LILITH

According to ancient Sumerian history, Lilith is a wind spirit of the great Goddess Ninlil, Queen of Heaven, Lady of the Air, and Mother of the Moon. Ninlil bestowed the divine right of rulership in ancient Sumeria.

Lilith's flower was the Lily and the magical Lotus. In the beginning she represented the virgin (belonging to no man) aspect of the Triple Goddess. She stood upon the protection of lions and was Lady of the Beasts. The wisdom of the night Screech Owl was her companion. She is the instinctive soul of the living world.

Lilith from Sacred Source

As patriarchy took over the vast power of the Goddess, Lilith became legend in a dark fashion, reviled as a destroyer and seducer of men. Even as Inanna gave up the power of the Bird and Snake Goddess, so too did the symbol of a woman's power become the bed and the throne. Throughout history Lilith was the one who would not submit. Passed down from Sumeria, the Hittite Empire, Babylon to the Semitic peoples, she became the archetype of the dangerous woman who refused submission. She was vilified as Harlot, Serpent, Blood Sucker, Impure Female, Hag, Witch and Enchantress. Yet, in the beginning her epitaph was that of 'Beautiful Maiden'.

The Talmud, Zohar, and other Hebrew texts have centered upon Lilith as the mother of demons, beginning with her rejection of Adam in the Garden of Eden. Genesis holds 2 tales of creation, the first in Genesis 1 tell that male and female were created simultaneously out from the older view of Mother Earth and Father Sky. This first woman in Hebrew tradition is held as Lilith. She demanded equality, and to co-rule. She refused submission sexually, went to the center of the Garden and spoke the 'Ineffable Name of God', protecting her and allowing her to depart Eden. Adam complained.

God sent 3 angels; Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof with an ultimatum that she return or 100 of her children would die each day. She accepted this rather than be subjugated. Thus the first woman created equal as a free spirit was condemned to survive in legend as the harlot, mating with demons and devils, birthing monsters.Rage and grief were hers. (This brought home the threat to any woman who might think of defying male authority.) After a time of grief Lilith made love to the Water Elementals bringing forth the 'sea of the unconsciousness which arises from the depths of feminine wisdom in our psyche'.

By the 19th Century Lilith became the archetype of the femme fatale, who men feared and loved. She who had the power to destroy her lovers or prompt him to a new awareness of Life.

Lilith:
A romance by George MacDonald, 1895

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 net she can weave,
Till heart and body and life are in its hold.
The rose and poppy are her flowers; 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.

The Lilith Shrine

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, "Collected Poems"; London, 1906
From nurse with wound's soliloquy for lilith:

i shall find a quiet pool in the forest and i shall be alone there often. i shall gaze into the deep, still water and that stillness will be in me. i shall sleep by my pool and dream, and i shall leave you messages in oracles and poems. or you may dream with me, (for you are as much myself as i am you and your dreams are also my dreams) you may join me and wait through the night till the animals come to drink. then i will show you the shape changing and we will become the animals. my magick can heal, for it comes from the place where there is no separation and we are all one, where the water of the pool merges again and is lost in the ocean.

Ardiadne's Dreams

Ritual for Lilith

By Saradwyn

Banishing Negative Self-delusion

Needed:
Salt, Sage Smudge Stick, Matches, Athane 
Some symbol of pain or loss
3 Candles: Goddess Candle, Black Candle, White Candle
Clear bowl of water, Mirror, 
Flower: Lily, Poppy, or Lotus
Blessing Oil

Body:Cleansing Bath with salt,
Meditate on Intent, 
Open Self, 

Light Goddess Candle,
Invoke Elemental Quarters,
Cast Circle with Athane, 
follow with a Casting of Salt,
Place clear bowl of water on top of mirror, flower beside it.
Place symbol of pain/loss beside or under the Black Candle,
Light the Black Candle,
Place 1 drop of Blessing Oil in bowl of water.

Chant:
Lilith, Handmaid of the Three, 
Come, please now, we Invoke Thee, 
See our pain, rejection and loss, 
Due to delusion, influence and gloss. 
As Light becomes Dark and Light again, 
Clear our Selves to the Goddess within.

Dip fingers in water and touch chakra centers,
Light White Candle,Repeat 

Repeat Above Chant.

Snuff the Black Candle to banish the Negative Self Delusions/Images.
Place Flower in bowl of Water
Hold Mirror and Look within.

Repeat Above Chant.

Visualize White Light swirling all around and through body and mind.
Accept this Light into Self.
Meditate.
Ground.
Give Thanks.
Open Circle.

References:

Demetra George, Mysteries of the Dark Moon; Harper San Francisco, 1992

Melin Stone, When God was a Woman; Harcourt Brace Jovaovich, 1976

The Lilith Shrine

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