Lilith: Ancient Demon or Dark Deity?

[Skywizard]

In some sources she's described as a demon, in others she is an icon who became one of the darkest deities of the pagans. Lilith is one of the oldest known female spirits of the world. Her roots come from the famous Epic of Gilgamesh, but she was also described in the Bible and the Talmud.

In Jewish tradition, she is the most notorious demon, but in some other sources she appears as the first woman created on Earth. According to a legend, God formed Lilith as the first woman. He did it in the same way as he created Adam. The only difference was that in place of pure dust, he also used filth and residue. Traditionally Lilith means ''the night'', and she is related to attributes connected with the spiritual aspects of sensuality and freedom, but also terror.

The ancient demon of Sumerians

Lilith’s name comes from the Sumerian word ''lilitu'', which meant a wind spirit or a female demon. Lilith was mentioned in the Tablet XII of the Epic of Gilgamesh, a famous poem of ancient Mesopotamia dated back to not later than c. 2100 BC. The tablet was added to the original text much later, c. 600 BC, in its later Assyrian and Akkadian translations. She appears in a magical story, where she represents the branches of a tree. She is described with other demons, but researchers still argue if she was a demon or a dark goddess. At the same time, she appeared in early Jewish sources, so it is difficult to find out who mentioned her first. However, it is obvious that from the beginning of her existence in the texts she was related to Sumerian witchcraft.

Burney Relief, Babylon (1800-1750 BCE). Some scholars
(e.g. Emil Kraeling) identified the figure in the relief with
Lilith, based on a misreading of an outdated translation
of the Epic of Gilgamesh.

In the Babylonian Talmud, Lilith was described as a dark spirit with an uncontrollable and dangerous sexuality. She is said to have fertilized herself with male sperm to create demons. She is believed to be the mother of hundreds of demons.

A page of a medieval Jerusalem Talmud manuscript, from the Cairo
Geniza.

Lilith was known in the culture of the Hittites, Egyptians, Greeks, Israelis, and Romans as well. In later times, she migrated to the north of the Europe. She represented chaos, sexuality, and she has been said to have cast spells on people. Her legend is also related to the first stories about vampires.

The wife of the biblical Adam

Lilith appears in the Bible, in the Book of Isaiah 34:14, which describes the desolation of Eden. From the beginning, she is considered as a devilish spirit, unclean, and dangerous. The Genesis Rabbah describes her as the first wife of Adam. According to the book, God created her and Adam at the same time. Lilith was very strong, independent, and wanted to be equal with Adam. She did not accept being less important than him and refused to lie beneath Adam for copulation. The marriage did not work and they never found happiness. As Robert Graves and Raphael Patai wrote in the book The Hebrew Myths:

''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; and
if she could not destroy a human infant, because of the angelic amulet, she
would spitefully turn against her own.''

Due to the misunderstandings and disappointments related to Lilith, God decided to create a second wife for Adam– Eve.

Lilith, the first wife of Adam.

An icon for modern pagans and feminists

Nowadays, Lilith has become a symbol of freedom for many feminist groups. Due to the rising level of education, women started to understand that they could be independent, so they began looking for symbols of feminine power. She also started to be worshiped by some followers of the pagan Wicca religion, which was created in the 1950s.

This appeal was enhanced by artists, who took her on as a muse. She started to be a popular motif in art and literature around the Renaissance period, when Michelangelo portrayed her as a half woman, half serpent being. He presented her around the Tree of Knowledge, and increased the importance of her legend. With time, Lilith became more attractive for the imaginations of male artists like Dante Gabriel Rosetti, who created her image as the most beautiful female being of the world. The author of ''The Chronicles of Narnia'', C.S. Lewis, was inspired by the legend about Lilith in the creation of the White Witch. She was beautiful, but dangerous and cruel. He mentioned that she was Lilith’s daughter and the she was determined to kill Adam and Eve’s children.

Lilith (1892) by John Collier in Southport
Atkinson Art Gallery.

Less romantic pictures of Lilith appeared in the mind of James Joyce, who called her the patron of abortions. Joyce pushed Lilith into the feminist philosophy, and started the process of adopting her as a goddess of independent women in the 20th century. When women started to receive more rights, they started to disagree with the man-concentrated vision of the world, including the Biblical story about the beginning of the life on Earth. The name of Lilith appears as a national literacy program in Israel and the title of a Jewish women's magazine. The ancient Sumerian legendary female demon is one of the most popular topics in feminist literature related to ancient mythology. Researchers still discuss if she was created as a real demon, or as an untrue warning of what may happen if women receive more power.




Source: http://www.ancient-origins.net/myths...908?page=0%2C1


peace...

[Chester]

For me... mythical figures are about "how each individual perceives them."

For me, Lilith is a brave anti-patriarchic symbol, a rebel, one willing to go it alone being true to her own sense of sovereignty.

For me, she's a hero... perhaps the better word is "virago."

[Sierra]

Weird. Both the story of Eve and Lilith, women are portrayed as dangerous, not in control of their own sexuality, and incapable of making smart decisions or seeing deception.

Adam, while not deceived, was portrayed as a coward, and betrayer of his wife (wives). And sort of a whiner if he really talked to G*d that way about Lilith.

Some memes never seem to go away...

[etheric underground]

David Icke speaks of Lilith EXTENSIVELY in a number of his books. Most if not all our Gods and Goddesses are from Babylonian/ Egyptian/Sumer origins.
To me that means our worship of these so called Gods and Goddesses from those times is a control/ construct factor which has inhibited us ever since.
All religions stem from these deities and beliefs and it holds us back in IGNORANT and close minded ways.

[Lifebringer]

Oral sex was the foreplay that made Eve weak to Satan in the Garden of Eden. Before that it was ordained for child baring. Religion of man Kind has corrupted mostly all that was placed in the histories. But In the Urantia, i think I read about Lilith refusing to be submissive in the law of order before God. (God, Son, Woman/Holy Spirit of Wisdome.) Lilith was the 1st woman's libber who disobeyed God's rules of the garden. Curious people that tested God. That spirit still has manifested and that's why he has to lay down the commandments so, so others wouldn't "fall" out of grace.

Anyway, man can't continue to blame spirits when "he is willfully" making the choices. You willed it on you, you must will it off you/change that decision from the root of what got you there.

[shadowstalker]

''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; and
if she could not destroy a human infant, because of the angelic amulet, she
would spitefully turn against her own.''

I so wish they had a complete book from beginning to end about lilith.
But with so many interpretations would we ever get to the truth?

[Justplain]

I believe that the bible is largely allegorical. The allegories of the old testament paint a portrait of a jealous and somewhat neurotic monotheistic god. This tale may have suited its times. The new testament tells us of a Divine Consciousness that espouses unselfish love, compassion and foregiveness. In the context of this Divine Consciousness, a Lilith character would not be threatened with death for disobedience, she would be given her free choice. That free choice is one of the great gifts of our existence. This freedom should not be confused with evil, it is provided for us to learn with. The fear driven allegories that surround Lilith should not be misconstrued with the true underlying message of the this great gift we have been given.

[Sierra]

Justplain, You have hit the nail on the head. Most people don't even know they have free will, and don't know it is the most precious gift. Ever.