There’s a lot of different ideas of what it means to work with Lilith. I find that mine is perhaps one of the least commonly talked about, and the most strongly reacted to.
The current prevailing wind, which is understandable in light of the fact that most proponents are former Christians who are uncomfortable with challenging representations of the feminine, is the neopagan tendency to want to transform Lilith in a benign fertility goddess, espousing a sort of pliable, commercially acceptable pseudo-feminism. Generally, this rests solely on the first half of the Ben Sira story (in which Lilith leaves Adam for his misogyny), and proclaims the the second half (in which Lilith goes on to propagate demons) and the entirety of her remaining 5-thousand-year mythology is simply slander, or just pretends it doesn’t even exist.
I tend to argue against this whenever I see it — that there is no mythological or anthropological evidence for this interpretation of Lilith, and that in trying to white-wash her into this narrative, we rob ourselves of the chance to really challenge ourselves philosophically or spiritually. It is, in itself, a type of misogyny, despite that this camp feigns feminism as its basis — refusing to reckon with the feminine in any form but that which makes us most comfortable.
But when I say this, I am inevitable asked this question: “So she’s just an evil demon to you, then?”
Let’s unpack that.
I think it is first important to note that I simply don’t adhere to Abrahamic mythology. I am fairly educated about Lilith’s Abrahamic mythology, having studied her as long as I have, but it’s not integral to my personal perception of her.
I don’t see her as the first woman because I don’t see Yahweh as the creator of humans/all-god, and indeed, Lilith predates Yahweh by millenia, so this doesn’t make much sense to me.
I also don’t see her as falling into the larger narrative of Satanism because, well, if I don’t give much importance to Yahweh, then why would I give much importance to Satan? After all, Satan is his servant.
For me, Lilith remains in her pagan, Sumerian context. She is well-traveled and has an illustrious mythological career, all of which I find fascinating and think has some value, but it is not the basis of how I see her, or how I work with her.
To me, Lilith is the surviving heir of Lamashtu.
Lamashtu is a goddess who is often described as simultaneously a demon, and she has a number of unique traits.
She is, for a start, the only deity in the Sumerian pantheon outside the control of any form of hierarchy, either divine or human.
Other deities had temples, and this was quite important in Sumer. Temples were said to be the gods’ homes, in which they relied on humans to provision them appropriately, and in return, agreed to grant favors.
Lamashtu had no temple and signed no such contract.
Other deities were generally beholden to a higher-up deities, particularly if they wanted to do anything “harmful” to humans.
Lamashtu asked no permission and respected no such order.
It is for this reason she was considered particularly dangerous. But it is also for this reason that she symbolized the inevitable truth of void.
In the Atra-Hasis, it describes Sumer’s version of the flood story, in which the civilization is wiped out to stop overpopulated humans from destroying the land with their carelessness.
And in the aftermath, Lamashtu (here called Pasittu, one of her several names) takes up the mantle of enforcer to prevent such a thing from happening again. She is the death-drive preventing humans from reaching such levels of destruction. And naturally, this force would be feminine, since the feminine is the ultimate arbiter of birth. To achieve this, she thwarts human reproduction, and spreads disease when human quarters get too crowded.
Of course, this made her exceptionally unpopular, and her moniker as not just a goddess, but also a demon, is well-earned.
But does this make her “evil”?
I suppose if your only concern is your immediate material wants, perhaps.
But if you have broader concerns, this moral designation suddenly becomes more questionable.
What is inherently “good” about humans pillaging the earth as suits them? What is “evil” about the universe attempting to keep us in some sort of harmony, when we refuse to respect it ourselves?
Humans are short-sighted. The hatred of Lamashtu lives on in the denial of climate change.
And one of Lamashtu’s aspects, Ardat Lili, then Lilitu, and now Lilith, survives with many of her same traits, same inevitable march towards void, and her same indomitable rejection of exchange or hierarchy, but a bit closer to humanity. The bridge between a cosmic void, and our daily experiences.
So yes, Lilith is a demon in my eyes, given that “demon” generally means nothing other than “things that scare people” or “things that the dominant religious current dislikes.” Yes, certainly Lilith is a demon. Certainly she is death-oriented, destructive, and incorrigible.
Lilith is also a force of great importance and meaning — regardless of whether she acquiesces to human comfort and short-sighted desires. And by facing that discomfort honestly, I grow far more as a person than I ever would have staying comfortably within the limits of the unthreatening, controlled version of the divine feminine.
That is what it means to me to work with Lilith. Especially in times like these.
I have begun to view demon as more an adjective than a noun these days. The word has been misused and changed so many times.
I have always known her as a demon. A beautiful wonderful terrifying demon that I absolutely adore and love unconditionally.
Lilith is many things though, many names, many forms, many aspects. She can be as angelic as she can demonic. As kind as she can cruel, and as gentle and serene as she can vicious and torrentous.
She is of the void, she is of nature, the waters from which all life came and must return. All encompassing. Impossible to box in.
She can not be conformed or categorized with simple human language. And there’s no point trying to.
At least to me. Since I won’t dictate what others choose to believe, or tell them how or why she came to them, and what her purpose is in thier life.
I would just assume that those that see her as terrifying and cold all the time, must need her to show them that side of her.
But I feel very safe with her. I gave my daughter her name for her middle name when she was born. Talk about tempting fate right?
I have never viewed her as a threat to my child. And I know her very well.
And I am a male in body, and while she certainly takes, I also give. And I am no slave gripping on illusion to become a languid husk. I am a warrior, and she is my Matron.
Just my thoughts.
Your thoughts are much appreciated and so well-stated, as always.
I’m very new to all this and have only just come into contact with Lilith two nights ago, but I realise now that I’ve been aligned to her for a while without realising it.
This conscious connection has come about via Hecate who first contacted me.
I’m like you in that I annoy people because I think about things rather than get into little groups and all pat each other on the back.
Lilith’s origin story (the being ejected from the garden) makes no sense when you consider the human story before the patriarchal society came to be.
So if you believe that origin story (which most people seem to do), then you are buying into the patriarchal concept that she’s opposed to. It would either be that she was created during the patriarchal reign because of the oppresion of the feminine ,which would mean that she’s only a few thousand years old. It would also mean that she was created from the collective rejected parts of the feminine psyche, like a collective shadow.
But it’s more likely that she’s older and that story of her creation is a religious control mechanism, designed to keep feminine power under control.
I tried talking about climate change in the YouTube comments on a video about Hecate and Lilith, where it was suggested that the feminine was returning, taking down the patriarchy and bringing a new age and some kind of utopia, but people were more interested in making cooing sounds to one another.
It frustrates me that the new age (modern witchcraft included) view is basically Christianity with a facelift.
My thoughts are that any new age will follow great destruction and that we are all not only dependent on the patriarchal society but a part of it.
If you look honesty at what sustains your life, how food makes it to your table. Fossil fuels are keeping most of us alive. The end of the patriarchy is the death of millions and millions of people.
I can’t see us collectively changing direction and I think that at this stage this is the most likely outcome, brought on by climate change, war and fuel shortages.
Not sure why people are expecting a peaceful death of the current age and easy transition to the next.
We can individually change our paths and ease our reliance on this dysfunctional system but even then there are no guarantees of making a transition.
This is where you have to accept death.
My feeling is that these darker feminine beings would rather people change than be destroyed but at the end of the day it’s out of their hands.
This is a great comment. Powerful feminine energy is so much older than Eden.
I’ve spent a handful of days now reading much of the material from your website and this article has been the most inspiring. It helped me link together a lot of the thoughts and feelings I have as I journey through further understanding. Thank you for sharing.