Lillith05:30 Oct 27 2008
Times Read: 642
This essay is an indepth study on the Lillith myth as referred to in Judaic and the surrounding areas mythology. Lillith is now seen by many as a type of evil seductress and vampire like demoness, and many people today portray her as a succubi/incubi like demoness with vampire-like abilities, while others see her as the glory of female independence and rebellion to the male patriarch.
Some say the God created man and woman in His own image on the Sixth day, giving them dominion over the Earth, but that Eve did not yet exist. Eve is supposedly said to be created from Adam's rib, supposedly making her subservient to him since she came from his body, but the Lillith myth is vastly different; making her more independent of male influence than Eve. Some feminists see her expulsion from the Bible as the attempted oppression of women by the church, saying that the idea of having a woman rebel against man and still be portrayed as a survivor and powerful entity counter-productive to the control of women by men.
According to the myth, God had told Adam to name every beast, bird and other living thing. When they passed before him in pairs, male and female, Adam felt jealous of them for having a partner while he did not, and although he tried mating with each female animal after the other, he found no satisfaction in the act. So he desperately cried out to God in prayer, saying:
"Every creature but I has a proper mate!"
God decided that Adam was right, so He made the female demoness Lillith, the first woman, to be Adams helpmate and partner. He had formed Adam from pure dust, making him clean of spirit, except that when he made Lillith, he used filth and sediment instead of pure dust. (This use of impure materials is used to symbolize her evil intentions and wicked ways to be ).
From Adam's union with this demoness, and with another like her named Naamah, came Asmodeus and many other demons that still plague mankind today. Many generations later, Lillith and Naamah are said to have came to Solomon's judgement seat, disguised as prostitutes from the holy city of Jerusalem. (Asmodeus is also referred to by members of certain magical groups, such as the "Golden Dawn" and the infamous late Aleister Crowley's "Silver Star", as a powerful demon even today, whose name is used in several spells and rituals.)
Adam and Lillith never ever did find peace together. When Adam tried to have sex with her, she took offence at the inferior position he demanded her to take. "Why must I lie beneath you?" she asked him. "I too was formed from dust, and am therefore your equal." Because Adam tried to compel her obedience by force, Lillith, understandably in a rage, put to use her demoness powers and uttered the magic name of God, causing her to rise into the air and fly away, leaving him alone once again.
Adam complained to God, saying to Him: "I have been deserted by my helpmate."and so God at once sent the three angels Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof to bring Lillith back to Adam. They found her beside the Red Sea, a region claimed to be heavily populated by lustfilled demons, having sex with them, to whom she bore 'lillim' at the rate of more than one hundred a day. "Return to Adam without delay," the three angels said, "or we will drown you!" Lillith 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," Lillith 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. Nonetheless, if ever I see your three names or likenesses displayed in an amulet above a newborn child, I promise to spare it." They agreed to this; but God, undoubtedly angered that she had used his laws to avoid returning to Adam, punished Lillith 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 have to spitefully turn against her own.
Some say that Lillith ruled as queen in Sheba; and was the demoness who was responsible for killing Job's sons. She managed to escape the curse of death which overtook Adam, since they had parted long before the Fall, which makes Lillith the first real immortal in history. This could be the reason why she is believed to be vampiric in nature and why there are several vampire myths involving her name. Since she is also seen as a seductress, this too could relate to the vampires supposed seductive abilities.
Lillith and Naamah, her demoness companion, not only strangle infants but also seduce dreaming men, and one of whom, sleeping alone, may become their victim. This could be where the Succubis and Incubis style demons, also referred to as Lamiae, come into play. (Succubi and Incubi are said to seduce sleeping men and women into breeding with them, then killing them afterwards and drink their blood.) This could be why it is seen by many cultures as virtually necessary for everyone to marry as soon as they are able, so as to avoid the possibility of having a Succubi or Incubi attack. Clergy members could also be seen as untouchable by demons and demonesses and therefore are permitted to remain single, although they are in essence married to God through their vows.
The blending of the several myths that allow Lillith to be presumed as Adam's first mate, result from a careless blending together of an early Jewish and a late priestly tradition. The older version contains the rib incident. Lillith symbolizes the Anath-worshipping Canaanite women, who were permitted pre-marital sex. 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:18.(It was ancient Canaanite custom to sacrifice children in various rituals using a varity of ways. The most common was through fire in which the child was slid into a fiery pit.)
Lillith's flight to the Red Sea goes back to the ancient Hebrew myth that water attracts demons. "Tortured and rebellious demons" also found safe harbourage in Egypt. Thus the demon Asmodeus, who is said to have strangled Sarah's first six husbands, ran to the uttermost parts of Egypt when Tobias burned the heart and liver of a fish on their wedding night. The burning of certain organs from various creatures is still practiced today by some cults as a type of protection ceremony. Salt is also used too, perhaps as a reference to the sea. Lillith's bargain with the three angels has its ritual counterpart in an ancient rite once performed in many Jewish communities. To protect the newborn child against Lillith --and especially a male, until he could be permanently safeguarded by circumcision-- a ring was drawn with charcoal, on the wall of the birthroom, and inside it were written the words: "Adam and Eve. Out, Lillith!" Also, the names of the three angels sent by God to deliver Lillith back to Adam; Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof were written on the door. If Lillith nevertheless succeeds in getting to the child and touch him, he is said to start to laugh in his sleep. To avoid the danger of Lilliths touch of death, it was held wise to tap the sleeping child's lips with one finger -- Lillith is then said to vanish without harming the child in any way.
'Lillith' is usually derived from the Babylonian-Assyrian word 'lilitu,' 'a female demon, or wind-spirit' -- one of three mentioned in several Babylonian spells. But she appears earlier as 'Lillake' on a 2000 BC 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 guarded by the Goddess Inanna, also known as Anath, (The same Canaanite Goddess mentioned earlier) on the banks of the Euphrates river. Popular Hebrew vocabulary seems to have got the word 'Lillith' from 'layil,' 'night'; and she therefore often appears as a hairy night-monster, as she also does in Arabic folklore. Solomon suspected the Queen of Sheba of being Lillith, because she had hairy legs. His judgement on the two harlots is recorded in 1 Kings III:16. According to Isaiah XXXIV:14-15, Lillith lives among the desolate ruins in the Edomite Desert where satyrs "se'ir", reems , pelicans, owls , jackals, ostriches, arrow-snakes and kites (vulture-like birds) keep her company.
Lillith'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 AD commentator Hieronymous identified Lillith 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.
The Lamiae, who seduced sleeping men, sucked their blood and ate their flesh, as Lillith and her fellow-demonesses did, were also known as 'Empusae', 'forcers-in'; or ‘Mormolyceia,' 'frightening wolves'; and described as 'Children of Hecate.' Also, Bacchi, the female worshippers of Bacchus, the Roman God of Wine, are said to hide in the forests capturing men, killing them, and then drinking their blood during a crazed, orgy-like ritual.
A Hellenistic relief shows a naked Lamiae straddling a traveller asleep on his back. It is characteristic of civilizations where women are treated as lessers, to assume the missionary position while having sex, which Lillith refused to do. Women in several cultures today still refrain from assuming a lesser or inferior sexual position, perhaps as some ancient tie to a matriarchy where women were the dominant sex.
When all said and done, the Lillith myth is one of the most interesting of all the Jewish myths. It portrays women as strong, independent, powerful, and equal, although somewhat evil and demonic. Whether it is seen by women as a compliment or an insult is up for debate, and I suppose, is in the eye of the beholder. Perhaps Lillith's reputation as an evil creature has been altered by the male patriarchy as a way to see women as evil, no one knows for sure, but one thing is for certain: Lillith plays a major role in the liberation of women and in their quest for equality today, and no one can say that she can be seen as dependent or weak.
COMMENTS
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yuppafubara
04:13 Jul 16 2011
Lilith is woman in her true essence and was not having Adam's BS... she is no more evil than a mongoose eating a snake.