to spare the lives of women and children wearing an
amulet that bears the names of the angels themselves.  She does not
fare as well in the deal, since God makes good on his promise to kill
her children as punishment for her stubborn insistence on living an
independent life. What price could be higher? And yet, she is
compelled to live as her spirit demands. Anything else is not an option.

Of course, as with all faith and folklore, Lilith’s story has roots and
elements far older and more widespread than the common anecdotes
like the one above. Long before she was designated as a mate for
Adam, other cultures spoke of a wind demon or a night creature with a
very similar name and modus operandi. The Canaanites called her
 108

Baalat.  An ancient goddess of Sumer and Babylonia was named Belit-

ili, or Belili. One ancient Ur tablet from around 2000 B.C.E. speaks of a
goddess named Lillake. Even further back, the Sumerians of 4000
B.C.E. feared the Lilitu, a group of storm demons bearing diseases and
death. It seems that as humanity has aged, we have added new layers
to Lilith, layers which expand her reach and influence in our communal
psyche.

Not content to leave Lilith’s sins at disobedience and child-killing,

ancient cultures also saw an opportunity to depict her as a creature of
lust and wantonness. She and her succubae minions were said to catch
men sleeping and seduce them in the hopes of breeding more demon
offspring. She has been called the mother of all the plagues of the
world, and some traditions depict her coming back to Eden and forcing
sexual relations with either Adam or Cain, or both.
 109

Lilith
By John Collier (1892)

Usually, these stories say that these liaisons produced several demon
offspring who went on to breed more demon offspring, all of whom
continue to trouble humanity to this day.

Despite the severity of these charges, the Lilith persona has endured
throughout history, garnering supporters as well as detractors. Some
look upon her as a champion for the rights of the individual, or more
specifically, for the rights of women. Others respect her rebellion as
the difficult and lonely choice of true freedom. Robert Burns, in his
poem “Adam, Lilith, and Eve,” empathizes with her, postulating that it
was Lilith who truly loved Adam, rather than the submissive wife he
preferred.

So this is the complex character connoted in the element called Black

Moon Lilith who appears on our astrology chart.  How do we reconcile
images of this wanton, child-killing she-devil with our current life and
its evolutionary path? We will explore this question further in
subsequent posts, as our conclusions may help to interpret our
deepest emotions as well as our cultural beliefs.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Poem "Lilith," Later Published as

"Body's Beauty"(1868)

First published in 1868 in Swinburne's pamphlet-review, "Notes on the

Royal Academy Exhibition," the sonnet entitled "Lilith" was written to
accompany the painting "Lady Lilith." The poem and picture appeared
alongside Rossetti's painting "Sibylla Palmifera" and the sonnet "Soul's
Beauty," which was written for it. In 1870, both of these poems were
published among the "Sonnets for Pictures" section of Rossetti's
Poems.
 110

In 1881, however, "it occurred to Rossetti to contrast the two as

representatives of fleshly and spiritual beauty," and thus he
transferred them to "The House of Life" (Baum 181). The Lilith sonnet
was then renamed "Body's Beauty" in order to highlight the contrast
between it and "Soul's Beauty," and the two were placed sequentially
in "The House of Life" (sonnets number 77 and 78). Because Rossetti
originally named the sonnet "Lilith" and only changed the name to
highlight the contrast between it and "Soul's Beauty," this study will
refer to it by its original name. "Lilith" reads as follows:

Of Adam's first wife, Lilith, it is told

(The witch he loved before the gift of Eve,)
That, ere the snake's, her sweet tongue could deceive,
And her enchanted hair was the first gold.
And still she sits, young while the earth is old,
And, subtly of herself contemplative,
Draws men to watch the bright web she can weave,
Till heart and body and life are in its hold.

The rose and poppy are her flower; for where

Is he not found, O Lilith, whom shed scent
And soft-shed kisses and soft sleep shall snare?
Lo! as that youth's eyes burned at thine, so went
Thy spell through him, and left his straight neck bent
And round his heart one strangling golden hair.
(Collected Works, 216).

Much like "Lady Lilith," "Lilith" celebrates the pleasures of physicality.

As an enchantress, she "draws men to watch the bright web she can
weave," but she does not invite them to be mere voyeurs of her
charms (line 7). Instead, she invites them to her and then ensnares
them in her "web" of physical beauty, ultimately causing their death
(line 8).

"Subtly of herself contemplative," a phrase echoing Pater's famous

description of the "Mona Lisa," highlights Lilith's attitude of
"voluptuous self applause," an attitude which was so visually apparent
in Rossetti's painting (Baum 185). As in her picture, Lilith is placed
among the rose and poppy, symbolizing sterile love and sleep/death,
images which add to her representation as an attractive and desirable,
yet deadly, woman.

Lilith's golden hair echoes the "bright" hair of which Goethe wrote in
Faust and Rossetti painted in "Lady Lilith." Rossetti thus borrows the
 111

image of ensnaring and strangling hair directly from Goethe. Although

it is used as an instrument of death in the end, its physical beauty is
what Rossetti first draws attention to, describing it as "the first gold"
(line 4). Yet it is the "spell" cast by her fetishized hair which eventually
penetrates, emasculates, and kills the "youth" of this poem (line 13,
Bullen 139).

The Lilith portrayed in this sonnet is undoubtedly the first wife of

Adam, for Rossetti tells this to his readers outright, setting this
knowledge off in quotes as if to inform an audience whom he did not
think would be familiar with the legend. Her existence as the first wife
is highlighted in the description of her hair as "the first gold" and in
the revelation that she could deceive even before the snake,
representing Satan (or possibly Lilith herself) during the Fall.

The emphasis on the snake in this poem is severe. Not only is it

introduced early in the sonnet, but his/her image is invoked again
through the alliteration present in lines 10-11. The pronouns "his" and
"her" can be used interchangeably here because the poem does not
make clear whether Rossetti intends for the snake and Lilith to be seen
as one or as separate entities. In either case, the "soft-shed kisses" of
Lilith do seem to draw upon Keats' image of Lamia, the snake-woman.
And while the cause of the male character's death is Lilith's "one
strangling golden hair," this hair can also be seen as a metaphor for
the coiling body of a snake.

The extensive snake imagery in the poem can also be read as an

indication of Lilith's powerful sexuality, as Jan Marsh indicated when
she stated, "the sexual qualities of her nature are barely concealed
beneath the insistent Freudian imagery" (Sisterhood, 235). This
reading of the snake imagery certainly continues the theme of
sexuality present in Rossetti's other portrayals of Lilith, while not
prohibiting the snake from being read simultaneously as an actual
character.

In light of the fact that this poem was first published only one year
prior to "Eden Bower," one might expect that Rossetti would have told
similar versions of the Lilith legend in these two poems. Under this
assumption, one could easily make the case that "Lilith" portrays Lilith
as becoming incarnated in the snake in order to cause Adam's demise,
much as is told in the ballad of "Eden Bower." Early critics recognized
this possibility, stating: "Lilith's snake-like form seems to coil in every
line of the sonnet, and leaves one with almost a feeling of suffocation
at the imagery of the last line" (Boas 105, emphasis added).
 112

This reading is possible because of the unidentified "youth" in line 12,

a character that can be read as Adam. If seen as Adam, the second
stanza of this sonnet seems to play out the demise of Adam, at Lilith's
hand. Lines 10 and 11, therefore, would indicate that Lilith is
incarnated in the body of the snake. Line 12 would then regress to the
past tense and explain how "that youth's eyes burned at thine,"
indicating the simultaneous lust and anger Adam felt when Lilith
refused to lie beneath him. Then, Lilith would have sent her "spell"
through him, possibly referring to the way in which she became
incarnated as the snake in order to deceive Adam and Eve, causing
their Fall. Finally, Adam is left with "his straight neck bent," defeated,
lifeless, dead.

Much like Keats' "La Belle Dame sans Merci," "Lilith" can be read as a
warning for men against all womankind. It warns that any woman so
beautiful as Lilith, so self-contented and powerful, will cause nothing
other than a man's death. The image of castration in line 13 -- she
"left his straight neck bent" -- results directly from her "spell," her
excessive beauty, her voluptuous body, her long, flowing hair. Thus,
while the experience of being with Lilith, of loving her physically, may
surpass any other mortal experience -- much like the experience of
loving the femme fatale of "La Belle" -- it will ultimately result in
symbolic castration through the loss of power or, even, literal death.
 113

A Globally
RECOGNIZATION LILITH

In order to prove a common root; legends should become more

interwoven the further back in history we go. In other words, stories
from different cultures should begin to have similar traits. The story of
Noah’s ark is an excellent example. Tales of Global floods are present
in many religions outside of Judaism, Christianity, and Islamic.
Furthermore, most of these tales are related in that they each tell not
only of a great deluge, but also of a limited population of animals and
people who survived the catastrophe by some form of divine
foreknowledge of it. This worldwide sharing of a common theme
between cultures, religions, and peoples would tend to indicate that
there existed at one time a root story, which has been handed down
through different societies and over time has been altered to fit
specific regions.

In researching the legends about vampires a single name surfaces

continually like a beacon. That name is Lilith. Lilith is believed by some
to be the first wife of Adam, a woman who existed prior to the creation
of Eve. The story basically states that Adam and Lilith were each
created from dust. Lilith’s dust was dirtier than Adam’s. When Adam
approached her for the purpose of having sex, Lilith refused to be
subservient to him, questioning why she should be made to lie
beneath him. When Adam attempted to force her, she called upon the
secret name of God and fled from Eden to the banks of the Red Sea.
There, she mated with demons and gave birth to demons until God
sent three angels to make her return to Adam.

Lilith claimed that due to the things she had done since leaving him
she could not return to Adam. The angels told her that if she did not
return to Adam, she would die. Again Lilith argued, stating that she
had been created immortal, a being which could not die. The angels
 114

then told Lilith that one hundred of her children would be slain for each
day that she refused to return to Adam. In response, Lilith vowed to
kill one unprotected child for every one of her children that was
destroyed. An arrangement was reached and God created Eve for
Adam while Lilith became the first vampire and slipped into the role of
being Queen of the Demons, alternately seducing men and eating
children, and making guest appearances throughout history.

Those who have read the Bible, however, may know that there is no
mention of any such person as Lilith in the book of Genesis, although
she is mentioned in the book of Isaiah (34:14). There is also no
mention of Adam ever having had a first wife. Delving a bit deeper,
one may discover a Lilith mentioned in the Midrash. Further
investigation will show the recurrence of the tale of the first wife of
Adam in the Talmud. For those who are unfamiliar with these books,
the Midrash is a collection of Hebrew legends, and the Talmud is a
Hebrew text, written by rabbis as a type of written interpretation of
oral traditions associated with the Torah. The Old Testament of the
Bible is essentially the Christian version of the Torah and therefore the
Torah and its associated books become a good resource for
researching Biblical mythology.

In returning to our topic, we see repeated in the Midrash the belief

that Adam had a wife before Eve. Lilith is never named as this first
wife. She is However, mentioned four times in the Talmud as a
longhaired demon. Since this is the form that Adams first wife is
reported to have taken after leaving him, we can reasonably assume
that the two myths have become intertwined over time, making Lilith
the first wife of Adam. The belief that Adam had a first wife at all is
based on the fact that the creation of man and woman is described
twice in the story of creation. The first description, “as man and
woman He created them,” varies greatly from the second description,
“God formed man from the dust... and the Lord fashioned into a
woman the rib, which He had taken from the man.” The reasoning of
the rabbis who wrote the Midrash was that the variations in the two
descriptions meant that they were actually related to two separate
incidents. It is important to note however, that this line of reasoning is
flawed by two major arguments.

The first of these arguments is the fact that each of these descriptions
tells not only of the creation of a woman, but also of a man. If the
rabbis had been correct in reaching their conclusion, then one must
assume that God did not merely create one man and two women. The
implication would be that God created two women and two men. The
 115

second argument involves the fact that both descriptions of creation

also explain the populating by God of a planet with plants and animals.
To follow the thinking of the rabbis, one must in fact accept the theory
that God created not only two men and two women, but also two
entire planets, each containing oceans, rivers and atmospheres, and
each thriving with life.So where did the story of Lilith come from and
how did it come to be so closely related to the story of creation? The
answer to that question comes in understanding a bit about the early
Hebrews. The Hebrews believed that their god was the one true God
and that all other gods worshipped by their neighboring nations were
in fact demons. They incorporated this belief into their teachings by

associating the gods of other nations with demons in their own

religion. It is in this manner that the Babylonian god Baal becomes
Baalzbub (or Beelzebub). The same is true of Lilith. She is not in
herself a character relevant to Judaism; she is a fragment of other
religions, which was incorporated into Judaic tradition to give name to
a demon created out of the misunderstanding of the two parts of the
story of creation.

The rabbis drew from a wealth of mythology provided by their

Mesopotamian neighbors, primarily the Canaanites, the Sumerians,
and the Greeks. Each of these cultures has, in their respective
pantheons, a goddess who fits the basic description of Lilith, without
the first wife of Adam bit of course. Since we are looking for the roots
of the vampire, and not a marital record of Adam, that part of the
myth is basically irrelevant to us anyway. It served merely as a
platform from which to begin our investigation of the theory of first
vampire, which we will continue now by exploring the pantheons of the

esopotamian neighbors of the Hebrews.

 116

Lilith
BibliographyDiscuss

By Rebecca Lesses

Until the late twentieth century the demon Lilith, Adam’s first wife, had
a fearsome reputation as a kidnapper and murderer of children and
seducer of men. Only with the advent of the feminist movement in the
1960s did she acquire her present high status as the model for
independent women. The feminist theologian judith plaskow’s midrash
on the story of Lilith played a key role in transforming Lilith from a
demon to a role model. As an individual Lilith is first known from the
Alphabet of Ben Sira, a provocative and often misogynist satirical
Hebrew work of the eighth century c.e., but the liliths as a category of
demons, along with the male lilis, have existed for several thousand
years.

The Bible mentions the lilith only once, as a dweller in waste places
(Isaiah 34:14), but the characterization of the lilith or the lili (in the
singular or plural) as a seducer or slayer of children has a long pre-
history in ancient Babylonian religion. J. A. Scurlock writes, “The lilû-
demons and their female counterparts the lilitu or ardat lilî-demons
were hungry for victims because they had once been human; they
were the spirits of young men and women who had themselves died
young.” These demons “slipped through windows into people’s houses
looking for victims to take the place of husbands and wives whom they
themselves never had.” Another, related demoness was Lamashtu,
who threatened new-born babies and “had a disagreeable taste for
human flesh and blood.” The figures of Lamashtu and the lilû and lilitu
demons eventually converged to form one type of evil figure that
seduced men and women and attacked children (Hutter).
 117

The liliths are known particularly from the Aramaic incantation bowls
from Sassanian and early Islamic Iraq and Iran (roughly 400–800
C.E.). These are ordinary earthenware bowls that ritual specialists or
laypeople from the Jewish, Mandaean, Christian and pagan
communities, who lived in close proximity in the cities of Babylonia,
inscribed with incantations in their own dialects of Aramaic. A drawing
of a bound lilith or other demon often appears in the center of the
bowl. The bowls’ purpose was usually to exorcise demons from the
house or from the body of the clients named on the bowls, or to turn
back malevolent magic that others had practiced against the clients.

The liliths appear in lists of evil spirits that often refer to the “male and
female liliths,” reflecting the ancient conception that these evil demons
could appear in either male or female form. The bowl-texts accuse the
liliths of haunting people in dreams at night or visions of the day. One
text describes the liliths “who appear to human beings, to men in the
likeness of women and to women in the likeness of men, and they lie
with all human beings at night and during the day” (Montgomery 117).
Thus one prominent characteristic of the liliths is that they attack
people in the sexual and reproductive realm of life. It is no wonder,
therefore, that some of the writers of the bowl-incantations employed
the language of divorce to rid people of the liliths. The liliths also
attack children. One of the bowls accuses “Hablas the lilith,
granddaughter of Zarni the lilith” of “striking boys and girls”
(Montgomery, 168). Another text says that this lilith “destroys and
kills and tears and strangles and eats boys and girls” (Montgomery,
193).

The few references to Lilith in rabbinic literature point to a figure very

much like the female lilith of the incantation bowls. Rabbi Óanina (b.
Shab. 151b) refers to the sexual danger that the lilith constitutes for
men: “It is forbidden to sleep in a house alone, and whoever sleeps in
a house alone, a lilith seizes him.” Two other references to the lilith
point to her physical appearance: she has wings and long hair.
Drawings of the liliths or demons on the incantation bowls bear out
these details of physical appearance. “Rav Judah said in the name of
Samuel: An abortion with the likeness of a lilith, its mother is impure
 118

because of the birth, for it is a child, but it has wings” (BT Niddah
24b).

Lilith’s image as a dangerous demon persists in the Alphabet of Ben

Sira, where she becomes the first wife of Adam (Stern; Yassif 1984).
As Scholem (1974) remarks, this tale “sets out to explain the already
widespread custom of writing amulets against Lilith.” God created Lilith
from the earth after the creation of Adam. They immediately began to
fight over who would be on top during sexual intercourse. Lilith said,
“We are equal to each other inasmuch as we were both created from
the earth.” Lilith then pronounced God’s name and flew away into the
air. At Adam’s request, God sent three angels to bring Lilith back, but
she refused. According to one version of the tale, she told them that
she could not return to her first husband because she had already
slept with the “Great Demon.” She told the angels that she was
created only to sicken newborn babies and that she had dominion over
males until the eighth day (when the boy is circumcised) and over
females until the twelfth day after birth. The angels then told her that
they would not force her to go back to Adam as long as she agreed to
leave the child alone when she saw an amulet inscribed with the
angels’ names and forms. Many amulets have been made against Lilith
that refer to this tale. For example, Sefer Raziel (Amsterdam, 1701)
contains instructions, with drawings, of how to make an amulet
against Lilith. Even today, it is possible to purchase amulets made
according to this model in Jerusalem shops that sell religious articles.

Lilith became a figure of cosmic evil in medieval Kabbalah. In the

thirteenth-century “Treatise on the Left Emanation,” she became the
female consort of Samael (Scholem, 1927; Dan). The “Great Demon”
of the Alphabet of Ben Sira was given the name of Samael. According
to earlier midrashim he had seduced the serpent to evil in the Garden
of Eden and he was long identified as the angel of death and the
guardian angel of Rome. In the “Treatise on the Left Emanation,”
Samael and Lilith emanated together from beneath the Throne of Glory
as a result of the sin of the first humans in the Garden of Eden. Their
mythological characteristics were further developed in the Zohar
(Tishby; Scholem 1974). There, Lilith and Samael emanated together
from one of the divine powers, the sefirah of Gevurah (Strength). On
 119

the side of evil, the Sitra Ahra (the “Other Side”), they correspond to
the holy divine female and male: “Just as on the side of holiness so on
‘the other side’ there are male and female, included one with the
other” (Tishby, II: 461). Lilith attempted intercourse with Adam before
the creation of Eve, and after the creation of Eve she fled and ever
after has plotted to kill newborn children. She dwells in the “cities of
the sea” and at the end of days God will make her dwell in the ruins of
Rome (Tishby).

In the Zohar Lilith’s demonic sexuality comes especially to the fore.

She attempts to seduce men and use their seed to create bodies for
her demonic children. The Zohar recommends the performance of a
special ritual before sexual intercourse between husband and wife, in
which the husband should turn his mind to God and say, “Veiled in
velvet, are you here?/Loosened, loosened (be your spell)!/Go not in
and go not out!/Let there be none of you and nothing of your part!”
(Scholem 1965: 157). She is the seductive harlot who leads men
astray, but when they turn to her, she transforms into the angel of
death and kills them (Tishby).

The traditional depiction of Lilith from ancient Mesopotamia through

medieval Kabbalah presents an antitype of desired human sexuality
and family life. Lilith not only embodies people’s fears of how
attraction to others can ruin their marriages, or of how risky
childbearing and raising children are, but also represents a woman
whom society cannot control—a woman who determines her own
sexual partners, who is wild and unkempt, and who does not have the
natural consequences of sexual activity, children.

The contemporary feminist movement found an inspiration in this

image of Lilith as the uncontrollable woman and decisively changed the
image of Lilith from demon to powerful woman. In 1972 Lilly Rivlin
published an article on Lilith for the feminist magazine Ms., with the
aim of recovering her for contemporary women. The Jewish feminist
magazine Lilith, founded in the fall of 1976, took her name because
the editors were inspired by Lilith’s fight for equality with Adam. An
article in the introductory issue spelled out Lilith’s appeal and rejected
the understanding of her as a demon. Since then, interest in Lilith has
only grown among Jewish feminists, neo-pagans, listeners to
 120

contemporary music by women (highlighted in the Lilith Fair), poets

and other writers. A useful recent book collecting many articles and
poems on Lilith, with specific focus on her importance for Jewish
women, is Whose Lilith? (1998). As Lilly Rivlin writes in her
“Afterword,” “In the late twentieth century, self-sufficient women,
inspired by the women’s movement, have adopted the Lilith myth as
their own. They have transformed her into a female symbol for
autonomy, sexual choice, and control of one’s own destiny.”

Bibliography

Books

Dame, Enid, Lilly Rivlin, and Henny Wenkart, eds. Which Lilith?
Feminist Writers Re-create the World’s First Woman. Introduction by
Naomi Wolf. Northvale, NJ: 1998.

Montgomery, James. Aramaic Incantation Texts from Nippur.

Philadelphia: 1913.

Naveh, Joseph, and Shaul Shaked. Amulets and Magic Bowls: Aramaic
Incantations of Late Antiquity. Second edition. Jerusalem: 1987.

Naveh, Joseph, and Shaul Shaked. Magic Spells and Formulae.

Jerusalem: 1993.

Patai, Raphael. The Hebrew Goddess. 1967. Third enlarged edition.

Detroit: 1990. Chapter Seven is devoted to Lilith.

Scholem, Gershom. On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism. Trans. Ralph

Manheim. New York: 1965.

Scholem, Gershom. On the Mystical Shape of the Godhead: Basic

Concepts in the Kabbalah. New York: 1991.

Schrire, Theodore. Hebrew Amulets: Their Decipherment and

Interpretation. London: 1966.

Tishby, Isaiah. The Wisdom of the Zohar. 3 vols. Trans. David

Goldstein. Oxford: 1989.
 121

Trachtenberg, Joshua. Jewish Magic and Superstition. 1939. Reprint,

N.Y.: 1970.

Yassif, Eli. The Hebrew Folktale: History, Genre, Meaning. Trans.

Jacqueline S. Teitelbaum. Bloomington: 1999.

Yassif, Eli. Tales of Ben Sira in the Middle Ages (Hebrew). Jerusalem:
1984.

Articles

“The Alphabet of Ben Sira.” In Rabbinic Fantasies, edited by David

Stern and Mark Jay Mirsky, 167–202. Philadelphia: 1990.

Dan, Joseph. “Samael, Lilith, and the Concept of Evil in Early

Kabbalah.” In Essential Papers on Kabbalah, edited by Lawrence Fine,
154–178. New York: 1995.

Hutter, M. “Lilith.” In Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible,

edited by Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter W. van der Horst.
Leiden: 1995.

Lesses, Rebecca, “Exe(o)rcising Power: Women as Sorceresses,

Exorcists, and Demonesses in Babylonian Jewish Society in Late
Antiquity.” JAAR 69 (2001): 343–375.

Levine, Baruch, “The Language of the Magic Bowls.” In A History of

the Jews in Babylonia, Vol. 5, edited by Jacob Neusner, 243–373.
Leiden: 1970.

Plaskow, Judith. “The Coming of Lilith.” In Religion and Sexism:

Images of Women in the Jewish and Christian Traditions, edited by
Rosemary Ruether, 341–343. New York: 1974.

Scholem, Gershom. “Lilith.” In Kabbalah, by Gershom Scholem, 356–

360. Jerusalem: 1974.

Scholem, Gershom. “New Contributions to the Discussion of Ashmedai

and Lilith” (Hebrew). Tarbiz 19 (1947/8): 165–175.
 122

Scholem, Gershom. “The Kabbalah of R. Jacob and R. Isaac, the sons

of R. Jacob ha-Kohen” (Hebrew). Madda‘ei ha-Yahadut 2 (1927): 244–
264. Publication of “Treatise on the Left Emanation” by R. Isaac ben R.
Jacob ha-Kohen.

Scurlock, J. A. “Baby-snatching demons, restless souls, and the

dangers of childbirth: medico-magical means of dealing with some of
the perils of motherhood in ancient Mesopotamia.” Incognita 2 (1991):
137–185.

Teugels, G.M.G. “The Creation of the Human in Rabbinic Tradition.” In

The Creation of Man and Woman: Interpretations of the Biblical
Narratives in Jewish and Christian Traditions, edited by Gerard P.
Luttikhuizen, 107–127. Leiden: 2000

Did you know that Eve wasn't the first woman created by God?
Apparently, not according to Jewish Midrash. It was Lilith.

Last night I watched the History Channel show Banned from the Bible
II, and they exposed this possibility that Adam's first wife wasn't Eve,
but Lilith. The Jewish Midrash explains it by claiming that God indeed
created man and woman on the sixth day, that being Adam and Lilith.
However, Lilith did not follow the idea that she should be submissive to
Adam, and Adam didn't like that. (And this may explain why Frasier's
wife was named Lilith, too--you know Frasier?NBC? Cheers? Okay.)

So, God apparently agreed with Adam and said that he would make
Adam a mate from Adam's own rib, so that the woman made with a
piece of Adam would know to be submissive to Adam. Thus, the story
in Genesis that Adam went into a deep sleep and God made Eve from
Adam's rib.

Lilith apparently was banished and made out to be a demon. Or, as the
Jewish Midrash describes, that Lilith was made a demon. (Was she
being the jealous lover in the guise of a snake? Or did God change
Lilith into a snake? For the sake of all humanity, I would hope God was
more kind to Lilith than that.)

However, "Everything derives from woman," according to Midrash:

Genesis Rabbah, 17. So, how can man dominate woman? Is this the
intent of God when He created woman, for man to dominate woman
and for woman to completely submit to man? In a perfect world, sure
 123

this would work, because man would not be human and do stupid
things to subordinate and severely impair woman's gifted role in life.

But, no. God's creation in Eve caused the "original sin," as Adam
submitted to Eve's encouragement to eat the forbidden fruit of the tree
of life. I'm sure God was shaking his head in disbelief that Eve, the
woman who was created to be submissive to Adam would be the
undoing of the entire human race. Eve was supposed to be submissive
to Adam, not to a snake. And Adam was so gullible. I mean, where's
Adam's balls here? Why didn't he stand up to Eve and just say NO?
(Too bad Nancy Reagan wasn't alive then.)

All our anguish because Adam was a wimp. He couldn't live with God's
first creation of woman. (Maybe Lilith was the one with the balls, not
Adam??) What was so flawed with Lilith, anyway? Why couldn't God
give marriage counseling to Adam and Lilith, so they could work out
their differences and learn to love each other? This really throws a
wrench into the Catholic thinking that a man and woman are bound for
life in matrimony, with no reprival for divorce. Look at it this way: The
first man and woman bound together by God, was put asunder (Was
God really okay with this?), and God basically scrapped Lilith and then
created Eve to mate with Adam. Could this event actually have been
the first "original sin"??? Could this have a direct effect on the "original
sin" of Adam and Eve? (Someone has got to create a play or Broadway
show on this whole drama between Eve, Lilith and Adam.) Did Lilith
get a bum rap on this?

Men have been playing this one-up game with women, apparently
since the beginning of time. Men in power creating cultures that
subdue and diffuse the powerful gift of women. Women were created
by God to give life, and most women also have the power to care and
nurture that life. Men, when they play their games to force submission
on women, forget their own role to provide for women and to provide
for their offspring, and men forget their role in relation to God and
their world.

Women, being of the mind to care and nurture, have taken up the
slack of men. It has been that life-giving power of women that have
created the greatest strides in human rights around the world.

It seems that men want to break dance and show off, when God would
prefer ballroom dance.
 124

Lilith
The figure of Lilith, daughter of the goddess Mehitabel, is a very complex one.
Her image differs from culture to culture, as patriarchal values begin to
gain dominance.

Ancient Sumeria
In ancient Sumeria she was regarded as the "left hand" of the Great Goddess
Inanna. She assisted her by bringing the men to the goddess' temples, to
worship her, by participating in "Tantric" rites with the temple-women. As a
result of this role, Lilith became known as seducer of men and as harlot.

Among the Semitic speaking peoples of Mesopotamia she was first a figure
similar to Lil, a Sumerian goddess of destructive winds and storms. When
Hebrew/Semitic morals became dominant in the Near East she was equated and
merged with Lamashtu, a demonic female spirit (sometimes witch) known in
Syria as a killer of children. Here she acquired her characterization as a winged
demon of the night [1], as dangerous vampire and succubus (Zohar), as mother
of the incubi and as screeching night-owl (Bible). It is these personas that we will
examine. How important is the idea of sexuality to the Creation of Lilith or was
Lilith a benevolent Goddess who was raped by the coming Patriarchy.

Sexuality

Sexuality is an important dimension of the human personality. It is an integrated

unique expression of the idea of self, a self that encompasses the physiological
and psychosocial process inherent in sexual development and sexual response.
Sexuality is woven into the fabric of what it means to be human, and maybe into
what it means to exist. Throughout history and time unrecorded, sexuality has
had a profound role. This role is predicated on the idea that sex underlies much
of who and what we are. The ideas of sexuality and identity flow together and
expressed positively all enjoy the fruits of labor. However for our discussion
today we want to look at the historical foundation for when it is not expressed
positively or at least not in accordance with the cultural norms of the time.
 125

For the topic of this article we will examine the Goddess Lilith. We will look at her
history form both a Kabalistic ideology as well as, Sumerian and Egyptian.
Of Adam's first wife, Lilith, it is told
(The witch he loved before the gift of Eve,)
That, ere the snake's, her sweet tongue could deceive,
And her enchanted hair was the first gold.
And still she sits, young while the earth is old,
And, subtly of herself contemplative,
Draws men to watch the bright web she can weave,
Till heart and body and life are in its hold.
The rose and poppy are her flower; for where
Is he not found, O Lilith, whom shed scent
And soft-shed kisses and soft sleep shall snare?
Lo! as that youth's eyes burned at thine, so went
Thy spell through him, and left his straight neck bent
And round his heart one strangling golden hair. (Collected Works, 216).

Christian Bible

Genesis I: 27 read:
"And Elohim created Adam in His Image, in the Image of God He
created him; male and female He created them."
Genesis II: 18 and 22 read:
"And Yahweh said, 'It is not good for Adam to be alone. I will make a
fitting helper for him.'...And Yahweh fashioned the rib that He had taken
from the man into a woman; and He brought her to the man."
It has been said that Genesis I and II are simply two separate Creation stories.
That Genesis II was developed from a Sumerian story. It is also believed that
Genesis I is a later creation of the Hebrew Priesthood. To people such as this
scripture is the ultimate truths, the two versus create a contradiction that
demands explanation and reconciliation. Adam was created to perfection. He
was created in the perfect image of "Elohim." Of course, God is not seen as
being either male or female, instead as the mother and the father. Then Adam
(which translates as "Mankind") must also have originally been male and female
in one. To be otherwise would have been to be unbalanced, and thus imperfect.

Adam's perfection was said to be even greater than that of the Angels. In fact, in
this view, Adam was not a human at all - but a Cosmic Being known as Adam
Kadmon. He was the Archetype upon which humans would later be based. Now,
enters the passages from Genesis II. Just as the Unity of God was divided in two
(the separation of the Waters by the Firmament) to create the Universe, so to
was mankind created by the separation of the Archetypal Man into "its" two
halves - male and female. Thus, woman was separated from man, and Adam
 126

Kadmon became an unbalanced creature - a human. This imperfection finally

led to the Fall, the manifestation of the Human Race from Archetypal to the
Actual. The woman was called Eve, which literally translates as "Life." Mankind
was given Life, and the rest is history.

As Adam's First Wife

Explanation number two, though just as Kabalistically useful in its own right, is
vastly more fun - especially in terms of the myth. This is where Lilith enters the
picture as the first wife of Adam. The verse from Genesis I, it can be explained
as a hint to the entire Lilith affair. Genesis II:20 even helps back this up:
"And the man gave names to all the cattle and to the birds of the sky and
to all the wild beasts; but for Adam no fitting helper was found."
The animals of the Earth had been created for the strict purpose of being helpers
to Adam, and Lilith was among them. But, Lilith had failed, and no other beast
came even close (apparently Lilith was the only animal enough like Adam to be
a candidate at all).

It is this divergences between the two versus, which allows Lilith to be presumed
as Adam's first mate. It is funny that the clumsy menstruations of a bunch of
prehistoric men would create a feminist lighting rod that’s still charged in our
present day. Lilith typifies the Freud-worshipping women, who are the
revolutionary force behind the ideals of sexual politics. The idea of pre-nuptial
promiscuity, while rejected by Israelite women was common practice of the
Sumerians’ as well as other peoples during this time. Even with this, the idea of
Lilith would have died as rules and roles involving women changed.

However, it didn’t, it persisted and still persist today. Could it be because,

liberation was and still is needed, that the prophets of sexual transcendence are
correct. That the sexual difference between men and women will always create
this disparity and need for one to be controlled by the other. Or could it be
something simple, yet insidious by it very existence.

Could the idea of Lilith persist because she persists? Is it so difficult for an,
energy being, one who was created with a different life force, a different set of
rules to still exist, and to still hold sway over the ideas she sees as injustice to
her sisterhood of women. She may not be Eve, but maybe she is Eve’s Sexual
Mother her awakening. Maybe she takes the seed of those in slumber for her
own erotic ends, maybe just maybe, that is the blood. And the Blood is the Life.

Notes

1. ↑ Babylonian Talmud, Epstein Translation, Socino Press (1978)

 127

Talmud citations are informed by the translations of I. Epstein. (The Babylonian

Talmud. London: Socino Press, 1978) and Raphael Patai, Patai81, pp. 184f.).
The Coming of Lilith: Essays on Feminism, Judaism, and Sexual Ethics, 1972-
2003.... Hunt J Am Acad Relig.2006; 74: 998-1001
http://lilith.abroadplanet.com/goddess.php

Plaskow, Judith. The Coming of Lilith: A Response Journal of Feminist Studies in

Religion - Volume 23, Number 1, Spring 2007, pp. 34-41
 128

Lilith: Adam's first wife

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Did you know that Adam had a wife before Eve? No, she isn't
mentioned in the Bible and the story is that while Eve is written, Lilith
is spoken and hence the details are hazy. This is what I could find.

According to Jewish folklore, Lilith was Adam's first wife. God made
them from a single form of clay, as equals, and when he had
completed them he separated them with one swift cut. Lilith and
Adam were anxious to be joined again, so Adam asked Lilith to lie
down beneath him. Lilith wasn't keen and challenged Adam wanting to
know why she had to be underneath when they were equals. Why did
he have to dominate when they were two halves made of the same
clay? Adam tried to force her, but they were also of equal strength and
he did not succeed. So Adam turned to God for help, lamenting about
Lilith's defiance and refusal to serve him. She was banished from the
Garden of Eden and turned into a demoness.

Adam was then given a second wife, Eve, who was fashioned from his
rib to ensure her obedience to her man. And the rest is Biblical history.

So, there you have it- the story of Lilith, Adam's first wife and the
world's very first feminist.
I'd heard of Lillith before. God save us from disobedient women hey?

MAY 3, 2009 1:02 PM

Elisa said...
Oh yes! I think we would make wonderful demonesses Jaime. I bags
not having red hair like Lilith though...

MAY 3, 2009 8:31 PM

Jaime said...
It's the red hair that obviously made her such a trouble maker though
isn't it?

MAY 3, 2009 9:08 PM

 129

Elisa said...
You know what they say about rangas.

MAY 3, 2009 9:19 PM

Mac Yourselfathome said...

They make hot Deputy Prime Ministers? (and they have ginger pubes)

MAY 3, 2009 9:28 PM

jay_jay26 said...

*correction*
Lilith does not appear in the original texts of the Torah. However,
liliths are actually demons with female form that kills babies of
Sumerian origin that are mention once in the bible on Is 34:14. The
Lilith legend (Lillith, Adam's First Wife) that you mention here, was
written in the "Alphabeth of Ben Sira" an anonymous book that
satirized Jewish traditions between the 8th and 11th century (AC); it
was made like that, because back then Jewish parents used some
amulets to prevent babies from dying. Lillith (as Adam's first wife)
doesn't appear in the Talmud either. Ah, Eve was created from the rib,
meaning she's the same as Adam; not from a foot, as if she's inferior,
or his head, as if she's superior. The Zohar (another sacred Jewish
book, used a lot in Kabbalah) mention a simmilar story: a female
demon who wants to be with Adam (he already having Eve), gets mad
because she cannot get close to him, and decides to slay babies. She's
mentioned again in the Zohar as the wife of Samael (the king of
demons).

MAY 26, 2009 8:57 PM

Anonymous said...
 130

Why God Din't crated Eve when he created Adam and he only decided
to create Eve when he saw tha Adam was sad, so he did not have any
intention to create a woman for Adam, Also Why the name of this
woman is "Eve" so close to "Evil" Could someone answer it?

J UN E 2, 2009 1:12 PM

JohnPaul said...
The story of Lilith as Adam's first wife is pieced together from many
sources, but is ultimately based on two verses in the Book of Genesis
in the Bible.
Genesis 1-27 describes the creation of mankind on the sixth day, male
and female, from the dust of the earth, in the image of God, to share
equally in dominion over all the earth. This first woman is not named
and nothing more is said about her in the Bible.
In Genesis 2-22,later, after the original creation, after Adam has been
placed in the Garden of Eden alone, introduced to all the animals, etc,
God puts Adam to sleep, takes out one of his ribs, and makes Eve out
of it, for the specific purpose of serving as Adam's "help meet" (sexual
partner, cook, etc?)
These are obviously two different "first women" in the Bible. The real
explanation of this is, of course, that Genesis was written by at least
two, and possibly as many as five different writers, at different places
and times, later mixed together. Incidentally, the Hebrews stole most
of Genesis from Babylonian mythology during their 80 years of
captivity in Babylon. If it was really written by God, then it must have
been the Babylonian god Marduk.

J UN E 2, 2009 5:37 PM

Anonymous said...
 131

Adam only had one wife- Eve. Women weren't made to be obedient to
men and that is not why she was made from him. Lilith doesn't even
exist

J UN E 10, 2009 10:02 PM

Lo said...

Interesting story, but it is a story none the less. God created Adam
and Eve. Eve is Adam's ezer. This Hebrew word is most often
interpreted as the notorious and ambiguous "help meet", but is more
accurately translated as "sustainer beside me". I once heard it
described beautifully: "Eve was taken from Adam's side to be equal
with him, from under his arm for him to protect her, and from next to
his heart so he will always love her." It is truly a tragedy that
something so amazing and literally heaven-sent is too often made ugly
and so much less than it could be.

- A cherished wife and follower of Jesus

J U LY 8, 2009 6:21 AM

Anonymous said...
Reading all that old crap from history can really mess up ones mind
sometimes, but you have to look at reality. Love is a action, Men don't
know what love really is, unless they are willing to admit "man" has
been MEAN to "woman" through out history, and women have been
degraded through man, only money can degrade a women through
man's sneaky ways. Men see visually, and that is love to them at first,
women they take heart. Once a man takes heart, he understands a
woman's point of view how unfair man has been to women, then they
become equal, "REAL LOVE".
AND,
 132

The GOLDEN RULE is:

One should behave toward others as one would have others behave
toward oneself.

All culture's rule.

Christianity All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,

do ye so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.
Matthew 7:1
Confucianism Do not do to others what you would not like yourself.
Then there will be no resentment against you, either in the family or in
the state.
Analects 12:2
Buddhism Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.

Udana-Varga 5,1
Hinduism This is the sum of duty; do naught onto others what you
would not have them do unto you.
Mahabharata 5,1517
Islam No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that
which he desires for himself.
Sunnah
Judaism What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellowman. This is
the entire Law; all the rest is commentary.
Talmud, Shabbat 3id
Taoism Regard your neighbor’s gain as your gain, and your neighbor’s
loss as your own loss.
Tai Shang Kan Yin P’ien
Zoroastrianism That nature alone is good which refrains from doing
another whatsoever is not good for itself.
Dadisten-I-dinik, 94,5
 133

Any ways, most can't follow this rule sadly to say. Look at the reality
of this world is. Their are straving people in the world, and the
churches are pretty well off in money, so much invested in churches,
and not to the straving people. Does Jesus really like a build all fancy
and trimmed up to the fullest of everything it has in it? OR Does Jesus
want people to be fed, helped in which ever way they may be needed
in help. The Churches are to selfish to see the whole point of Jesus,
and yet the churches collect money and live rightously under god, with
out giving it a second thought how many homeless people are on earth
with out food, shelter, and ragged clothes to ware. Where are the
workers of the churches to busy pretending to work for God, and
fooling the nation. Thinking the are rightous just because they work in
the church and forgetting about the needy. How many lost
homes...lately? The real Church is the body, and "MAN" built church
out of GREED, for what is that building mean to someone dieing in the
gutter? The money that built the church, should go to helping each
other in need.

So when I say men see visually...yep the sure do. Men creat they own
sin's. and...money is the root of all evil. They trick women to their little
games by the traditions of men, some call it being MACHO, I call it
MEAN.
I hope that you understand what I told you, was out of good
faith...and the 10 commandment are "never" to be rules out of life.
They are their for a GOOD reason, he followed his God Laws, not
man's laws. Which are changed by man, tratitionally, Even the
Sabbath day, today is "ruled out" to Sunday.
Man's Law,
Blue Law,
Roman Law
what ever you may call it, it is not the sabbath day, Jesus never
changed this law, and neither can man.
So I say to you keep being good in your hearts, and may-be someday,
 134

us Women can rule the nation on love first, and make it a better world,
because man can't alone. They have screwed up to much any how,
look at all the warring they have caused, through out history. Do
women do this? No they would rather kiss their baby's and want them
safe.
Take good care,
Debbie

J U LY 15, 2009 6:46 AM

Anonymous said...
wow. never knew this piece of information his kinda questions God's
sense of fairness tho. he penalized eve jus coz she was so headstrong
of not being inferior to adam.that is so messed up and hypocritical.

J U LY 26, 2009 1:09 AM

Anonymous said...
love the story, but thats all it is, infact thats all it all is, stories,
entertaining sure, but not something to live by

J U LY 28, 2009 9:43 PM

Mica said...
What Adam's 2nd wife the before Eve & after Lilith...

The Alphabet of Ben Sira Midrash goes even further and identifies a
third wife, created after Lilith deserted Adam, but before Eve. This
unnamed wife was purportedly made in the same way as Adam, from
the
"dust of the earth", but the sight of her being created proved too
much for Adam to take and he refused to go near her. It is also said
 135

that she was created from nothing at all, and that God created into
being a skeleton, then organs, and then flesh. The Midrash tells that
Adam saw her as "full of blood and secretions," suggesting that he
witnessed her creation and was horrified at seeing a body from the
inside out. Ben Sira does not record this wife's fate. She was never
named, and it assumed that she was allowed to leave the Garden a
perpetual virgin, or was ultimately destroyed by God in favor of Eve,
who was created when Adam was asleep and oblivious. It should be
noted
here, that both Lilith and the Second Wife are free from any curse of
the Tree of Knowledge, as they left long before the event occurred

AU GU ST 18, 2009 10:56 AM

Anonymous said...
Wow, Mica, I had never heard about this third wife. Do you have a
more specific source to point to? I would be quite interested in reading
the related passages.

SEPTEMBER 19, 2009 2:53 PM

Anonymous said...
Did you know Adam didn't exist?

SEPTEMBER 19, 2009 10:46 PM

Anonymous said...
Tsk Tsk that’s what Lilith got for disobeying God.

SEPTEMBER 20, 2009 11:16 PM

Anonymous said...
 136

The comments on this blog are better than the blog post itself. I wish I
could thumb up some better information than what is up there.

So which is it?
Real or not real lilith?

SEPTEMBER 20, 2009 11:59 PM

Anonymous said...
Lilith is actually older then the bible/Adam myth and anything
assoicated with it. Lilith is dipicted as "the hand of Inanna", an ancient
Sumerian Goddess who predates Christianity. Any inclusion in the
Adam story is an attempt to rewrite ancient Gods/Goddesses into more
contemporary forms.

SEPTEMBER 21, 2009 2:32 PM

Anonymous said...
nephilims, lilith, missing books and pages from the bible the truth
should be told, god made us so that we may find a away to go back to
him in heaven but he made satan a real evil angel who has got some
followers, now for the truth: (1) RF.I.D CHIP is in the book of revlation
it is a chip a very mirco chip so small it is the same size as rice grain it
is implanted in your arm or your forehead very man and woman, girl,
boy, and baby the rich and the poor will a chip implanted in them

(2)MISSING BOOKS- THE GOSPEL OF judas, mary magdalene,

thomas, enoch, jesus christ, arch michael, adam and eve, andrew,
barnabas, nicodemus....

(3)THE TRUTH ABOUT THE CHURCH'S:

the true churh is inside of you not in a building or going to church to
 137

change your life to hear a man or a woman to speak it is not the truth
it is mainly to control the masses the more people to control and
influence them to do there bidding, pages have pulled out the bible for
1 reason and that is CONTROL AND INFLUENCE...

GOD BE WITH YOU TILL MEET AGAIN!!!!!!!!

SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 5:49 PM

Anonymous said...
Adam and Eve bore no daughters. Cain and Abel couldn't have
children. Adam and Lilith must have had daughters,or we wouldn't
exist.King James only "allowed" what he thought should be in the
Bible, not what really should've been in the Bible. It was a control
issue by Government. sound Familiar?

SEPTEMBER 30, 2009 10:20 AM

elizabeth erin greenfield said...

There is another story about lilith--you can reference ellen frankl for it
better, but it says that she had wanted to be equal with adam, and
adam refused, so she was not banished but rather left Eden, refusing
to settle. After she left, Adam was lonely, and three angels were sent
by Gd to try to convince her to return to Eden and Adam--and she
consented, on the condition of equality. When Adam refused this, she
refused to return. It was at this time that some midrashim about her
claim that she was cursed, that she would bear countless children but
have to watch 100 of them die each day. On a side note, there was a
legend that because of this, she would sometimes haunt women in
labor, and in yiddishkeit, women in labor would hold a pendant with
the names of the three angels who had tried to appeal to Lilith as a
protection against her during labor.

OC TOBER 21, 2009 8:37 PM

 138

Anonymous said...
All of these comments and half go south on another subject...anyone
ever see the fact of the bible no matter which you grab- when man
was made he was"created in OUR image? who is the our in this...most
pple believe in ONE GOD regardless of name but how could ONE god
be an OUR....unless one could return in time or find a complete written
story in true original form not a interpretation of another we will never
know and will always disagree...

FEBRU ARY 3, 2010 5:31 AM

Siv said...
Why not ask a clairvoyant? Ask a dozen, get 12 different stories, and
build up a skeleton of the core that disseminates of all the stories. Ask
30 more, and do the same. After a 50 stories, you should be able to
tell the difference from the channelers own illusions and fears from the
real story. And youll get a dramatic story of love and anguish, better
than tv..

FEBRU ARY 18, 2010 9:27 PM

Anonymous said...
The point here is that neither Lilith nor Eve was created to be
subserviant to man ("Adam"). My Creator did not give me life
only for me to live that life as a lesser being to just serve the
opposite gender. Child bearing is one of the most powerfull
phenominons in this world - a man could never do it, left on their
own - men would not exist. That is not feminist its fact.

FEBRU ARY 23, 2010 7:31 AM

Anonymous said...
 139

Genesis is "The first book of Moses" - so Moses is credited as having

written it.

Jewish, Messianic, and Hebrew religious tradition ascribes authorship

of the Torah to Moses through a process of divine inspiration.

The Zohar, the most significant text in Jewish mysticism, states that
the Torah was created prior to the creation of the world, and that it
was used as the blueprint for Creation.

According to dating of the text by Orthodox rabbis, though some place

it earlier, that the revelation of the Torah to Moses occurred in 1312
BCE at Mount Sinai.

So we get how important Moses is right?

There are two clear references to human creation within "Genesis -

The first book of Moses".

(1.27 - So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he
created him; male and female he created them. 1.28 - And God
blessed them, and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, and fill
the earth and subdue it) That was on the fifth day.

After that - days six and seven are detailed.

And then after that (2.7 - then the Lord God formed man of dust from
the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man
became a living being). The name "Adam" is referenced G3.17.

(2.22 - and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man he
made into a woman and brought her to the man)."Eve" is referenced
G.20.
 140

So according to Genesis there was a male and female couple before

Adam and Eve - and they were created on the 5th day.

So back to the topic - Lilith ..

Writings of two brothers, Jacob and Isaac Hacohen, predates the

Zohar (which I mentioned above) by a few decades, states that
Samael and Lilith are in the shape of an androgynous being, double-
faced, born out of the emanation of the Throne of Glory and
corresponding in the spiritual realm to Adam and Eve, who were
likewise born as a hermaphrodite. The two twin androgynous couples
resembled each other and both "were like the image of Above"; that
is, that they are reproduced in a visible form of an androgynous deity.

Two twin androgynous couples - what, like siamese twins? Yep. The
first pair were created at the same time - male and female. And on
reading the bible passage it makes sense. Read it - Genesis 1.27.

With the second pair one was created from the other G2.23 - Then the
man said "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh".
siamese twins again. Adam and Eve.

It's very possible that Lillith was indeed the first woman. And Samuel
the first man.
Adam and Eve were the 2nd man and woman.

Adam and Lillith did hook up though. Lillith gets some terrible
mentions as being a harlot, demon, etc all over the place throughout
varying religions. The first medieval source to depict Adam and Lilith in
full was the Midrash Abkir (ca. 10th century), which was followed by
the Zohar and Kabbalistic writings. Adam is said to be perfect until he
recognizes either his sin or Cain's homicide that is the cause of
 141

bringing death into the world. He then separates from holy Eve, sleeps
alone, and fasts for 130 years. During this time Lilith desired his
beauty and came to him against his will. She bore him many demons
and spirits called "the plagues of humankind". The added explanation
was that it was through Adam's own sin that Lilith overcame him
against his will.

Weird how throughout religious history beautiful red haired women

with a modicum of sensed power are so quickly crushed underfoot in a
male dominated religion / world. Lillith strikes me as similar to Mary
Magdeline.

But that's just my take ;)

MARC H 28, 2010 2:50 AM

Anonymous said...

I'm afraid you're wrong February 23, 2010 7.31am.

Genesis 3.16 - To the woman he said "I will greatly multiply your pain
in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire
shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.

According to the Old Testament all women from Eve on are punished
for her taking the apple from the tree and males rule over females.
Read it for yourself.

When they were created both of these people were pure right?

The serpent tells Eve to take the apple and eat it so she does - cause
she's pure and how would she know anything was out to cause her
harm. And she offers it to Adam who shares it with her.
 142

Eve is punished for her purity. Adam is not.

MARC H 28, 2010 3:01 AM

Shaleyra said...

Actually, the real reason why she left was because Lilith warned Adam.
She told him that if he kept putting her below him she was going to
leave. He didn't change. So she said 4 words in their language which
mean "God". To say the name is to name the person and everything
about the person. That name could not be said. So God gave her wings
and she left to Heaven. The other stuff about being a demon was just
added by men to ensure their position as idiots who think they rule
everything.

APRI L 5, 2010 9:48 AM

Anonymous said...
Reading this story from an objective point of view, I have come to an
interesting thought. Before in history there have been multiple species
of humans. Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons for example, lived at the
same time, but neanderthals were overcome by the more capable cro-
magnons, who did interbreed with them. Perhaps Lilith was an
example of a variant species of human. That would explain why when
Adam tried to mate with her by getting on top of her, she refused,
because some species of primates only mate facing each other or
sitting up. As the story says, the first man and woman came from the
same origins, but that could mean that they descended from the same
common ancestor, but were slightly different species. Then Eve, who
was said to be created from Adam's rib, could have been from the
same ancestor and of the same genetic makeup as Adam. Either that,
 143

or the reference to Eve being cloned from Adam's side could allude to
budding, a primitive reproductive process. The species that predated
mammals, but eventually led to their existence, might have been a
primitive animal that reproduced through budding, and Eve was a
result of a genetic mutation that resulted in 'male' and 'female'.

It is interesting to note that an experiment a few years back traced all

human mitochondrial DNA back to one female. So it is likely that we
are all descended from one woman who successfully bred to create the
foundation of the human race.

Would be fascinating to be able to go back in time and see what all

really happened at the origin of our species.

APRI L 16, 2010 9:20 PM

Michael said...
I adore you Lilith ... may your spirit endure into eternity my precious
lover.

J UN E 24, 2010 11:49 AM

Anonymous said...
I had a Swedish friend that got a old Swedish bible form a prison
priest in Island. That Bible started with the creation of Lilith and Adam.
I personally don't believe in todays Bible anyway, I red most of it, and
frankly, I don't like murder, concurring and answering to
power/leaders that much... And the fact that women are pretty much
labelled as evil, stupid and inferior in the first chapters, put me off at
an early stage, hehe. Why in the world would I follow a religion that
diminishes me? Makes me puzzle why someone would actually...
Not to mention that every "great story" of the Bible was written by
 144

others loong before the Christians came along with their pens.
I would never let religion narrow down my spirituality :)
PS: just saw a "show" from a baptist church when the wife of the
priest had this hole speech about the importance of letting your man
lead and you follow, so don't think it's all in the past..

  Un mito que me fascina

Lilith es un mito que incomoda a la mayoría de los hombres ya que los
deja como niños malcriados que corren a llorar con papi cuando una
mujer fuerte no les cumple sus caprichos. Aquí la historia tomada de
Femina: ...
Posted by Fabián Bautista at September 21, 2009 2:34 AM

ELI SA

A woman encroaching her late 30's, married to a political junkie and

mamma to gorgeous Seb and Max.
 145

Looking for Lilith

By: Eliezer Segal

The feminist critique of conventional values has not overlooked the

Jewish tradition. Whether or not one acknowledges the validity of all
the charges that have been leveled against the treatment of women in
Jewish law and theology, it is hardly possible to ignore these issues.
As one who is normally sympathetic with feminist aspirations, I have
often been disappointed with the scholarly standards of the debate,
especially when it has been directed towards the classical texts of
Judaism. In the course of polemical ideological exchanges, I find too
frequently that sweeping generalizations are being supported by flimsy
or questionable evidence, with a disturbing disregard for factual
accuracy and historical context.
As an example of this sort of scholarly sloppiness, I wish to discuss an
intriguing Hebrew legend that has found its way into dozens of recent
works about Jewish attitudes towards women.
The legend in question was inspired by the Bible's dual accounts of the
creation of the first woman, which led its author to the conclusion that
Adam had a first wife before his marriage to Eve. Adam's original mate
was the demonic Lilith who had been fashioned, just like her male
counterpart, from the dust of the earth. Lilith insisted from the outset
on equal treatment, a fact which caused constant friction between the
couple. Eventually the frustrated Lilith used her magical powers to fly
away from her spouse. At Adam's urging, God dispatched three angels
to negotiate her return. When these angels made threats against
Lilith's demonic descendants, she countered that she would prey
eternally upon newborn human babies, who could be saved only by
invoking the protection of the three angels. In the end Lilith stood her
ground and never returned to her husband.
The story implies that when Eve was afterwards fashioned out of
Adam's rib (symbolic of her subjection to him), this was to serve as an
antidote to Lilith's short-lived attempt at egalitarianism. Here, declare
the feminists matronizingly, we have a clear statement of the Rabbinic
Attitude towards Women!
There is only one slight problem with this theory: The story of Lilith is
not actually found in any authentic rabbinic tradition. Although it is
repeatedly cited as a "Rabbinic legend" or a "midrash," it is not
recorded in any ancient Jewish text!
 146

The tale of Lilith originates in a medieval work called "the Alphabet

of Ben-Sira," a work whose relationship to the conventional streams
of Judaism is, to say the least, problematic.
The unknown author of this work has filled it with many elements that
seem designed to upset the sensibilities of traditional Jews. In
particular, the heroes of the Bible and Talmud are frequently portrayed
in the most perverse colours. Thus, the book's protagonist, Ben-Sira,
is said to have issued from an incestuous union between the prophet
Jeremiah and his daughter. Joshua is described as a buffoon too fat to
ride a horse. King David comes across as a heartless and spiteful
figure who secretly delights in the death of his son Absalom, while
putting on a disingenuous public display of grief. The book is
consistently sounding the praises of hypocritical and insincere
behaviour.
So shocking and abhorrent are some of the contents of "the Alphabet
of Ben-Sira" that modern scholars have been at a loss to explain why
anyone would have written such a book. Some see it as an impious
digest of risqué folk-tales. Others have suggested that it was a
polemical broadside aimed at Christians, Karaites, or some other
opposing movement. I personally would not rule out the possibility
that it was actually an anti-Jewish satire--though, to be sure, it did
come to be accepted by the Jewish mystics of medieval Germany; and
amulets to fend off the vengeful Lilith became an essential protection
for newborn infants in many Jewish communities.
Eventually the tale of Lilith was included in a popular English-language
compendium of Rabbinic legend, and some uncritical readers--unable
or unwilling to check after the editor's sources--cited it as a
representative Rabbinic statement on the topic. As tends to happen in
such instances, subsequent authors kept copying from one another
until the original error turned into an unchallenged historical fact.
Certainly there are volumes of real texts and traditions that could
benefit from a searching and critical feminist analysis, and it is a
shame to focus so much intellectual energy on a dubious and
uncharacteristic legend of this sort.
First publication: Jewish Free Press Feb. 6 1995.
Bibliography:
• * J. Dan, the Hebrew Story in the Middle Ages, Jerusalem, 1974.
• * J. D. Eisenstadt, ed., Ozar Midrashim, Israel, n.d.
MALE & FEMALE HE CREATED THEM...
Genesis I: 27 reads:
"And Elohim created Adam in His Image, in the Image of God He
created him; male and female He created them."
Genesis II:18 and 22 read:
 147

"And Yahweh said, 'It is not good for Adam to be alone. I will make a
fitting helper for him.'...And Yahweh fashioned the rib that He had
taken from the man into a woman; and He brought her to the man."
Today, we know that Genesis I and II are simply two separate
Creation stories. Genesis II derives from a Sumerian story, while
Genesis I is a later creation of the Hebrew Priesthood (created by the
Deuteronomic School around 700 BCE). However, to a people who
were quite determined to take the Scriptures as ultimate Truth, such a
contradiction was not welcome at all. It demanded an explanation that
reconciled both stories.
Explanation number one is perhaps the best—Qabalistically speaking.
As we know, Adam was created to perfection. He was created in the
perfect image of "Elohim." Of course, God is not seen as being either
male or female, but as both at once. Even the Name Elohim is a
feminine word (Eloah—Goddess) with a masculine plural suffix. Thus, if
God is male and female, the mother and the father, then Adam (which
translates as "Mankind") must also have originally been male and
female in one. To be otherwise would have been to be unbalanced,
and thus imperfect.
And thus was Adam's perfection, said to be even greater than the
Angels. In fact, in this view, Adam was not a human at all—but a
Cosmic Being known as Adam Kadmon. He was the Archetype upon
which humans would later be based.
Now, enters the passages from Genesis II. Just as the Unity of God
was divided in two (the separation of the Waters by the Firmament) to
create the Universe, so to was mankind created by the separation of
the Archetypal Man into "its" two halves—male and female. Thus,
woman was separated from man, and Adam Kadmon became an
unbalanced creature—a human. This imperfection finally led to the
Fall, the manifestation of the Human Race from Archetypal to the
Actual. The woman was called Eve, which literally translates as "Life."
Mankind was given Life, and the rest is history.
Explanation number two, though just as Qabalistically useful in its own
right, is nevertheless vastly more fun—especially mythologically
speaking. This is where Lilith enters the picture as the first wife of
Adam. The verse from Genesis I was thus explained as a veiled hint to
the entire Lilith affair. Genesis II:20 even helps back this up: "And the
man gave names to all the cattle and to the birds of the sky and to all
the wild beasts; but for Adam no fitting helper was found." The
animals of the Earth had been created for the strict purpose of being
helpers to Adam, and Lilith was among them. But, Lilith had failed,
and no other beast came even close (apparently Lilith was the only
animal enough like Adam to be a candidate at all). The next seen in
 148

the Scripture is where Yahweh breaks down and decides to chance

separating Adam into his two halves of male and female.
Without worrying over specific developments, I will simply relate the
entire tale as it came to be after all. Following is the story of Lilith:
THE MYTHOS: LILITH'S DEFIANCE

Now Lilith was the first wife of Adam, well before the creation of Eve.
She had been created along with him to be his helper, as the Torah
states "Male and Female He created them."
However, Lilith was not so suited as a companion for Adam. There was
little on which they could agree In his attempt to mate with Lilith,
Adam demanded missionary position. However, Lilith refused. "We
were created equal, and thus we shall make love in equal positions."
Adam replied that he, being the Image of the Elohim, would not stoop
to such a level as to be equal to Lilith, who was simply one of the
many beasts of the field She was created as his helper, and that is
how she would remain.
Lilith, however, was far more than Adam had imagined. She went
straight away to Yahweh, and used her prowess of seduction upon
Him. Yahweh, known for his soft heart toward women, was finally
lulled into revealing His sacred Name unto her. Thereupon Lilith
pronounced the Divine Name, and flew away from the Garden and
Adam forever.
She took residence within a cave upon the shores of the Red Sea,
where to this day she finds Her shelter Within. She accepted the
demons of the world as her lovers, and spawned many thousands of
demon children in only a short time. It is thus that the world became
populated with demons, and how Lilith came to be called the Mother of
Demons—wife of Asmodeus, the King of Demons. In this aspect, she
was called the Younger Lilith.
Adam, meanwhile, found that he regretted wishing Lilith away. He
went to Yahweh and stated his case for the return of Lilith. Yahweh
agreed that a creature of Eden should not so easily depart that realm,
and dispatched three Enforcer Angels to retrieve her.
These three, Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangeloph, soon found Lilith
within her cave, and demanded her return unto Adam by order of
Yahweh. If she refused, they informed her, they would slay one
hundred of her demon children each day until she decided to return.
Lilith exclaimed that even this fate was better than returning to Eden
and submission to Adam. As the Enforcers carried out their threat,
Lilith also made a terrible proclamation. In return for the pain
delivered upon her, she would slay the children of Adam. She swore to
attack children, and even their mothers, during child-birth. She also
swore that all newborns were in danger of her wrath—baby girls for
 149

twenty days after birth, and boys for eight. Not only this, but she
vowed also to attack men in their sleep. She would steal their semen
to give birth to more demon children, which would replace those slain
each day.
However, even Lilith was not without feeling. She also made one other
promise: wherever she saw displayed the names of the three Angels
who opposed her, no one in that place would be in danger from her
actions.

And thus is the legend of Lilith. It does not end here by any means,
and I will be adding to it as this document continues. I will go over the
basic Hebraic interpretations (Folk and Religious), the later Qabalistic
interpretation, the modern interpretation, and then I will conclude with
my own interpretation.

Chapter 10: Adam's Helpmeets

(a) Having decided to give Adam a helpmeet lest he should be alone of
his kind, God put him into a deep sleep, removed one of his ribs,
formed it into a woman, and closed up the wound, Adam awoke and
said: 'This being shall be named "Woman", because she has been
taken out o f man. A man and a woman shall be one flesh.' The title he
gave her was Eve, 'the Mother of All Living''. 1
(b) Some say that God created man and woman in His own image on
the Sixth Day, giving them charge over the world; 2 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 in turn,
found no satisfaction in the act. He therefore cried: 'Every creature but
I has a proper matel', and prayed God would remedy this injustice. 3
(c) 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'. 4
(d) Adam and Lilith never found peace together; for when he wished to
lie with her, she took offence at the recumbent posture 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.
 150

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. '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; 5 and if she could not
destroy a human infant, because of the angelic amulet, she would
spitefully turn against her own. 6
(e) Some say that Lilith ruled as queen in Zmargad, and again in
Sheba; and was the demoness who destroyed job's sons. 7 Yet she
escaped the curse of death which overtook Adam, since they had
parted long before the Fall. Lilith and Naamah not only strangle infants
but also seduce dreaming men, any one of whom, sleeping alone, may
become their victim. 8
(f) Undismayed by His failure to give Adam a suitable helpmeet, God
tried again, and let him watch while he built up a woman's anatomy:
using bones, tissues, muscles, blood and glandular secretions, then
covering the whole with skin and adding tufts of hair in places.
The sight caused Adam such disgust that even when this woman, the
First Eve, stood there in her full beauty, he felt an invincible
repugnance. God knew that He had failed once more, and took the
First Eve away. Where she went, nobody knows for certain. 9
(g) God tried a third time, and acted more circumspectly. Having taken
a rib from Adam's side in his sleep, He formed it into a woman; then
plaited her hair and adorned her, like a bride, with twenty-four pieces
of jewellery, before waking him. Adam was entranced. 10
(h) Some say that God created Eve not from Adam's rib, but from a
tail ending in a sting which had been part of his body. God cut this off,
and the stump-now a useless coccyx-is still carried by Adam's
descendants. 11
(i) Others say that God's original thought had been to create two
human beings, male and female; but instead He designed a single one
with a male face looking forward, and a female face looking back.
Again He changed His mind, removed Adam's backward-looking face,
and built a woman's body for it. 12
 151

(j) Still others hold that Adam was originally created as an androgyne
of male and female bodies joined back to back. Since this posture
made locomotion difficult, and conversation awkward, God divided the
androgyne and gave each half a new rear. These separate beings He
placed in Eden, forbidding them to couple. 13
Notes on sources:
1. Genesis II. 18-25; III. 20.
2. Genesis I. 26-28.
3. Gen. Rab. 17.4; B. Yebamot 632.
4. Yalqut Reubeni ad. Gen. II. 21; IV. 8.
5. Alpha Beta diBen Sira, 47; Gaster, MGWJ, 29 (1880), 553 ff.
6. Num. Rab. 16.25.
7. Targum ad job 1. 15.
8. B. Shabbat 151b; Ginzberg, LJ, V. 147-48.
9. Gen. Rab. 158, 163-64; Mid. Abkir 133, 135; Abot diR. Nathan 24;
B. Sanhedrin 39a.
10. Gen. II. 21-22; Gen. Rab. 161.
11. Gen. Rab. 134; B. Erubin 18a.
12. B. Erubin 18a.
13. Gen. Rab. 55; Lev. Rab. 14.1: Abot diR. Nathan 1.8; B. Berakhot
61a; B. Erubin 18a; Tanhuma Tazri'a 1; Yalchut Gen. 20; Tanh. Buber
iii.33; Mid. Tehillim 139, 529.
Back 2 Top
Authors’ Comments on the Myth:
1. The tradition that man's first sexual intercourse was with animals,
not women, may be due to the widely spread practice of bestiality
among herdsmen of the Middle East, which is still condoned by
custom, although figuring three times in the Pentateuch as a capital
crime. In the Akkadian Gilgamesh Epic, Enkidu is said to have lived
with gazelles and jostled other wild beasts at the watering place, until
civilized by Aruru's priestess. Having enjoyed her embraces for six
days and seven nights, he wished to rejoin the wild beasts but, to his
surprise, they fled from him. Enkidu then knew that he had gained
understanding, and the priestess said: 'Thou art wise, Enkidu, like
unto a godl'
2. Primeval man was held by the Babylonians to have been
androgynous. Thus the Gilgamesh Epic gives Enkidu androgynous
features: `the hair of his head like a woman's, with locks that sprout
like those of Nisaba, the Grain-goddess.' The Hebrew tradition
evidently derives from Greek sources, because both terms used in a
Tannaitic midrash to describe the bisexual Adam are Greek:
androgynos, 'man-woman', and diprosopon, 'twofaced'. Philo of
Alexandria, the Hellenistic philosopher and commentator on the Bible,
contemporary with Jesus, held that man was at first bisexual; so did
 152

the Gnostics. This belief is clearly borrowed from Plato. Yet the myth of
two bodies placed back to back may well have been founded on
observation of Siamese twins, which are sometimes joined in this
awkward manner. The two-faced Adam appears to be a fancy derived
from coins or statues of Janus, the Roman New Year god.
3. Divergences between the Creation myths of Genesis r and n, which
allow Lilith to be presumed as Adam's first mate, result from a careless
weaving together of an early Judaean and a late priestly tradition. The
older version contains the rib incident. Lilith typifies the Anath-
worshipping Canaanite women, who were permitted pre-nuptial
promiscuity. Time after time the prophets denounced Israelite women
for following Canaanite practices; at first, apparently, with the priests'
approval-since their habit of dedicating to God the fees thus earned is
expressly forbidden in Deuteronomy xxIII. I8. Lilith's flight to the Red
Sea recalls the ancient Hebrew view that water attracts demons.
'Tortured and rebellious demons' also found safe harbourage in Egypt.
Thus Asmodeus, who had strangled Sarah's first six husbands, fled 'to
the uttermost parts of Egypt' (Tobit viii. 3), when Tobias burned the
heart and liver of a fish on their wedding night.
4. Lilith's bargain with the angels has its ritual counterpart in an
apotropaic rite once performed in many Jewish communities. To
protect the newborn child against Lilith-and especially a male, until he
could be permanently safeguarded by circumcision-a ring was drawn
with natron, or charcoal, on the wall of the birthroom, and inside it
were written the words: 'Adam and Eve. Out, Lilith!' Also the names
Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof (meanings uncertain) were inscribed
on the door. If Lilith nevertheless succeeded in approaching the child
and fondling him, he would laugh in his sleep. To avert danger, it was
held wise to strike the sleeping child's lips with one finger-whereupon
Lilith would vanish.
5. 'Lilith' is usually derived from the Babylonian-Assyrian word lilitu, ,a
female demon, or wind-spirit'-one of a triad mentioned in Babylonian
spells. But she appears earlier as 'Lillake' on a 2000 B.G. Sumerian
tablet from Ur containing the tale of Gilgamesh and the Willow Tree.
There she is a demoness dwelling in the trunk of a willow-tree tended
by the Goddess Inanna (Anath) on the banks of the Euphrates. Popular
Hebrew etymology seems to have derived 'Lilith' from layil, 'night';
and she therefore often appears as a hairy night-monster, as she also
does in Arabian folklore. Solomon suspected the Queen of Sheba of
being Lilith, because she had hairy legs. His judgement on the two
harlots is recorded in I Kings III. 16 ff. According to Isaiah xxxiv. I4-
I5, Lilith dwells among the desolate ruins in the Edomite Desert where
satyrs (se'ir), reems, pelicans, owls, jackals, ostriches, arrow-snakes
and kites keep her company.
 153

6. Lilith's children are called lilim. In the Targum Yerushalmi, the

priestly blessing of Numbers vi. 26 becomes: 'The Lord bless thee in all
thy doings, and preserve thee from the Lilim!' The fourth-century A.D.
commentator Hieronymus identified Lilith with the Greek Lamia, a
Libyan queen deserted by Zeus, whom his wife Hera robbed of her
children. She took revenge by robbing other women of theirs.
7. The Lamiae, who seduced sleeping men, sucked their blood and ate
their flesh, as Lilith and her fellow-demonesses did, were also known
as Empusae, 'forcers-in'; or Mormolyceia, 'frightening wolves'; and
described as 'Children of Hecate'. A Hellenistic relief shows a naked
Lamia straddling a traveller asleep on his back. It is characteristic of
civilizations where women are treated as chattels that they must adopt
the recumbent posture during intercourse, which Lilith refused. That
Greek witches who worshipped Hecate favoured the superior posture,
we know from Apuleius; and it occurs in early Sumerian
representations of the sexual act, though not in the Hittite. Malinowski
writes that Melanesian girls ridicule what they call `the missionary
position', which demands that they should lie passive and recumbent.
8. Naamah, 'pleasant', is explained as meaning that 'the demoness
sang pleasant songs to idols'. Zmargad suggest smaragdos, the semi-
precious aquamarine; and may therefore be her submarine dwelling. A
demon named Smaragos occurs in the Homeric Epigrams.
9. Eve's creation by God from Adam's rib-a myth establishing male
supremacy and disguising Eve's divinity-lacks parallels in
Mediterranean or early Middle-Eastern myth. The story perhaps
derives iconotropically from an ancient relief, or painting, which
showed the naked Goddess Anath poised in the air, watching her lover
Mot murder his twin Aliyan; Mot (mistaken by the mythographer for
Yahweh) was driving a curved dagger under Aliyan's fifth rib, not
removing a sixth one. The familiar story is helped by a hidden pun on
tsela, the Hebrew for 'rib': Eve, though designed to be Adam's
helpmeet, proved to be a tsela, a 'stumbling', or 'misfortune'. Eve's
formation from Adam's tail is an even more damaging myth; perhaps
suggested by the birth of a child with a vestigial tail instead of a
coccyx-a not infrequent occurrence.
10. The story of Lilith's escape to the East and of Adam's subsequent
marriage to Eve may, however, record an early historical incident:
nomad herdsmen, admitted into Lilith's Canaanite queendom as guests
(see 16. 1), suddenly seize power and, when the royal household
thereupon flees, occupy a second queendom which owes allegiance to
the Hittite Goddess Heba.
The meaning of 'Eve' is disputed. Hawwah is explained in Genesis III.
20 as 'mother of all living'; but this may well be a Hebraicized form of
the divine name Heba, Hebat, Khebat or Khiba. This goddess, wife of
 154

the Hittite Storm-god, is shown riding a lion in a rock-sculpture at

Hattusaswhich equates her with Anath-and appears as a form of Ishtar
in Hurrian texts. She was worshipped at Jerusalem (see 27. 6). Her
Greek name was Hebe, Heracles's goddess-wife.
I do not feel that any God or Goddess can be divorced from Their
mythos. As I have stated elsewhere, a Mythology is the Soul of the
God(s) it depicts. For instance, you and I both know that the Gods did
not build the city of Babylon with Their own hands. Yet, if one were to
call upon Great Marduk, He would have full memory of constructing
the city. Likewise, we know that Adam and Eve did not exist as the
"first humans." Yet, Lilith has full memory of Eden, the Fall, and every
other event depicted in Genesis and the various Hebraic Legends. It is
thus that Lilith, though She is not the vile and disgusting ArchDemon
envisioned by the early Judaic Peoples, is nevertheless affected by
these conceptions of Her. Her Dark aspects, even the nastiest ones,
are a part of Her, regardless of modern attempts to "liberate" Her.
Lilith was not originally a benevolent Goddess who was raped by the
Patriarchy.
Kabbala: Lilith's Origins
Note that the following passages are either informed by or related to
the traditions of Lilith as Adam's first wife, referred to in the Alphabet
of Ben Sira. Scholem concluded that references to Lilith in the Zohar
were based on the Alphabet. [AH]
Moses b. Solomon of Burgos

In contrast to the above, the following passages appear to be unaware

of any tradition of Lilith as Adam's first wife. Rather, she is mated to
Samael (King of the demons, something like Satan) from the
beginning
Lilith is called the Northerner, because Out of the north the evil breaks
forth (Jer. 1:14). Both Samael, king of the demons, and Lilith were
born in a spiritual birth androgynously. The Tree of Knowledge of Good
and Evil is an epithet for both Samael and Grandmother Lilith (e.g. the
Northerner). As a result of Adam's sin, both of them came and
confused the whole world, both the Upper one and the Nether one.
(Based on the ed. of G. Scholem, quoted in Patai81:453)

THE RELIGIOUS INTERPRETATION

At this point I will include a Christian addition to the Lilith Mythos.

Though it may not figure into the Hebraic views of her, it still relates.
This addition concerns Lilith's involvement with the Fall from Eden.
 155

Perhaps the most famous version of this Christian Lilith is the Sistine
Chapel paintings by Michealangelo. In this She is shown as a half-
woman half-snake and is credited with being the very Serpent who
instigated the Fall from Eden itself. Apparently, Lilith was not satisfied
with her vows of revenge as they were, and decided to attack Adam
where he least expected it— through his new wife, Eve. Perhaps even
an amount of jealousy is involved here.
Of course, it was Satan who was said to have been the serpent in the
Christian viewpoint. And, indeed, Lilith is said to be the wife of Satan
(or, from the Hebrew angle, the wife of Samael). The Serpent was a
joint effort between these two to take revenge upon Adam and cause
them to Fall from grace. Lilith provided the body of the serpent, while
Samael was the voice. As the wife of Samael (rather than Asmodeus),
she is known as the Elder Lilith.
I have all ideas that this Serpent-Lilith was a result of the Rabbinical
view of Lilith—She who seduces men from the True Path of God, thus
causing them to fall from grace as Adam did.
Within the mythologies of King Solomon, we meet Lilith on a number
of occasions, usually known as the Queen of Sheba. Solomon had
suspicions that this queen was in fact Lilith, and thus devised a plan to
know for sure. After inviting her for a visit to his palace, he had the
floor altered so as to appear as a pool of ankle-deep water. When the
queen arrived, she lifted her skirts to walk through the pool, and
Solomon was able to just barely glimpse her overly-hairy legs.
This was the Rabbinical image of Lilith—a dark and beautiful
seductress from the waist up, yet hairy and ugly from the waist down.
In many cases, she is actually a male from the waste down. This, of
course, is the part of the body that would most be concealed from
view. Only one intimate with her would find out the horrible truth—
after it was too late.
Of course, this is a metaphor. Lilith represents that which appears
beautiful on the outside.
She is sex, indulgence, and everything that one desires to do which
breaks the Laws of God. She is all of the things in life which tempts
and seduces the man off of the Path of God, and into the ways of evil.
Only after she has seduced the man, and he is firmly within her grasp,
does she reveal her true nature of ugliness. In this, Lilith far predates
the Christian concept of the Pan-like Satan.

THE QABALISTIC INTERPRETATION

And here we find that the plot thickens. The Qabalists created yet
another chapter in the life of Lilith, which stems directly from the
above Religious ideas. As Lilith had come to represent those things
 156

that God frowned upon, so too did she come to symbolize the ways of
the entire world at large. She was the ways of the Pagans, who did not
frown upon sex, indulgence, and fun, who lived around the Judaic
Peoples. She symbolized all those who would break the Torah, and she
was anyone who would attack the Israelites. Most of all, she was
Babylon.
Before I continue, it is important to explain the principals involved.
Though these concepts developed well after the Second Temple had
been destroyed (in 70 AD), the Temple itself plays a large role in the
Mythos. Also involved are Adonai (The Lord), and His Bride the
Shekinah (Hebrew for "Presence").
This mythos is a development of earlier Pagan ideas, where the union
of the Male and Female aspects of the universe are seen as paramount
to the continued existence of all Creation. This was known as the
Sacred Marriage. In the middle Eastern cultures, a newly anointed
King was ritually married to the Goddess, and thus to the Kingdom
itself. Likewise, the Qabalists depicted Adonai as a King, and the
Shekinah was [the people of] Israel herself.
There was one single place where Adonai would join with the
Shekinah, one place holy enough to sustain the Divine Sex. That place
was the Temple of Solomon. Once in the year, the Couple had joined
together within it's walls, and the Divine Light of goodness shone
throughout the world.
However, the Temple had been destroyed, and its treasures carried
into foreign and Pagan lands. With it went the perfect union of Adonai
and His Kingdom. He withdrew from the world, refusing to meet the
Shekinah in an impure fashion. The Shekinah Herself was taken
captive by the foreign peoples and was there raped by them
continuously. The Shekinah is the physical plane, and therefore could
not retreat from it. Her rape was symbolic of mankind's rape of the
world and the Israelite people.
And here, once again, enters Lilith. As before stated, Lilith symbolized
the very foreign people who held the Shekinah captive. Lilith was their
evil ways—and now those evil ways were in control. How? Because
Adonai could not be without a female partner. There could be no God
without—in some sense—Goddess. Thus, in an effort to sustain a
balance, Adonai took Lilith Herself as His consort. Being what She was,
Adonai felt no pity in uniting with Her in impurity. She was, quite
simply, His harlot.
Thus it was that one half of the Divine Force which sustained the
Universe was tainted—allowing the evil of mankind to be supreme and
unstoppable. Lilith was the Dark Shekinah—the polar opposite of that
Holy Goddess. She had made Her final jump from demoness to
Goddess—the Wife of God.
 157

The Qabalist felt his duty was to strive to reunite the Shekinah with
Adonai, and thus cast Lilith away forever. The Sabbath was on
example of this. Because of the holiness of this day, Lilith had no
power to remain with Adonai, and was forced to retreat to the desert
where She screamed in pain until the day came to an end. It was
during this time that Adonai had the best chance of reuniting with the
Shekinah—and the Qabalist did all he could to help through purity and
godly living. This symbolism is even hinted at in the Christian
Revelation, where the Whore of Babylon is supplanted in power by the
Bride, the wife of the Lamb.
This was the final outcome of Lilith, and here you have Her mythos in
full: First wife of Adam, wife of Asmodeus, wife of Samael, the Serpent
of the Tree of Knowledge, and finally the wife of God. From here, I will
briefly explain the modern interpretation of Her, and you will see why I
disagree with most of it so strongly:

Page visited @ Mon Nov 22 6:32:39 CST 2010

LILITH'S WOLRD © 2001 LIA Flameware, Inc.
From: Claudia Slate
To: Zhahai Stewart
Msg #35, 14-Jan-89

Subject: Re: Lilith

In response to your request for information on Lilith, I looked her up in

"The Woman's Encyclopedia ofMyths and Secrets"
by Barbara Walker and published by Harper and Row. (1983). this
book was strongly recommended to me by a Dallas parapsychology
teacher, (male at that), who felt I might enjoy and benefit from this
study of sexism, which is dealt with in the book from both historical
and mythical viewpoints.

I found this information, which I have paraphrased for the most part.

Lilith, (also know as Lilit), was a relic of an early rabbinical attempt to

assimilate the Sumero-Babylonian Goddess Belit-ili, or Belili, to Jewish
mythology. to the Canaanites, Lilith was Baalat, the "Divine Lady".
Hebraic tradition said Adam married Lilith because he grew tired of
mating with animals, a common custom of Middle-Eastern herdsmen,
though the Old Testament declared it a sin. Moslems were insistent on
the male-superior sexual position and apparently Lilith was not
Moslem, disagreed with Adam and flew away to the Red Sea.

God sent angels to bring Lilith back, but she refused to return. She
 158

Supposedly spent her time mating with "demons" and gave birth to "a
hundred children a day". (Busy woman!) So God had to produce Eve
as Lilith's more docile replacement. Lilith became the "Great Mother"
of settled tribes who resisted invasions of nomadic herdsmen
represented by Adam. Early Hebrews disliked the Great Mother who
is said to have drunk the blood of Abel after he was slain by Cain.

Lilith's Red Sea was another version of Kali Ma’s Ocean of Blood, which
gave birth to all things. There may have been a connection between
Lilith and the Etuscan divinity Leinth, who had no face and who waited
at the gate of the underworld along with Eita and Persipnei, (Hades
and Persephone) to receive the souls of the dead. The underworld
gate was a yoni and a lily, which had no face. Admission into the
underworld was often mythologized as
a sexual union. The lily or lilu, (lotus) was the Great Mother's flower -
yoni, whose title formed Lilith's name.

The story of Lilith disappeared from the Bible, but her daughters,
the lilim, haunted men for over a thousand years. The lilim were
thought responsible for nocturnal emissions and the Jews still made
amulets to keep away the lilim well into the middle Ages. Greeks
adopted the lilim and called them, Lamiae, Empusae, or Daughters of
Hecate. Christians also adopted them and called them harlots of hell
or succubae. They believed that Lilith laughed every time a Christian
man has a wet dream. The Daughters of Lilith were supposedly very
beautiful and presumed to be so expert at lovemaking that after an
experience with one, a man couldn't be content with a mere mortal
woman.

1084

From: Zhahai Stewart

To: Claudia Slate Msg #83, 20-Jan-89
01:29pm
Subject: Re: Lilith

Thanks for the information about Lillith. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite

answer my questions about Lillith, which are not so much what the
myth or legend is, as how was it propagated down thru history to us?

A while ago, someone here suggested that Lillith was expunged from
the Christian Bible. Others, more knowledgeable about that than I,
 159

gave reasons that that was unlikely as a Christian era event,

without postulating a monumental conspiracy. OK, if Lillith is at least
as old as the bible, how did the myth or legend get propogated? Was
there lost ancient written material? Or was it propagated orally for
many generations even after some or many of the books of the Old
Testament were written down? Or did it arise later?

As for the lovemaking of the daughters of Lillith, sounds kinda fun.

(Maybe we should ask David Rice about that?) Do the sons of Pan
spoil mortal women as well? :-)

Barbara Walker’s Encyclopedia is interesting, but seldom gives very

thorough sources. It is apparently worth keeping that grain of salt
onhand.

I just got her Tarot cards & book; pretty powerful images, I thought.
I haven't tried a reading with them yet.

Thanks for the info!

B*B ~z~

---
* Origin: Adelante - 300 meters above Boulder, CO (Opus 1:104/93)

From: Tony Iannotti

To: Zhahai Stewart Msg #116, 24-Jan-89
10:52am
Subject: Re: Lilith

As I understand it, Lilith is said to be as old as the bible, because

she is mentioned in the Mishna, a form of commentary on the
Pentateuch. Whether she was ever in what is now canonical, i.e.
Genesis per se, is hard to prove or disprove. The Mishna was an oral
tradition for much longer. She has been identified with Ishtar in much
the same ce” way as Mercury to Thoth to Wotan. I don't think there
is a literal or philological connection.

* Origin: OPERA DEII = BaphoNet-by-the-Sea (718)499-9277 (Opus

1:107/293)

1085
 160

From: Antony Landsman

To: Zhahai Stewart Msg #122, 10-Jan-88
03:58pm
Subject: Re: Lilith

> Have you any insight as to where the Lillith myth

> originates? For example, what are the oldest documents?
> That mentions Lillith? If indeed Lillith goes back at least
> As far as the beginnings of the Old Testament, was that
> Myth carried verbally even while the rest of the Adam & Eve
> Show was written? Or did Lillith originate later?

Lillith is mentioned in an esoteric Jewish text called the Midrash.

It is a compilation of mystical interpretations surrounding the Torah
(Old Testament). It was handed down orally along with the rest of the
Talmud and was written down in the Middle Ages when the Rabbis
thought that these teachings might be forgotten.

Apparently Lillith was created at the same time as Adam (see the
initial reference to the creation of man "Man and Woman" he created
them but somehow disappeared from the scene due to her rebelious
nature.

I think that she was probably the primary Goddess in the region prior
to the advent and revolution of the Jehovah followers. I also tend
to believe that Innana was one of her descendants.

Blessed Be

--- QuickBBS v2.03

* Origin: Canyonlands BBS, Moab Utah: The most scenic place on
Earth (1:15/27)

From: Inanna Seastar

To: Antony Landsman Msg #145, 25-Jan-
89
07:32pm
Subject: Re: Lilith

The only Lilith likely to be found in _my_ family huluppu-tree is

Lilith Velkor... :-)
 161

On a more Sirius note (even though I don't use Sirius any more; I use
Gnome), there is no question that Inanna is a third- or later-
generation goddess in the Sumerian pantheon. I rather suspect that
the image of Inanna as THE Goddess before whom all other deities at
least swear a little fealty comes from Uruk. Inanna was the matron
goddess of Uruk, and most of our legends and such concerning her
were dug up (literally) in Uruk. The myth of the huluppu-tree shows a
young Inanna, in a young Uruk, trying to get help from other deities of
other, older cities to get rid of a problem that was too big for her to
handle at the time. The problem is solved by Gilgamesh, King of
Uruk, rather than by any foreigner. Likewise, the tale of Inanna &
Enki & the _me's_ (civic virtues), shows a young goddess of a young
city who has managed to elevate her city into the first rank. In
winning the _me's_ from Enki, Inanna adds to them by the time she
gets her virtuous cargo back to Uruk. I do not recall whether Lilith
was formally mentioned as being in Inanna's lineage, though.

Blessed Bheer--drinking Enki under the table--Inanna

1086

--- Gnome v1.30

* Origin: The Lizard King--Inanna Seastar's Place (1:104/45.5)

ZS> “As for the lovemaking of the daughters of Lillith,

Sounds ZS> kinda fun. (Maybe we should ask David Rice about
That?) Er, were you interested in some phone numbers? It's
Extreamly hard work to love a daughter of Lilith, but the
Rewards are undeniably worth it.

I’ve started an extended study on strong Lilith women vs.

The domesticated Eve ones. So far, with only about 18
Tallies in (painstakingly and personaly researched with
Great, er, debauch, with plans on adding many hundreds of
More into the study), the following has been observed:

Most American men give out long before the Lilithian woman
(or any other) will. Lilith will say "Excuse me, kind sir,"
(As she can't remember his name at the moment). "You’re not
Finished, are you?!" and Eve will say "Gee, that was great!"
And reach for the batteries and flee into the bathroom for
 162

an hour.

Lesbians tend to be strongly Lilithian. This may be because

"The only thing men are good FOR they aren’t good AT,” as
The true and valid saying goes. Also, most if not all men
are little cry babies, and Lilith can't stand for that
nonsence.

Conversly, Eve women always knew men make horrible lovers,

But resign themselves to 4 minutes of sex twice a week, when
They’d rather have 16 hours of sex every day. This is why,
Perhaps, Eveian women make such good Catholics.

If your typical male pig says, rightly, that a woman's place

is in the bed, Lilith will say "Eat shit and die!" and Eve
will say "Yes, dear," and hate herself.
 163

Lilith, Woman's Encyclopedia

________________________________________
Claudia Slate Wrote:

In response to your request for information on Lilith, I looked her up in

"The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets" by Barbara Walker
and published by Harper and Row. (1983). This book was strongly
recommended to me by a Dallas parapsychology teacher, (male at
that), who felt I might enjoy and benefit from this study of sexism,
which is dealt with in the book from both historical and mythical
viewpoints.
I found this information, which I have paraphrased for the most part.
Lilith, (also know as Lilit), was a relic of an early rabbinical attempt to
assimilate the Sumero-Babylonian Goddess Belit-ili, or Belili, to Jewish
mythology. to the Canaanites, Lilith was Baalat, the "Divine Lady".
Hebraic tradition said Adam married Lilith because he grew tired of
mating with animals, a common custom of Middle-Eastern herdsmen,
though the Old Testament declared it a sin. Moslems were insistent on
the male-superior sexual position and apparently Lilith was not
Moslem, disagreed with Adam and flew away to the Red Sea.
God sent angels to bring Lilith back, but she refused to return. She
supposedly spent her time mating with "demons" and gave birth to "a
hundred children a day". (Busy woman!) So God had to produce Eve
as Lilith's more docile replacement.
Lilith became the "Great Mother" of settled tribes who resisted
invasions of nomadic herdsmen represented by Adam. Early Hebrews
disliked the Great Mother who is said to have drank the blood of Abel
after he was slain by Cain. Lilith's Red Sea was another version of Kali
Ma's Ocean of Blood, which gave birth to all things.
There may have been a connection between Lilith and the Etuscan
divinity Leinth, who had no face and who waited at the gate of the
underworld along with Eita and Persipnei, (Hades and Persephone) to
receive the souls of the dead. The underworld gate was a yoni and a
lily, which had no face. Admission into the underworld was often
mythologized as a sexual union. The lily or lilu, (lotus) was the Great
Mother's flower - yoni, whose title formed Lilith's name.
The story of Lilith disappeared from the Bible, but her daughters, the
lilim, haunted men for over a thousand years. The lilim were thought
responsible for nocturnal emissions and the Jews still made amulets to
keep away the lilim well into the Middle Ages. Greeks adopted the lilim
and called them, Lamiae, Empusae, or Daughters of Hecate. Christians
also adopted them and called them harlots of hell or succubae. They
 164

believed that Lilith laughed every time a Christian man has a wet
dream.
The Daughters of Lilith were supposedly very beautiful and presumed
to be so expert at lovemaking that after an experience with one, a
man couldn't be [missing]
Lilith is mentioned in an esoteric Jewish text called the Midrash. It is a
compilation of mystical interpretations surrounding the Torah ("Old
Testament"). It was handed down orally along with the rest of the
Talmud and was written down in the middle ages when the Rabbis
thought that these teachings might be forgotten.
Apparently Lilith was created at the same time as Adam (see the initial
reference to the creation of man "Man and Woman" he created them)
but somehow disappeared from the scene due to her rebelious nature.
I think that she was probably the primary Goddess in the region prior
to the advent and revolution of the Jehovah followers. I also tend to
believe that Innana was one of her descendants.
Blessed Be
Summary: An alternate origin to the Slayer mythos
Categories Author Rating Chapters Words Recs
Reviews Hits Published Updated Complete
BtVS/AtS Non-Crossover > Dark
phouka
FR18 1
10,568 7
18
3,79013 Sep 05 13 Sep 05 Yes
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all extant characters are the
copyright of Joss Whedon and 20th Century Fox. No infringement is
intended.

Author's Notes: I never liked Joss' origin for the Slayer, so I decided to
do my own, one that made more sense to me. I originally came across
the story of Lilith in Neil Gaimon's Sandman series and later learned
that it is indeed part of Jewish folklore. All feedback is appreciated.

Dedication: To Melanie, a true friend and a better fan, as she

understands that in every writer, there is a small, yapping ego that
needs constant feeding.
 165

Lilith’s Daughters

Time was. Time is, and in the world, there are many stories – stories
of beginnings and endings, of endings which are beginnings, and
beginnings which are endings. All stories, no matter their time, are
true in their own manner. And so it is true that while the Earth is some
four and a half billion years old, it is also true that it was created some
six thousand years ago over the course of six days, and it is true again
that while humankind evolved from an ape-like ancestor some three
million years previously, the first man was named Adam, and given to
him and his progeny was dominion over the Earth.

So it is true, and so it is true that when the Earth had form – land and
seas, night and day – the Old Ones wandered its face, living what we
would find to be incomprehensible lives of cruelty and pleasure in
cruelty. It is true, in this manner, that the last of the Old Ones to leave
this plane, our world having grown inhospitable to their kind, bit a
human and drank that human’s blood. That human died, and a demon
possessed his body, and that is how the first vampire came into our
world. Later, in this same story, a group of wise men took a girl from
her family and tribe, chained her to a rock, and summoned a demon
that, instead of possessing, infused the girl with its powers of strength,
agility, healing, and hyperacute senses. That girl became the Slayer of
vampires, and her legacy was inherited by still more girls, and those
girls were guided and trained by the inheritors of the group of wise
men who brought the first Slayer into being.

This story is true. But, it is a story told by men, just as the story of the
first man and the garden where he walked with his Creator is told by
men. There are other stories, stories told by women, and these stories
are true.

One story still told today by both men and women (though the men
almost always tell the ending wrong) is that the first man was not
created alone. From the dust as he was called into being, a woman
was also called. She formed at his side, and as he was given a name,
Adam, she was given her name, Lilith. For a time, Lilith and Adam
dwelt together as husband and wife in the garden, and they spoke to
and walked with their Creator. Adam, however, took it into his head
that because he was male, the husband, the man, the taller and
stronger of the two, he should have dominion over Lilith, the female,
the wife, the woman, the weaker.
 166

When the story is told properly, the listener never hears what Adam
and Lilith’s Creator would have said about such a difficulty. Lilith,
finding no way to be with her husband and not be subject to him, took
it upon herself to leave the garden and wander the face of the Earth.
As the story has been told, by men who weren’t there, Lilith became
the mother of monsters and demons. She, denied the role of true
womanhood because of her disobedience, stood over the cradle of
newborns in hopes of stealing their lives away. Again, this story is
true, in a manner of speaking. But that is not the story we speak of.

Adam, for his part, had two more wives. The second he refused before
she was even named. He had seen her form up from the dust –
marrow, blood, pink lungs, throbbing heart – and had been unable to
see her as a whole person, only a disturbing film of far too juicy
biology. She was released back to the dust without ever knowing her
own story. The third was Eve, and she became the mother of all
humankind – in the stories of men – because she was obedient and
loving and an easy target for blame.

However, this is not Eve’s story. This is not a story told by men, wise
or otherwise. This is a story told by women with hair as white as ash
and fewer teeth than living children. It is a story told in the menstrual
huts, around the fire, late at night. It is a story told to girls when their
sisters have been called away by a different fate than husband and
babe and hearth. This is the story:

The tribes of humankind spread through the cradle of Africa, and their
campfires were more numerous than the stars in the sky. In an
evolutionary sense, they were wildly successful. Their societies, their
oversized brains, their ability to use language and abstract thought to
their advantage guaranteed them a place above the predators of the
plains, above that of the herd animals, above that of the trees and
grasses. While a human or two might be lost to accident or
opportunistic cheetah, while disease might strike and burn out a camp
or a clan, while a mother might die trying to birth the child in her
womb, still humans spread, begetting more humans and filling the
land with their kind. Why, one could not walk along the shore of the
largest water for two days without seeing evidence of humanity.

For all this, the grandmothers watched with worried eyes. The
grandmothers were the ones who saw to it that no child went hungry.
For all the boasts of the hunters, the grandmothers were the ones who
made sure there was food to eat around the campfire – not meat,
perhaps, but roots, nuts, berries, and grains. The grandmothers
 167

brought the new lives into this world and sang the dying out of it. They
watched their children, children’s mates, children’s children, and the
rest of the complex social skein that made up their people, the first
people.

They watched, and they saw a frightening thing appear like the first
cloud of a storm that will spawn tornadoes and send rivers over their
banks. There were those, among their children, the first people, who
were not human. Oh, they wore the bodies of humans, men and
women. They walked about under the sun of the world and its moon as
well. They spoke and scratched, ate and shat, slept and woke just as
humans do, but there was something awry with them.

These ones, rare but less so than a generation previously, would shout
in anger when there was nothing at which to be angry. One of the men
laughed as a beast charged him during the hunt, and his kinsman was
badly injured trying to rescue him. A woman ignored the cries of her
child when it sat to close to the fire and was burned. A girl lured her
sister out of the camp and pushed her into a ravine. A man killed his
friend because the friend had married a woman he wanted. A boy beat
his younger brother for following him through the camp. A father cut
open the belly of his dog while it was still alive. A young man raped
the sister of his mother and hit her on the head with a rock so she
could not tell anyone what he’d done.

The grandmothers saw this, and they saw that these people, these
happenings were unacceptable to their people, but when their mothers
had been alive, they were unheard of, and when their grandmothers
were alive, they were unthinkable. They met, as was their way, when
their children and children’s mates and children’s children were asleep.

“There are too many of us,” said the second oldest, and her words
were slurred because she had only a few teeth left in her head.

“What would we do about it?” asked the youngest grandmother. Her

hair was not entirely white yet, but she four of her five children still
lived, and she was respected accordingly. “Do we hunt the wrong ones
down like so many gazelle?”

“And what if we are wrong?” asked another, known for her weaving
skills and temper. “Are we not then become what they already are?”
 168

“As if any of you, or I myself, could throw a spear and hit anything but
our own feet,” answered the very oldest, blind in one eye and with a
grip like rawhide tied wet and allowed to dry.

“There are other ways to hunt than with a spear,” replied the second
oldest.

“My son’s mate’s brother struck his mate’s child,” one of the
grandmothers’s said. “A child! He did it when he thought no one would
see, but the child’s sister did, and she told me.”

“My sister, who is married into the clan that hunts three days’ walk
from here, tells me there is a woman in her tribe that tells stories,
untrue stories, of what one woman says of another, behind the other’s
head. My sister tells me this woman has seen fights started and
friendships broken and smiles when each happens. My sister tells me
this woman pinches her child to make it cry and then sings to it until it
stops.”

There was a long pause as the grandmothers considered. Whatever

the hunters might say, boasting as they came home with pieces of
meat carved off the bone of some stupid animal that blundered onto
one of their spears – whatever they might say, the grandmothers were
the ones who said “we stay here this summer” or “the water will turn
bad before the next full moon, we must move”.

“Will your sister hunt this woman as her son hunts a lion that has
tasted us?” the weaver asked.

The woman shook her head. “No. She says she is no hunter, not of her
own people. She does not know what to do.”

The oldest of them, thin and twisted as a gnarled branch, pushed a

branch into the fire. The light of it reflected from her good eye. Her
gaze was steady, and the light glowed as though its home was truly in
her skull.

“We will call the Eldest,” she said. “We will speak to her of this, and we
will ask her what should become of us, who are not hunted and cannot
hunt ourselves. We will abide by her words.”

The other women did not speak, though they held themselves silent
and still with a sudden tension. It faded into an air of resignation. They
were grandmothers because they knew what was necessary was not
 169

necessarily pleasant and that there was no thing to be done which

would find the doing without a price of some sort.

To speak to the Eldest took a heavy toll. First, the grandmothers had
to prepare the summoning. It was not done lightly. The rain that made
the grass grown, which fed the antelope, which fed the people, could
come heavily enough to drown a whole tribe if a river shifted its banks
in the night. The sun which warmed the earth could kill a child in one
long day. The Eldest, who cared for the people as her own
grandchildren, would not come and go with nothing more than a bony
hug. She had not been summoned in living memory, and the stories of
her last visit were told on any occasion when a child wandered away
from the camp and was devoured.

The Eldest came only during the dark of the moon, and the
summoners had to be women, mothers, specifically mothers who had
lost at least one child and could no longer bear another. All the
grandmothers in that tribe stood for the summoning. The men of the
tribe, long limbed hunters who could run as long as there was a sun or
moon in the sky, trembled in fear and were glad to take their leave.
They were, after all, people of good sense. The mothers and children
moved to spot beside the river, for all the risk of flash flood.

The grandmothers cleared a large area of scrub and brush, tent and
hide. Using a stick and a long rope of woven leather, they inscribed a
circle in the ground, and along it they poured blood from a fresh kill,
ground shells from the shore of the largest water, ash from the fires of
the last year, and precious salt. They marked their bodies with ochre
and more blood. They built a pyre of the driest wood they could find in
a morning’s walk from the camp – dry to burn hot and clear. They
waited until the sun had set and the sky was completely dark.

On skin drums, they beat a rhythm that carried over the plains. The
heat of the fire made each of them slick with sweat, and the patterns
they’d drawn on their bodies became blurred.

“We call you,” the oldest of the grandmothers said.

“We call you,” the others responded.

The words they used were of a language ancient even to the first
people. It was no longer spoken when the sun was in the sky, but only
by grandmother to mother to daughter, taught during the ceremony
when a girl was recognized as a woman, one who could bring forth life.
 170

The men had a story about this language – how it came about and
why it was not longer spoken – but none were so foolish as to relate
their story when there were women about.

“Eldest,” the oldest grandmother called. “We seek your wisdom in the
dark of the moon. Walk with us, Grandmother!”

“Walk with us!”

There was a moment, when the wind died and the frogs stopped
calling, when even the beat of the drum was absorbed into the silence
of the night. The center of the fire pulled in on itself and reversed,
becoming not a radiating light and warmth, but a moving dark and
stillness.

“I walk with you, my daughters,” a voice spoke from within the fire.

She was there, the Eldest, the first woman, and from each woman’s
vantage, the Eldest looked directly at her, into her, and spoke to her
and no one else. Each grandmother spoke of those in their people who
were not of their people, who hurt and harmed at a whim, and
multiplied as the people multiplied. Each one knew the Eldest listened
in grave silence to her words.

“My daughter,” the Eldest spoke, “the people are no longer hunted as
they once were. Your spears and fires chase away the very beasts who
once pulled down those of your families who were not whole in one
manner or another. Now you are grown into something new,
something stronger, and these unwhole ones who walk among you are
the price.”

“That they are born, yes,” the oldest grandmother answered, “that
they die, certainly. But must they prey on us? Must the price also be
the blood and tears of the whole?”

“You may choose,” the Eldest replied, “a different hunter, one who
matches your people as they walk now. But be warned. As the lion
pulls down the old and sick and the cheetah takes the very young, this
hunter may not choose only the unwhole.”

“I do so choose,” the oldest grandmother spoke.

“Then step into my arms, daughter,” Lilith said.

 171

The other grandmothers beat the rhythm upon the drums again and
wailed a high keening note. It was nothing to lose their eldest to
summon the Eldest, nothing and everything. Those who could bear to
watch did so and later said – in the deep of a moonless night, which
was the only time any could be prevailed upon to speak of it – that the
eldest and the Eldest appeared to speak for a moment, and then the
Eldest leaned over and kissed the eldest on her wrinkled forehead and
took her in her arms as a mother embraces her daughter.

The fire flared back into roaring sound, light, and heat and then just as
abruptly snuffed out in a gust of wind. The grandmothers, after a long
moment of total silence, drew close to the circle in which the fire had
burned. In the center, pillowed on cold ashes, was a woman, almost a
girl. Her hair was black and curled tightly against her skull. Her eyes,
when she opened them, were clear and brown. Her mouth, when she
spoke, held all her teeth. She could not have been older than a new
mother, perhaps sixteen or seventeen summers. Yet, when she spoke,
it was with the oldest grandmother’s voice, wisdom, and knowledge.

She embraced each of her sisters, for the grandmothers had seen each
other through births, deaths, matings, and all the other terrors of life.
She called each by name and bade them goodbye, for it is not proper
for the hunter to speak to those it hunts. She left them and was not
seen again, not by waking folk or by those whose hearts still beat the
next morning.

In time, the first people came to recognize that the dark of the moon
was when a tribe member might go missing, never to be seen alive
again. The hunters, when they could be persuaded to track the person,
found only tracks that left a tent or hut and went in a line as straight
as a taut rope to meet another pair of tracks. There, should any go
that far, they would find a corpse with wide, staring eyes and two neat
wounds in the neck. At first, no one would bury such a thing. It was an
unnatural death for an unnatural person. But when the thing only lay
there, untouched by carrion eaters, bloated and horrible – or in a few,
rare, even more unsettling instances, was simply gone the next night
– they took to burying the corpse and setting stones over it.

Long after the grandmothers who summoned the Eldest had died, and
their grandchildren had died, white and withered, the grandmothers of
the tribe understood that this was the price. The people remained
human. Any who were born and became strange, interested in pain
and causing it, rarely made it to the age of mating. If, rarely, a girl or
 172

woman who was not unwhole was lost, it was said that she had
become a hunter and would protect the people against the unwhole.

Every few generations, a hunter might come across a deep place in the
earth, where night always stood, and the feeling of the cool, damp
earth was that of crouched death. The wiser of the hunters would
whisper a short prayer and back out carefully, never to return and
never to mention it to another soul. Once – only once – was a hunter
so foolish as to tell his friends and insist they come with them. Among
them, they decided to rid themselves of a rival by tying him with
thongs and leaving him in the cave, watching from a safe distance to
be sure of the man’s end.

When the grandmother, the hunter of the people, emerged and found
a terrified man, wide eyed and gagged, she paused. A simple look into
him proved that he was no monster, only a man frightened out of his
wits. She held his mind in the palm of hers and broke the thongs
which bound him.

“Watch,” she bade him.

As he did, she moved in the manner of a large cat intent on prey. The
men hiding around the cave ran, but none made it more than the
length of his own body. When the hapless man returned to his mate,
he wept in relief and horror. He was alive, and three men were dead.
The grandmother, the hunter of his people, had broken one’s neck by
twisting his head around, torn the throat out of the second with her
claws, and the third, the hunter who had found her lair, she had bent
his head back and held him like a lover, and then drank his blood like
a thirsty man drinking water from a skin.

This, then, would have been the whole of the story – told by
grandmother to granddaughter in the menstrual hut, around the fire,
or on a night when the moon does not appear. It would have been a
story told to explain what became of certain members of the tribe, to
venerate the grandmother who became a hunter of her people in order
to protect them, and to explain how one thing must always cost
another. It would have been this and little more, and humankind
would have grown into the fullness of its destiny never knowing of
Slayers and vampires, had it not been for one particular woman and a
man that she loved beyond the bounds of death.

She was the third daughter of the man with the second largest herd,
and her mother had died shortly after she was weaned. She was clear-
 173

eyed and intelligent, and spent much of her childhood caring for her
sisters and brothers. As she grew closer to womanhood, she took
notice of the younger son of the chief’s mother. He was strong and
clean-limbed, a good hunter, and a man who respected the
prerogatives of the women in the village. She found, on the evening
when the shepherds returned with their flocks for the spring slaughter,
that he would distribute two or three tender kids to the old women and
men and the children who had lost both parents to Grandmother
Death. Once, he brought her the skin of his finest goat, and gifted it to
her. It was a skin of high quality, unmarred and covered in silky brown
hair. It was a clear sign that he was interested in being her mate,
when she was of an age to take one. Her grandmother took note and
spoke to the chief’s mother of the matter, and it was agreed upon that
they would be good mates together and would raise healthy children.
The tribe looked upon it as something that would come about when
the time was right, as they looked forward to the rains and the
sunrise.

And then, on a night when the moon would not show its face, the girl
was called from her sleep by a song. She awoke to find the rest of her
village deeply asleep. Even the boys who would stay awake almost
until the morning, watching the herds and the huts, were slumped in
sleep. The dogs that watched their village slept, and the dark sky was
filled with music that made her chest ache with grief and hope.

She rose and left her sleeping skins behind, pausing only to wrap
shawl woven from the fleece of the sheep of the chieftain’s herd
around her shoulders. The music called her with a beat that made her
ribs vibrate in time. It shone from the direction of the river-that-runs-
after-heavy-rains with a clarity that rivaled the morning sun’s. She
followed it, walking through the village, past the central fire, and
beyond the wards tied to trees encircling the huts. She paused only
once, to look at the sky and the arching, nebulous glow that stretched
across the bowl that sheltered the world and her people.

It was a fairly long walk. She had to cross the empty bed of the river,
leaving clear footprints in the mud of the middle channel. She saw the
glowing eyes of predators, but they did not come any closer, and she
continued to walk without fear. When she came through a knot of
trees, she found a woman standing in a clearing, and beyond her were
more women. As she stepped closer, the other women formed a loose
circle around her.

“I greet you, granddaughter,” the woman in the center said.

 174

“I greet you, grandmother,” the girl replied. She knew now what would
happen, and found that her mind was clear and no worry or fear stood
in it.

The woman stood, as night did in the sky, clear and calm. Her hair,
eyes, and teeth were untouched by age.

“I have called you, granddaughter, to be one of us.”

“We have called you,” the women around her repeated in soft voices.

“As your people have grown, so have ours. We are the hunters, the
protectors. We take from your people those who would do them
harm.”

“We are the predators,” the other women breathed. “We are the
sisters. We walk with the night, and we walk with death.”

“Will you join us?” the woman asked.

There was a moment when the girl thought of her father, her sisters,
her brothers, and most especially, the youth she wished to be mated
to.

“If I say no?” she asked, clear-eyed and unafraid.

“Then this is a dream you will forget on waking,” the woman

answered, “and you will mate the youth you long for and give him
strong sons and daughters, live out the measure of your life, and die in
the fullness of time.”

“And if I say yes?” the girl asked.

“Then you shall meet Grandmother Death from the shelter of my

arms, and in a day’s time, before the moon can claim more than a
sliver of light, you will awaken, and be a sister to us, and hunt those
who were once your people. You will keep them in health and watch
the world change and grow, and in time, when the world is as far
removed from this as a crone is from the infant she was born as, you
will meet your end.”

The girl considered the woman before her and those around her. Each
– tall and short, slender as a reed and solid as a stone, pretty and ugly
 175

– was beautiful as the night around them. Strength and grace radiated
from each. To be strong, to protect her people, to have sisters that
would never age or die…

“I say yes.”

The woman before her held out her arms, as though welcoming a
daughter home. The other women stepped closer, until the girl was
surrounded. She stepped into the woman’s embrace and accepted a
kiss on the forehead. The music, which had fallen away, re-emerged,
its beat rattling her bones. Her breath quickened.

As the woman held her close, the girl found her head tilting back,
almost in sleep, exposing her throat. She felt the other women take
her hands and hold them up so that her arms were extended to either
side of her.

The bites – at throat, wrists, and elbows – hurt, but it was a pain that
did not matter. As her mind swam and she began to arch in a strange
ecstasy, she felt in her turn the minds of all those around her. They
were sharp as a well-knapped blade, welcoming, and clear as settled
water. They sang to her, and as her knees buckled under the weight of
her body, they supported her. Death rose within and around her, like a
low place filling with water. Hands held her, and the pain of the bites
retreated.

Her head filled with a buzzing grayness.

Something was held to her mouth. She tasted blood. It was gone, and
another took its place, and another, and another. Later, she would
understand that each woman had opened a vein and returned some of
what they’d taken to her, thus completing the bond. At the time, she
felt only that she was an infant, suckled by all the mothers of the tribe.
She was precious, loved beyond the telling of it, a child brought forth
from life into death.

She died.

When her father tracked her footprints and found her body, he knelt
and wept at her side. The oldest grandmother of the tribe was called
forth, to confirm what many thought were only stories told to frighten
children. The woman, shriveled and wrinkled, touched the body,
feeling throat, wrists, and elbows. She told the hunters to look at the
ground and say whether there had been one other person or more
 176

than one other person. When the hunters could say that there had
been others there, the old woman nodded.

“She has been taken by those who hunt the unwhole,” the old woman
said, slurring through gums with no teeth. “She will guard us, our
children, and our children’s children.”

The youth whom the girl loved and who loved her in return stood off to
one side, not looking at the girl’s body, only holding his spear tightly in
both hands.

“Leave, all of you,” the old woman said. “I will watch her until her
spirit returns, after the sun sets.”

So they left, and in the camp, the women set up a wail of grief.

Yet, when the sun fell, and the girl stirred as her spirit returned to her,
the youth who loved her and was loved in return waited, hiding.

The old woman watched with careful eyes. Even to her it had been a
story, but to her grandmother it had been real, and when members of
the tribe disappeared and their bodies were later found, untouched by
the carrion eaters, the story was told – an explanation that many
didn’t really believe. The elder men of the village spoke, calling such
stories old women’s tales.

The girl moved, blinked her eyes and then wiped them with the fingers
of her left hand. She rolled up onto an elbow and regarded the old
woman.

“You are dead,” the old woman said. “You are dead, and you walk with
the grandmothers of our people. Do you know where to go?”

The girl nodded her head, mute.

“Then go, grandmother,” the old woman said. “Take with you the
blessings of our people, and tell the grandmother who took you from
us that we pay the price for her protection, though it grieves us.”

The girl nodded again, got to her feet, and looking out over the hills,
chose her direction and left at loping run. The old woman climbed
slowly and painfully to her feet. She would not, she thought, see
another wet season, and that did not sadden her. There were things
 177

even an old woman would be better off not knowing or seeing with her
own eyes.

The youth, who had watched all this, followed his love, running fast
enough to catch her before the rise of the next hill. She heard him
long before he thought she would and stood waiting. He stopped, and
they regarded one another for a moment.

“There is no promise spoken between us,” he said, “still I did not think
to lose you to any rival.”

“Death is not a rival,” the girl answered, her voice raspy and dry.

“Is it not? The Old Ones called you, and you went. I love you still. Will
you not stay with me?”

The girl shook her head. “The dead do not stay with the living, my
heart. There is nothing left for them to share.”

“And what shall I do, oh my heart, now that you are dead and stand
before me and speak with your voice, saying you will not stay?”

She looked at him, tilting her head to the side. “You will mate with
another woman. She will give you strong sons and daughters. You will
live out the measure of your life, and die in the fullness of time
knowing that I loved you and love you still. I will love you when the
earth has changed beyond the knowing of it, and our people are as
different from what they are now as a crone is from the infant she was
born as.”

Though there was no sound the youth could hear, she turned her head
in a different direction and listened.

“My sister calls me, and I must go,” she said.

“Go then, Old One” the youth answered. “Go, and know that my heart
is crushed and burnt and will never hold love for another.”

She left, and after he watched her run until he could see her no
longer, he stood until the stars had traveled half their path across the
sky. Then, without a word, he returned home.

The story would have ended there, a small, sad note to add flavor to
the original terms. For the stories told by the grandmothers, by those
 178

who hunt the unwhole and protect the people, are not stories the rest
of humanity know. Surely, though, there are traditions among even
them, and a girl or woman is not chosen to join them without good
reason. Surely, there are things for each newly made grandmother to
learn, just as babes must learn as they grow.

There are stories, surely, as to why no man was ever chosen. There
are stories, surely, as to what the newest grandmothers thought and
said and did when the ones they left behind grew old and perished.
There are stories, surely, as to what the newest grandmothers felt
when they took their first kill. There are stories, surely, to explain why
when a girl or woman is called, it is done by a group of grandmothers,
and when they are turned, it is by the whole group or by none at all.
But again, these are not stories for us to know.

There is instead, the story told of the youth that loved a girl who
became a grandmother. Though he grew to handsome manhood and
was much coveted by the women of his village and the neighboring
villages, he never did take a mate. He left his flock to the mate of his
sister and turned towards hunting, instead. He was, to his people, cold
and distant, though still counted among their number.

One day, the men of the village hunted an old lion. The lion had been
forced out of its own tribe by a young rival, and lacking mates to hunt
for it, it had turned to easy prey. A child had been stalked along the
banks of the river, taken, killed, and partially eaten. His mother had
collapsed in grief. His father and brother called the village men
together and there was an agreement made to hunt and kill the lion
responsible. The chief went to his younger brother and asked him to
lead the men to the lion.

Only enough men to protect the village from a rival people remained.
All the rest old enough to carry and throw a spear went with the chief’s
younger brother. With only a day of tracking, the old lion was found,
but it was wary, crafty, and more dangerous than its age would seem
to allow. The chief’s brother stepped between it and one of the
youngest hunters after it feinted to an escape and went the other way.
He saved the boy’s life, but in return was clawed across the stomach
and sent reeling into the dirt.

When the lion was dead, its skin was used to carry the handsome man
once loved by an Old One back to his home and to his people. The
spirit-talker and herb-woman cared for him, but both said his life
would be done before the sun rose on the next morning.
 179

That night, as the man sweated and groaned in pain, the moon did not
rise. The people of the village fell into a deep sleep, and there were
none to hear the silent footfalls of one girl, long since dead.

She stepped into the hut and let the curtain fall behind her. There was
no light, as the stone lamp had been allowed to die. The spirit-talker
slept in a heap to one side of the man’s pallet. The man, still awake in
the midst of his pain and his coming death, looked up with dry,
agonized eyes.

“I walk with death, oh, my heart,” he whispered.

“And did I not tell you,” she answered, “that I love you and will love
you beyond death and when the earth is no longer as it was, I will still
love you.”

She carried him out of the hut as a woman carries a sick child and
walked to a dark and hidden place she had chosen long ago for just
this purpose. There, as tenderly as a young lover, she bent his head
back and drank his blood, and as death closed around him like still,
dark waters, she cut open a vein in her wrist and gave it to his mouth,
and he suckled from her as any child might.

And so he died. And for love, the destruction of many people and all
the Old Ones was wrought.

The village, once green and filled with laughing children, was a
blasted, hellish place. Even in the cool dark of a spring night, the
flames of pain and death flickered in the shadows unleavened by any
moonlight. Figures of dark grace stepped into the circle at the middle
of the village, where one toothless old woman stood by the fire that
had once warmed dozens.

“This is your doing,” the woman pointed at them with a bony finger.
“The dead outnumber the living, and scavengers chew on the bones I
have no strength to bury. How is this your promised protection, oh,
grandmothers?”

The women surrounded her, but in her fury, the old woman did not
care. “Three children did I bury before my hair was white. Three! And I
was counted lucky, for five lived to mate and bear their own. Now, my
children and their mates and their children are dead. My sister, her
mate, her children, their mates, and their children are dead. This is no
 180

sickness come to claim the old and the weak. This is not the culling of
the unwhole. There is no word for this slaughter, for this betrayal. I
curse you for it.”

One of the women stepped forward, her hands held out, palms to the
darkened sky. When she stepped fully into the light, the old woman
could see the tracks of tears down her face.

“Never in my time,” said the woman, as clear-eyed and smooth-faced

as a girl of fifteen, “nor in the time of my maker or her maker, has this
happened. We have failed you, for we took into our number a girl who
chose love and betrayal. She made the creature who began this, and it
has made more of its kind, and now they outnumber us.”

“And what shall you do?” the old woman asked, bitterly, “Oh,
grandmother of our people, how shall you protect us from your
misbegotten children? How will you restore the balance that let my
people thrive?”

“Our Eldest comes, and with her, we shall summon our Maker. We will
answer for our sister’s betrayal.”

In one of the nearby villages, it was not the old women who spoke in
anger, but the men.

“Long have we turned to them for guidance,” one man gestured. “Too
long! What say should a withered old woman who brings no meat, no
hides, and no glory to our people have? It is because of them that we
die in the jaws of monsters our fathers could not have dreamt of.”

“What strength do the old women have that can protect us?” asked
another. “My father’s brother tells me that in his village, the young
men banded together and fought one of these creatures. They brought
it to the ground and stabbed it with their spears many times. When
one spear found its heart, it became the dust and ash of an old hearth.
Two of them died in that fight. Can an old woman do such a thing?”

“Where are the ones sworn to protect us?” a third asked. “I have
heard stories since I was a child at the breast of my mother. They take
the unwhole from our people, and we flourish. Why do they not take
these creatures? If ever there was a thing which walked upon the
earth that was unwhole, it is these.”
 181

Other men, some old and some young, pled for forbearance. All
answers did not come on the swiftest wings. The Old Ones had been
called, as they had not been called in the memories of the oldest
villagers, nor from the stories of the oldest people the villagers could
recount. There would be an answer when the moon rose yet cast no
light. Yet that, it would seem was not enough.

The women, ancient as the bedrock they stood upon, circled the fire
and called to their Maker as none had called to her since their
beginnings. The Eldest stood at the western most point of the circle,
where the sun had set and where sharp eyes could see the dark moon
rise. For the length a gazelle could run unwinded, women stood,
surrounding the fire. There were more women there than lived in any
ten villages. They had come from every hollow of the earth where
humanity’s children dwelt. Never before had all of them stood together
in one place, and not a breath stirred among them.

Bound with thongs and words of power, another woman lay at her
feet. She did not struggle, only lay, looking with empty eyes on the
fire. The flames flared and soared into the air as they sang the old
songs. They called Her by Her name, which had not been spoken in
millennia. The flames twisted, brightened, and then pulled in on
themselves, becoming a darkness so deep that its shadows seemed as
light as the daytime sky. She had come.

“You called, my daughters,” she spoke in a voice that was the sigh of
wind and the call of a dying bird. “You called, and I have come.”

“Mother,” the Eldest, the first of the grandmothers called to protect

her people, said, “forgive us, Mother, for in our foolishness, we have
brought destruction on those we sought to protect. This one, a
daughter of our own, took a man she loved when he was close to
death. She turned him as we have turned our sisters, without her
sisters’ knowledge, without her sisters’ consent, and without her
sisters’ aid, as you told me so long ago that we must have. Now it
walks this earth with its progeny, and none of our grandchildren are
safe from its hunger.”

There was a long silence as their Maker, the first woman, studied them
with sad eyes. “You were warned, my daughters.”

“We were,” the Eldest agreed, “and for so long, the warning was
heeded. But this one felt that her love for a man was more important
than our duty to our children and children’s children.”
 182

“And you, my child?” Lilith asked the woman bound at the Eldest’s
feet. The Eldest picked her up as one might a very small child.

“Forgive me,” the woman whispered in a voice destroyed by

screaming. “I thought my love would walk with me until the very earth
was changed from what it is. I thought his strength and his skill and
his goodness would protect our people all the more. But it was not so.
He died, and now, something stares out of his eyes and speaks with
his voice, but it is not him. It is cruel and cares nothing for the people
of our village. It killed them, all of them, in the course of one night. It
laughed as my brothers’ and sisters’ blood ran down its arms.”

Had one looked closely, they would have seen on her the marks of a
long battle – scars of depth and width that would have killed a living
woman in moments.

“It is,” the Eldest spoke again, “in one body, all the evil, all the
unwholesomeness, all the cruelty that I came to you all those moons
ago and gave up my life to fight. It has spawned more like it, so many
more that were we each to kill one, still they would drown us in their
numbers. Are they not stopped, our children will cease to exist.”

Their Maker, the first woman, once named by her Creator, and called
Lilith, the mother of demons, stepped out of the fire. She stood before
the Eldest and the one who had betrayed all for love. She put a hand
to the woman’s cheek.

“You know the price?” Lilith asked.

The woman nodded. “Forgive me, grandmother.”

“You are forgiven,” Lilith replied. Under her fingertips, the woman
sighed as her skin turned grey, her body turned to dust, and she
crumbled into what all Lilith’s daughters and Eve’s children were made
of. The thongs that had bound her slipped from the Eldest’s hands and
fell to the dusty ground.

“My daughters,” Lilith spoke, “what is your wish?”

“What must we do to protect our children?” the Eldest asked.

“You must die,” Lilith answered.

 183

In the village, the men’s argument continued long past the rise of the
dark moon. Finally, one of the women of the village – tall, strong, and
apt to take her staff to the head of anyone she thought was being
foolish – strode into the center and demanded the men be quiet.

“She has come,” the woman said. “She has come, and she has said
that she will speak to us.”

Even in the stunned silence that followed, no one heard the footfalls of
the Eldest. When she walked to the center of the village, where the
fire burned high, she walked wreathed in shadow. Where the stories
spoke of her as shining with youth and strength, she was pulled in on
herself and coated with a thin layer of dust. Her eyes were bleak
circles that no one could bear to meet.

“My sisters walk with death,” she said, her voice raw, like two sticks
rubbed together, “and soon I will follow them, for we failed you. But
before death claims me, I am given one last task, to provide you with
one who will hunt the hunters, one who will protect you as I and my
sisters once did, one who will die in the fullness of time and pass the
skills and strength I bequeath on to the next.”

“Let me be the one!” one of the men called. He was young and strong
and felt the grief of those who had died heavy on his shoulders.

“I shall be the one,” said another man, one who felt he had much to
prove and thought this would be the time to do so.

“No,” a third called, “let it be me!”

More and more men spoke out while the women looked on, lost and
fearful.

“QUIET!” the tall woman yelled at the top of her voice.

The Eldest, tired and scraped thin, gazed at them, and they cast their
eyes down, unable to meet hers. “As my Maker left her mate to
wander the earth, so I cannot give my strength to any man. Choose a
girl, the strongest and bravest of all you know, for she will bear the
grief of me and mine. Bring her to the cave where night stands
tomorrow night before the dark moon has risen. There will I give her
all that is mine to give.”
 184

The men argued long after the Eldest had left, long after the sun had
risen, and almost until the sun had set.

“I will not send my daughter to that creature’s arms,” one of the elder
men declared.

“Why should we send any of our daughters or granddaughters?”

another asked. “To die fighting the creatures that hunt us? They would
not last a night. None of them are hunters.”

“How are we to bind our village with others if not by marrying our
daughters to their sons? Shall we send our daughters to their deaths
when we will profit more by marrying them to the men we choose?”

“Do we not choose one girl, we will all die before we can profit by any
marriages,” one of the wiser ones said.

That stymied them for a time, and they argued on. Whose daughter?
Who would lose out on potential sons-in-law and grandsons by letting
their daughter be taken to the cave where night stands? Why should
they have to choose so? Had the Old Ones not failed them? Why
should they sacrifice the wealth of their offspring because of someone
else’s failure?

Finally, one man stood forth. He was not well thought of, for his wife
and daughters did not always answer to him. His herd was one of the
smaller ones, for he would rather spend his days drinking fermented
goat milk than tending to it. His sons were lazy, and none of the
village women would countenance being married to any.

“You may have my second daughter,” the man said. “For she brings
me no joy, nor profit, though she is strong and brave.”

The other men considered. It was true that his second daughter was
strong and brave. As a child, no beating had deterred her from
following the hunters, for she thought the tracking of some animal the
best adventure possible. She had knocked down one of the biggest
boys in the village for hitting a dog with a stick. When her father had
gotten drunk, she had yelled at him and called him names so that the
whole village could hear his shame. She was unmarriageable, and the
women in the village despaired of teaching her to spin, weave, cook,
or care for children. She, it was true, would be no great loss.
 185

When they came for her, she fought them, for she sensed they bore
her no good will. She was bound and gagged and carried to the cave
where night stands, and they arrived just before the sun set. Inside,
one man pounded stakes into the ground, and then tied each of the
girl’s wrists to a stake, so that she could stand, but not run away.
Night fell, darkness came, and the moon rose without shedding any
light.

“You will leave us,” the Eldest said to the men who stood around the
girl.

“We will not,” the eldest man answered. “We will know what gifts you
give and what power you work, for the girl is ours, even after you
have finished with her.”

“Leave us,” the Eldest repeated and looked at each man in turn.
“Now.”

They left, and the girl and the Eldest stood together. The Eldest
reached out and untied the gag and other bonds that held the girl.
Rubbing her mouth, the girl looked at the Eldest.

“I know what you are,” the girl said.

“Do you know what you shall become?” the Eldest asked.

“No,” the girl shook her head.

“You, my daughter, will be the hunter of those who hunt your people.
You will be stronger, faster, and more able than any man who now
walks the earth. You will hunt the night and slay those that step in
your path, and when you die, another will be called to take your place
until there are either no more of the creature that hunts your people
or there are no more of your people.”

The girl thought about it. “What will become of you?” she asked.

“I will die, for there must always be a price paid, and my time on this
earth is done.” She looked at the girl. “I do not mind it, my daughter. I
have lived so long, all my children, my children’s children, and their
children have lived and mated and birthed and died more times than
you have drawn breath. I will be pleased to join them and my
ancestors.”
 186

“What if I say no?” the girl asked.

“Then I die without giving my strength to any, and those who hunt
your people will do so until none remain.”

The girl looked at her feet. “Around the fire, the storytellers talk about
this hunter or that, who went on a journey or slew a great beast or
took fire from the beak of a bird that had flown to the sun. The stories
they told of women, the women always stayed in the village. They
might say or do clever things, but they never tried their strength
against an enemy, they never protected their people.”

The Eldest laughed, a laugh that creaked with age, a laugh that was
surprisingly joyful. “Oh, my daughter, those are not the only stories
told. Wait until you may enter the menstrual hut, and then you will
hear new stories that will please your ears.”

The girl smiled, shyly, for this was the first time she had told her
thoughts on such matters and the first time another had taken her
wishes seriously.

“Now, come, my daughter,” the Eldest said. “For it is time and past
time.”

The men stood outside the cave, well outside the cave, waiting.

“She must be guided by us,” one of them said, “for what girl knows
how to throw a spear properly?”

“She must be bound to our counsel,” said another, “for what girl
knows how to choose which enemy to fight today and which enemy to
fight the next?”

“She must live and die under our watch,” said the third, “for how else
will we know who the next chosen one is, to be guided and
counseled?”

The talked until the sun rose and the moon set, and when it did, a
figure emerged from the cave where night stands. She was still a girl.
She still held herself with the awkward grace of a girl who hadn’t met
her full growth yet. She paused blinking in the bright light, but she
didn’t try to shield her eyes. Instead, she held her hands before her,
looking at the thin coating of gritty dust that covered them.
 187

“You!” one of the men called. “Come here, girl, that we may see you.”

She looked up at him with an expression he could not fathom. After a

moment, she walked over to the three men and looked each straight in
the eye.

“You must remember, child,” the second man said, gesturing with his
spear, “that you are still a girl and still a member of the village, for all
that you are a spear to be thrown from our hands at those who hunt
us. We-“

Without warning, the girl jerked the spear from his hand in one
motion.

“I am no spear,” she said, and with another smooth motion, she

snapped the spear in two. “I am no unthinking weapon to be used by
you, old man. I am a lioness, and I will hunt whatever I choose.”

All three men began shouting at her, exclamations of shock and

disgust, exhortations to be a proper girl child, and prayers to the
Creator to punish such a proud and disobedient child.

“Why don’t you sew yourself up in sheep skins, old man,” she spoke
over their voices, “for that is what your words sound like to me – the
bleating of old rams. Then I could stake you out, as you did me, and
draw my prey to me, the better to slay it.”

That silenced them, and they stared at her with mouths open.

She looked at the ends of the broken spear in her hands. The Eldest
had charged her with her duty and had explained in detail the many
ways she could carry it out. These two jagged ends of clean wood
would be a good start. Without another word or glance, she left the
men behind to walk back to her village. The men were left to scramble
after her without dignity.

On a night when the moon was dark, the eldest women of the village
gathered in the menstrual hut. One tossed herbs on the fire, another
dropped hot rocks into a carved bowl of water to heat it for tea, and a
third beat slowly on a skin drum.
 188

“Two cycles of the moon,” the eldest said through her toothless gums,
“and the Chosen One has slain more of these creatures than any group
of hunters. I think we shall be safe again.”

“For a time,” the next agreed, “but how many people are there? My
grandson walked for a year and came to the end of land at the edge of
a great water, and the people there told him of even more people
across the water, and people beyond them. Wherever there are
people, these creatures will follow, and there is only the one Chosen
One.”

“There must be help for her,” a third remarked.

“She sleeps on a bed of bones,” said a fourth, “when she sleeps at all.
She has no family, no friends. She rests, she trains by hunting all the
creatures that move over the earth, and she slays these Old Ones,
these demons.”

“The men who watch her – useless watchers, pah! – they are no help,”
the first answered.

“We shall help her,” said the second woman, sipping the tea before it
had cooled. “We shall keep her stories and tell them. We shall follow
her life and the lives of those who follow her. Our daughters will
protect her daughters.”

“And where we can help,” said the fourth woman, “we shall help. For
are we not the eldest of our people? Are our people not the eldest of
all people? Do we not hold the knowledge of our ancestors? Is she not
our daughter, our granddaughter in her own way?”

The other three women considered, sipping their tea. Each one, after a
moment, nodded her head in agreement. And those women, their
daughters, their granddaughters, and their great-granddaughters
walked beside the Slayer for a time until they withdrew, husbanding
their strength for at time when they and only they could help the
Slayer. The Watchers, as they came to be known with some scorn,
walked a different path.

As for Lilith, no living person had spoken to her since her daughters
gave up their immortal lives to protect their own children. At least,
that is the story I have heard.
 189

In a cave where night stood though the sun burned brightly overhead,
a group of women sat on stony ground around a fire that was no fire.
The women ranged from girls not yet of an age to enter a menstrual
hut to those well old enough to bear their own children. With them
were several men, young men and men old enough to have grown
children. The cave was crowded, but opposite of the entrance, three of
the women sat with space around them. One sat in a trance, her arms
outstretched and beckoning, her hair white as moonlight. The other
two sat on either side of her, clean-limbed, strong, worn from battle,
and filled with hope. The other women all sat, facing the fire, watching
with enraptured faces.

The fire that was no fire moved like still, dark water and cast shadows
that seemed brighter than the daylight outside. At its heart was the
figure of a woman. Her skin was shining ebony, her eyes clear and
deepest mahogany, her hair black and tightly curled against her skull.
Her teeth flashed when she smiled.

“And that, oh, my daughters,” she said, “is a story that has not been
told for time out of mind, but it is my story to tell you.”

There was a long silence as they absorbed it.

“Remarkable,” Giles murmured, cleaning his glasses on the hem of his

shirt. “Nowhere in any of the texts I’ve ever read has there been any
hint of this.”

“Indeed, son of Adam,” Lilith smiled at him. “For is that not the way of
stories? One wins out over another and is told more, remembered
more. That does not mean, son of Adam, that it is the only story, or
the best one.”

“But wait,” Faith put her hand out, “what about the old ladies who
promised to help us? Are they all gone? Was the lady Caleb killed the
last one?”

“She, my daughter, was the last of her clan, but there are other clans
and other women, waiting to be called upon.”

Buffy, lost in thought, stared up at Lilith, and the woman – the first
woman, who had walked in the garden of her Creator and over the
face of the earth as humanity formed – bent over her.
 190

“Oh, my daughter, you are not alone. You never were. Your sisters
walk beside you in life and in death. Yours is a heavy burden, but you
have the strength to bear it, and your people are the better for it.”

With a thumb, Lilith smoothed a tear from Buffy’s cheek and kissed
her on the forehead.

“So…” Xander began, “what now?”

“There are still vampires,” Robin answered from where he leaned

against a stalagmite. He would not meet Lilith’s gaze.

“There are those who hunt your people, oh, son of my daughter,” she
agreed. “And so long as there are, my daughters will walk the earth to
protect the children of Eve. What happens next, what stories will be
told of you, oh, my daughters, that is for you to decide.”

From each person’s point of view, Lilith spoke to them in words no

other could hear.

“Daughter of Eve,” she told Willow, “you walk in my shadow. Take care
not to linger too long. It is good, too, to walk in the sun with your
sisters.”

“Cousin,” she spoke to Dawn, “I greet you, though you remember me

not. I call you daughter, for you are sister of my daughter.”

“Son of Adam,” she said, and Xander looked up, “I thank you. There is
always a price to pay, and yours has been greater than most. May you
walk in strength.”

“Son of Adam, great is the debt my daughters owe to you,” she said to
Giles. “Had the first of the Watchers been as you are, surely my
daughters would have thrived from the beginning.”

He looked into her eyes, the only one present who could stand to meet
them for any length of time.

“There is one who would speak to you through me,” Lilith continued,
and in the blink of an eye, her face and shape changed, and Giles’
breath caught in his throat. Later, when asked, he could not recall the
words she said, only the sudden scent of her, the timbre of her voice,
and the bone deep knowledge of love and joy.
 191

“Jenny,” he whispered.

And then, with a sound that was more felt than heard, the fire inverted
and became a roaring beacon, filling the cave with noise, heat, and
light. Willow reeled back and was caught by Faith. She heaved a deep
breath as her hair turned red again, though a few white strands stood
out in the light that painted the cave.

A voice breathed through the cave, and all within heard it.

“Farewell, my children…my daughters. I will see you once more, in the

fullness of time.”

Lilith, the first wife of Adam?

 192

The Alphabet of Ben Sira is considered to be the oldest story of Lilith

as Adam's first wife. The concept of Eve having a predecessor is not
exclusive or new to the Alphabet, as it can be found in Genesis
Rabbah.

Lilith is believed to have originated as a female Mesopotamian storm

demon associated with wind. The figure of Lilith first appeared in a
class of wind and storm demons or spirits as Lilitu in Sumer around
4000 BC. The phonetic name Lilith is believed to have originated in
ancient Israel before 700 BC.

Although references to Lilith in the Talmud are sparse, some passages

provide an insight into the demoness yet seen in Judaic literature. The
Talmudic allusions to Lilith illustrate her characteristic wings and long
hair, dating back to her earliest extant mention in Gilgamesh: "Rab
Judah citing Samuel ruled: If an abortion had the likeness of Lilith its
mother is unclean by reason of the birth, for it is a child but it has
wings" (Niddah 24b), and, "In a Baraitha it was taught: She grows
long hair like Lilith, sits when making water like a beast, and serves as
a bolster for her husband” ('Erubin 100b).

The idea that Adam had a wife prior to Eve might have come from an
interpretation of the Book of Genesis and its dual creation accounts.
While Genesis 2:22 describes God's creation of Eve from Adam's rib,
an earlier passage 1:27 indicates that a woman had been made, "So
God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he
him; male and female created he them". The Alphabet text places
Lilith's creation after God's words in Genesis 2:18, "It is not good for
man to be alone". In this text God creates Lilith out of the clay from
which he made Adam but she and Adam bicker. Lilith claims that since
she and Adam were created in the same way they were equal and she
refuses to submit to him:

“After God created Adam, who was alone, He said, 'It is not good for
man to be alone.' He then created a woman for Adam, from the earth,
as He had created Adam himself, and called her Lilith. Adam and Lilith
immediately began to fight. She said, 'I will not lie below,' and he said,
'I will not lie beneath you, but only on top. For you are fit only to be in
the bottom position, while I am to be the superior one.' Lilith
responded, 'We are equal to each other inasmuch as we were both
created from the earth.' But they would not listen to one another.
 193

When Lilith saw this, she pronounced the Ineffable Name and flew
away into the air.”

“Adam stood in prayer before his Creator: 'Sovereign of the universe!'

he said, 'the woman you gave me has run away.' At once, the Holy
One, blessed be He, sent these three angels Senoy, Sansenoy, and
Semangelof, to bring her back.”

“Said the Holy One to Adam, 'If she agrees to come back, what is
made is good. If not, she must permit one hundred of her children to
die every day.' The angels left God and pursued Lilith, whom they
overtook in the midst of the sea, in the mighty waters wherein the
Egyptians were destined to drown. They told her God's word, but she
did not wish to return. The angels said, 'We shall drown you in the
sea.’”

“'Leave me!' she said.’I was created only to cause sickness to infants.
If the infant is male, I have dominion over him for eight days after his
birth, and if female, for twenty days.’”

“When the angels heard Lilith's words, they insisted she go back. But
she swore to them by the name of the living and eternal God:
'Whenever I see you or your names or your forms in an amulet, I will
have no power over that infant.' She also agreed to have one hundred
of her children die every day. Accordingly, every day one hundred
demons perish, and for the same reason, we write the angels' names
on the amulets of young children. When Lilith sees their names, she
remembers her oath, and the In folk traditions of the early middle
ages, Lilith became identified with Asmodeus, King of Demons, as his
queen. The second myth on Lilith included legends about existence of
another world. Asmodeus and Lilith were believed to procreate
demonic offspring endlessly, spreading chaos. Many disasters were
blamed on them, such as causing wine turning into vinegar, men
becoming impotent, women unable to give birth, and death of infants.
child recovers.”

There are two main characteristics in these legends about Lilith: Lilith
as the incarnation of lust, causing men to be led astray, and Lilith as a
child-killing witch. The aspect of the witch-like role that Lilith plays
broadens her archetype of the destructive side of witchcraft.

The Kabbalah mysticism attempted to establish a more exact

relationship between Lilith and the Deity. Her origin has many
versions. One mentions her creation as being before Adam's, on the
 194

fifth day, because the ‘living creatures’ with whose swarms God filled
the waters included none other than Lilith. Another version recounts
how Lilith was created with the same substance as Adam was, shortly
before. A third version states that God originally created Adam and
Lilith in a manner that the female creature was contained in the male.
Lilith's soul was lodged in the depths of the Great Abyss. When God
called her, she joined Adam. After Adam's body was created a
thousand souls from the Left (evil) side attempted to attach
themselves to him. However, God drove the evils off. Adam was left
lying as a body without a soul. Then a cloud descended and God
commanded the earth to produce a living soul. This God breathed into
Adam, who began to spring to life and his female was attached to his
side. God separated the female from Adam's side. The female side was
Lilith, whereupon she flew to the Cities of the Sea and attacked
humankind. Yet another version claims that Lilith was not created by
God, but emerged as a divine entity that was born spontaneously,
either out of the Great Supernal Abyss or out of the power of an
aspect of God (the Gevurah of Din). This aspect of God, one of his ten
attributes (Sefirot), at its lowest manifestation, has an affinity with the
realm of evil and it is out of this that Lilith merged with Samael.
According to The Alphabet of Ben-Sira, Lilith was Adam's first wife.

Another legend of the Kabbalah faith links Lilith with the creation of
luminaries. The ‘first light’, which is the light of Mercy (one of the
Sefirot), appeared on the first day of creation when God said, “Let
there be light”. This light became hidden and the Holiness became
surrounded by a husk of evil. “A husk (klippa) was created around the
brain” and this husk spread and brought out another husk which was
Lilith.

Another version that was also current among Kabbalah circles in the
middle ages establishes Lilith as the first of Samael's four wives: Lilith,
Naamah, Igrath, and Mahalath, each of them being mothers of
demons. The marriage of archangel Samael and Lilith was arranged by
the ‘Blind Dragon’, who is the counterpart of ‘the dragon that is in the
sea’.

The Blind Dragon acts as an intermediary between Lilith and Samael:

Blind Dragon rides Lilith the Sinful. And Blind Dragon causes the union
between Samael and Lilith. Just as the Dragon that is in the sea (Isa.
27:1) has no eyes, likewise Blind Dragon that is above is without eyes,
that is to say, without colors (Patai81:458). Samael is called the Slant
Serpent, and Lilith is called the Tortuous Serpent.
 195

The marriage of Samael and Lilith is known as the ‘Angel Satan’ or the
‘Other God’. To prevent Lilith and Samael's demonic children Lilin from
filling the world, God castrated Samael. In many 17th century
Kabbalah books, this concept is based on the identification of
‘Leviathan the Slant Serpent and Leviathan the Torturous Serpent’ and
a reinterpretation of an old Talmudic myth. After Samael became
castrated and Lilith was unable to fornicate with him, she left him to
couple with men who experience nocturnal emissions. A 15th or 16th
century Kabbalah text states that God has ‘cooled’ the female
Leviathan, meaning that he has made Lilith infertile and she is a mere
fornication.

Another passage charges Lilith as being a tempting serpent of Eve's:

“And the Serpent, the Woman of Harlotry, incited and seduced Eve
through the husks of Light which in itself is holiness. And the Serpent
seduced Holy Eve, and enough said for him who understands. And all
this ruination came about because Adam the first man coupled with
Eve while she was in her menstrual impurity - this is the filth and the
impure seed of the Serpent who mounted Eve before Adam mounted
her. Behold, here it is before you: because of the sins of Adam the first
man all the things mentioned came into being. For Evil Lilith, when she
saw the greatness of his corruption, became strong in her husks, and
came to Adam against his will, and became hot from him and bore him
many demons and spirits and Lilin (Patai81:455f).

Lilith is listed as one of the Qliphoth, corresponding to the Sephirah

Malkuth in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. The demon Lilith is described as
a beautiful woman, who transforms into a blue, butterfly-like demon,
and it is associated with the power of seduction.

Another similar monster was the Greek Lamia, who likewise governed
a set of child-stealing Lamia demons. She has different origins and is
described as having a human upper body from the waist up and a
serpentine body from the waist down. Lamia had a vicious sexual
appetite that matched her cannibalistic appetite for children. The
Empusae were a class of supernatural demons that Lamia was said to
have birthed.

In Arabic lore, Karina is considered Lilith’s equivalent, mentioned as a

child-killing witch. Karina plays the role of a ‘shadow’ of a woman and
a corresponding male demon, Karin, is the ‘shadow’ of a man. Should
a woman marry, her Karina marries the man’s Karin. When the woman
becomes pregnant, Karina will cause her chaos. She will try to drive
the woman out and take her place, cause a miscarriage by striking the
 196

woman and if the woman succeeds in having children then her Karina
will have the same number of children she does. Karina will
continuously try to create discord between the woman and her
husband. Karina plays the role of disrupter of marital relations, akin to
one of Lilith's roles in Jewish tradition.

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (around 1848), was greatly influenced

by Goethe's work on the theme of Lilith. In 1863, Dante Gabriel
Rossetti of the Brotherhood began painting what was his first rendition
of ‘Lady Lilith’. Symbols appearing in the painting allude to the ‘femme
fatale’ reputation of the Romantic Lilith: poppies (death and cold) and
white roses (sterile passion).

Some Magical Orders dedicated to Lilith, featuring initiations

specifically related to the arcana of the ‘first mother’ exist. Two
organizations that use initiations and Magic associated with Lilith are
the Ordo Antichristianus Illuminati and the Order of Phosphorus. A
2006 ‘creative occultist’ work by ceremonial magickian Donald Tyson,
titled Liber Lilith, details the ‘secret cosmology’ for the 'Mother of
Harlots' and spawn of all night breed monsters, Lilith.

In Luciferianism, Lilith is considered a consort of Lucifer and is

identified with the figure of Babalon. She is said to come from the mud
and dust, and is known as the Queen of the Succubi. When she and
Lucifer mate, they form an androgynous being called ‘Baphomet’ or
the ‘Goat of Mendes’, also known in Luciferianism as the ‘God of
Witches’.

Writings by Michael W. Ford, including The Foundations of the

Luciferian Path, claim that Lilith is a part of the ‘Luciferian Trinity’
consisting of herself, Samael and Cain. Lilith is also said to have been
Cain's actual mother, and not Eve. Lilith here is seen as a goddess of
witches, the dark feminine principle, and is also known as the Goddess
Hecate.

Early writers of modern day Wicca had special reverence for Lilith.
Charles Leland associated Aradia with Lilith: Aradia, says Leland, is
Herodias, who was regarded in Stregheria folklore as being associated
with Diana as chief of the witches. Leland further notes that Herodias
is a name that comes from West Asia, where it denoted an early form
of Lilith.

According to one view, Lilith was originally a Sumerian, Babylonian or

Hebrew mother goddess of childbirth, children, women and sexuality
 197

who later became demonized due to the rise of patriarchy. Other

modern views hold that Lilith is a dark moon goddess on par with the
Hindu Goddess Kali.

The Western Mystery Tradition associates Lilith with the Klipoth of

kabbalah. Samael Aun Weor in The Pistis Sophia Unveiled claims that
homosexuals are the ‘henchmen of Lilith’. Similarly, women who
undergo willful abortion, and those who support such practice are
‘seen in the sphere of Lilith’. Dion Fortune writes, "The Virgin Mary is
reflected in Lilith," and that Lilith is the source of ‘lustful dreams’. If
one meditates on negative (or inverted) Binah, one readily finds Lilith;
to worship Lilith is to use the power of the Holy Spirit for negative
purposes.

In a paper on the subject of Feminist Theology, Deborah J Grenn, of

the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, argued that Lilith was a
mother goddess whose demonization was designed to keep women
alienated from their own 'original sources' of power and spiritual
authority. It is argued for ‘a reinterpretation of the divine as embodied
by the Semitic Goddess Lilith, she who has been represented and
misrepresented in a variety of sacred texts’.

Who is the true Lilith

In the old legend Lilith is the first woman to incarnate on earth. Her
name originates from the Jewish-Sumer tradition. Her name was
erased in the Genesis chapter of the Torah. For that reason we all
forgot about her. Only here and there her name looms up in other
Jewish literature like the Midras, Talmud, Kabala and the Alphabet of
Ben Sira. In Babylonian inscriptions her name is sporadically found as
well as on some Persian amulets.

The quest for the true nature of Lilith starts by the Old Testament. In
 198

the official new translation of the Torah by the Jewish Publication

Society everyone can read:
Genesis 1:26: And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness. They shall rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the
cattle, the whole earth, and all the creeping things that creep on
earth.” 1:27 And God created man in His image, in the image of God
He created him; male and female He created them. 1:28 God blessed
them and God said to them, “Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and
master it; and rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the
living things that creep on earth.” … 1:31 And God saw all that He had
made, and found it very good. And there was evening and there was
morning, the sixth day.
Close examination of these words learns God created several people,
male and female, at least one couple and possibly more. He gave the
order to be fertile and to multiply. So one might expect that after a
while there were more people. Male and female he created them,
which can be read as a man having male and female qualities in him
and a woman also having male and female qualities in her. Complete
creatures living in splendid wholeness. God did not give them a name.
That’s the omission. The question of the names of those first people
has puzzled many scholars. The main assumption is there name was
Kadmon-Ish (H. Blavatsky) or Adam-Ish (JPS). The translation of Ish
is ‘life’, more specifically ‘human life’. Ish is found in the name of the
Goddesses Ishtar and Ish (in Greek Isis).
Next the creation of human life is explained for the second time.
Genesis 2:7 the LORD God formed man and woman from the dust of
the earth. He blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became
a living being. 2:8 The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the
east, and placed there the man whom he had formed. ….. 2:15 The
LORD God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to till
and tend it.
Note how the word ‘man’, an expression for both man and woman, is
changed in ‘the man’ as though a woman does not exists.
Summarising Adam-Ish had 4 duties. 1) To be fertile and multiply, 2)
to master the earth and rule it 3) to till Eden and 4) to tend Eden.
Every thing seems to be well but then suddenly a problem rises.
Genesis 2:18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for man to be alone;
I will make a fitting helper for him.
What? Is there a problem? Did god make a mistake? Something odd is
at hand. According to the plan man and woman should be mating
intimately in Eden, ruling over the earth tilling and tending Eden. But
somehow they were lonely. Did they fail to perform one of their
duties? Maybe they were not pairing enough. The story looses it
clarity. We do not read man complaining. God is complaining.
 199

Next god brings in a solution for the problem. Genesis 2:19 And the
LORD God formed out the earth all the wild beasts and all the birds of
the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them;
and whatever the man called each living creature, that would be its
name. 2:20 And the man gave names to all the cattle and to all the
birds of the sky and to all the wild beasts; but for Adam no fitting
helper was found.
Here for the first time the name Adam pops up without Ish. The
suspicion grows Adam-Ish were not producing enough off-spring. God
brought the beasts to Adam-Ish to show them how those animals were
mating. See, this is how you do it.
Summarizing there are two problems now. 1) Man is still alone,
assuming the original problem was not solved and 2) for Adam no
fitting helper was found. God failed to solve the initial problem. On the
contrary he only increased the problem. The problem now is Adam, a
man, who still is of both male and female nature.
Next God again does something to solve the problem, whatever the
real problem might have been. A very rigorous and historic event
takes place. Genesis 2:21 So the LORD God cast a deep sleep upon
the man; and, while he slept, He took one of his ribs and closed up the
flesh at that spot. 2:22 And the LORD God fashioned the rib that He
had taken from the man into a woman; and He brought her to the
man.
No matter you take this serious or not, this story is part of our culture.
Hopefully somewhere in the middle East hidden in the desert sand the
true story of Lilith still is to be found. The man Adam was split in two.
His female part was taken away and transformed in a woman with no
male part. Man and woman were transformed in dualistic creatures.
First man and woman were living in Eden as complete creatures and
after the surgery they became dualistic. After this splitting incident you
might expect god was content again. And yes he was but not for long.
Not much after he gets pissing red hot mad and kicks Adam and Eve
out of Eden.

After the splitting incident the woman, not split in two, got the name
Lilith. The question puzzling many scholars is what has happened to
her? Like Adam-Ish Lilith also had to name the animals and she did.
Then she had to name herself and she was able to express her
unpronounceable name. So she was not a problem and was set free.
But Adam did not pass the test and was split in two. After that the
bible only deals with Adam and Eve and its off-spring and Lilith is
denied.

The quest for Lilith continues and focuses on historic commentaries on

 200

this denial of Lilith. A lot of speculations, reconstructions and fantasies

were born ever since. Most of them are horrible, terrifying, awful and
disgusting in an extend that it cannot be true. What is told about her
are dirty lies to discredit her, inconsistent and contra dictionary. They
made a demon out of her. Here follows an at random selection.
- From the Haggadah: To banish his loneliness, Lilith first was given to
Adam as wife. Like him she was created out of the dust of the ground.
But she remained with him only a short time, because she insisted
upon enjoying full equality with her husband. She derived her rights
from their identical origin. With the help of the Ineffable Name, which
she pronounced, Lilith flew away from Adam, and vanished in the air.
Adam complained before God that the wife he had given him deserted
him and God sent forth three angels to capture her. They found her in
the Red Sea, and they sought to make her go back with the thread
that, unless she went, she would lose a hundred of her demon children
daily by death. But Lilith preferred this punishment to living with
Adam. She takes her revenge to by injuring babies - baby boys during
the first night of their life, while baby girls are exposed to her wicked
designs until they are twenty days old. The only way to ward of the
evil is to attach an amulet bearing the names of her three angels
captors to the children, for such has been the agreement between
them. Commentary: In the Red Sea Lilith supposedly mated with all
the bad spirits in the area and gave birth to innumerable Lilin, her
demon sons.
- Gershom Scholem, Zohar 1:34b: ‘And He took one of his sides and
closed up the place with flesh.’ [Gen.2.21] In the ancient books, I
have seen it said that the word ‘one’ means ‘one woman’, that is the
original Lilith, who lay with him and from him conceived. But up to that
time she was no help to him, as it is said, ‘but for Adam there was not
found a help meet for him.
- Zohar 3:19: There is a female, a spirit of all spirits, and her name is
Lilith, and she was at first with Adam. In the hour when Adam was
created and his body became completed, a thousand spirits from the
left [evil] side clung to that body until the Holy one, blessed be He,
shouted at them and drove them away. But Adam was lying down, a
body without spirit, and his appearance was green because of all those
spirits that surrounded him. In that moment a cloud descended and
pushed away all those spirits. And when Adam stood up, his female
was attached at his side. The holy spirit which was in him grew and
spread out to this side and that side and grew here and there and thus
Adam became complete. Thereafter the Holy One, blessed be He,
sawed Adam in two, and made the female. And He brought her to
Adam in her perfection like a bride to the canopy. When Lilith saw this,
she fled. She is in the cities of the sea and she is still trying to harm
 201

the sons of the world.

- Zohar 1:19b: After the primeval light was hidden, a husk was
created for the brain, and that husk spread out and brought forth
another husk which was Lilith. And when she emerged, she went up
and down towards the little faces and wanted to attach herself to them
and be shaped after them and did not want to depart from them. But
the Holy One, blessed be he, removed her from there and placed her
down below. He created Adam to perfect this world. As soon as Lilith
saw Eve affixed to the side of Adam, and saw in them the beauty of
above, she flew off from there and wanted as before to attach herself
to the little faces. But the guardians of the gates of Above did not let
her. The Holy One, blessed be He, rebuked her and cast her into the
depths of the sea and she remained there until Adam and Eve sinned.
Then the Holy One, blessed be He, brought her up from the depths of
the sea and gave her power over all those children, the little faces of
the sons of man, who are liable to punishment because of the sins of
their fathers. And she went and roams in the world and finds children
liable to punishment and caresses them and kills them.
- First there were Adam and Lilith. Lilith did not want to lie under
Adam as a pairing mate. She did not want to submit herself to Adam
and fled by pronouncing her Ineffable Name. Adam complained to God
his loneliness. So god created Eve who did submit herself to him. Lilith
fled away and became a demon. But when Adam and Eve were thrown
out of paradise, Adam, set up by God against Eve, was adulterous with
Lilith. Lilith gave birth to hundreds demons which break in to lonely
people like roaming ghosts. After the reunion of Adam and Eve, Lilith
became the queen of all demons. Commentary: Apparently Adam
compromised and did accept Lilith not wanting to lie under, mating on
her terms.
- When Adam and Eve were living in Eden and Lilith was a refugee, the
spirit of Lilith took possession of a snake. This snake seduced Eve and
impregnated her. A bastard was born even before Adam and Eve
created their own off-spring. By wise of punishment Eve started to
menstruate. Thereafter Adam wanted to impregnate Eve but by her
impurity Adam became corrupt and impure himself. Lilith intimidated
by the vastness of Adams corruption got a hold on Adam and gave
birth to many demons and spirits called the Lilin.

Those are perverted fantasies of male scholars, some more intelligent

than others, but most of them totally ridicule. Religion had become a
man’s case. No one knows what really has happened. Still something
had to be explained to the folk. It was presented as secret knowledge
only accessible for the chosen ones. A vast cult of amulets and
proverbs were created to keep the demon Lilith outdoors.
 202

- Man should never sleep alone in a house, because Lilith takes every
man in her power. She is the night monster. She causes erotic dreams
and gets pregnant of masturbating man. She bears him demons that
keep on hanging around him.
- Lilith is setting up to promiscuity.
- She sets up women into witchcraft and black magic.
- Lilith was cut out of Adam and ever since Adam is not able to see
her. She is her shadow. (Commentary: This one bears some kind of
truth)
- She is a longhaired winged creature with nymphomaniac tendencies.
- You have got demons, devils and liliths.
- She is the mother of all demons.
- After doom was spread out over her, she ate all her hundred children
which turned into demons, the Lilin. This was so much to her liking
that she decided to eat each night hundred children.
- The demonic trinity is called Lilith, Samuel and the woman Harlot
(the real snake).
- Lilith gets at ease in the desert together with the Hyena, the Goat
demon between the satyrs and the owls.
- She is the enemy of Eve and jealous on her children. She wants to
kill babies. For girls the first 20 days are crucially dangerous and for
boys the eighth day. With amulets, permanent guarding and
circumcision the danger of Lilith can be warded of.
- She was the first Eve, an independent soul, at Adams side. She
succumbed a power game with Adam and fled in the wilderness. Each
night she gives birth on hundred demons and sends them to kill
children and to bother man who sleep alone.

Those are fairytales. This is high class demonization, stupid and down
to earth. The tabloid press is nothing compared with it. Man’s fantasies
written by man’s hands. Quite Freudian to picture Lilith as a woman
that did not want to lie under. How come she seduces lonely man
when she did not want to give sexual aid to Adam? Did she regret? I
don’t think so. It does not make any sense. How come Adam needed
help and Lilith did not. Was Adam such a helpless wretch?
Those stories are made to create fear. Those stories are political
propaganda against women. Since the rise of the age of Aries, 4500
years ago, the man took the power and war is the rule. Since then all
Goddesses slowly were thrown out of power and demonised
culminating in this one Lord God being a man.
 203

Lilith
By: F. Levine
First Published: 2000-06-15
Last Modified: 2006-04-20
 204

Lilith does not appear in Genesis, nor is she mentioned in the

Bible or other major religious works. But the stories of her as
Adam's first wife, and her subsequent "occupation" as a
demoness, have existed for centuries.

Some say she was borrowed from the Assyrians, but others claim she
was born out of a redundancy in Genesis. In Genesis 1:27, we read:

And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He
created them; male and female he created them.

But soon after, in Genesis 2:7, we read the familiar account of God
creating man alone, out of the dust, and in 2:20-23, the well-known
story of the creation of Eve from Adam's rib.

Why two accounts? And why is woman created with man in the first,
but from man in the second?

One answer proposed long ago was that we are reading about two
women, formed in two different ways. But if that's the case, what
happened to the first woman?

Why Lilith Left Adam

The first woman, it is said, was Lilith, created at the same time and in
the same way as Adam, just as all the animals, male and female, were
made at the same time and in the same way. But Lilith wasn't like Eve.
She argued with Adam constantly (particularly over sexual position),
claiming that they were equal in every respect, and he should make no
claims to the contrary. Eventually, enraged, she uttered the Name of
God, grew wings, and flew away from the Garden of Eden. She hid in a
 205

cave by (or under) the sea, where she had (presumably more
liberated) relations with demons, and bore them children.

Lonely and angry, Adam complained to God. God sent three angels to
bring Lilith back. These were SNVY, SNSNVY, and SMNGLF (which
could be pronounced as Sanoi or Sanvi; Sanasanoi or Sanasanvi; and
Smengelef or Samnaglof). They caught up to her, and threatened that
her children would die if she didn't return. She fought them off, saying,
"Don't you know I exist only to harm mothers and infants?" They
agreed to let her go, but only if she agreed to forever after flee when
presented with the three angels' names and images.

Why did she say, at least according to some versions of the stories,
"Don't you know I exist only to harm mothers and infants?"

It seems strange, since she was by then a mother herself. Perhaps by

this time she felt ostracized and abandoned, that the angels' presence
signified she was at fault. Now she would forever take revenge on
those very women who found happiness in the ideal she had been
punished for rejecting.

Adam and Lutins

Adam, by some accounts, wasn't a pillar of morality himself. In some
stories, after the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, Adam separated
himself from Eve for a time, and was had relations with Piznai, a
daughter of Lilith. Their union produced a number of lesser demons,
including one called Agrimas. These demons are called lutins. But as
we know, Adam and Eve did ultimately manage to survive together,
and they and their children went on to populate the earth.

And what about Lilith? She became known as the Queen of the
Demons, and is described as having long, wild hair and wings.
 206

Sometimes she is presented as the consort of Ashmedai, king of the

Jewish demons; other times, as the companion of Samael, the purely
evil ruler of the godless demons.

Banim Shovavin and Lilot

Lilith and her children serve as incubi and succubi, mating with mortals
in their dreams to produce various hybrid demons. Some of these are
called banim shovavin, "mischievous sons" who try to claim a
birthright from their human father and harm legitimate heirs. To this
day Lilith and her daughters, the lilot, remain spiteful of the human
children of Adam and Eve, and will attack mothers in labor and young
children, unless repelled by the names and images of the three
perusing angels. In centuries past women in labor would wear amulets
to protect them from Lilith, and even hide iron knives under their
pillows to ward her off.

A Kinder, Gentler Lilith? Not Exactly, But...

More recently, many people have been sympathetic toward Lilith,
viewing her was a victim and an early feminist. It is argued that Lilith,
like the wild women of Greek tragedy and mythology, was created to
frighten woman into assuming a particular and subordinate role in
society. The independent woman was a dangerous woman, a menace,
a killer.

I won't argue that Lilith's actions of seduction and murder are justified,
but I will put forth a new view to explain her behavior.

I've listed Lilith among the demons, because that is what she is
generally considered to be. But I don't think she really is. If Lilith was
created with Adam, then she is human (albeit one who has allegedly
used the Holy Name to sprout wings). And if she fled the Garden
without ever eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
 207

(and even which occurred after her departure), then she is still not
only immortal, but amoral. In other words, she's like a malicious child,
acting out of need, on impulse, and out of simple selfishness. Because
she has not eaten of the Tree, she doesn't know her envy and jealousy
are sins. She cavorts with demons because she doesn't know it's
wrong. She kills because she doesn't know it's wrong. By setting
herself apart from humankind and God, she has never had the
opportunity to experience healthy relationships of any kind. Once
identified as a demon, however, no one (certainly no mortal) would go
near her, much less try to help her. Viewed from this angle, she comes
across as something more like an abandoned child who has grown up
without guidance than the Queen of the Demons. And perhaps that's
what makes her so dangerous.

Suggested Reading
If you enjoyed this article and want to learn more, I recommend:

Stern and Mirsky, Rabbinic Fantasies: Imaginative Narratives From

Classical Hebrew Literature. Jewish Publication Society, 1990.  Full
Listing »

Issacs, Ronald H. Ascending Jacob's Ladder: Jewish Views of Angels,

Demons, and Evil Spirits. Jason Aronson, 1998.  Full Listing »

Scholem, Gershom. Kabbalah. Keter Publishing House Jerusalem, Ltd.,

1974.  Full Listing »

Budge, Sir E. A. Wallis. Amulets and Superstitions. Dover, 1978.  Full

Listing »
 208

Naveh, Joseph and Shaked, Shaul. Amulets and Magic Bowls: Aramaic
Incantations of Late Antiquity. Magnes Press, Hebrew University,
Jerusalem, 1985.  Full Listing »

Schrire, T. Hebrew Amulets: Their Decipherment and Interpretation.

Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1966.  Full Listing »

Nigal, Gedalyah. Magic, Mysticism, and Hasidism. Jason Aronson,

1994.  Full Listing »

Schwartz, Howard. Lilith's Cave: Jewish Tales of the Supernatural.

Oxford University Press USA, 1991.  Full Listing »

A Real Lilith
Zip Dobyns

There are many astrologers in the Far East who feel no need to
consider Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. There are many astrologers who
are not about to clutter up their charts with Vesta, Ceres, Pallas, Juno,
and Chiron, all of which I consider indispensable in chart
 209

interpretation. Imagine the dismay when we offer them ten more

minor planets! Al H. Morrison and J. Lee Lehman of New York are the
benefactors who have presented us with these ten new opportunities
(challenges?) A lot of astrologers will say “thanks but no thanks.” But I
react like a kid turned loose in a candy factory. My problem is, there is
never enough time to do a proper job of investigation, so I am just
tackling one of the new asteroids in each issue of The Mutable
Dilemma.
Icarus was discussed in the Gemini issue, and the evidence has
continued to accumulate since June. Some interesting cases were sent
to me by Nancy Barnhart, especially Spiro Agnew who had natal Icarus
in his first house conjunct Ceres, with progressed Sun conjunct them
within minutes when he was forced to resign as Vice President of the
United States. If Ceres is one of the keys to Virgo and hence one’s job,
the combination is certainly appropriate for a come-down in one’s job
through personal over-reach. Another interesting case is Billy Carter.
During his days of playing games with the Libyans and his admission
of alcoholism and going in for treatment, he had progressed Icarus
square progressed Sun, the latter in Taurus in its own fifth house. Still
another case is Yoko Ono who had progressed Icarus conjunct her
natal Sun when John Lennon was killed. There are two possible times
for Yoko, but the one used by most astrologers puts the Icarus-Sun
combination in the Sun’s house, the fifth. The theme that seems to be
coming through is the danger of the over-reach when Icarus is
involved in fire patterns; aspects to fire planets, in fire houses, or fire
signs (in that order of importance). After The Mutable Dilemma went
to press, I located the chart on the finding of part of Marcia Moore’s
body and found that transiting Icarus was conjunct Marcia and Sunny’s
natal Icarus positions at the time of the discovery just as it was on
Hinckley and Reagan’s at the time of the shooting. I’m still not putting
Icarus in everyone’s chart, but when I suspect that I’m dealing with a
person or situation where it would be prominent, I do check it out, and
I usually find strong aspects. One last case which I hope will have a
happier ending is Diana Spencer whose progressed Icarus was on her
seventh house cusp when she married Prince Charles of England. The
marriage opened up the potential of becoming a Queen in time, as well
as mother of a future King or Queen. Icarus only implies a fall if we
are reaching beyond our capacities. It will be fascinating to see if she
becomes Queen in 1989-90 when progressed Icarus will conjunct her
natal Sun in the seventh house.
To hammer again at a theme that is seen regularly in our pages,
anything important in the character and consequent destiny will be
shown repeatedly in the horoscope. If any new object or technique is
valid and useful, it has to repeat what the chart already says, but it
 210

may amplify or clarify the message. If we keep on adding new

asteroids, as I expect to do, we will have to have a computer. It is just
too time consuming to calculate that many factors by hand. It is
primarily because I do not have the new ten asteroids on the computer
that I do not look at them regularly. But it is also an encouraging
indication of understanding of the meaning of the new planets when
we can say in advance, “This person looks like an Icarus type,” or a
Lilith type, or whatever, and then check to see if the asteroid is
involved in close and appropriate aspects in the chart. Before we leave
Icarus (which is becoming one of my favorites), I will mention that
although Ted Kennedy and Mary Jo Kopechne did not have an Icarus
conjunction between their charts, they had a natal square. Also, Mary
Jo’s progressed Icarus was square Ted’s natal Sun while Ted’s
progressed Icarus was opposite his Moon-Neptune conjunction in the
8th house and trioctile his Pluto in the 7th house. If Jim Eshelman’s
rectification of Mary Jo’s chart is close to accurate, her progressed
Icarus was conjunct her local, progressed Ascendant while Ted’s natal
Icarus was conjunct her natal IC.
But this article is supposed to be about Lilith. I titled it the real Lilith
to distinguish it from the imaginary, invisible Moon with the same
name. The imaginary Lilith seems to have first appeared in an
ephemeris printed in England in the 19th century. The name and
movement were the same as Ivy Goldstein’s ephemeris, but the
positions were different. That is, Lilith was said to move three degrees
a day backward through the zodiac, but the English ephemeris put it in
a different part of the zodiac. Still a third ephemeris was once shown
to me in Florida, again giving the same three degrees a day motion
but putting the phantom Lilith in a different sign than either of the
other sources. The counts against a moon Lilith include:
1. the fact that no real physical object has that kind of regular
motion;
2. it would have to be around 2-1/2 times as far from Earth as the
Moon to move three degrees a day;
3. at that distance, a body might not be able to maintain an orbit
around earth, but if it did, the attraction of the moon and the sun
would create an extremely erratic orbit.
When all these astronomical realities are added to the combination
of several claimed ephemerides and the whole idea of an invisible
object, I have felt justified in ignoring Lilith. But I did take the time to
check out a few charts, using Goldstein’s positions, and did not find it
meaningful.
The asteroid named Lilith, in contrast, is a visible small planet with a
normal motion that varies from day to day and includes both direct
and retrograde periods. To differentiate the two in writing about them,
 211

we might refer to the imaginary Moon as M-Lilith and to the asteroid

as A-Lilith. The balance of this article will deal only with the asteroid.
In the Lilith ephemeris, J. Lee Lehman suggests that Lilith indicates
the unconscious and a-rational side of the mind. When prominent in
current patterns, it is said to indicate a time of testing with a need to
explore the unconscious. Al H. Morrison, in a comment in the
ephemeris of one of the other new asteroids mentions that most
people experience Lilith as negative and as a denial of sex. In
mythology, Lilith was the first woman, created with and equal to
Adam, the first man. When she refused to be subordinate to Adam and
he insisted, she left and God made Eve from one of Adam’s ribs, to be
subject to Adam. Some of the mythology associates Lilith with
dangerous childbirth and hostility towards children; some with acting
as sexual temptress to mortal males.
As we always stress in our work with astrology, it is a pragmatic
subject. Myths are starting places, but only extensive experience will
confirm or deny the accuracy of the old traditions or of the new
theories. My first effort in looking for a meaning for Lilith was to put it
in all the horoscopes in Lois Rodden’s book of famous women; that is,
all who were born in this century since the ephemeris covers 1900 to
2000. My first observation was that it was not a denial or block to sex.
Among the Hollywood ladies noted for their sexy reputation, we can
mention Jayne Mansfield who had it exactly conjunct the Descendant,
making a station at her birth, her daughter, Jayne Marie Mansfield,
who had it on the cusp of the 12th house in exact semi-sextile to a
Venus-Sun conjunction in Scorpio, Jane Fonda with it conjunct Jupiter
in Aquarius and opposite Pluto who switched from a sexpot role to a
serious actress and political activist, Farrah Fawcett who has it
conjunct Mars in the 8th house, opposite Pluto, with Saturn and Sun
more widely involved in the configuration. Jean Harlow, known as the
“blonde bombshell,” had it square her Sun-Icarus conjunction, and
octile Uranus, Tuesday Weld, noted for teen-age affairs, alcohol, and
pills, has it closely conjunct Mars and square Sun and semi-sextile
Ascendant, with a wider conjunction to Uranus, and Raquel Welch,
another star mainly known for her gorgeous figure, has it exactly on
the Descendant, three degrees from Neptune. Shirley MacLaine who
played a happy hooker in fourteen films has her Lilith conjunct Venus
within a few degrees in the sign Pisces. Where not specified, aspects
are within one to two degrees.
Quite a different collection of individuals with a prominent Lilith seem
to share an interest in the occult and involvement with witchcraft,
including Sybil Leek who has it exactly on the Descendant with a close
sextile to Uranus on one side and a two-degree orb sextile to Pluto on
the other side, and Pat Montandon who had it conjunct a first house
 212

Saturn within minutes, and who was cursed by a disgruntled guest and
then dogged by disasters for a year. In contrast to Pat’s real-life brush
with witchcraft, Elizabeth Montgomery played a liberated witch in the
television series “Bewitched”. She has Lilith conjunct her 4th house
cusp, closely trine Mars and octile Saturn in Aquarius.
Still another collection can be made of people involved in power
struggles of one sort or another. Angela Davis, the avowed Communist
professor in the University of California who spent years fighting the
establishment has the Lilith, Uranus, Mars conjunction in Gemini
mentioned for Tuesday Weld, but it is first house for Davis where Weld
has it in the 12th house. Davis fought openly while Weld lived in the
fantasy world of Hollywood, drink, drugs, and affairs. A number of
women fought for or over their children, with Lilith connected to the
fifth house. Madalyn O’Hair who opposed prayer in school and took the
battle clear to the Supreme Court only to have her son become a
Christian and renounce his mother’s atheism, had Lilith in her 5th
house of children. Marianne Alireza married an Arab and when he
decided to divorce her, she fought through the courts to retain custody
of the children—an unheard of situation in the Moslem world. Her Lilith
is also in the 5th house of children. Anita Bryant fought to protect her
children from homosexual teachers. She has Lilith conjunct Pluto which
rules the 5th house, with Scorpio on the 5th cusp, and the Pluto-Lilith
conjunction is in a close T-square to Saturn, Moon, and the nodes of
the Moon; all in fixed signs for power struggles, but in mutable houses
for ethical issues and with media attention. The cases of women who
were devoted to their children, whether that devotion was always
wise, certainly does not support the myth of Lilith as hostile to
children. It does fit the mythical demand for equality with a mate; the
refusal to be subordinate.
A number of the famous women in Lois Rodden’s book have close
conjunctions of Lilith and Pluto. Besides Anita Bryant, there is Pearl
Bailey with a history of four or five marriages; Betty Ford who became
First Lady when her husband became President of the U.S.A. who has
the conjunction in Cancer in the 10th house, marking her role as
mother of four children and often single parent since her husband
traveled a great deal; Queen Margarethe of Denmark who was born to
power as a royal princess and became the first female to rule
Denmark. Ruby Keeler’s Pluto-Lilith conjunction was in Gemini in the
11th house, in a grand trine to Moon-Saturn in Aquarius in the 7th
house and Icarus in Libra in the third house. Though her early life was
a struggle, she eventually married happily and retired to raise four
children.
A variation on the power theme comes with Patty Hearst who started
as victim of a kidnapping, joined her rebel captors, and ended up with
 213

a period in jail. Patty’s Lilith is conjunct Saturn in Scorpio. Winnie Ruth

Judd, a convicted murderer, had Lilith in the 10th house at the
midpoint of Pluto and Neptune. Charles Manson, charismatic leader,
involved in occultism and convicted instigator of several murders, has
Lilith in Aries in the twelfth house closely conjunct the Antivertex
(similar to another Ascendant) and conjunct Hidalgo (to be considered
in a later issue of The Mutable Dilemma). Manson’s Mars-Neptune
conjunction in the fifth house was closely quincunx Lilith and
Antivertex. Both Pluto and Lilith may be keys to a dogged persistence
to the end, to death if necessary. Part of the lesson of letter eight is
recognizing when we have gone far enough, knowing how to let go.
We may end chapters consciously or invite it unconsciously with any of
the water factors in astrology. The normal focus of water is inward, but
when it is mixed with other elements, as it usually is, or when we have
not yet learned to handle that part of life, self-mastery may become
control of others.

Mixtures of letters eight and ten often seek or are given executive
power. Another princess who became a Queen is Beatrix of Holland
with Lilith in Capricorn in the 10th house in a close conjunction to
Mercury. Still another person concerned with power is Betty Friedan,
well-known feminist, who has Lilith conjunct her Sun-Icarus
conjunction, all in Aquarius, opposite Neptune and trine the MC,
showing a self-made radical, not someone born to the purple. Then
there is Rose Mary Woods, the famous secretary to Richard Nixon who
is presumed to have erased the incriminating portion of a tape about
his involvement in the Watergate scandal that eventually cost him the
Presidency of the U.S.A. Rose Mary has Lilith exactly on the Ascendant
opposite Icarus on her Descendant. For Christina Onassis, Lilith
conjunction Venus in Sagittarius in the 8th house is a key to the power
of vast inherited wealth but also to multiple marriages.
By the time I had worked through the charts in the Rodden book, and
put Lilith in a variety of charts of family, friends, clients, etc., I was
getting a sense of Lilith as another Pluto in the chart, or we might say
another form of letter eight. It seemed to be symbolizing all the varied
potentials of Pluto; the use of sex as a way to power, power struggles
to achieve equality, interest in the occult including witchcraft,
inheritance, and royalties in other cases, power coming through
marriage or through birth into royalty, etc. For the moment, I have
accepted as a working hypothesis that Lilith can be read as similar to
Pluto: basically a search for self-knowledge and self-mastery which
would include the unconscious association suggested by J. Lehman but
not noted much in the Rodden book charts. When we turn the power
out instead of in, and try to control the world instead of ourselves,
 214

then Lilith and Pluto can symbolize a variety of power activity. Like
Pluto, Lilith seems to want a mate and is often prominent in people
who have long and devoted marriages, or (more often) in people who
have multiple marriages. It is not easy to achieve equality in marriage,
and I think Lilith symbolizes a search for it and will not settle for less

Lilith
an ancient Sumerian and Mesopotamian fertility
goddess
Lilith (Lilitu) was an ancient Sumerian and Mesopotamian fertility
goddess. She was a mother goddess, a protector of children, a fierce
warrior and an agricultural goddess. She was worshipped by people
seeking to have good crops and many children.
 215

She even had assistants. Like angels are to the Judeo-Christian god,
Lilith had Mariliths: Six armed women with snake tails who were skilled
gardeners and fabulous warriors at the same time. Mythology and
stories about Lilith are not really well known however, because most of
them have been obliterated by competing religions.

But there are other versions of Lilith. For example, in Greece Lilith is
the goddess of the black moon (Artemis is the goddess of the full
moon and Hecate is goddess of the crescent moon). In Greece she was
also revered as a fertility goddess, helping to conceive children and
grow crops.

Legends and myths about Lilith originate in ancient Mesopotamia, but

persist as far away as Malayasia. She has many subtle name variants
from region to region.

But not all the legends about her are good. Judeo-Christianity has
replaced the old mythology with a new mythology: Lilith as succubus.

No longer is she a goddess, but instead an immortal succubus, the

mother of all succubi, a stealer of children and a seductress of men.

This anti-Lilith mythology is found in the combined mythology of

Islam, Judaism and Christianity. The how and why this happened is
simple. Men are often afraid of women with power.

The modern Judeo-Christian religions all believe that there is only one
god, and that this god is a HE. If we go back further into the origins of
these religions, there is actually two gods: Jehovah (the male
counterpart) and Yahweh (the female counterpart). The modern
versions of these religions ignore Yahweh and favour only Jehovah. So
historically "God" is both male and female, but the modern versions of
these religions firmly believe that "God" is male.

This is an idea that is reinforced by the usage of "Lord", "He", "Him"

and "the Holy Father", all of which point to "God" being masculine.

Combine that with the Adam and Eve myth, wherein Adam is created
first as a "copy" of God, "in his own image".

Plus almost all of the figures in the various versions of the bible are
male. Abraham, Lot, Moses, Joseph, Jesus Christ, King Solomon...
Santa Claus (Saint Nicholas) isn't even in the bible, but he's still male.
The Pope, the Cardinals, Catholic priests... all male.
 216

The female version of the goddess Yahweh has basically been

eradicated. All we have left is male dominated religions.

Lilith makes a very interesting deviation in Judeo-Christianity however.

Instead of being a fertility goddess, who helps women conceive
children, she has been transformed into a sexual miscreant. Suddenly
sex and conception is evil. Sex is a sin, or so the bible tells us.

We have to remember that the bible (the different versions of it)

weren't actually written down until hundreds of years after the death
of Christ, and when they were written down, different people (all men)
wrote different versions and mass produced them. In Christianity, the
version most commonly used is the King James version, a version
which religious scholars working for King James wrote.

But other versions tell drastically different stories. In the ben-Sira (a)
version Lilith makes a dramatic appearance, not as a succubus, but as
the counterpart to Adam. Lilith and Adam were created together, both
made out of clay, at the exact same time. Afterall, Yahweh/Jehovah
created all the animals (male and female animals) at the same time,
why shouldn't they create humans at the same time? In ben-Sira (b),
a slightly different version, Adam is created first, and Lilith is created
immediately afterwards. In ben-Sira (c), Lilith is made of mud instead
of clay.

In whatever version you read, the story still finds a way to make
women appear inferior.

"Soon, they began to quarrel with each other. She said to him: I will
not lie underneath, and he said: I will not lie underneath but above,
for you are meant to lie underneath and I to lie above. She said to
him: We are both equal, because we are both created from the earth.
But they didn’t listen to each other. When Lilith saw this, she
pronounced God’s avowed name and flew into the air. Adam stood in
prayer before his Creator and said: Lord of the World! The woman you
have given me has gone away from me.

Immediately, the Almighty sent three angels after her, to bring her
back. The Almighty said to Adam: If she decides to return, it is good,
but if not, then she must take it upon herself to ensure that a hundred
of her children die each day. They went to her and found her in the
middle of the Red Sea. And they told her the word of God. But she
refused to return. They said to her: We must drown you in the sea.
 217

She said: Leave me! I was created for no other purpose than to harm
children, eight days for boys and twenty for girls.

When they heard what she said, they pressed her even more. She
said: I swear by the name of the living God that I, when I see you or
your image on an amulet, will have no power over that particular child.
And she took it upon herself to ensure that, every day, a hundred of
her children died. That is why we say that, every day, a hundred of her
demons die. That is why we write the names Senoi, Sansenoi and
Semangloph on an amulet for small children. And when Lilith sees it,
she remembers her promise and the child is saved.”

The words "I will not lie underneath" could be reference to sexual
positioning (and has been used by religious scholars who prefer the
missionary position), but it can simply mean that Lilith does not want
to be treated like a slave.

During the 20th and 21st century Lilith has seen a cultural revival,
largely due to the feminist and post-feminist movements. She has
become a feminist icon, a sexually aggressive woman who wants to be
treated equally.

Men have words for such women. We call them sluts, bitches, whores,
hoes, fem-nazi-bitches. The word feminist is treated by men (and
sometimes women) as if its a bad word. They think it means female
superiority when in reality its just equality.

Which brings us full circle, back to ancient history and mythology,

because myths are often just blurred facts that have been altered with
time. In Greek mythology, Amazons lived to the east of Greece, in the
area of Sumeria, Mesopotamia and Palestine. Thanks to archeologists,
we now know that that particular area, stretching from Egypt to Iran,
believed in equality. Men and women treated each other equally in
Egypt and Sumeria.

From the Greek perspective, where men were considered superior

(largely due to Greek mythology where Zeus is king of the gods, and
also due to Aristotle, who said that women were soulless), the idea of
women being treated as equals was such a strange thought. Women in
Greece were slaves. They had no souls. A society where women were
equals would be considered backwards, hence the term "Amazons" has
come to mean women who are in control, a society where women are
considered superior.
 218

Except they weren't superior, the Amazons were simply equals, and it
mirrors our modern problems with people misunderstanding the
meaning of the word "feminist".

Male-haters, lesbians, dykes... names we sometimes call feminists, but

its far from the reality. Most feminists are actually heterosexuals,
married and have children. If anything, they are far more likely to be
more aggressive and open about their sexuality. Like most modern
women are.

The fact is that all women who believe in equality are feminists. Many
simply don't know it because they've been confused by men who say
feminists are "male-hating dykes".

Sadly, most women are likely to say "Oh, I believe in equality, but I'm
not a feminist." They don't realize that they really are a feminist, but
they're afraid of being called a "male-hating dyke".

And not all men hate feminists. Many men prefer women who are
aggressive and/or androgynous because they are simply more
compatible people. Not everyone wants a woman who bends to every
whim a man has. Such a woman is more like a slave, a woman who
has been corrupted into believing she is inferior.

Which brings me back to religion. When a person is raised with a

misogynistic (women-hating) religion like Christianity and fed ideas
like "women should stay home to cook and clean" or "women are only
good for making babies", it destroys the woman's self-esteem and at
the same time provides a lazy alternative. That isn't to mean that
being a housewife is an easy job, but it certainly is an easier career
alternative. It doesn't require any serious education, they don't have
to worry about social stigma, they don't have to worry about
competition in the workplace and a host of other reasons. Overall its a
less stressful environment, but it comes with one fatal flaw: Men
commit adultery so they can sleep with more sexually aggressive
women.

And so now we are back to the Lilith as succubus/seductress. The

home-wrecker, the secretary, the mistress, the other woman your
husband is fucking. Its very easy to hate the woman who destroys
your nice happy/lazy existence of being a carefree housewife. She
destroyed your life and because you don't have a job and you don't
have an education to get a decent job, you can't afford to take care of
the kids. Since you don't have money of your own, the custody battle
 219

could be expensive and while women are favoured in custody cases,

men have equal opportunity to gain custody, and have a monetary
advantage because if they have the money, they in theory can provide
a better home for the children.

Next thing you know, the husband is fucking the nanny and you've
been replaced.

So yes, being a housewife is a noble thing to do, but get an education

anyway. No matter how much the husband claims he loves his wife,
there is always the potential for adultery.

And so its very easy to think of the other woman badly. How dare she!
She stole your husband! How and why? Because she's more
aggressive.

Its not that she is a bad person. She's not. If the husband fell in love
with her and ditched the wife, then she must have some nice qualities.
Its not that the wife isn't nice either, this has nothing to do with
niceties. Its about the husband wanting a woman who is more
aggressive and with whom he feels more compatible with.

Not all women who find out their husbands are cheating however get a
divorce. Quite often, especially in a religious family, they simply ignore
the affair (and sometimes have their own affairs). They may hate the
mistress, but they choose to remain in the marriage because they're
afraid to rock the boat. An unhappy marriage seems easier than being
an unhappy divorcee with no children, no education and no job.

The church reinforces the idea that couples are married for life, til
death do us part, but in reality church leaders don't have a clue what
its like to be in abusive/adulterous marriage. Unless the priests have
been abusing the choir boys, the priests have never had sex in their
lives and they certainly have never had a serious relationship. A priest
really should not be providing marital advice, because they have no
marriage experience.

From the priestly perspective, it is very easy to blame the mistress.

She tempted the male. Its all her fault! If she wasn't so aggressive,
none of this would have happened. She seduced him, so its all her
fault.

Wrong! The husband just as easily could have had an affair with
another woman who was not aggressive at all. The mistress doesn't
 220

need to be aggressive at all. Quite often the mistress doesn't even

know the man is married.

So its certainly not the fault of the mistress. Blaming her is ignoring
the real problem: The Sex within the Marriage.

Maybe the husband doesn't feel excited by his wife. She is boring in
bed. Maybe she doesn't want to have sex regularly. Maybe he has
simply lost interest in her. Maybe its a communication problem and
when the two aren't talking they aren't having sex either. Any kind of
dispute and/or a lack of sex will make both the husband and wife want
to look elsewhere for their pleasure.

There is the flip side of the succubus: The incubus.

In Biblical mythology, incubi are fallen angels who had sex with
mortals and were cast out of heaven. They wander the earth as "sex
demons", seducing women or raping women and impregnating them. A
common theme is the woman being ravaged in her sleep by an
incubus and becoming pregnant. The children of incubi are said to be
rapists.

In the modern marriage, the incubi is the man in the affair. Something
is wrong in the marriage, woman meets man, they get it on, she gets
pregnant and suddenly the husband wonders why the baby has red
hair... in ancient times amongst superstitious people, it was very easy
to blame a rapist or a sex demon or even witchcraft. Anything but
adultery, which could get the adulteress stoned to death. Quite often if
a male committed adultery, no one cared. But if a woman did and she
got pregnant, it was a huge problem.

The witchcraft issue is an interesting one and I deliberately said "red

hair" above. Witchcraft was used an excuse to kill people with red hair
during the middle ages. Today red hair is extremely rare because it
was essentially mass genocide based upon hair colour. But its not just
witchcraft. In paintings and depictions, Lilith and seductresses are
often depicted as having red hair, symbolic of a more aggressive
sexuality.

Whether red heads are more sexual or not, its difficult to say. But we
can say that people tend to view others based on what they look like.
Women don't look very muscular, therefore we tend to think they are
weak.
 221

And after years of being told they are weak, women start to believe
they are weak. Except that strength isn't defined by sex, its defined by
exercise. Women who are exercise more do look more muscular and
toned. No steroids required. Being told they are weak for years and
years reinforces the belief and as a result many women don't exercise
as much as they should. They think they are weak and become weak
as a result of a lack of exercise.

In this day and age, men are becoming weak too. Too much sitting on
the couch watching tv or sitting in front of the computer is creating a
generation of fat, lazy, weak men and women. The heaviest thing they
carry is the shopping bags filled with Coca-Cola and twinkies. I have a
term that I use to describe these fat people: Its Generation XXL.

In the United States this is a huge problem. HUGE as in fat, and also
HUGE in terms of numbers. 72% of adult Americans are overweight,
including 29% who are OBESE. Everyone in the country is starting to
look like the Venus of Willendorf.

This fatness is not unrelated to Lilith, because Lilith is symbolic of

fertility and sexuality. Fat people are not sexy, but they're also not
very fertile. Obese women have heart problems which result in
lowered fertility rates. The related problems have to do with egg
fertilization, heart disease in the fetus leading to the body naturally
aborting the fetus, premature babies. In extreme cases the weight of
the stomach weighing down has even squashed, choked and/or
suffocated the baby.

While women are encouraged to eat a fair bit during pregnancy in

order to ensure a healthy baby, an already obese woman will become
even more obese and will certainly have fertility problems as a result.
Even if the baby is born, it will also have heart and liver problems due
to a fatty diet during the pregnancy.

And perhaps more importantly, on a sexuality level, obesity really

hampers a person's sex life. Finding a mate who is willing (or
desperate enough) to have sex with the Venus of Willendorf is quite
tricky.

In combination, the obesity problem combined with marital infidelity is

almost a definite. If either the male or the female becomes
overweight, a loss in sex drive and sexual activity is almost certain.
Both sexes are much more likely to cheat if their spouse is overweight
and unattractive. Perhaps this could explain why infidelity is so
 222

common in the United States, because the USA has so many weight
problems and is the fattest country and the most adulterous.

Sexuality, feminism and health issues (whether its AIDS, pregnancy or

obesity) will always be linked together. Pregnancy itself is not a
feminist issue, but the process of becoming pregnant or preventing
pregnancy is. The choices women make, like whether they choose to
use a condom or the pill or both is directly related to their sexual
beliefs and their feminist beliefs. A woman who forfeits the choice to
her boyfriend or husband is forfeiting her rights. At the same time a
sexually aggressive woman may simply believe in "cumshots" and
firmly believe that unprotected penetration is okay, provided the man
is confident in his ability to control his ejaculation. Therefore when it is
time to ejaculate, he may end up doing so on her ass, her stomach or
(like they often do in porn movies) on her face.

Hence the term "cum-catcher", a term many women find offensive.

Another term "cunt" is considered VERY offensive, despite the fact that
many feminists now believe we should use the word in the clinical
sense. "Cunt" is the proper English word. "Vagina" is Roman military
slang, because the word actually means "swordsheath". Thus there is
a movement to replace the word vagina and start using the word cunt
more regularly, so it will lose its negative aspects and eventually it will
no longer be a bad word.

The United States may pride itself as being advanced on moral issues
like feminism, but the truth is that they are still far behind European
countries like France and England, the birthplaces of modern feminism.
Far too many Americans are still living in a "missionary" belief system
when it comes it comes to sex, despite the advances of sex
researchers like Dr. Kinsey.

During Bill Clinton's sexual controversy there was several key themes:
Do blowjobs/oral sex count as adultery? Is Monica Lewinsky a slut or a
sexually aggressive woman? Should Hillary have filed for divorce? Why
didn't Hillary file for divorce? Why did Americans care so much about
sex in the oral/oval office?

From Bill Clinton's perspective, he was trying to cover his ass. Lying to
congress is not allowed, but pretending to be stupid is apparently
okay. He didn't think oral sex counted as real sex. Or so he said, but
he was basically pretending to be stupid in order to prevent being
impeached.
 223

Monica Lewinsky IS sexually aggressive, and she's only a slut if you

think she is. Clinton is more at fault than she is. His sexual advances
on multiple women are well known. Whats interesting is how it causes
a split in American politics. The feminists tended to side with Monica
Lewinsky, supporting her sexual aggression while the
homemakers/married women tended to side with Hillary. Meanwhile
American men (the vast majority of them) just supported Clinton
himself. The infidelity of a nation of men came together in common
support of a president who proved he really is like the common man,
because the common man cheats on his wife.

And apparently the common woman (Hillary Clinton) ignores it and

continues with the marriage. We assume therefore that despite his
infidelity, that Bill Clinton must still be a loving husband, but he must
also be good in bed if his wife still wants him. The whole scenario is
like a Jerry Springer episode, but on a national stage of political
events. The Clinton family became the most popular presidential family
in US history. Bill Clinton's approval rating was the highest any
president had ever seen.

That approval rating helped win Hillary Clinton her senate seat in New
York State, and it will certainly help her when she runs for US
president in 2008. For her the choice of staying with Bill was a no
brainer. She wants to be president. Americans will not elect a
divorcee. So while many Americans assume Bill must be good in bed,
the truth of why she stayed with him is far more politically motivated.

A person would almost wonder if Clinton's sexual scandal was a

deliberate ploy to raise his popularity by allowing the common person
to identify with him.

In contrast most Americans do not identify with George W. Bush. The

wealthy son of an oil magnate, a fake-cowboy, studied at Yale because
his father is an alumni, snorts cocaine, hemorroids and apparently has
no sex drive at all. Most Americans don't even know what his wife's
name is, whereas Hillary Clinton is a household name.

Bush's treatment of women is quite profound. Of his inner circle, there

is only one woman: Condoleezza Rice. Bush invaded abortion privacy
by making abortion records publicly available, thus women who had
abortions when they were younger could now be potentially
blackmailed. He cut funding to women's shelters not only in the United
States, but also abroad. He increased funding to dubious religious
groups which oppose women's rights. In state of Texas where he was
 224

governor for 4 years, in a rather strange obscenity law, women are

allowed to go topless, but only if they are white.

Condoleezza Rice is currently the National Security Advisor, but what

experience does she have? Before Bush was elected, Ms Rice was an
oil tycoon. She knows nothing about security issues. She has no
military background at all. What she does KNOW is the oil business.

As the only female in the group, she is certainly voted down in

meetings with Bush's advisors, but she remains in the White House
because she doesn't care that she is the only woman. She cares about
money. And that is the downfall of many women in business and/or
politics. Far too many women measure their success by monetary
wealth, not by what they achieve.

Some women achieve happiness by having children, having successful

careers, accumulating wealth, gaining fame, helping others, or finding
love. If we go back to the original Lilith myth in the ben-Sira version of
the bible, we find that what Lilith wanted to be happy was a loving
mate who treated her equally. In the Garden of Eden, there was no
need for wealth or career, so the only pleasure beyond that was
children. A loving mate, equality and the possibility of children. Money,
career and fame are secondary.

Far too many people firmly believe in fame and fortune. Yes, we need
money to survive and being famous is a very nice feeling too. It would
be really nice to have lots of money, retire early and spend your time
helping others. Adam and Lilith were essentially retired. They had no
need for wealth. Fame was non-existent because there was no other
people and likewise the idea of helping others and adultery didn't exist
for the same reason. It was life in a vacuum/paradise, but even then
the battle of the sexes managed to destroy what should have been
complete happiness.

The battle of the sexes rages on today and will certainly continue to
rage in the future. In many ways modern sexuality is much more
confusing. Women are confused as to what men want. Do they want
big tits and voluptuousness, or do they want anorexic women with
perky breasts? In the United States there is even the BBW (Big
Beautiful Woman) movement which tries to convert men to a new idea
of beauty, wherein fat is sexy.

Likewise for men, times are changing. Being handsome no longer is

the thing. Now men have to be handsome and hairless from the neck
 225

down. Shaved chests, shaved back, shaved asses, and sometimes

even shaved legs and penises. The modern idea of male beauty is
starting to look very metrosexual and androgynous. But that idea
doesn't apply to all women. Some women want hair, muscles, tans, no
tans, long hair, beards, body piercings, tattoos... our ideas of what is
beautiful is becoming more diverse as our society and culture changes.

Its difficult to predict where sexuality will lead us in the future.

Bisexuality is more common than previously thought and sexual
freedom is butting up against religious stereotypes/beliefs. Gay
marriages are already completely legal in Canada and will soon be
completely legal in the United States. Religious people will try to stop
it, but it will happen anyway. Whenever sexuality pushes for more
freedom, religion tends to stick its nose into the business and try to
demonify the topic. If we all listened to the bible, then women would
all be slaves, homosexuals would be executed, and everyone would be
using the missionary position. Lilith will always be a dual image of
demon and goddess, with sexual repression on one side and sexual
freedom on the other.