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RESEARCH: Lillith, goddess. |
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The Goddess Lillith - (the reason behind ______'s name)...
After reading all of this I have to wonder why a woman would worship a vindictive, man and woman hating creature such as this. Or is that the followers of Lillith hate only the women who willingly and faithfully follow God?
It really doesn't matter. To each his own.
LEGEND OF LILLITH
a bone-crushing, blood-gulping, baby-strangling, lamb-devowering, flesh-rending, screaching, raging, furious, fearsome, terrifying, violent, rapacious, malicious, heartless, child-stealing, marrow-sucking demon Goddess.
"My name thou knowest not, and yet shall know, And know too late. But, know thou this indeed: Joy is my sister. Sister I, to Death." It is said that Lillith was the twin sister of Adam and dwelt with him in the Garden at Paradise. Adam was king of Eden and Lillith wished to be co-ruler with him, but the Lord of Light permitted it not. Lillith was beautiful and wise. She wearied of her brother, Adam, who was less wise than she. Lillith refused to bear children from Adam. The Lord of Light was angered and turned Lillith out of Paradise. Samuel, an angel of the Lord of Light and a son of god, fell in love with Lillith. To Samuel, Lillith bore three half-god, half-human children, all called the nephilim. Their wisdom, power and beauty was so great that the children of Darkness were afraid of them and called them monstrous names to defile them. Lillith would not be defiled. From her beloved Samuel she learned the wisdom of the Lord of Light and became the first witch. She lived as a daughter of the night mother, calling the people to dance and be joyous by the light of the moon. Her symbol was the night owl, and those who followed her called her Arionrhod. The children of Darkness trembled and barred their doors at night seeking to protect themselves lest Lillith take them and teach them the ways of the wise ones, the witches of old.
Litllith is an archetype for the woman who refuses to be dominated by man. She was created the stories say when Adam was created from dust just as Adam was, she claimed to be his equal. When Adam wanted to lie with her she wanted to know why she must be on the bottom. This shows she was in full control of her sexuality. She is a largely misunderstood archetype who has been called Poetress of Darkness, Imp of Impetuosity, and Occasional Serpent of Seduction. . She is deeply committed to her personal freedom and keeps her moral strength alive. She was kicked out of Eden and then Adam was given another wife. In some tales she is the snake of the garden who tempted Eve. Some stories say she is a demon,others a fallen angel. . She has a mysterious power that is permanent, direct, and instinctual. To be cast out for not obeying your husband is enough to make you a snake or a demon in the history of the Jewish people.
http://www.gotojassminesitenow.com/goddesses/lillith.html
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The Sumerian goddess Lilith, Eve's dark sister and first wife of Adam, representative of all that is dark, wild, intensly creative and free of human nature, existing beyond the reeach of societies boundaries of control.
According to the Talmud, Lillith was the first wife of Adam, before Eve. Lilith refused to lie down for Afdam in sexual submission and fled the garden of eden. She went to god and gave tricked him into giving his secret name, his name of power.Because Lilith now had power over god she demanded he give her wings and she flew into the desert. Adam begged god to send Lilith back to him so he sent three angels, Senoi, Sansenoi and Samangloph to find her and bring her back. They found her on the red banks, copulating with demons, and giving birth to hundred of demon children. She refused to retrun and was told that she would lose a hundred of her children everyday if she did not, but still she refused.
Adam was given a new mate: Eve, you know the story, they fell from favor with god and Adam decided upon celibacy. Then Lilith had her revenge.Every night she came to him as succuba, capturing his semen and making demon babies. In some versions of the legend, Samael the demonm king was one of these and she took him for her companion and mate.
Various legends of Lilith saw her as a threat to children, probably in revenge of for the killing of her own demon children. The belief being that she had power of infants in their first week. Mother could protect their infants by hanging an amulate marked ' Sen Sam San ', for the angels that went to look for Lilith, around their childs neck.
It is said because she likes her victims smiling, she tickled the infants feet and when it giggled, she strangled it. Mothers were also wary of kites, pelicans, owls, jackels, wildcats and wolves, all disguises favored by Lilith, who went as well by fourty other names that represented a terrifying power that the sumarians called; Lamasthu, the greeks Lamia, and other people Gilou. Kishimogin, or Baba Yaga.
According to the Farrars, Lilith was not her original name, which appears to have been lost. She acquired it by identification with the Sumarian 'nighthag' Lilitu. As such she is the 'screech owl' or 'night monster' of Isaiah 34: 14.
They go on to say, " So much for the blackening process. Lilith is clearly a concept much older than Eve. Whether she was the first woman, co-equal with the first man, or farther back than that, the uncreated primordial mother who gave birth to the first man Adam then mated with him, she was totally unacceptable to the emerging Hebrew patriarchalism. So Even was invented - created by a male god out of Adam's body, as complete reverse of the natural order as Zeus giving birth to Athene by swallowing her pregnant mother, Metis.
A much deeper interpritation of Lilith appears in Raphael Patai's book, The Hebrew Goddess, where he considers the Talmudic material about Lilith is complemented by a much richer data contained in the Aramaic incantation texts4, and gives a most wonderful hisory of Liltih from piecing together the various sources.
http://www.angelfire.com/realm2/amethystbt/lilith.html
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The Dark Goddess Lilith
A female tiger. She is magnificent, powerful. We treat her with respect, awe. She can hurt, but we are allowed to stroke her. She is surrounded by a round enclosure, trapped. A number of male cats come in and rape her. She is covered in blood after the second attack. After, she is left encaged, her heart destroyed. Anyone who approaches her is met by a terrible, hateful, warning snarl. She is dangerous, ferocious, destructive, defensive. Why is one of such a royal upbringing led to this fate?
Thus Lilith entered my dreams. One of the dark goddesses, like Persephone, Hecate, and Kali, Lilith expresses the feminine power of the divine, creative life force. If we follow the mythological trail of these dark goddesses back in time to find the source of their darkness and negativity, we discover not only the possibility of a major shift in the collective human image of the feminine, but also some deep undercurrent of unease that needs to be acknowledged and healed in our personal lives.
Lilith first appeared in Sumerian mythology about 5,000 years ago. As "handmaid" to the Goddess Inanna, Queen of Heaven, she would gather men in from the fields for the sacred rites. In another Sumerian story, Lilith lives in the sacred huluppu tree that Inanna has planted in her holy garden, accompanied by the snake who cannot be charmed and the wild Anzu-bird and her young. These creatures are part of Lilith's untamed nature and have knowledge to give Inanna, who is not yet ready to accept it. So Inanna calls in her brother, Gilgamesh, to cut down the tree. The serpent is killed, the Anzu-bird and its family fly off to the mountains, and Lilith departs for the wilderness.(1)
This story may be the foundation of the most well-known Hebrew myth of Lilith as the first wife of Adam. According to one version of the story, Yahweh creates both Adam and Lilith from earth, but with one important difference: he uses impure sediments to create Lilith, whereas Adam has been fashioned from pure dust. Because of this, Adam expects Lilith to be submissive to him, but, claiming equality, she will not be put beneath him and flies away to lifelong exile near the Red Sea, where she mates with evil spirits and bears scores of demonic children. Meanwhile, Yahweh again tries to create a partner for Adam, this time taking one of his ribs and turning it into Eve - now she is a creation from Adam and not one in her own right, like Lilith. Myth has it that the jealousy and rage generated by Adam's rejection motivate Lilith to come in the night for her revenge, strangling babies and giving men wet dreams to sap their strength. Amulets were worn to ward her off
Another figure in Hebrew mythology is the Shekinah, God's Beloved, known as Sophia in Gnostic Christianity. She is the Wisdom principle, a feminine aspect of divinity.(3) Later Christians came to call her the Holy Ghost. I see Lilith as the "lower" Shekinah, the root of the tree that seeks sustenance in the soil, while Sophia is the sky-reaching branches and fruits. As the Judeo-Christian religions elevated the masculine aspect of divinity, they de-spiritualized material, sensual reality. The "lower" Shekinah became unclean, unholy. The Hebrews had infiltrated the Sumerian and Babylonian lands, where they became familiar with the Venusian goddesses Inanna and Astarte. These goddesses were celebrated as embodiments of love in a sacred marriage ritual between their priestesses and kings. In these cultures, as well as the Celtic culture, it was the goddess who gave the king his power through her love and special favors, but the cultural transition to masculine gods made these love rites blasphemous. However, the sacred marriage comes down to us even in the Bible, as Solomon's Song of Songs
This Biblical material was incorporated into a play created by Vermont's Dragon Dance Theater, which is based on the Sumerian myth of Inanna. I played Lilith, creating a character to give voice to my dream and to the pain of the female vital life force betrayed and suppressed, now to be acknowledged and redeemed. I blended material from my dreams, the Biblical Song of Songs, the Gnostic Gospels, and other sources. From this work I learned that Lilith is the Tree of Life, offering true wisdom rather than ego-fed knowledge. She may offer direct experience of wisdom if we can flow with her beyond our fears from the past, beyond our fear of the unknown, beyond even our fear of death
Working with this Dragon Dance material for eight months was a profound experience that illuminated other facets of my life and relationships, luring me into deeper aspects of my unknown self. This creative work provided a way to process an inner and outer transformation that brought the recognition of some darker emotions, as well as more authentic action from my personal center, a more full _expression of sexuality, and the clarification of appropriate levels of intimacy in relationships. It became clear that Lilith challenges both women and men to connect with their instinctive passion for life, for this natural force turns destructive when it is denied, unfulfilled, caged, or exiled. I still give voice to Lilith in the form of a dramatic monologue. The intriguing circumstances that occur whenever I present this piece continue to open me to her timeless mysteries
The Three Liliths
Astrologically, there are three Liliths and you need three different ephemerides to find them. She doesn't make it easy. These include the Asteroid Lilith, found orbiting in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter; the controversial Dark Moon Lilith, said to be the Earth's second Moon by those who have claimed to see it over the last four centuries; and Black Moon Lilith, an abstract, geometrical point in space
Asteroid Lilith
Asteroid #1181 bears Lilith's name and orbits around the Sun approximately every four years. I think of the female-named asteroids as aspects of the Great Goddess, and Lilith is one of the most ancient. The asteroid seems to represent split-off, demonized aspects of the feminine, the result of long-standing cultural projections that perceive feminine roles and attributes as shameful, untrustworthy, and dangerous. Our personal Lilith placement may show where we struggle with social judgments that define how the feminine qualities should be expressed in order to "fit in." These cultural projections define us, but are not us. Here we may not be seen clearly. A prominent Asteroid Lilith in the birth chart may indicate a person who does not fit the cultural stereoty pe, leading to some kind of exile from the community
One woman with the asteroid on her Ascendant has a dark, gloomy visage and her straggly hair adds an unkempt look. She does not speak much and is uncomfortable in social situations. She lives simply in the country and works best in the outdoors. This woman could not and would not conform to social expectations
The symbol for Asteroid Lilith is a stylized hand that signals warning, greeting, or blessing.(5) Perhaps it is how we approach her that will determine what this hand gesture means. In the classic book, Asteroid Goddesses, Lilith is described as signifying resentment and inner rage; she sets herself apart, flies into exile. She is fiercely independent. She refuses to submit to the assumed authority of another or to compromise her beliefs. Lilith asks us to deal with confrontation and issues of equality in relationship. Her asteroid ephemeris can also be found in this book
Dark Moon Lilith
Some say there is a second Moon circling Earth, a mysterious dark moon that is only seen on rare dates when it is opposite the Sun or when its shadowy silhouette crosses in front of the Sun. Although its existence has not been verified, those astronomers who claim to have viewed it say it is one-fourth the size of our familiar Moon and three times as far away.(7) It takes 119 days to orbit Earth, about ten days per sign. This is Dark Moon Lilith. Supposedly sighted as long ago as 1618, this body came to broader attention through the work of astrologer Sepharial in 1918, and more recently through the writings of Delphine Jay, who also published an ephemeris for the Dark Moon Lilith
Like a dust cloud, Dark Moon Lilith absorbs the light into itself, a very different process from that of our Sun-reflecting Moon. Whereas the reflective Moon represents personal, subjective feelings, the Dark Moon represents a primal, impersonal, creative instinct that seeks identification apart from the physical and emotional realms
According to Delphine Jay's research, the effect of Dark Moon Lilith is distinctly impersonal. When her _expression is self-centered, she can be quite negative; when the emotional content is directed to higher centers, she enhances creative, mental, aesthetic, and even spiritual _expression. "Lilith strictly symbolizes the objective thinking approach. Anything else is unsuccessful."(9) The Dark Moon position is where we must grow beyond our habitual patterns of our early Moon conditioning in order to remember the ancient exaltation of our true spiritual parentage
Black Moon Lilith
Perhaps the most subtle and intriguing of the three Liliths, Black Moon is not a physical body but an abstract, geometrical point, like the Ascendant or the Vertex. Because the Moon's path around the Earth is elliptical, as opposed to circular, it has two foci, or centers, the Earth being one and Black Moon Lilith the other. We can also describe this point as the apogee of the Moon's orbit - the place where it is farthest from Earth
The center of gravity between the Earth and Moon is inside the Earth. As part of the Earth-Moon system, Black Moon is a point or energetic vortex intimately bound to the center of the Earth. Within this context, Lilith is a twin to the core energy of the Earth, the deep heart of fire that feeds and sustains our bodies and the body of the Earth. The creative vitality of the Sun gives life to the Earth and fuels this central core fire
As a centerpoint of the Moon's orbit, Black Moon Lilith works in relationship with the Earth-Moon system and with the Sun. As a second center of reference, she gives a sense of rhythm to the Earth, taking the dynamics of relationship beyond the personal Moon-Venus energies into more subtle dimensions that are essential to our lives. For this reason Black Moon Lilith has a strong impact on relationship dynamics. Representing the closest reach of the Moon to the Sun, she is also a reference point in our personal lives that brings us into relationship with the heart of our Sun-fueled experience on Earth, an emotional intelligence informed by the wisdom of earthy instinct. Since our culture has lost - even rejected, as Lilith was rejected - this kind of natural wisdom, it is more difficult to tap into and trust it. Relationships that carry the Lilith energy are initiatory, soul-to-soul meetings that open into a deeper center where personal and impersonal experience merge. Can we trust this energy that is unraveling our edges, tapping into such a deep well? Can we trust ourselves?
The Black Moon point is where we are lured into our more self-centered illusions for the purpose of purging negative desires, thereby leading us to the deeper truth within our hearts, the longings and yearnings of our souls. She insists that we feel through, let go, and surrender to something essential and transparent in us that is primary - the bedrock beneath the shifting sands, the passion of the soul
In Unremembered Country, Susan Griffin beautifully articulates the essence of this core energy: "As I go into the Earth, she pierces my heart. As I penetrate further, she unveils me. When I have reached her center, I am weeping openly. I have known her all my life, yet she reveals stories to me, and these stories are revelations, and I am transformed. Each time I go to her I am born like this. Her renewal washes over me endlessly, her wounds caress me; I become aware of all that has come between us, of the noise between us, the blindness, of something sleeping between us. Now my body reaches out to her."
Mean or True?
Like the Moon's nodes, Black Moon Lilith has both Mean and True positions, and the difference between them can be significant, even up to 30 degrees. I understand that most Europeans use the Mean Black Moon. Of course Lilith can be Mean, but I think she is also True. In her True position, she moves very quickly - up to 6ยก per day - and retrogrades often. I will have to do more research before speculating on the meanings of these two positions. Sabian symbols are one way to start. For now, I propose considering a Black Moon corridor, using the section of the zodiac encompassed by the True-Mean section of the chart. For some people Lilith would cover a larger territory, sometimes even expressing through two signs, with transiting planets making a longer passage. Others, with a narrow band of Lilith influence, may have a more focused, intensified experience of her energies
Triple Goddess Lilith
I find the three Liliths intriguing as a mirror of the triple goddess. Essentially Tantric, Lilith transforms energy to higher octaves. Her impersonal energy opens transparent areas of the mind, not clouded by the weight of collective judgment or the limitations of ego identity. The three aspects vibrate at different frequencies and open channels to clear and spiritualize the emotional body. Dark Moon has the fastest orbital cycle, like clouds passing across the face of the Sun. It represents highly individualized soul desires that are denied satisfaction on a personal level in favor of a higher _expression of social and spiritual values. Asteroid Lilith is the most embodied Lilith, and signifies repressed elements, often relating to sexuality, anger, and assertion, that require full, embodied _expression. Black Moon is an energy vortex that cuts through the veils of illusion with the sword of truth. Its orbital cycle of eight years and ten months correlates with the Moon's nodal cycles and has a similar karmic impact
I have been working with all three Liliths in charts to discover how they work together to evoke this deep, dark, mysterious realm of soul. Much work is yet to be done with such new material, but what I have seen so far is quite provocative. Astro-mythologist Demetra George suggests that, although each Lilith contains the entire symbolic meaning of the archetype, each one may also represent different phases of her mythology, in which "the cycle of our Lilith experience is initiated by the asteroid Lilith, developed by the Dark Moon Lilith, and completed by the Black Moon Lilith."(11) I believe this is a good initial approach. Personal life stories will show the intertwining of the three with unique individual coloring
I've learned a lot from my own experience. I have Asteroid Lilith in Scorpio on my 4th-house cusp. I associate this placement with memories of my mother, a Scorpio, muttering darkly under her breath in the kitchen. It is after cocktail hour and she is cooking while my father calls out instructions from the living room. This inherited, soul-damaging image of the feminine has haunted me in my search for full _expression of my feelings and mutual respect in relationships.
I have Dark Moon Lilith in the 4th house, very close to the 5th-house cusp and conjunct Chiron and Sun in Sagittarius. During a New Moon eclipse that fell on this point in my chart, my young son died. The eclipse was conjunct his Sun as well. In earlier times, Lilith was known as a child-killer, her revenge for having had her own children taken away. In the Middle East, amulets were worn to ward off her danger. I had to face and give voice, again and again, to the guilt, emptiness, and release within me that was so deeply stirred by this death. This is when I first began to speak for the Dark Goddess through writing and performance. In another version of her story, Lilith takes children out of this dark, lower world and returns them to the Lord. I came to know my son's death as an initiation, even a gift.
One of my male clients had a fascinating Lilith encounter that helped to transform his experience of life. He has Dark Moon Lilith conjunct an Aries Sun and square Black Moon Lilith, Mars, and Juno in Capricorn. He often confided that he felt emotionally abused by his wife over several years of their marriage. One night he dreamt that a 15-foot scorpion emerged from her v****a, which prompted intensive therapy where he worked through what he called "a murderous rage." Inner visions then revealed the Divine Mother with many faces giving birth to a huge star-like egg. This new and healing female archetype transformed his emotional body, "enabling me to hold the whole," to delight in the "erotic, creative, juicy life force, beyond judgment
A Fourth Lilith?
On yet another frequency, and to leave you with a tantalizing thought, as Lilith would, I'd like to mention the possibility of a fourth Lilith. The star Algol in the constellation Perseus has a reputation as the most evil star in the sky. Most often envisioned as the Eye or Head of Medusa, Algol was also called Lilith by Hebrew star watchers.(12) Such an Eye perceives "with an objectivity like that of nature itself and our dreams, boring into the soul to find the naked truth, to see reality beneath all its myriad forms and the illusions and defenses it displays."(13) Lilith indeed. All the better to see you with, my dear
http://www.mountainastrologer.com/hunter.html
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Lilith...
is a tantalizing fiery bloody Goddess, demonized throughout the ages. Her name is related to lilim, literally meaning 'Demon' in Hebrew. Like any strong sexual female archetype that could not be eradicated, she was transformed into a dark, threatening force to be feared and despised.
The oldest reference to Lilith is her being the Handmaiden of Innana, standing at the gateway to the temple and inviting worshipers to enter. In sexual encounters, the priestesses became the embodiment of the Goddess to the worshipers and brought prosperity and fertility to the land. In the old rites, sexuality was sacred and a celebration of life rather than only an act of procreation or something dirty
A more well-known source comes out of Hebrew mythology: Lilith was the first woman before Eve in the Garden of Eden, created out of earth equal with Adam, who refused to submit to lying beneath him while having sex. In rage she left the garden to live in caves at the shore of the Red Sea and couple with demons in whatever fashion she desired. On behalf of Adam's begging God sent 3 angels to Lilith. First asking, then threatening her to kill a hundred of her children every day they failed to have her return. So Eve came into existence and ~ unlike Lilith ~ was submissive to Adam. On hearing this, Lilith returned in the form of a serpent to the Garden of Eden and tempted Eve to eat the apple from the tree of knowledge. The rest of the myth is well known and was used to suppress women for the last 2000+ years
In the Near East it was believed that Lilith was a threat to pregnant women, caused miscarriages and ruled abortions. Favoring children born out of wedlock, she turned her rage against babies of ordinary marriages. Male children especially were in danger of being plagued, strangled and blood-sucked, until circumcision protected them. Old amulets and inscribed bowls for protection against Lilith are common finds in modern-day museums
In medieval times she became the Queen of the witches, mistress to Satan. Other stories make her the Succubi, visiting men sleeping alone at night and bringing temptation and wet dreams. Priests in those times took to sleeping with their hands covering their private parts
In the late nineteenth century the femme fatale became fashionable and Lilith made her first appearance into our modern society. The figure of a powerful, independent, mysterious woman terrorized and fascinated the minds of men. Getting involved with her always led to the destruction (or should we better call it transformation?) of her lover and was a threat to humanity
Since then Lilith made a slow but steady comeback. As an unlikely source, astronomy and astrology had a strong part in this by naming not one but three celestial bodies after Lilith. Interestingly enough, it was mostly female scholars who were willing to look into the shadows to discover Lilith's meaning
What a heritage Lilith carries: defiance, rage, revenge, evil and shadow. How can anyone named temptress, child-killer, witch, prostitute, femme fatale and demoness become a positive force?
In the last 3 decades our world has changed rapidly: The 60's brought more freedom to sexuality, the women's movement in the 70's demanded equality for women, and in recent years a strong spiritual movement paved the way for our willingness to consider other religions besides Christianity in the Western World.
In this new age and new millennium, maybe the time for integration has come.
What if we, as humankind, remember that polarities of light and shadow, life and death, are part of one cycle and equally important?
What if we discover that there is a whole range of colors between black and white?
What if embracing Lilith could make us whole?
http://www.dragondream.com/about_lilith.htm
 Irahatam · Tue Feb 26, 2008 @ 09:19am · 0 Comments |
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