~Lilith
~ Queen of Hell
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 story is that God created Adam and Lilith as twins joined
together at the back. She demanded equality with Adam, 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 of the myth 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 (Deuteronomy 27:21). 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 also 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 (Genesis 4:11). 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 (Hecate
and Persephone) 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.
(see Tantrism) The lily or lilu (lotus) was the Great Mother's
flower-yoni, whose title formed Lilith's name.
Even though 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 (Forcers-In), or Daughters of Hecate. Likewise 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" (sam-el). 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 magic 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.
