Lily
(See also Flowers,
Plants and Herbs)
According to ancient Sumerian history, Lilith is a wind spirit of the great Goddess Ninlil, Queen of Heaven, Lady of the Air, and Mother of the Moon. Ninlil bestowed the divine right of rulership in ancient Sumeria.
Lilith's flower was the Lily and the magical Lotus. In the beginning she represented the virgin (belonging to no man) aspect of the Triple Goddess. She stood upon the protection of lions and was Lady of the Beasts. The wisdom of the night Screech Owl was her companion. She is the instinctive soul of the living world.
As patriarchy took over the vast power of the Goddess, Lilith became legend in a dark fashion, reviled as a destroyer and seducer of men. Even as Inanna gave up the power of the Bird and Snake Goddess, so too did the symbol of a woman's power become the bed and the throne. Throughout history Lilith was the one who would not submit. Passed down from Sumeria, the Hittite Empire, Babylon to the Semitic peoples, she became the archetype of the dangerous woman who refused submission. She was vilified as Harlot, Serpent, Blood Sucker, Impure Female, Hag, Witch and Enchantress. Yet, in the beginning her epitaph was that of 'Beautiful Maiden'.
The Talmud, Zohar, and other Hebrew texts have centered upon Lilith as the mother of demons, beginning with her rejection of Adam in the Garden of Eden. Genesis holds 2 tales of creation, the first in Genesis 1 tell that male and female were created simultaneously out from the older view of Mother Earth and Father Sky. This first woman in Hebrew tradition is held as Lilith. She demanded equality, and to co-rule. She refused submission sexually, went to the center of the Garden and spoke the 'Ineffable Name of God', protecting her and allowing her to depart Eden. Adam complained.
God sent 3 angels; Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof with an ultimatum that she return or 100 of her children would die each day. She accepted this rather than be subjugated. Thus the first woman created equal as a free spirit was condemned to survive in legend as the harlot, mating with demons and devils, birthing monsters.Rage and grief were hers. (This brought home the threat to any woman who might think of defying male authority.) After a time of grief Lilith made love to the Water Elementals bringing forth the 'sea of the unconsciousness which arises from the depths of feminine wisdom in our psyche'.
By the 19th Century Lilith became the archetype of the femme fatale, who men feared and loved. She who had the power to destroy her lovers or prompt him to a new awareness of Life.
From: Lilith;
Child of Light, Daughter of Darkness
Songs referenced:
Taxi Ride