LILITH
by Khephera <kheph777@aol.com>
Permission is granted to distribute this work in electronic form, with these conditions:
For some time now I have been meaning to write a commentary on the figure of Lilith: Queen of the Night, Mother of Demons, First Wife of Adam, and one of my own Patron Goddesses. I have found that, without exception, modern authors leave much to be desired on this subject. Either they concentrate totally on Her historical aspect, or they focus on Her modern interpretation. What is worse, the latter type of author tends to attempt to convince us that the modern interpretation IS the same as the historical facts about the Demoness/Goddess. Along with this, the modern interpretations are normally completely at odds with the historical facts. This document is meant to rectify all of the above.
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.
However, I move slightly ahead of myself here. Therefore, I will begin at the beginning:
In Sumerian, the word "Lil" means "Air." Enlil, for instance, was the Lord (En) of Air (Lil). The oldest known term relating to Lilith would be the Sumerian word "Lili" (plural "Lilitu"), which seems to imply the same definition as our word "spirit." In many ancient cultures, the same word for "air" or "breath" would also be used for "spirit." The very word "spiritus" is one such example. The Hebrew "ruach" is another. Therefore, the Lilitu were either a specific type of demon, or were simply "spirits" in general.
Normally, Lilith is thought to have been a Sumerian Succubus. And, in fact, there was such a creature in Sumer-Babylonia who surely had it's part in the Hebrew conception of Lilith. This being was known as the "Ardat Lili." "Ardatu" was a term that described a young woman of marrying age. Thus, the Ardat Lili was a young female spirit—the Succubus—the demoness credited with "night-hag syndrome." Most of us have experienced this once or twice—where the victim awakens to find that he is being restrained and paralyzed by an unseen force (this is a "chemical malfunction" of the body). She is also said to cause erotic dreams, thus robbing the male of semen and spiritual vitality. Of course, there is also a male version of this—the incubus—but I will not be addressing this creature here.
It is also interesting to note that the Sumerian word for "wantonness" was "Lulu." The word for "luxuriousness" was "Lalu." Also, the very word for "evil" was "Limnu." This has an obvious relation to the word Lili (and Ardat Lili specifically); not just in the similarity of pronunciation and spelling, but also in the very definition of the words. Keep in mind that these ancient languages did not possess the specific definition of our modern words. A single word would indicate any one of a number of related concepts.
This does not exhaust the etymology of Lilith. However, the word-play does not continue until the Hebrew Captivity in Babylon (600 BCE), and I do not wish to jump ahead just yet. Still concerning Sumer, there are two instances that are generally seen as proof of Lilith's existence there.
One is a mythos in which a female demon takes residence within the Goddess Inanna's sacred Tree of Life—thus effectively stunting the Tree's growth and production. This demoness is supposed to be Lilith Herself, whom the hero Gilgamesh finally forces out of the Tree and into the desert. However, it turns out that there is no basis for assuming this creature is Lilith, or even an Ardat Lili. It was Kramer who translated, as "Lilith," the word "ki-sikil-lil-la-ke." Where the word for air is obviously present, there is no indication of a Lilith—anymore than the presence of the word "ki" (Earth) indicates the Earth Goddess Ki. Perhaps Kramer was concentrating on the two syllables "lil-la."
The second instance is the famous plaque which depicts a woman with owl talons and wings, standing upon two lions, with two owls flanking her on either side. It was the above (mis)translation by Kramer that was used to interpret this figure as Lilith. Of course, as the demoness of the Tree is not Lilith, then surely the woman in the sculpture is not either.
There is also a note that I wish to add here. In the Torah, there is said to be one reference to Lilith—Isaiah XXXIV:14. The verse speaks of a Screech Owl, and this is said to indicate Lilith by way of the above-mentioned plaque. This instance is even used to argue that Lilith's Name is derived from the Hebrew term for "to screech." However, nothing could be farther from the truth in either case. Such relations are accepted Qabalistic practices, but they cannot be used in a scholarly/historic sense.
MALE AND 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: "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 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 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.
THE FOLK INTERPRETATION
On this we need spend little time. The Folk interpretation of this myth is the most literal, and sees the myth as an actual event. In this, Lilith is an actual demoness who is blamed for such things as mothers dying in child-birth, still-birth, crib-death, and erotic dreams among men.
The succubus aspect of Lilith is perhaps the most complicated. As we know, the Judaic life was very strict, full of Divine Laws and hundreds of ways in which a man might break them. Even an impure thought was greatly unwanted, let alone impure actions. With sexual release being such a taboo, it is no surprise that erotic dreams were very common—and even more so were they feared. This was no case of seeing a woman and being aroused. This was committing the full act, in detail, and enjoying it the entire time! Add to this that it is not uncommon to dream of women you know, other men's wives among them. This, then, even became a breaking of one of the Ten Commandments. Not to mention that the result of these dreams was to be cursed as one who has "spilled his seed." Yet, this was something that could never be avoided—and was thus going to be a continuing source of guilt. The relief for this guilt was to blame it on a succubus, Lilith, rather than yourself.
And what of the demon children that Lilith spawned with your seed? Why, upon your death, these spirits would hover around your household, demanding their rightful inheritance from your estate. This translated into much havoc being wreaked for the family, and may have been used to explain the hardships associated with death. There were even steps a family would take to ensure the illegitimate demon-children were banished from the house upon the husband's death. Of course, Lilith was not the only possible mother for these children. Jewish Folk Tales are full of men being tricked into marriages with beautiful demonesses, Lilith simply being the greatest among them.
It was thus that we have many examples of talismans against Lilith. The bowls are the earliest examples of this. Even more recent are the talismans which bear the images of the three Angels and the Hebrew phrase: "Senoy, and Sansenoy, and Semangeloph! Adam and Eve! Out Lilith!" These would be hung over wedding beds as well as delivery tables and cribs. In many cases the inscription was painted upon or over the door to the place. All of this done as per the agreement Lilith made with the Enforcer Angels.
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.
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 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.
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:
THE MODERN INTERPRETATION: FEMINISM
Today Lilith has been adopted by the Neo-Pagan community, most specifically by those with a feminist angle. Their main focus is upon Lilith's choice to fly from paradise, and even suffer the death of hundreds of Her children, rather than live under submission to Adam. She is female defiance and strength. Her
resulting attack on men in the night is the revenge of the woman on the men who have hurt her.
This, in and of itself, is great (and plays a large part in my own interpretation). However, this is not all there is to it. This interpretation totally ignores a large part of Her mythos—not the least of which being Her attacks on mothers and babies. The groups which put forth this view would also have us believe that Lilith was, in fact, a Great Goddess within Sumeria. The "proof" of this is the above mentioned plaque, and we have already seen how this is simply not so. It is even said that Lilith was a maiden, in service to Inanna, who stood without the Temples and invited men to enter and partake of the Sacred Sex with the Priestesses. For this, not one shred of archeological evidence has been offered of which I am aware.
Along with this, the myth in which Gilgamesh drives the demoness out of the Tree of Life is said to be symbolic of the Patriarchal God driving the Goddess away. This is, in my opinion, pure silliness. Anyone who puts the smallest study into Sumeria will find that there was hardly any feminine-bashing going on there. The exact same thing can be said for the Babylonians who followed, and even the earliest Hebrews themselves.
Unfortunately, there is a modern trend in which the "liberation" of any evil feminine mythological character is attempted. According to this view, there were no male Gods in the Ancient world to begin with. And, there were absolutely no evil female characters in any mythology. Once God-Worship had been invented by power-hungry war-mongers, that is when all the myths were re-written to show how evil the Goddesses were.
Examples of this are the Babylonian Tiamat; who does seem to be a version of the Sumerian Nammu; who indeed was a benevolent Mother Goddess. Another example is the Egyptian Seth; who was also primordially a benevolent Goddess (Seth literally translates as "Lady"). These are convincing examples. However, I must also remind the reader that there are also convincing examples of the existence of Atlantis, and of Alien intervention in the creation of humans. Such facts are taken from history, isolated, and held as proof of the silliest concepts imaginable. In my opinion, it is comparable to isolating Bible verses to prove correctness, and superiority, over others.
I want to make something clear here, however. I am not bashing feminism here. I do not ignore the damage done to women over the years—mostly thanks to the Deuteronomic School of the Hebrews, and the Church of the Christians. I am not speaking against interpreting Mythologies in new and different ways (as my own interpretation of the Lilith Mythos will show). That is, after all, what Mythology is all about. What I am speaking against here is shoddy scholarship. And, more than this, the attempt to push off personal opinions, half-truths, and even outright lies as actual history. I will interpret Myth for the modern world, but I will A) acknowledge the original interpretations, and B) make sure that my interpretation takes the older ones into account. Again, I point out that a God and its Mythology are inseparable. If I evoke Lilith, She is not just going to conform to what I wish Her to be. Yes, She will be affected by what I expect Her to be, and what my interpretation of Her is—but this is simply a slight bending of the Current, not a redefinition of it.
And with this I move on to my final goal: an interpretation of Lilith for the modern world. This is based not only on the scholarship above, but also on my own experience of this seductive beauty. And now, let us meet Lilith:
THE LILITH OF TODAY
Adam literally translates as "Mankind." He is all of us—male and female, young and old. He is, basically, civilization. Adam is the Image of the Divine; he,
and all physical things, are the final result of Divine Manifestation. On the Qabalistic Tree of Life, Adam is Malkuth (Kingdom), the physical world. In Qabalistic psychology, Malkuth refers to the conscious mind. Thus, Adam is our consciousness. He is our egos, our waking selves. Adam is everything about us
that imposes "proper behavior" within society.
Lilith, created along with him, is the Shadow Self. She is our subconscious, that part of us that is most animal like, defiant, uncivilized, passionate, and basically natural. She is sex. She is everything that our (screwed-up) society frowns upon; a society that has been taught for thousands of years to suppress everything within us that is most natural and enjoyable. She is just as described by the Religious interpretation—she is Babylon.
Eve is also our subconscious. However, she is that small part of our inner-selves that our conscious-selves have gotten full control over. She has no free-will of her own—being wholly a part of Adam. She is that part of ourselves that, as a civilized people, we will show to others. Eve is what has been programmed into us as "acceptable." She is the polar opposite of Lilith. She and Lilith together form the whole of the inner self.
(Let me point out that this interpretation of Adam and Eve/Lilith as the conscious and subconscious is a rather old one. The Lovers Card of the Tarot uses this symbolism, with the addition of an Angel who represents the Higher Self.)
Samael is the Archangel of Gevurah (Severity) upon the Tree of Life. He is the embodiment of Divine Severity. He is the Prince of the Seraphim—those Fiery Serpents who, at one point, Yahweh sent to punish the Israelites (see the Exodus). Samael is hardship.
Lilith's demon spawn are our own personal demons. They are neurosis and harmful criminal behavior. They are the imbalances in the mind that can lead to our destruction.
And these are the characters of the Lilith Mythos. The above interpretations of them must be held in mind at all times through the following. If so, certain aspects of the Myth begin to make a certain kind of modern sense.
For instance, Adam's insistence that he mate with Lilith in the missionary position becomes the civilized mind's attempt to reign in and suppress the animal within—to be superior to it. Lilith's flight from Eden, and to the Cave, is the banishment of our natural animal instincts to the dark recesses of our minds. Even when Adam wishes She would come back, it is too late and the damage has been done.
What damage is this? Lilith spawned thousands of demon children. These demons are born within the locked away and forgotten parts of our minds. Even though we attempt, as the Angelic Enforcers, to hunt down and slay as many of them as we can, the tide is too great to be turned; we have suppressed that which can not be suppressed. Lilith, in Her darkness, has grown the Owl Talons. By nature a beautiful creature—as our natural selves are in fact beautiful—Lilith now has the means and motive to rip us to tiny shreds. She attacks us while we sleep; and with our semen—the facts of our very daily lives—she spawns more and more demons. Before she is finished, she will slither her way back into our minds—as the Serpent in the Garden. Our conscious selves will not even see it coming; while we are occupied with our day to day foolishness, Lilith will be sweet-talking Eve into taking the fatal bite. She will attack us below the surface, in that part of ourselves we have long-since thought conquered. One moment we suddenly find ourselves with break-downs, outbursts, causing harm to others, and social and personal ruin. We have experienced the Fall from Grace.
This also applies on a social level, not simply within the mind of the individual. When viewing the myth from the wider angle, we see where Samael comes into play. What happens when the things that are natural and beautiful are suddenly labeled as wrong? They then begin to attract the dregs of society. Once there were Goddess Temples, and Priestesses adept at Sex Magick. Now, we have prostitution, strip-clubs, and brothels which are seed-beds of abuse, harmful drugs, and disease. The people who frequent these places are usually dirty and immature people with little to no social value. Individuality and Self expression is now gang activity, and social outcasts. Children who display this individuality spend their time in the principal's office or the in the corner. They are labeled as bad kids, and so bad kids they believe they are.
This is where the Rabbinical view of Lilith comes into play. The sleazy clubs, the gangs, the criminal behavior are all very seductive on the outside. The glamorous people are the Rebels who break laws and harm people. Bonnie and Clyde, Billy the Kid, Al Capone—these are our heroes. Yet, if we allow Lilith to seduce us with Her beauty, she will finally show us the ugliness that lies under her dressing. That is, when she rips into us with her Talons. The gangster is shot in a drive-by, and thus ends his glory. The prostitute has her throat cut, or dies of an overdose. And the man who frequents the brothel dies of AIDS, or perhaps as a lonely old man because a real relationship was ever beyond him.
This is the Marriage of Lilith to Samael. He is Lilith's Talons. He is the hairy male lower half of her body. These things which are so beautiful and natural actually BECOME dirty and harmful. This, in turn, fuels the view that these things are harmful in and of themselves. Society literally eats itself from the inside out—and this is the Marriage of Lilith to God. As in the Qabalistic interpretation, the flow of Divinity has been tainted; Samael/Lilith is in control, and what is good has twisted into evil. Lilith should be our ally, and yet we are pitted in combat against her. If Adam can not be forced to accept his Lilith, then Lilith will destroy him. But, those in control in society maintain that control through the suppression of Lilith—our defiance and freewill—and they would sooner see us destroyed than to lose that control.
And here enters yet another character in the Mythos: Cain. It is little known that Cain was born—not of Adam and Eve—but of Eve and the Serpent during the Temptation. Thus, Cain is actually the child of the interaction between Eve and Lilith/Samael. The clashing of the acceptable and non-acceptable. In short, Cain—full of hate, jealousy, and anger which finally explodes into murder—is the very corrupt society thus far described. His brother Abel, who was born of Adam and Eve, is the world that we wish could exist. Abel is a hope that will forever be slain by Cain.
Thank the Gods that it is not really quite as bad as all of that. There are respectable brothels and strip-clubs. There are those who display self-expression in childhood who, somehow through all of the abuse, still grow up to become respected artists of all kinds. There are those who understand the sacredness of sex. In short, there are those few who have refused to allow Samael to be wed to Lilith. Instead, they have invited Lilith to return to the Garden—promising Her that She can play mistress just as much as he plays master. They have attempted to join Lilith and Eve together, and to return them both to their rightful place within Adam. They strive to become Adam Kadmon—that Supernal Man(kind) who is greater even than the Angels.
Of course, few, if any, of us have attained that success. However, perhaps there is hope. Perhaps there will even return a day when a couple could make love on the street and no one bat an eye. Perhaps a day when a person could be individual and even a little rebellious without turning to crime to do so. Of course, no Utopia will ever exist in full. However, just as the Medieval Qabalist strove to unite God and His Shekinah, so too should we strive to unite Eve and Lilith, and both of them with Adam within ourselves. Only then will we have the power to rebuild the inner Temple, and aid the Shekinah's return to Adonai. Only then does Abel have a chance at survival.
This is my view of Lilith. She is the Mother of the Night, and all the dark beauty that lies within it. Lilith is the Hidden Mysteries which society would rather I not know. Lilith is my Mother, and I am one of Her demons—who wishes to take part in the dismantling of Adam's misguided way of thinking and acting. I am Adam, and I have rejected my foolish concepts of superiority over Lilith.
Lilith has Her dark side, of course. If I let Her rule over me, then She would drain my vitality as the Succubus that She is. She would rule me to the point of being little more than a thoughtless animal, useless to myself or anyone else. Instead, I accept Lilith in equality. Just as the Wiccan God is to the Goddess, I am both Her son and Her lover.
NOTE: This interpretation of Lilith plays a major role in "The Fall from Eden" and will be elaborated somewhat in that document.
sign
my guestbook 
view
my guestbook
want to discuss lilith? check out my message board for discussions of lilith and more!