Evil Women

Adam’s first wife wasn’t Eve.

Some say Adam’s first wife was Lilith. And Lilith was evil, they say.

This is her story.

* * *

Lilith is very much pissed off with Adam. She leaves the common compound (some call it Eden) allocated to them by God the Almighty. She looks for other opportunities and while doing so, God requests a one-on-one to discuss things. I imagine the conversation going along those lines.

* * *

God the Almighty: Lilith, what is going on, please? I expect you to be back in the compound with Adam ASAP.

Lilith: No.

God the Almighty: But why on earth would you not go back to your loving husband? He is worried about you, you know?

Lilith: He is not worried about me. He is annoyed that I left in the first place. He doesn’t love me.

God the Almighty: Come on, those are strong words. He is your husband and he, of course, loves you!

Lilith: That is so not true. He doesn’t love me. He just always wants to be better than me.

God the Almighty: Really?

Lilith: Yes. And he always wants to decide what to do. This is highly irritating.

God the Almighty: We can surely figure out something. We can work on it. But for now, please return to Adam asap.

Lilith: No.

God the Almighty (sighs): You are so stubborn. This is extremely disappointing and not very nice towards Adam.

Lilith (pouts): You are always on his side! (frustrated puff) Why are you always on his side? You made us both of the same lump of earth. Adam and I, we are on par. We are equals! We can command the same rights and pleasures.

God the Almighty: Now, now, calm down, please! Yes, Adam and you have been made of the same material. True. Yet, I feel for the guy. He is lonely and needs support. He requires a playmate.

Lilith: Fine. I need a partner, too. But why do you always think of Adam in the first place? It is so annoying. Just to be clear, I will not succumb to Adam’s wishes. He is a lousy lover and always wants to be on top. That is an issue. I won’t have it. Adam is inconsiderate and boring.

God the Almighty (soothing voice): Alright. Alright. I hear you. I am short of time now to speak any further. I have a thing in the Sinai Desert going on I urgently have to attend. Let’s park this conversation and circle back to it later. Shall we say in two weeks’ time?

Lilith: Fine.

God the Almighty: Great.

* * *

Lilith never turned up to the next tête-à-tête with God. Instead, she was directing her flight towards the Red Sea where she indulged in all sort of debauchery with lascivious demons.

Exasperated by Lilith’s disobedience and Adam’s incessant complaints, God then sends out a troupe of his angels to arrange for Lilith’s return to Adam. The three angels Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangeloph (I will call them SeSaSe for easier reading) find Lilith in a cave bearing children from her previous demonic encounters. SeSaSe are surprised by the speed in which Lilith gives birth. More than a hundred little demon Lilith look-alikes are born a day!

SeSaSe demand immediate return to Adam and their garden compound. Lilith refuses.

SeSaSe threaten to drown her, yet Lilith negotiates. It was concluded that Lilith didn’t need to return to Adam. As reprisal and to please the unhappy Adam, Lilith is punished by having one hundred of her demon offspring perish every day.

In retaliation (some whisper by hush-hush agreement with God), Lilith starts to kill newborns at night-time. Boys are at risk of Lilith’s wrath for eight days after birth, until circumcised, and baby girls need to fear Lilith for an extended period of twenty days. Lilith makes one exception: She refrains from taking the infant’s life if they wear angelic amulets. And so SeSaSe become the three guardian angels tasked with defending newborns from Lilith’s demonic fury.

* * *

The rest of the story is in public domain.

After learning that Lilith wouldn’t return, God gave in to Adam’s nagging and provided a new playmate. To avoid further misunderstandings about Adam’s pole position, Eve was made out of Adam’s rib.

This is the Lilith version of the medieval Hebrew text “Alphabet of Ben Sira”. Some regard its narrative a satire ridiculing established religions and making Lilith a controversial figure within Jewish folklore.

Throughout centuries, Lilith is a polarising figure and historical religious records offer different versions. Where did Lilith come from?

* * *

LILITH’S ORIGINS

Lilith appears 3000 years ago in Mesopotamian mythology as The Lilitu, a conglomerate of evil storm spirits preying upon women and children.

Later accounts transform those wicked wind creatures into night demons, into so called succubi. Those female-looking supernatural beings appear in men’s dreams to seduce them. Reason being is that a succubus needs semen to survive and so a harmful bond to the man’s detriment is formed.

Other sources of the time depict Lilitu as one woman. Beautiful and young, yet unable to conceive children. This Lilitu led men astray and worked as prostitute for the ancient deity Inanna, the goddess of love, procreation and (interesting combination!) war.

Lilith is also associated with the Mesopotamian demi-goddess Lamashtu (translated: “she who erases”), the epitome of evil. Lamatsu would prey on women during childbirth, steal their newborns while breastfeeding, and then slay the babies to eat their flesh.

* * *

LILITH’S ALTER EGOS

Further down the line, many cultures tell the legend of Lilith in their very own way. Those are my favourite versions.

LILITH & GAIA

Gaia, it is said, is no product of reproduction. Gaia self-creates. Gaia forms life out of chaos which is the great void without any purpose or shape. Gaia is life herself. Gaia, known as Mother Earth, is the worshipped original goddess. And some believe Lilith and Gaia are the same myths as both were the first women on earth.

And Gaia isn’t exactly the picture of innocence. Gaia firstly creates offspring with Uranos, the Sky. Uranos is said to be both her son and her husband. Gaia gives birth to the Cyclops, strong one-eyed giants, and the twelve Titans. And it is Gaia who hands her Titan son Kronos the lethal iron weapon to kill his father and Gaia’s husband Uranos.

Not being satisfied enough of bloodshed, Gaia then encourages her sons, the Titans, to rebel against her grandson Zeus who had quite different ideas how to treat family (sending them to the underworld basically). Gaia is carnage in response to insubordination against her plans.

LILITH & CHRISTIANITY

Lilith is absent in the bible. It is believed that her chaotic drive for independence wasn’t helping the company directive of women being inferior to men.

LILITH & JAPAN

In Japan, it is said that a Hone-onna, a skeletal woman decorated with flowers, would visit the house of a man she loved when she was still alive. She would disguise herself as a beautiful woman and trick men into having sex with her whilst she sapped their life force.

LILITH & VAMPIRES

Lilith is often associated with Greek mythology creature Empusa, a shape-shifting bloodsuckeress and beautiful daughter of a witchcraft deity. Alluring redhead Empusa seduced young men, feasted on their blood as they slept and then ate their flesh.

Suggested as root of early vampiric myths, Lilith found her way into the tales of vampires and is cited as the mother of monsters, vampires and witches.

In modern comics, Lilith Drake is the powerful daughter of Dracula. She appears as a tall and strikingly beautiful woman with long black hair. Dressed in a sexy bodysuit with cape and wearing a bat-like coronet, Lilith can shapeshift and can command all sorts of wild animals. Although drinking blood, she is not dependent upon it for sustenance.

LILITH & GOETHE

At the beginning of the 19th century, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe reworks a classic German legend as a tragic play known as “Faust”. In a dialogue between the drama’s protagonist Faust and demon Mephisto, Lilith is introduced as gorgeous and dangerous first wife of Adam. Goethe draws upon the ancient young-man-eating myth of Lilith and displays her with ensnaring sexuality.

LILITH & THE PRE-RAPHS

Her appearance in “Faust” seems one of the first records of “modern” literary mention of Lilith. And due to Faust’s popularity, this version of Lilith continues to inspire the creative community of the 19th century. Famous example being the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s uber-famous painting of a cool and headstrong femme fatale called “Lady Lilith”.

LILITH & ROBERT BROWNING

Victorian poet Robert Browning, darling husband of writer Elizabeth Barrett, saw things differently and imagined Lilith and Eve sitting together on either side of Adam. In his poem “Adam, Lilith and Eve”, Browning re-imagines the two women as partners in crime. Threatened with death, Eve admits that she never loved Adam while Lilith confesses that she always loved Adam. A complicated emotional love story rather than a gory tale.

LILITH & FEMINISM

The 20th century saw yet another reinvention of Lilith. With the advent of the second wave feminism movement, the figure of Lilith regained prominence in the Western World.

In her 1970’s writing “The Coming of Lilith”, author Judith Plaskow conceives a freshly interpreted identity for Lilith altogether. There, Lilith is the unfortunate victim of a defamation campaign. After Lilith has fled their garden, Adam spreads rumours about Lilith being a fearsome and ruthless demoness. Unexpectedly, Eve and Lilith meet outside the garden and talk. The two women form a bond. They get ready to both return to the garden and rebuild it together.

Taking a stand on women’s discrimination and demanding equality between the genders, Lilith re-emerges as feminist icon representing rebellion and liberation.

* * *

THE STORY OF EVIL WOMEN

Why do we tell those stories through centuries?

Stories are told to shape perception, to influence opinion and to set expectations what to demand or forgo. Stories are told to make you accept or challenge who is holding sway over our decisions and existence. And sometimes, it’s just to make you choose one soft drink brand over the other.

* * *

Why do I tell the story of evil women?

It is to remind us that all narrative is perspective. Lilith’s myth and meaning have been reinvented over and over: Originated in Mesopotamia as demonic night creature. Chosen for a bawdy Adam & Eve parody of a medieval anarchist scholar. Re-styled into a secretly lovesick character by a Victorian poet. Re-branded in the 20th century to a rebellious patriarchy-fighting icon of women’s empowerment.

* * *

Lilith’s story is a reminder that power is a fluid concept.

Power can shift. Standards are not static. Rules are malleable. Beliefs are social constructs.

Lilith’s ever evolving myth is a symbol of creating change. It is ultimately an invite to re-imagine power.