Lilith
The wild shall meet with the jackals
And the satyr shall cry to his fellow,
And Lilith shall repose there
And find her a place of rest.
The Myth
As myth writes it, Lilith was Adam’s first wife, but they weren’t happy together. Lilith questioned why during intercourse she should lie beneath Adam when, since they were both created from dust she was his equal. When Adam insisted on the superior position, and Lilith could see he might overpower her, she uttered the name of God and flew away to the Red Sea where she engaged in “unbridled promiscuity,” birthing many wild creaturas. God attempted to bring her back to Adam and she refused. God then created Eve from Adam’s rib and proclaimed from the beginning that she would be ‘beneath’ him.
The more ancient Eve as Goddess represents the earlier primary supremacy of the Goddess-based religions before God became supreme. The snake is her servant. Sometimes Lilith is imaged with a snake lower body and a woman’s upperworld. She is shown as having a wisdom beyond that of the male. The feminine was originally connected to sexuality, birth and death. With the coming of patriarchal religions these functions were taken over by the male God and feminine sexuality and magic were disconnected from reproduction and motherhood. Thus and Eve was split into the obedient dutiful wife, and the instinctual wild free spirit which Lilith represents.
Lilith’s Sacred Powers:
- Originated in the Old Goddess religions – Snake is Her servant and Sacred Power of Wisdom
- Personifies the natural animal instincts of a woman, the soft animal body Mary Oliver talks about in her poem Wild Geese
- Instinctual free spirit of woman
- Refuses to lie underneath – have a strong sexual nature which is unto herself
- Demands equal freedom to move, change, be herself
- Deep sensual and seductive qualities
- Wildness and oneness with the forces of Nature
- Independence and refusal to submit to authority
- Second half of menstrual cycle – waning of the moon
- Loss of egg at menstruation – Lilith represents the death of a potential child – unfertilized eggs
- Lilith is the Wild Woman living in the desert close to birds and beasts
- The Snake and the Screech Owl are her Sacred Animals
Lilith’s Shadows
- Repressed sexuality
- Destructive sexuality
- Unable to say “No!”
- Fear of the wildness within yourself or in others
- Lilith’s rage may surface when you are tired or sick or your freedom is curtailed in some way by the life you have chosen
- Unconscious Lilith manifests as incapable of nurturing your body… not eating or exercising, punishing yourself for forbidden although hidden, physical desires
- Abusing your body through drugs and alcohol is one way of allowing oneself to indulge in sexual experiences without having to take full responsibility for one’s sexual feelings, allowing the Lilith side to occasionally overpower and destroy the Eve side.
Embodying the Powers of the Goddess Lilith
Lilith’s wildness and freedom can be experienced by…
- Go out to the wilderness and move your body like an creature of the wilds, releasing animal cries and screams. This allows you to experience not only a primal part of your own being but also to identify with animals who are free, or sometimes trapped and hunted.
- Get in touch with this wildness during your blood cycle. Take time alone so as to be free to cry, rage, and give vent to your instinctual side. Write. Paint. Move your pain.
- Dance to connect with your sensuality. Middle Eastern dance, Belly dancing, exotic costumes and moving in sensual ways.
- African dance and drumming tap into your primal sexual force
- Sensuality through your voice, chanting from the depths of the solar plexus and hearing your own strong female sound come through
- Art, women’s poetry (Sappho, Mary Oliver,), music. Through art, music, and poetry women connect with their deeply sensual nature.
- Backpacking into the wilderness: become freer and more independent
Astrology – Black Lilith (Black Moon) in your chart:
The Black Lilith archetype revealed in your chart touches into super-conscious psycho-spiritual processes. It identifies where we experience a subliminal state of continual, spiritual “crisis” for having to be confined to an ego identity. It is where personal desires may get in the way of how the universe wants to live out that energy through us; an area of our lives that we cannot make happen, but happens through us. A hidden alchemy is in progress , not easily seen by those close to us or even by ourselves, but sometimes becoming a hallmark of our lives. Black Moon Lilith is where we must completely let go. No other option will open the door to her secret garden.
Altar and Ritual work
- Masks, body paint, costumes to personify the goddess
- Animals masks (snake, owl and lion)
- Altar: picture of Lilith
- Photos of beautiful sensual women
- Owl wings or feather
- Snake skin
- Candles – black and red
- Object identified with night symbolizing Lilith’s energy
- Drumming and rattling and dancing to strong passionate music
What ways would you like to be more free, wild, sexual and open with your Lilith energy?
How will you say NO to certain elements in your lives?
Wild Geese