posted March 28, 2016 08:59 PM            

From a few videos i have viewed & many interpretations i have read on lilith & charts of friends that HAVE prominent Lilith DIRECT OR RETROGRADE, in there chart. Here it goes....

We have Mean Lilith, True Oscilating Lilith, Black Moon Lilith, Asteroid Lilith and the Dark Moon Lilith.

I have researched and meditated that those WHO STRONGLY identify with LILITH. NOT HALF THE TIME, ALL THE TIME.....Either have....

The CONJUNCTION/SEXTILE/TRINE ONLY to the SUN, MOON, ASC, IC, MC & the CHART RULER. Push for 4 degrees of orb of influence in the natal chart in my opinion.

the Sun is our EGO
the Moon is our Emotions
the Chart Ruler & ASC is our IDENTITY
the IC is our soul/how we were raised/brought up from the family.
the MC is our IDENTITY to the PUBLIC/OUR STATUS.

My Interpretations with DIRECT OR RETROGRADE LILITH - i have not really experienced or seen really a DIFFERENCE with retrograde lilith or direct in the charts of those who have PROMINENT LILITH, TO BE HONEST.

Women who have....Asteroid Lilith, Mean Lilith, & True Oscilating Lilith.....
Lilith conjunct the Sun depending on the sign may have issues with men in the beginning of there life or perhaps always. They may be very accepting of there and other people's sexuality no matter how it is. They may have been rejected or told that they can not do what they want. They may be fighters and have grown to fight for what they want. They may have problems with people telling them there wrong. They may feel easily violated when they can not express themselves. These women grew to accept themselves and to rebel in whatever it is that they believe in. They may have had there EGO burned as a child which makes them fight for equality in a rough or gentle way. They may wear a lot of MAKE UP or EXTREMELY NATURAL or perhaps BOTH! unless other indicators of the chart conflict this or depending on the SIGN and HOUSE PLACEMENT and the RULER of the SUN we are dealing with. Again, we must remember these women don't take **** from nobody if treated with disrespect.

Sun Sextile the SUN depending on the sign may have it easier like the above but they still EMBODY Lilith because it BLENDS with your EGO (the SUN). The Sextile is actually very great to have along with the TRINE because it gives empathy in the individual possibly higher perception of dark energy. The Trine could make the person depending on the sign and house and rulership of the sun very determined in what they set out there mind to do in terms of goals. I heard that it can also make the person think creatively.

Lilith Conjunct the IC depending on the sign were probably raised in a family that was against tradition OR were treated UNFAIRLY in the home OR was neglected as a CHILD or AT SOME POINT while growing up. And because of this they have carried on the ROLE of LILITH with there SOUL. The Mother or Females in the Family or in the HOMELAND may have been the ones that rebelled against you or to those around you or raised you to rebel in some way or were treated unfairly emotionally or in other ways to do with the 4th house. Perhaps you or the mother was or almost molested. Perhaps sexuality was early exposed or hidden. Sexuality may have been wrong in the family or natural to own at some point in the individual's life.

LIlith sextile/trine the IC depending on the sign may have similar traits like stated above but easier a little more accepting if not harshly aspecting other planets or ANGLE's. I also feel there could psychic sensitivity as well and strong empathy towards those in the family and/or close to them if the person works towards spiritual inclination. Possibly the family or the home or early environment is accepting of the individual's view but there are other possible aspects in the chart that CAN contradict this.

Lilith Conjunct the ASC/CHART RULER depending on the sign STRONGLY identify with LILITH as well. This woman may have dark hair or light hair or wild or too out there or rebellious or needed to stand up for herself at some point in her life possibly had a hard time realizing that she needed to stand up for herself. Again, They may wear a lot of MAKE UP or EXTREMELY NATURAL or perhaps BOTH! unless other indicators of the chart conflict this or depending on the SIGN and HOUSE PLACEMENT we are dealing with. Again, we must remember these women don't take **** from nobody if treated with disrespect. People may see these women as TROUBLE! especially the MEN or WOMEN who are conservative or traditional or learned to be submissive or heavenly religious. Depending on the sign and what there mars/pluto and/or 8th house is doing they are indeed accepting of there sexuality no matter what kind of sexuality it is. Sexuality comes in different shapes and sizes as we all know.

LIlith sextile/trine depending on the sign the ASC/Chart Ruler obviously also KNOWS how to embody there Lilith as well but in such a unique beautiful way. Similar to description above but blends quite smoothly. Again, we must look if it harshly aspects other placements.

Lilith Conjunct the MC depending on the sign this woman may want a career that is EQUAL or have issues with equality in the career. This person may be a Lawyer, Animal activist, work with feminists, ATTRACT those that were treated unfairly or abused by the opposite sex, she may want to lead in her career or job, she may want to appear STRONG that know one can mess with her, She may be a Prostitute, or a grieving counselor/psychologist that deals with women who were or almost molested or abused physically in any way, She may have had issues with other women or men who treated her unfairly or questioned her abilities in the job/career and this may have frustrated her and may have stood up for herself or simply walked away from the job. She may have issues with AUTHORITY. She may be Equal with EVERYONE and the WORLD but if she is disrespected for her abilities or image to other's or those that are treating other's with disrespect she may say something or do something about at some point UNLESS the advice is they give her is WISE then she will understand. Depending on the sign again will tell you MORE clues and what is also may aspect in your chart.

Lilith sextile/trine the MC again obviously embody her smoothly and beautifully maybe not as crazy but still they can adapt to her role quite well in my opinion.

Lilith conjunct the MOON depending on the sign, may feel LILITH deeply emotionally to there core and they do feel her deeply similar to the IC interpretation. the Mother may have abused you or told you what to do or was rebellious or had issues with men and possibly women. You may feel strongly deep about equality and those close to you.

Moon Sextile/Trine Lilith depending on the sign similar to above but easier to handle you feel her quite well and its not so harsh because the energy does seem to blend well with the sextile/trine. Again, Psychic gift's, strong empathy, exposed to dark low vibrational energies, possibly more open to spirutal practices, feminine equality, etc.

SYNASTRY - I've noticed that if Someone's SUN is aspecting the WOMAN'S MOON conjunct LILITH may make you feel smothered or perhaps make you feel like you are forced to do something you don't wanna do, You may be very independent with the Sun individual. the Sun may think you are such a BRAT! or sexually exciting/inviting. Your femininity and emotions of independence or agressive feelings may be attractive to the SUN.

The Reason why i do not find the Opposition and the Square prominent is because of the type of aspect does not make it PROMINENT enough in my opinion. I have noticed those with the Opposition sometimes act the role with Lilith and sometimes do not, its a like a switch on/switch off button and my topic speaks of PROMINENCE which the opposition does not give so much in my opinion.

The Square does not BLEND. Its like eating pineapple with avocado given that they are both a Fruit but different texture and taste all together just doesn't go well. It creates tension, the energy of lilith is there in you but its hard to figure it out more, its expressed a bit with challenge unless you have other supporting factors in the chart like a sextile/trine to bring this tension more at ease. Or you express lilith but in a not so healthy way. For example, I have Moon in the 7th house Square Uranus in the 4th house and there are times where i WANT a relationship and when i' m in a relationship i WANT out! i need my freedom in relationships and sometimes i don't want my freedom, i don't express my URANUS in a healthy way to be honest. I don't know what i want, i confuse my needs with my partner's often. The Moon represents the Mother, my Mother is VERY independent but she also depends on my father, she has been with my father for over 30 years and shares income with my father but at the same time she does not cook, stay at home, nor ever took my health seriously, my mother works a lot and does not clean hardly and my father's family have judged him for having an unconventional wife! She also almost NEVER kisses my father or shows ANY PHYSICAL AFFECTION whatsoever, verbally yes she shows affection but she doesn't say i love you or i miss you things like that, she is very detached emotionally with my father.

Black Moon Lilith & Dark Moon is totally separate from this and something I have to observe more. Both BML & Dark Moon are similar to all the other 3 Lilith's i mentioned but i feel there is something is more precise when dealing with BML & Dark Moon.

I would personally like to say that I have Asteroid Lilith in Cancer Retrograde Conjunct my MC from the 9th house CLOSE TO EXACT. SQUARE MY ASC. Opposite my MARS/MERCURY in the 4th house. I have Mean/BML TRINE my ASC CLOSE TO EXACT. My True Oscilating Lilith is Sextile my Chart Ruler and my Moon.

I have noticed that people often disagree with my belief's especially my family given that also my father. I used to have strong power struggles with my family especially my father and my education...teachers i shall say i used to fight with teachers in class. I don't like to talk about my opinion because i' am often attacked or people tend to disagree with my interpretation or feel threatened by my opinion or think I'm stupid that i don't know what I'm talking about, these are some of the things that I've had to battle with all my life and I can't stand it! I can't stand when someone disagrees with me or tells me i' m wrong, it upsets me. I also have problems with Authority at Work especially WOMEN given it is in the sign CANCER which rules the moon, i often get into verbal arguments with my boss and treated very unfairly and I certainly don't put up with it, I strongly believe in my Belief's but i' am also willing to learn as well, This has clashed with my identity in a way because it is SQUARE my ASC i want to be a nice individual and agree with everyone. I' am also Bisexual/Asexual and i don't trust men very easily given i had strong power struggles with my father. I'm not trying to say Lilith is a lesbian or a bisexual or asexual but it has made me not trust men and i did grow up in a family where i have to be traditional and i did not like that because i' am not 100% traditional.

For those that Disagree with me here on LL i won't be surprised because this is something i' am often used to. But You are Welcome to give me your opinion and anything that can help me understand the Lilith in us if you identify with this energy yourself strongly.

I also notice that those who have PROMINENT LILITH especially if it is a CONJUNCTION to your ASC/SUN/CHART RULER/MC/IC you will tend to ATTRACT PROMINENT LILITH WOMEN/MEN as well. It's like a whole huge family that understands this kind of energy.

editing......I' m going to add now on Men with prominent Lilith.....and how this may impact them.

posted March 29, 2016 12:11 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Spongebob:
I cant agree woth this. I have lilith conjinct my chart ruler and my midheaven. I consider myself religious so no i dont have a problem with religious people provided that they dont try to force me to live according to a faith thay i dont personally practice.

I respect authority when they demonstrate to me why i shoild listen to them amd can prove their way is the correct option to follow.Saying "cuz i said so" isnt enoigh, im too much of an independent thinker and too egalitarian minded for that. Im not a prude but im far from promiscuous (vrgin) and would never be a prostitute. Unless i had a sick child and they needed medication or they'd die, that sort of scenario. But i dont want to have kids so this is a moot point.

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Hey Spongebob,

I did say "may". i also have Lilith conjunct my MC BUT from the 9th house in cancer. I don't know if your Lilith is in the 9th house conjunct the MC??? or is it in the MC conjunct your MC? what sign? also what house is your Chart Ruler in? this can give me more details.

"I consider myself religious so no i dont have a problem with religious people provided that they dont try to force me to live according to a faith thay i dont personally practice." this is exactly the perfect example of lilith what you just said. You are religious and you do have your own faith Spongebob but like you said if you are forced to live with a faith that you personally don't practice this would probably irritate you or you would be good at saying "no thank you".

"Saying "cuz i said so" isnt enoigh, im too much of an independent thinker and too egalitarian minded for that" of course!!! i understand this i' am the same way....

"Im not a prude but im far from promiscuous (vrgin) and would never be a prostitute. " yes and your probably confident with the fact that you are not promiscuous this is something lilith would do, the fact that your disagreeing with me shows your lilith side...... Like i said "may"...its not for sure with the interpretation i said, which is why i stated "may"...i' am not promiscuous either but i' am defently confident with my own sexuality given that i' am kind of asexual.

I completely respect your opinion SpongeBob and i' am not surprised with your response because A LOT of people on LL disagree with my belief's, that's part of the LILITH in the 9th house in cancer scenario i have in my chart.

posted March 29, 2016 11:38 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Vixen:
I have BML sextile Sun and Draconic Lilith on natal MC. I would say I'm a black sheep of my family. My brother even called me "liberal prostitute" once...

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Im a black sheep of my family too vixen...I always felt alienated for sure.

posted March 29, 2016 11:51 AM              

Black Moon and Dark Moon are not the same.
Black Moon is actually BML.

So are you talking about aspects to the asteroid Lilith or Black Moon or all of them?

And btw it is not really that surprising that some disagreements come up. This forum is frequented by a lot of people, partially from a different cultural background or simply from a different mindset, so difference in opinion are the norm rather than the exception.

posted March 29, 2016 11:56 AM              

asteroid Lilith is on 6 Virgo in my 9th house, exactly trine my Venus (and square my Mars-ASC, whatever THAT means). ASteroidically she is also conjunct Hekate and Rudra.

Dr Lilith ends up conjunct my Sun-Mercury. While Dr osc and mean Lilith end up in my 7th house conjunct Karma.

posted March 29, 2016 12:28 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Ceridwen:
You are confusing me.

Black Moon and Dark Moon are not the same.
Black Moon is actually BML.

So are you talking about aspects to the asteroid Lilith or Black Moon or all of them?

And btw it is not really that surprising that some disagreements come up. This forum is frequented by a lot of people, partially from a different cultural background or simply from a different mindset, so difference in opinion are the norm rather than the exception.

I liked your post though and think you put a lot of thought and observation into it.

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Yeah I know BML is black moon. Yeah I feel Dark moon and black moon are similar but both have differences as well. I feel dark moon is way crazier then BML But that's just my opinion. Your dark moon is your hidden demonic psychotic DILLUSIONAL side. It's hard to explain I have to write so much more on it. Im gonna write an example on dark moon my friend has it strongly prominent in his natal chart.

Just asteroid LILITH, MEAN, & TRUE.

"And btw it is not really that surprising that some disagreements come up. This forum is frequented by a lot of people, partially from a different cultural background or simply from a different mindset, so difference in opinion are the norm rather than the exception" yes I agree but what im trying to say I TAKE IT VERY PERSONALLY AND I DONT LIKE IT WHEN PEOPLE TEND TO DISAGREE OR STATE THAT IM WRONG WHICH IS WHAT IM TRYING TO PROVE WITH MY ASTEROID LILITH IN 9th house conjunct MC in cancer. I feel targeted in real life when those disagree with me or try to say im wrong especially while I was in school or at work.

Awwww thanks!!! Yeah this is only the beginning im going to add MORE.

posted March 29, 2016 12:33 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Ceridwen:
BTW I have mean and osc Lilith on 24 and 28 Aquarius at the beginning of the 3rd house, sextile my Sun-Mercury at 26 Sagittarius.

asteroid Lilith is on 6 Virgo in my 9th house, exactly trine my Venus (and square my Mars-ASC, whatever THAT means). ASteroidically she is also conjunct Hekate and Rudra.

Dr Lilith ends up conjunct my Sun-Mercury. While Dr osc and mean Lilith end up in my 7th house conjunct Karma.

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posted March 29, 2016 12:40 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by angel4845:
Im a black sheep of my family too vixen...I always felt alienated for sure.

Thanks for your feedback.

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posted March 29, 2016 02:39 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Ceridwen:
My Dad has mean and osc Lilith conjunct Moon closely on the first degree of Taurus in his 8th house, both oppose my Mom`s Sun within 1,5 degrees, but that never has been a problem. He needed an independent yet caring woman and he got one. (btw my Mom has Uranus conjunct black Moon on the ASC in Cancer - my Dad is an Aquarius, so they were just being a match)

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Yay!!!! He certainly did get one it seems especially if she's got uranus CONJUNCT Bml and her ascendant. Moon conuunct OSC AND MEAN LILITH in taurus in the 8th house could tell me he is attracted to a woman who is able to adapt herself independently emotionally.

posted March 29, 2016 02:45 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Vixen:
Hmm... do you have different opinions from your family when it comes to human rights, sexuality etc. ? Because I do. Compared to most of my family members, I have absolutely against gay marriage, immigrants etc. My parents also think astrology and metal and rock music are of devil, and I really enjoy those things!
Plus, my Lilith is conjunct asteroid Werdandi. Werdanti is fate asteroid, named after Norn from Norse mythology. It means "present" or "here and now". And Pallas is conjunct Werdandi too. Apparently, I'm destined to become feminist

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Yes I do have different opinions from my family indeed. Oh wow I didn't know about asteroid werdandi omg !!! PALLAS CONJUNCT LILITH AND WERDANDI DOES THIS SEXTILE YOUR SUN?? If it does or doesn't omg you are suuuuuper believer in feminine rights or it can just be any form of rights. What sign? House?

posted March 29, 2016 03:12 PM              

thank you for the analysis.

I do like my Sun sextile mean and natural and true Lilith. And well, there is this funny little thing about objects being equidistant in Aquarius for me. Something like

Pallas 10 Aquarius
Moon 17 Aquarius
mean Lilith and Psyche 24 Aquarius

Of course it means that my Moon is on my Pallas/Psyche and Pallas/Lilith-mp. just a curious random anecdote in my chart.

BTW my Dad is an Aquarius, and as you know my Mom has Uranus (and LIlith) on her Cancer - ASC. I guess it sort of fits.

They have a T-square incidentally as my Dad`s Sun is square his own Moon-Lilith and square my Mom`s Sun.
They do have different temperaments, but somehow it is more sparkly than really challenging.

To Uranize all of this even more my Uranus conjuncts my Mom`s Sun and opposes my Dad`s Moon-Lilith. Which of coure means when Iw as being born they had a strong Uranus transit to their luminaries.
And what did they get?
A daughter with Aquarius-Moon! BML in Aquarius trine and on the antiscion of Uranus.

posted March 29, 2016 03:18 PM              

quote:

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Originally posted by angel4845:
Yay!!!! He certainly did get one it seems especially if she's got uranus CONJUNCT Bml and her ascendant. Moon conuunct OSC AND MEAN LILITH in taurus in the 8th house could tell me he is attracted to a woman who is able to adapt herself independently emotionally.

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Absolutely true.

My mom has told the story about how on the first night they met (in a discotheque) they would be sitting all night in his car and discussing about politics and especially about the Vietnam-War.
In fact they still do that.
Not the Vietnam-War (well it has happened, too) but politics and history and sociology and social failings and how things could or could not be analyzed and put into order again to strengthen the people and create a balance, and on and on.
My mother in particular can get very opinionated, dramatic but not always very realistic or objective when it comes to her opinion (like most recently "all really rich people are criminals, cause if they had not committed some kind of crime and taken from the poor, they would never have gotten THAT filthy rich" - for a Scorpio-Mercury things sometimes ARE that easy. though usually most things she sais have a solid basis, she just tends to overdramatize and paints everything in black-and-white ).

posted March 29, 2016 03:22 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Ceridwen:
Angel,

thank you for the analysis.

I do like my Sun sextile mean and natural and true Lilith. And well, there is this funny little thing about objects being equidistant in Aquarius for me. Something like

Pallas 10 Aquarius
Moon 17 Aquarius
mean Lilith and Psyche 24 Aquarius

Of course it means that my Moon is on my Pallas/Psyche and Pallas/Lilith-mp. just a curious random anecdote in my chart.

BTW my Dad is an Aquarius, and as you know my Mom has Uranus (and LIlith) on her Cancer - ASC. I guess it sort of fits.

They have a T-square incidentally as my Dad`s Sun is square his own Moon-Lilith and square my Mom`s Sun.
They do have different temperaments, but somehow it is more sparkly than really challenging.

To Uranize all of this even more my Uranus conjuncts my Mom`s Sun and opposes my Dad`s Moon-Lilith. Which of coure means when Iw as being born they had a strong Uranus transit to their luminaries.
And what did they get?
A daughter with Aquarius-Moon! BML in Aquarius trine and on the antiscion of Uranus.

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Ha!!! That is so funny! And awesome at the same time that they made there own daughter strongly Uranian/BML so cool you must be accepting of other people's views or possibly like dealing with your emotions on your own. God what is up with YOU AND VIXEN AND ME HAVING STRONG LILITH PLUS PALLAS IN OUR CHARTS???!!! I swear lilith and pallas our sisters....

Psyche too???

posted March 29, 2016 06:07 PM              

Sun 8 Cancer
Moon/Neptune 8 Capricorn
Pluto 9 Scorpio
all Liliths 6 Virgo

posted March 29, 2016 06:48 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Ceridwen:
Yes, Psyche, too.
And I like Pallas, I think esp. Pallas and Lilith do have some thing in common, in that they are very independent thinkers and not depend on a man to provide for them.
Psyche is probably a bit of a different thing.

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yes that is true they are both independent thinkers and dont depend on men to provide them. Yes psyche is a bit different maybe the energy is connected to your soul and/or built into your psyche? maybe you see that as divine energy? since your moon is hitting those midpoint's?

posted April 02, 2016 07:56 PM              

Published at Imbolc 2002

According to Rabbinical mythology, the Talmudists say that Adam had a wife before Eve, whose name was Lilith. Refusing to submit to Adam, she left Paradise for a region of the air. She still haunts the night as a spectre, and is especially hostile to new-born infants. Some superstitious Jews still put in the chamber occupied by their wife four coins, with labels on which the names of Adam and Eve are inscribed, with the words, "Avaunt thee Lilith!" The fable of Lilith was invented to reconcile Genesis i with Genesis ii. Genesis i represents the simultaneous creation of man and woman out of the earth; but Genesis ii represents that Adam was alone, and Eve was made out of a rib, and was given to Adam as a helpmeet for him.

In Eden Bower D G Rosetti says "It was Lilith, the wife of Adam . / Not a drop of her blood was human, / But she was made like a soft sweet woman." Goethe introduced her in his Faust . The mage is introduced by Mephistopheles to various apparitions on Walpurgis Night in the Hartz Mountains. Presented with a whirling crowd, Faust asks: "Who's that?"; Mephistopheles replies: "Her features closely scan - 'Tis the first wife of the first man". "Who, say you?" asks Faust; and the Spirit answers: "Adam's first wife, Lilith. / Beware - beware of her bright hair, / And the strange dress that glitters there: / Many a young man she beguileth, / Smiles winningly on youthful faces, / But woe to him whom she embraces!".

In Assyrian demonology, a female demon appears, represented as winged, with dishevelled hair. Such demons were banished from Hebrew religion, and hardly appear in the Old Testament except in poetic imagery. But these 'hairy ones', nocturnal 'goblins', are exactly like the Arabian jinn . They haunted waste and desert places in fellowship with jackals. There is a Mohammedan story of Bilkis, Queen of Sheba, who married Solomon. She had hair on her ankles and was thus shown to be a jinniyyah by descent. The Arab writers say that Lilith was an evil spirit, the first wife of Adam, and that her children were the jinns or devils. She is said to have had 784 children, as the letters of her name have this numerical value. Her name is found in the Assyrian inscriptions as Li-lit , 'the black', an 'evil spirit'. She was said to have stimulated 'nocturnal impurities', and to have been more especially dangerous to married women at the birth of their first child, upon which occasion the Arabian nurses still throw stones at the foot of the bed to drive her away.

The night devil of Isaiah xxxiv, 14, she was especially feared in Babylonia where a special class of priests, the Ashipu , were employed to ward off the harmful effects of witchcraft. Her designation was originally applied to certain spirits of the northern Semites; it was only later that it was applied to the person of Lilith of the Talmud, the first wife of Adam. She may be equated with the ghoul of pre-Islamic myth and with Ninlil , the Babylonian goddess. A very common practice, constantly found in the Mesopotamian exorcism tablets is that of the use of magic knots. These were tied by the ashipu for the protection of a pregnant woman. A magic knot could be tied by a sorcerer or witch to invoke spirits and to gain power over an enemy. By loosing of the knot the power of an evil spirit was broken. One of these maqla tablets, directed against witchcraft, ends with the words, "Her knot is loosed, her sorcery is brought to naught, and all her charms fill the desert", where the desert symbolizes the underworld.

Rabbinic literature is full of the doings of Lilith, who bore Adam devils and spirits. Whoever slept alone in a room was likely to be beset by her. The Rabbis believed, too, that a man might have children by allying himself with a demon, and although they might not be visible to human beings, yet when that man was dying they would hover round his bed, to hail him as their father. At the funeral of a bachelor the Jews of Kurdistan cast sand before the coffin to blind the eyes of the unbegotten children of the deceased. Among the Jews in Palestine, Lilith (or the evil eye in general) is averted from the bed by hanging a charm over it consisting of a special cabalistic paper in Hebrew together with a piece of rue, garlic, and a fragment of looking glass. It is said sometimes that women find their best gowns, which they have carefully put away in their bridal chests, have been worn by female spirits during their confinement, because they did not utter the name of God in locking them up. On the first possible Sabbath all the relations assemble in the woman's room and make a hideous noise to drive away the evil spirits.

We may note that Asmodeus was the counterpart of Lilith, as being dangerous to women. Cognate with the concept of Asmodeus is the curious Arab belief in a female demon accompanying every woman, and having as many children as her counterpart. Just as Lilith took the place of Eve, evidently this spirit is intended, in one of her phases (that of bearing children), to do the same for each man. She is very dangerous to pregnant women and newly married people; that is to say, just as Asmodeus becomes jealous of interference with his rights, so does this female spirit admit of no dallying with other women. She is said to destroy the creative power of men and to make women barren, and to her is due epilepsy as the penalty for pouring water over the threshold of the door without naming God, on a Friday, or to quench the fire. She may appear as an owl, a Jewess, a camel, or a black man. There is a story that Solomon once met a singular looking woman and asked her whether she was jinn or human. She answered that she was the female spirit " . that puts hatred between husband and wife; I make women miscarry; I make them barren; I make men impotent; I make husbands love other men's wives, women other men's husbands; in short, I do all contrary to the happiness of wedded life". In The Testament of Solomon, one Obizuth is the name of the female spirit that visits women in childbirth, and if she is lucky she strangles the babe.

According to Rabbinical tradition among the Jews, Lilith has her strange story thus related in Jewish legends. "When the blessed God created the first man, whom he formed alone, without a companion, he said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone': and therefore he created a woman also out of the ground, and named her Lilith. They immediately began to contend with each other for superiority. The man said: 'It behoves thee to be obedient; I am to rule over thee'. The woman replied: 'We are on a perfect equality; for we are both formed out of the same earth'. So neither would submit to the other. Lilith, seeing this, uttered the Shem-hamphorash ", that is, pronounced the name Jehovah , "and instantly flew away through the air. Adam then addressed himself to God, and said: 'Lord of the universe! The woman whom thou gavest me, has flown away from me'. God immediately dispatched three angels to bring back the fugitive. He said to them: 'If she consent to return, well; but if not, you are to leave her, after declaring to her that a hundred of her children shall die every day'. These angels then pursued her, and found her in the midst of the sea, in the mighty waters in which the Egyptians were to be afterwards destroyed. They made known to her the divine message, but she refused to return. They threatened, unless she would return, to drown her in the sea. She then said: 'Let me go; for I was created for no other purpose than to debilitate and destroy young infants; my power over the males will extend to eight days, and over the females to twenty days, after their birth'.

"On hearing this, the angels were proceeding to seize her and carry her back to Adam by force: but Lilith swore by the name of the living God, that she would refrain from doing any injury to infants, wherever or whenever she should find these angels, or their names, or their pictures, on parchment or paper, or on whatever else they might be written or drawn: and she consented to the punishment denounced against her by God, that a hundred of her children should die every day. Hence it is that every day witnesses the death of a hundred young demons of her progeny. And for this reason we write the names of these angels on slips of paper or parchment, and bind them upon infants, that Lilith, on seeing them, may remember her oath, and may abstain from doing our infants any injury". Another rabbinical writer says: "I have also heard that when the child laughs in its sleep in the night of the Sabbath or of the new moon, the Lilith laughs and toys with it; and that it is proper for the father, or mother, or any one that sees the infant laugh, to tap it on the lips, and say, 'Hence, begone, cursed Lilith; for thy abode is not here'. This should be done three times, and each repetition should be accompanied with a pat on the mouth. This is of great benefit, because it is in the power of Lilith to destroy children whenever she pleases".

Lilith warrants special attention, not only as principal female demon, but because, unlike others mentioned, she was conceived to possess human rather than animal form, and also on account of her prominence in the later Jewish literature. According to Rabbinic teaching Lilith was the night demon par excellence . By a mistaken etymology the name was supposed to be derived from the Hebrew word lailah , ('night'), a derivation favoured by the similarity of the two words, and also by the fact that Lilith was supposed to be specially active at night-time. Modern scholars prefer to associate it with the Sumerian word for 'wantonness', and explain her as the demoness who inspires lust. However, it is very probable that she is referred to in Psalm 91 where the psalmist says: "Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night".

In the Rabbinic literature Lilith is usually portrayed with long flowing hair, and as possessing wings. She is the queen of the Lilin , which form one of the great classes of demons. It is enjoined that a man should not go out alone at night because an evil spirit, Agrath bath Mahlath , (to be identified with Lilith), together with eighteen myriads of destroying angels, roams about and is permitted to destroy anyone whom she meets. Though specially dangerous to children, the Lilin also attack men. Thus the injunction that a man be forbidden to sleep alone in a house, lest, ignoring this warning, he be seized by Lilith. Formulas for exorcizing Lilith are given. This Jewish conception of Lilith appears to have much in common with the empousa of the Greeks and with the strix and lamia of the Romans. Whilst the name and leading characteristics were clearly derived from the Babylonian demonology, the conception may also have been influenced by Persian ideas.

Alone among the spirits known through Jewish tradition, Lilith retained her position during the Middle Ages, and indeed strengthened it by virtue of the closer definition of her activities. Originally a wind-spirit, derived from the Assyrian lilitu , with long dishevelled hair, and wings, during Talmudic times the confusion of her name with the word for night transformed her into a night spirit who attacks those who sleep alone. Laylah appears also as the angel of night, and of conception. Out of the assimilation to one another of these two concepts grew the view that prevailed during the Middle Ages. Though Lilith and the popularly derived plurals, the lilin , and the liliot , appeared often in nondescript form, merely as another term for demons, as when we are told that the liliot assemble in certain trees, the lilits proper possessed two outstanding characteristics in medieval folklore which gave them distinct personality: they attacked new born children and their mothers, and they seduced men in their sleep. As a result of the legend of Adam's relations with Lilith, although this function was by no means exclusively theirs, the lilits were most frequently singled out as the demons who embrace sleeping men and cause them to have nocturnal emissions which are the seed of a hybrid progeny. It was in her first role, however, that Lilith terrorized medieval Jewry. As the demon whose special prey is lying-in women and their babes, it was found necessary to adopt an extensive series of protective measures against her.

All sorts of means are used to circumvent the malign influences of Lilith and her demons and both men and women appear to be in need of this protection. According to the usual amuletic practice, wearing an amulet inscribed with her name protects against her activities and this practice accounts for the numerous amulets thus found inscribed. Amulets inscribed with the name of Lilith alone can possibly have been worn by men and indeed could be worn by everyone with advantage at all times but those inscribed with the alternative names of Lilith or with the names of the angels sent in pursuit of her, were intended to be of use to women only, particularly near the time of their delivery. The usual custom was to write these charms on pieces of paper and hang them around the mother's bed and even until recent times, the 'Song of Degrees' (Psalm 121) was thus written and used. Metallic amulets inscribed with this psalm were worn by men as well as women at all times and became an article of decoration. They are extremely common.

Elijah the Prophet, that great performer of miracles, on one occasion encountered Lilith, doubtless secure in the fact that he was himself originally an angel and so immune from her attentions. Elijah's angelic name was Sandalphon , and he is one of the greatest and mightiest of the fiery angelic hosts. He imposed restrictions on Lilith's activities which, after dire threats, she was compelled to accept. The most important of these conditions was that if any of the numerous names of Lilith were inscribed near a childbed, and particularly if the inscription of Psalm 121 was associated with it, Lilith would be compelled to abandon her right to injure that particular mother or her child. In addition, the names of the three angels who were sent to recall her to her wifely duties and whose message she disobeyed were to be equally effective in neutralising her activities.

We have seen that Lilith undoubtedly derives from very ancient sources, appearing as Lilatu , 'a female demon' in Assyrian literature and earlier still as Lillaku in Sumerian tablets of the story of Gilgamesh in which she was supposed to have lived in a willow tree. A connection between these similarly named demons can scarcely be denied. According to David de Pomis (Venice, 1587 CE) Lilith is a wild animal, or an evil spirit, or, as some say, a bird, which flits about alone at night and fills the air with wailing. Solomon ben Abraham (Salerno, 1160 CE) said that Lilith "grows out of the wind just as the salamander grows from the fire". Lilith represents the classical example of the succubus in Jewish mythology. The incubus is a spirit which, taking the semblance of a man, has intercourse with mortal women. The succubus is a similar spirit which in the form of a woman behaves in a like manner with mortal men. The Hebrew Lilith was regarded as queen of the succubi by the theologians who spent much time investigating such matters. St Augustine states that "devils do indeed collect human semen, by means of which they are able to produce bodily effects". St Thomas Aquinas did much to prove that incubi and succubi were demons sent to tamper with frail humanity. But in the 17th century CE Peter Sinistrari made the unorthodox claim that such visitants were not demons but semi-angels who honoured mankind by contact, echoing Gnostic ideas. Many renowned people, including Caesar, Alexander the Great, and Plato, have the distinction of descent from such unnatural unions, which is not impossible when one takes into consideration that Hieronymus relates a story of a young woman who called for help against the attack of an incubus, which, on being pulled from under the bed where it had rushed to hide, proved to be none other than the good Bishop Sylvanus.

The succubus has always been a rarer phenomenon than the incubus. There are far more male than female devils. Pico della Mirandola tells us that he knew an old man of eighty-four years who had slept for half his life with a female devil; and another of seventy, who had enjoyed the same advantages. Sprenger reports that a German magician "had carnal connection with a woman before the very eyes of his wife and friends who were present during this action but were prevented from seeing her form". Gregory de Tours tells of a holy bishop of Tuvergne, Eparchius, who had also been exposed to the temptations of a demon. He awoke one night with the thought of praying in the church; he arose and left for the church; on arriving he found the basilica resplendent with an infernal light and filled entirely with demons, who committed the most horrible deeds in front of the altar; he saw Satan in women's clothes sitting in the bishop's chair and presiding over these immoral mysteries. "Infamous ***** ", he cried, "thou art not satisfied with poisoning all and everything with thy pollutions, thou even defamest God's sacred spots with thy loathsome body". "Since thou give me the name of ***** ", answered the prince of demons, "I shall present you with many instances of it and will make you lust after the body of woman". Satan disappeared in a cloud of stench but he kept his word and poor Eparchius felt the torments of the fleshly appetites every night until his death. The similar temptations of St Anthony are too well known to need repeating. Despite the saint's advanced and revered age Satan did not disdain from decorating his lonely hermitage with obscene and passionate pictures.

In The Sayings of Rabbi Eliezer , Samael (Satan) is charged with being the one (in the guise of a serpent) who tempted Eve and seduced her. In Jewish tradition Lilith was the bride of Samael. She predated Eve, and had relations with Adam in Paradise. According to Rabbi Eliezer, Lilith bore Adam every day 100 children. The Zohar describes Lilith as "a fiery female who at first cohabited with Adam" but, when Eve was created, "flew to the cities of the sea coast", where she is "still trying to ensnare mankind". In the Cabala she is the demon of Friday, and is represented as a naked woman whose body terminates in a serpents tail. The rabbis regard Lilith as the first temptress, as Adam's demon wife, and as the mother of Cain. In Talmudic lore, as also in the Cabala, most demons are mortal, but Lilith will "continue to exist and plague man until the Messianic day, when God will finally extirpate uncleanliness and evil from the face of the earth". The scholar Scholem says in an article that Lilith and Samael "emanated from beneath the throne of Divine Glory, the legs of which where somewhat shaken by their joint activity". It is known of course that Samael was once a familiar figure in Heaven, but not that Lilith was up there also, assisting him. Lilith went by a score of names, some of which she revealed to Elijah, when she was forced to do so by the Old Testament prophet. Moses Gaster in his Studies and Texts in Folklore lists some of these: Abeko, Abito, Amizo, Batna, Eilo, Ita, Izorpo, Kea, Kokos, Odam, Partasah, Patrota, Podo, Satrina, Talto . Another listing is given by Hanauer in his Folklore of the Holy Land , namely: Abro, Amiz, Amizu, Avitu, Bituah, Ik, Ils, Kalee, Kakash, Kema, Partashah, Petrota, Pods, Raphi, Satrinah, Thiltho. Other sources provide: Abyzu, Ailo, Alu, Gallu, Gelou, Gilou, Lamassu, Zahriel, Zephonith. The name of the land to which Lilith betook herself in her flight from Paradise is recorded as Zamargad , near the Red Sea, where she set up her abode and mated with the demons who were well known to be living on those shores.

Her principal copulation there was with the archdemon Beelzeboul. The fruit of their union, a nameless male demon, yet writhes, enchained by King Solomon, at the bottom of the Red Sea. Of Lilith's other numberless progeny few are known. Yet obscure texts do name one son and a daughter, Hurnim and Hurmiz respectively. Also, Arabian tradition tells of a lone daughter of Adam who emulated her nefarious practices. This daughter of Adam, Anak , is apparently to be blamed for belief in talismans and other evil practices. This lady, so it is said, was the first "to reduce the demons to serve her by means of charms". God had given Adam a sprinkling of magic words, just to enable him to control a few spirits, and these words he communicated to Eve. She preserved them quite faithfully until Anak extracted them from her while she slept. It is not stated how this robbery was effected; perhaps the words were impressed in cuneiform characters on clay tablets, or she may have extracted them as did Isis from the great Sun god Ra ; however, once Anak was in possession, she "conjured evil spirits, practised the magical art, pronounced oracles, and gave herself up openly to impiety". Interestingly, the name of Lilith survives in an ancient curse of Coptic Christian origin. This text on parchment, preserved in the Louvre, is uttered to separate a man from a woman. It comes from the tenth century CE. The utterance, to be written on a blade-shaped parchment goes: " Tartari, Saro, Ptha, Astabias, Thatha, Eibethatha, Lahkimaia, Kaha, Alaha, Lilith, put hatred and separation, put hatred and separation between Sipa son of Siheu , and Ouarteihla daughter of Cauhare. They must not be able to look at each other's faces, yea, yea!".

Amulets to protect pregnant women and women in child-bed were as common among the Hebrews as among pagan nations. Wallis Budge gives details in his treatise on amulets. They were written upon parchment, and also upon the door and walls of the chamber wherein the woman lay. And if they were to be really effective, the texts had to be written in ink in which holy incense had been mixed, and even the copyist had to be a man ceremonially pure and a believer. One of the most important and powerful child-bed amulets is contained in the rare Hebrew work generally known as the Sepher Raziel , 'The Book of Raziel', bequeathed to the faithful by the preceptor angel of Adam himself. This amulet contains figures representative of Adam, Eve and Lilith. Above these are the names of the three angels sent after Lilith, Senoi, Sansenoi, and Semangeloph. There seals are given. The Hebrew text says that the woman will be protected by the name of God from all the evils and calamities which are enumerated therein. This amulet had a double purpose. The three figures of the angels and their names and seals protected the newly born infant and its mother. And the text warded off any and every evil which Lilith might attempt to do to either. Contained in the text are the names of the Seventy Great Angels whose protection is secured by the amulet.

Two other amulets are illustrated in the Book of Raziel. At the four corners are the names of the four rivers of Paradise, Pishon, Gihon, Prath and Hiddekel. Inside two concentric circles is the Hexagram, or so-called 'Shield of Solomon' and fourteen groups of three letters and the words "Go forth thou and all the people who are in thy train", and permutations of the initial letters of the Hebrew words for 'holiness' and 'deliverance'. Between the circles are the names of Adam, Eve, and Lilith, the three angels, and also that of the angel Khasdiel, with the words: "He hath given his angels charge concerning thee, that they may keep thee in all thy ways. Amen. Selah." Another amulet is similar, except that the two triangles of the hexagram are arranged base to base. In the inner circle are fourteen groups of three letters which have esoteric significations.

Concerning apotropaic procedures to ward of the influence of Lilith and her cohorts, Gershon Scholem describes an antidemonic rite both ancient and curious. He says that until quite recently, and indeed occasionally to this day, Jewish burials in Jerusalem were often marked by a strange happening. Before the body was lowered into the grave ten men danced round it in a circle, reciting a psalm which in the Jewish tradition has generally been regarded as a defence against demons, i.e. Psalm 91, or another prayer. Then a stone was laid on the bier and the following verse (Genesis xxv, 6) recited: "But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away". This strange dance of death was repeated seven times. The rite, which in modern times has been unintelligible to most of the participants, has to do with Cabalistic conceptions about sexual life and the sanctity of the human seed. Here we have an entire myth, the object of which is to mark off the act of generation from other sexual practices, which were interpreted as demonic in nature, and especially from onanism.

According to Talmudic tradition, demons are spirits made in the Friday evening twilight, who, because the Sabbath has intervened, have received no bodies. From this later authorities drew the inference, implicit in the Talmudic sources, that the demons have been looking for bodies ever since, and that this is why they attach themselves to men. This entered into combination with another idea. After the murder of Abel by his brother, Adam decided to have no further dealings with his wife. Thereupon female demons, succubi, came to him and conceived by him; from this union, in which Adam's generative power was misused and misdirected, stem a variety of demons. The Cabalists took up these old conceptions of demonic generation in pollution or other practices. They are systematized in the Zohar, which develops the myth that Lilith, queen of the demons, or the demons of her retinue, do their best to provoke men to sexual acts without benefit of a woman, their aim being to make themselves bodies from the lost seed.

To the Cabalists, the union between man and woman, within its holy limits, was a venerable mystery, as one may judge from the fact that the most classical and widely circulated Cabalistic definition of mystical meditation is to be found in a treatise about the meaning of sexual union in marriage (Joseph Gikatila, c.1300 CE). Abuse of a man's generative powers was held to be a destructive act, through which not the holy, but the 'other side', obtains progeny. An extreme cult of purity led to the view that every act of impurity, whether conscious or unconscious, engenders demons.

Abraham Saba, an early sixteenth century CE Cabalist who had come to Morocco from Spain, was first to establish a strange connection between this conception and a man's death. All the illegitimate children that a man has begotten with demons in the course of his life appear after his death to take part in the mourning for him and his funeral. For all those spirits that have built their bodies from a drop of his seed regard him as their father. And so, especially on the day of his burial, he must suffer punishment; for while he is being carried to the grave, they swarm around him like bees, crying: "You are our father", and they complain and lament behind his bier, because they have lost their home and are now being tormented along with the other demons which hover bodiless in the air.

According to others, the demons claim their inheritance on this occasion along with the other sons of the deceased and try to harm the legitimate children. Those who dance seven times round the dead man do so in order to form a sacral circle, which will prevent these unlawful children from approaching the deceased, sullying his corpse, or doing other harm. Hence the verse from Genesis about the 'sons of the demonic concubines', whom Abraham sent away lest they harm Isaac, his legitimate son. A similar rite, in which the bier is set down on the ground seven times on the way to the cemetery, has the same purpose. Most important of all, the Cabalists strictly forbade the children, and especially the sons of the deceased from escorting him to his last resting place. In his lifetime, it was held, a pious man should expressly forbid 'all his children' to follow him to the grave; by so doing, he will keep his illegitimate demonic offspring away and, in case any of them should nonetheless get through to his grave, prevent them from endangering his true children, begotten in purity. It is known that some Jews in their lifetime sternly ordered their children not to make the slightest plaint or weep until the dead body in the cemetery had been purified by washing, cleansing, and the cutting of the finger and toenails, because the unclean spirits are thought to have no further part in the body, once it is cleansed. Another noteworthy rite is connected with similar conceptions. Especially in a leap year, the Cabalists fasted on Monday and Thursday of certain weeks in the wintertime, in order to 'correct', by special prayers and acts of penance, the taint which it is said a man inflicts on his true form by involuntary ejaculation in the night and by masturbation.

But it is not only in unlawful sexual practices that Lilith takes a hand. Even legitimate union between man and wife is endangered by her, for here too she tries to infringe on the domain of Eve. Accordingly, we find widespread observance of a rite recommended by the Zohar, the purpose of which was to keep Lilith away from the marriage bed: "In the hour when the husband enters into union with his wife, he should turn his mind to the holiness of his Lord and say: 'Veiled in velvet - are you here? / Loosened, loosened be your spell! / Go not in and go not out! / Let there be none of you and nothing of your part! / Turn back, turn back, the ocean rages, / Its waves are calling you. / But I cleave to the holy part, / I am wrapped in the sanctity of the King.' Then for a time he should wrap his head and his wife's head in cloths, and afterwards sprinkle his bed with fresh water".

posted September 08, 2017 10:39 AM            

I've been rebellious with men.
Some might be my chart, some
my molding from life circumstances.