Lilith – Judaic mythology
Lilith, a female demon of the night who supposedly flies around
searching for newborn children either to kidnap or strangle them. Also,
she sleeps with men to seduce them into propagating demon sons. Legends
told about Lilith are ancient. The rabbinical myths of Lilith being
Adam's first wife seem to relate to the Sumero-Babylonian Goddess
Belit-ili, or Belili. To the Canaanites, Lilith was Baalat, the 'Divine
Lady.' On a tablet from Ur, ca. 2000 BCE she was addressed as Lillake.
One tale is that God created Adam and Lilith as twins joined together at
the back. Lilith demanded equality with Adam and failing to achieve it,
she left him in anger. This is sometimes accompanied by a Muslim legend
that after leaving Adam Lilith slept with Satan thus creating the
demonic Djinn.
In another version tale of Lilith she was Adam's first wife before Eve.
Adam married her because he became tired of coupling with animals, a
common Middle-Eastern herdsmen practice, though the Old Testament
declared it a sin. Adam tried to make Lilith lie beneath him during
sexual intercourse. Lilith would not meet this demand of male dominance.
She cursed Adam and hurried to her home by the Red Sea.
Adam complained to God who then sent three angels, Sanvi, Sansanvi and
Semangelaf to bring Lilith back to Eden. Lilith rebuffed the angels by
cursing them. While by the Red Sea Lilith became a lover to demons and
producing 100 babies a day. The angels said that God would take these
demon children away from her unless she returned to Adam. When she did
not return, she was punished accordingly and God gave Adam the docile
Eve.
According to some Lilith's fecundity and sexual preferences showed she
was a Great Mother of settled agricultural tribes who resisted the
invasions of the nomadic herdsmen, represented by Adam. It is felt the
early Hebrews disliked the Great Mother who drank the blood of Abel, the
herdsman, after being slain by the elder god of agriculture and
smithcraft, Cain. Lilith's Red Sea is but another version of Kali Ma's
Ocean of Blood which gave birth to all things but needed periodic
sacrificial replenishment.
Speculation is that perhaps there was a connection between Lilith and
the Etruscan divinity Lenith, who possessed no face and waited at the
gate of the underworld along with Eita and Persipnei to receive the
souls of the dead. The underworld gate was a yoni and also a lily, which
had 'no face.' Admission into the underworld was frequently mythologized
as a sexual union. The lily or lilu ( lotus ) was the Great Mother's
flower-yoni, whose title formed Lilith's name.
Although the story of Lilith disappeared from the canonical Bible her
daughters the lilim haunted men for over a thousand years. It was well
into that Middle Ages that Jews still manufactured amulets to keep away
the lilim. Supposedly they were lusty she demons who copulated with men
in all their dreams, causing nocturnal emissions.
The Greeks adopted the belief of the lilim, calling them Lamiae, Empusae
or Daughters of Hecate. The Christians adopted the belief calling them
harlots of hell or succubi, the counterpart of the incubi. Celebrant
monks attempted to fend them off by sleeping with their hands over their
genitals, clutching a crucifix.
Even though most of the Lilith legend is derived from Jewish folklore,
descriptions of the Lilith demon appear in Iranian, Babylonian, Mexican,
Greek, Arab, English, German, Oriental and Native American legends.
Also, she sometimes has been associated with legendary and mythological
characters such as the Queen of Sheba and Helen of Troy. In medieval
Europe she was proclaimed to be the wife, concubine or grandmother of
Satan.
Men who experienced nocturnal emissions during their sleep believed they
had been seduced by Lilith and said certain incantations to prevent the
offspring from becoming demons. It was thought each time a pious
Christian had a wet dream Lilith laughed. It was believed that Lilith
was assisted in her bloodthirsty nocturnal quests by succubi, who
gathered with her near the 'mountains of darkness' to frolic with her
demon lover Samael, whole name means 'poison of God.'. The Zohar, the
principal work of the Kabbalah, describes Lilith's powers at their
height during the Waning of the Moon.
According to legend Lilith's attraction for children comes from the
belief that God took her demon children from her when she did not return
to Adam. It was believed that she launched a reign of terror against
women in childbirth and newborn infants, especially boys. However, it
also was believed that the three angels who were sent to fetch her by
the Red Sea forced her to swear that whenever she saw their names or
images on amulets that she would leave the infants and mothers alone.
These beliefs continued for centuries. As late as the 18th century, it
was a common practice in many cultures to protect new mothers and their
infants with amulets against Lilith. Males were most vulnerable during
the first week of life, girls during the first three weeks. Sometimes a
magick circle was drawn around the lying in bed with a charm inscribed
with the names of the three angels, Adam and Eve and the words 'barring
Lilith' or 'protect this newborn child from all harm.' Frequently
amulets were place in the four corners and throughout the bedchamber. If
a child laughed while sleeping it was taken as a sign that Lilith was
present. Tapping the child on the nose it was believed made her go away.
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