Lilith: First Wife of AdamLilith -

I’ll be writing a series on Lilith, the Dark Feminine, once a week. This myth still has its affects and effects in the contemporary lives of both men and women. It is necessary to bring Lilith out of the shadows, as well as Eve on whom the blame, even unconsciously, is placed for accepting the apple. I’ll be writing about her too.

According to the Midrash*, Lilith, first wife of Adam, was born from the same mud and clay at the same time as Adam in the Garden of Eden and thus they were equal. Lilith refused to be submissive to Adam. The ensuing argument in which Adam, and God, refused to see Lilith’s side of the story caused her banishment by God for her blasphemous rage to the depths of the Red Sea to be never seen or heard of again. But she does re-appear, from her exile, in the guise of the serpent who offered Eve the apple. Lilith, as serpent, was instrumental in Adam and Eve’s exile. In contemporary psychological terms, this banishment is referred to as the ‘Rise’ of man, and not the ‘Fall’ as it was seen as necessary, Fate, for them to move from unconsciousness and to strive for consciousness.

This meant leaving Paradise and its unity, into a world of duality, where pain and pleasure, light and dark, life and death, temporal and eternal, into a world of opposites with which to contend, and to experience over and over the extreme of them. To re-find themselves in a newly-found world of the collective –

Lilith as serpent has had a seriously bad reputation. She is viewed inter alia as a whore, responsible for the death of new borns, men’s wet dreams at night (to sap their strength), Bride of Satan and In her demonised and objectified form she is indeed frightening and threatening.

She is seen as all we are not, she who is the container for the dark and earthy creative feminine. We have all sought to repress her through our projections. Looking at her in a one-dimensional way means that we do this at the expense of other more enlarging and encompassing ways. We have put her out there, as not belonging to us and the hard work is bringing her in again, allowing her into our psyches to her rightful place within us.

If we relate to her in a more compassionate way we can see in her, some of ourselves. We all get into horribly dark places at times, when we feel unloved, unappreciated, unvalued, unfairly treated, exiled even from ourselves and we feel that dark, destructive and dangerous energy rising. Too often we act out our feelings of rage and despair, disempowerment and feelings of helplessness, stuffing ourselves with food, drink, drugs, anything, to rid us, numb us, tamp down those uncomfortable feelings and emotions. We repress those feelings, in an unnatural way, thereby repressing the vessel. Repression stored in darkness is soul destroying. It tends to become distorted and, if disregarded, turns against us to our detriment manifesting in ways we know only too well ..

What are we to do with that roiling energy? Do we disregard it as too foreign to ourselves, too black, too dark and dangerous? Can we bring Lilith energy out of the shadows and connect to it in a different way, releasing some of its demonic powers by acknowledging her?

Her energetic force arose as a result of opposition and suppression. Her spirit was broken but not indefinitely. If we bathe her, wash and cleanse her with our tears she will be redeemed and transformed. We need to rid her from the socially conditioned and condoned guilt that we have taken it upon ourselves to suffer. Can we reach deep inside ourselves and connect to the core of our sadness, anger and wounding and allow healing to take place allowing the divine, constructive and beautiful feminine to be restored?

It is important to be aware of both her divine and demonic powers. She is not to be cast out and banished – it is only by banishing her that that she becomes demonic. Anything that is repressed will find a way out, for expression. She can be redeemed through our conscious awareness of her. Given the proper outlet the darkness within us can be constructive. Dreams can offer a way of bringing her into consciousness if we take the time and effort required.

Barbara Koltuv, in her book ‘The Book of Lilith’ says: ‘Experiencing Lilith in her many forms is part of the process of giving birth to the feminine self‘. (italics mine)

Hannelore Traugott, German Lilith expert:  ‘ .. Lilith…is striving to become conscious again. Let’s call it archaic energy, spiritual femininity, something akin to the wisdom of the goddess. As long as we don’t have access to this energy we experience it psychologically as loss, suppression, isolation, emptiness, addiction and above all, power struggles’.

lotusimages

from the mud and murky depths, arises the lotus, petal by beautiful petal, striving for the light.

* Midrash: Rabbinic study into the spirit of the scriptures for a larger understanding.
* Oil painting by John Coller, 1887

next post: Lilith in Exile

50 Comments on Lilith, First Wife of Adam

  1. A wonderful post and an important topic. My women’s mythology class has met for 25 years. We’ve studied the feminine in many forms and found many goddesses whose “destructive” powers become assets and fierce means of protection. You know all that. The Western tradition has stripped women of her powers and juice, so we had to look at Inanna and Hathor and many others to find examples of wholeness.

    This past weekend, I went to the Museum of Modern Art in NYC to see a sculpture of Lilith. My friend had seen it a few weeks before, but it was not on display or it was hidden away where no one knew where it was. Staff couldn’t find it in the catalog. That’s Lilith for you.

    • Thank you Elaine and for saying that these goddesses’ ‘ …“destructive” powers become assets and fierce means of protection’ and thereby found their wholeness.

      O my word that Lilith was not to be found! Here today gone tomorrow – I wonder what REALLY happened that she was absent at the exhibition … maybe in hiding for the moment, but that she could not be found in the catalogue??? I have the chills!

  2. I am working on this Susan, have been for years. There’s a lot.

    Also, ditto what Celine said.

    Thank you. This is a great series. I missed this post last week, so I’m only now catching up.

  3. I didn’t know about Lilith, and that she re-appeared, from her exile, in the guise of the serpent who offered Eve the apple.
    How interesting…. I enjoyed your insights at the end of the post and the excerpt in which you state that Adam and Eve’s exile might be seen as the ‘Rise’ of man, and not the ‘Fall’ … quote you> “as it was seen as necessary, Fate, for them to move from unconsciousness and to strive for consciousness”.
    I thank you for sharing!… A great reading, indeed…
    All the best to you, Susan… Aquileana 😀

    • Thank you so much Aquileana, I appreciate your coming by! It is Paul Tillich, theologian’s quote ie about the Rise of man as opposed to the Fall and many in depth thinkers and psychologists refer to the rise as necessary of getting out of the Garden –
      All best to you –
      Susan 🙂

  4. Hi,
    You have written an article with which goes against my own beliefs about Adam and Eve because i believe Eve was created from Adam’s rib, and the idea that there is a Lilith created before Eve is for me simply mythology that stems out of the myths of cultures and their own superstitions, which deny the deity of their really being one God, a Creator who brought into existence all that is.

    Yet, I am curious as to where you will take this.
    Shalom,
    Patricia

    • Thanks Pat for your comment. The myth of Lilith like all good myths and legends e.g. Demeter and Persephone, The Grail legend, Baba Yaga etc speak to contemporary issues and ask us to look deeper into our souls to find the God within – and without. Hopefully as I/we explore this this will become clearer.
      Shalom to you Pat, Susan

  5. Dear Susan, I am so glad you are blogging this and intend to follow avidly. Much love Tina (of the radish:-))

  6. Lilith – is she also the serpent that rises through the female body as Kundalini energy? I think she must be – our embrace of our earthly animalistic self – especially as women – so necessary for the healing of ourselves and this planet.

    • Thanks Jan, yes she is that … I’ll be writing a post down the line of serpent as symbol of transformative energy. Healing is so needed, isn’t it, for ourselves and the planet.

  7. Was not aware of Lilith and the various facets of her personality! You have given a great start to the series and am looking forward to read you as the series progresses! 🙂

    • Thanks Shilpa for coming by! The myth is not that well known but like all good myths that speak to our contemporary lives, she lives on 🙂

  8. Hi. Where have I been that I have never heard of the Lilith myth before? I think I am about to be educated. I’m wondering too if this is the theme in your book, which I recently downloaded. I’ll be slowly digesting that as well 🙂

    • Thanks Sharon for coming by and for downloading the book :)! I’m plagiarising myself to some extent though broadening the topic somewhat! Happy digesting!

  9. I had little awareness of Lillith before your amazing new subject. You know how very much I love to read your writing, and I look forward to knowing more about her. Lilith is not simply the name chosen by a group of encredible female musicians.

  10. I had never heard of that myth, that’s fascinating! From a feminist view point, it’s interesting that Lilith was cast away because she refused to be submissive – that says a lot really doesn’t it? In a funny bit of serendipity I was reading an article earlier today about how misoginy is engrained from a really young age, and now looking at this, it’s a nice metaphor for misoginy being engrained since the creation of man.

    Lilith sounds like a really interesting character, and I’m really looking forward to the rest of your posts on her!

    • Thanks Celine for coming by! Misogyny is learned from an early age; mothers especially have an essential and influential role to play in the way they bring up their sons and daughters; their choice of father as well (if they choose a father to bear their children) is also extremely important – eg in the way the father treats the bearer of his children.

  11. a timely post in my life as the nature of Lilith raised her head and intervened into my ‘I’m doing alright space ‘. I actually sat down this time and allowed darkness to surface and act out of me for a whole day. I was not at all comfortable with my thoughts feelings or sullen behaviour. I was actually totally embarassed but I stayed with it. I gave up admonishing myself to rise above it to push it back down and be who I imagine I am . A lot of the discomfort belongs to claiming independence of thought and feeling of not fitting in to everyone elses idea. it is expected of me to hold a space to and not fall into the pit -this time it was free fall and I am still clambouring up out of the depths. thank you for this insight it has renewed my courage into the necesssary and vital work of surrendering into the darkness into the wounded feminine and restoring her into the light of the divine.
    much blessings susan

    • Sandra thanks so much. That dark place is extremely uncomfortable yet needs to be sat in and owned until it lessens. Jumping out of it serves no-one least of all one’s self. It is good to know that the darkness does lessen and that one can rise again. Thank you for sharing this with us.

  13. To Patricia, EnglishProfessorAtLarge; I love your Imagination, Sense of Humor, and your Creatitivty, “Centuries ago, I wrote a short story about Lilith.” Susan Scott began her new series, noting the philosophical and scientific concepts dealing with non-dimensionality, timeliness as this would apply to her proposed works. It seems that your imagination got fired up with this concept. Your professional website indicates you have been teaching Language Arts for 44 years, and can teach highly polished use of language, and also can help your students to develop personalized skills that may turn out to be universally useful, depending on that student’s wishes.

  14. Susan – what an exquisite introduction to Lilith and such an alluring illustration. I confess to significant ignorance about her impact, and I look forward to learning as much from this series as I am from you dream works. You continue to expand my horizons and educate me in other-worldly parts of self. I am truly grateful for your gifts.

    • Sammy D thank you so much! I’m looking at Lilith in a contemporary way, bringing a new perspective on this much maligned woman. Eve too took the rap for taking the apple and still in an unconscious way is blamed for the fall of man from the Paradise.

  15. Hi Susan. Interesting post. I don’t believe in either Eve or Lilith as real beings, but as concepts or archetypes, they are fascinating. You’re the expert, so you know that over the ages, women have often had to bear pain from menstruation and childbirth because it was seen as their punishment as descendants of Eve, the “curse” of Eve. Women were (and sometimes still are) expected to be submissive to men. Other women have sought to embrace Lilith, and I’m sure that in some cases the witches or other women who consciously sought out Lilith did so because they had no power otherwise.

    In recent decades, I’m sure you know of the Lilith Fair of women musicians that took place for a few years. I think it was in the 1990s, and it was because the founders believed women musicians were not getting the same exposure given to male artists.

    • Thanks so much Merril for coming by. Yes, she speaks as an archetype. Sadly, women get a bad rap – 2nd class citizens et al – all over the world in spite of the struggle of seeking equality. I’ve heard of the Lilith Fair which is not here in South Africa.

  16. Never heard of Lilith–amazing. How did I miss that Adam had a first wife? Fascinating reading, Susan.

    • Thank you Jacqui! Appreciate your coming by .. it’s only in the Midrash that this exposition is given i.e. Adam having a first wife – as well as in other contemporary psychological studies on Lilith.

  17. It is interesting learning more about Lilith as I had never heard about her in any of my church teachings. However, I definitely see Lilith and Eve in all women… if only we take an honest look inside of us. I think these two aspects round out our whole and make us stronger provided that we don’t let one side over-power the other. Great post, Susan. I’m looking forward to reading more.

    • Lilith would definitely not have been in any church teachings Gwynn, although there is a reference to her in the OT, as a ‘screech owl’… which is how I’m feeling after an electricity black out for the last several hours. You’re right, it’s important that there is a balance between these two women, as each has something to offer to us in our being more whole and authentic. Thank you for your comment.

  18. Beautiful post. Centuries ago, I wrote a short story about Lilith. She has always been a fascinating lady, and I am delighted that you are going to give her due honor. I’m looking forward to reading your future posts about her.

    • Thank you so much for coming by, much appreciated. Lilith has been lying low for a while, and so interesting that you wrote about her a while back! It will be interesting to read your further comments on future posts. I really look forward to that.

  19. wow Lilith’s character is so intense and has so many folds to it. I did’t know she was the serpent. Loved reading your post.

    • Thanks Lakshmi for coming by. It is only in the Midrash that Lilith is regarded as such … In the King James version of the OT in Genesis, there is no mention of Lilith.

  20. Oh fabulous Susan – I’m so delighted you’re doing this series! Lilith is a great interest of mine, and I’m sure I’ll both be learning much from your posts (as I have today) and having the opportunity to reflect on my own beliefs around this. I call that perfect.

  22. Susan you are simply outstanding ! just loved the first post; something that is so new to me, i have never heard of Adams first wife Lilith, sounds interesting, I am eager for these series.. excellently written,God bless you !

  23. Great new theme, somewhat synchronous with my ‘invitation of the serpent of DNA’ the dark and enlightening underbelly of all creativity!
    It can’t be said too often. A mesmerising painting!

    • Beautifully said Philippa thank you! The dark underbelly – from whence the song of synchronicity also arises …

  25. Congratulations, Susan, for this magnificent beginning of your new series. I am amazed at how productive you are with the beauty and detail of this exposition.

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