Lilith

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

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.

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 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."

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 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)

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