Lilith is one of the first vampyr’s and thought she was created she evolved into something more (a goddess) through her constant mating with other demons (Greek for guiding spirit, though Christians want to call them spawn of evil); taking there energy and power. Not too mention being created at the beginning by a Vampyr, learning from him, and taking from her mate who we are told is made in his image. She learns of her power and learns she is not the submitting type as Yahweh as well as her mate would want to believe a woman should be (typical males). She is then admired for her lust and power by other men as well as demons which provided her with more of what she needed. Lucifer and Lilith are lovers and have a similar dislike for Yahweh for his HATE of his own kind as well as those who refuse to bow down before him. <br> In the Kabbalah, Lilith was transformed into the Shekinah, the female form of God which dwells in man, (from shachan, schechinah, meaning to reside). The seed of the Tree grows in the Garden within, actualized by the Awakening of the Serpent Power. This is brought about by the Sacred Marriage. Female angels were often called wind spirits, and Christians called the Shekinah the Holy Ghost. The concept of female wind spirits who originally brought man spiritual inspiration and guidance, only to later become identified as evil spirits, passed from Mesopotamia into the surrounding cultures. When we examine some of these, we can see the echoes and transformations of Lilith in many different forms. Lilith was the female aspect of one of the night wind spirits which was originally associated with guarding the gateway between the spiritual and physical realms and were found on temple doorways. Lilith is also guide to the wisdom of immortality holding the Rings of Shem; these are the oldest symbols used to show one who has gained immortality by passing through the Underworld to gain the sacred wisdom of the Tree of Knowledge. She is the Goddess of Sex and (female) domination… <br> <br> <br> ***********************************<br> Queen of the demons is Lilith, long-haired and winged.She is supposed to<br> have been the first wife of Adam. She had been one of the wives of Sammael,<br> but of a wild, heroic and passionate nature she left her spouse and joined<br> Adam. From their union issued the demons or Shedim, who rode about in the<br> world as wicked spirits, persecute and plague men, and bring upon them<br> illness, disease, and other sufferings.<br> <br> Lilith, like Adam, had been created from the dust (Adamah) of the earth. But<br> as soon as she had joined Adam they began to quarrel, each refusing to be<br> subservient and Submissive to the other. "I am your lord and master," spoke<br> Adam, "and it is your duty to obey me." But Lilith replied: "We are both<br> equal, for we are both issued from dust (Adamah), and I will not be<br> submissive to you." And thus they quarrelled and none would give in. And<br> when Lilith saw this she spoke the Ineffable Name of the Creator and soared<br> up into the air. Thereupon Adam stood in prayer before the Creator and thus<br> he spake: " O Lord of the Universe, the woman Thou hast given me has fled<br> from me."<br> <br> And the Holy One, blessed be His name, sent at once three angels whose names<br> were Senoi, Sansenoi, and Sammangelof, to fetch and bring Lilith back to<br> Adam. He ordered them to tell her to return, and if he refused to obey then<br> a hundred of her offspring would die daily. The three afore-mentioned angels<br> followed Lilith, and they found her in the midst of the sea, on the mighty<br> waves (which were once to drown the Egyptians).<br> <br> They communicated to her the command of the Eternal, but she refused to<br> return. And the angels spake to this rebel, this she-demon: "We will drown<br> thee in the sea." But she made answer: "Know ye not that I have been created<br> for the purpose of weakening and punishing little children, infants and<br> babes. I have power over them from the day they are born until they are<br> eight days old if they are boys, and until the twentieth day if they are<br> girls." And when the three angels heard her speech they wished to drown her<br> by force, but she begged them to let her live, and they gave in. She swore<br> to them in the name of the living God that whenever she came and saw the<br> names or images or faces of these three angels, Senoi, Sansenoi, and<br> Sammangelof, upon an amulet or cameo in the room where there was an infant,<br> she would not touch it. But because she did not return to Adam, every day a<br> hundred of her own children or spirits and demons die.<br> <br> The legend of Lilith and the message of the three angels is found in several<br> sources of Rabbinical lore in some of which it is quoted from the Alphabetum<br> Siracidis.<br> <br> The book known as the Sefer Rasiel describes the formula to be written upon<br> amulets or cameos and to be placed in the rooms where there are new-born<br> babes. It refers to Lilith as the first Eve, and conjurers her in the name<br> of the three angels and the angel of the sea to whom she had sworn not to<br> harm the babes in whose rooms she found written on paper the names of the<br> three angels.3<br> <br> Lilith is thus a female night demon, and is also known under the name of<br> Meyalleleth or the howling one.<br> <br> The she-demon Makhlath (the dancer) and her daughter Agrath4 are two female<br> demons who live in strife with Lilith. Lilith is accompanied by four hundred<br> and eighty hosts of evil spirits and destroying angels, and she is<br> constantly howling. Makhlath is accompanied by four hundred and<br> seventy-eight hosts of evil spirits. She and her daughter Agrath, from the<br> Zend word Agra = beating, are in constant enmity with Lilith.<br> <br> Constant war is waged between them, and they meet on the day of atonement.<br> Whilst they are thus engaged in quarrel and strife, the prayers of Israel<br> ascend to Heaven, whilst the accusers are absent, being otherwise enaged.<br> <br> Agrath commands hosts of evil spirits and demons, and rides in a big<br> chariot. Her power is pararnount on Wednesdays and Saturdays, for on these<br> days Agrath, the daughter of Makhlath, roves about in the air accompanied by<br> eighteen myriads of evil spirits.<br> **********************************************<br> In an effort to explain inconsistencies in the Old Testament, there<br> developed in Jewish literature a complex interpretive system called the<br> midrash which attempts to reconcile biblical contradictions and bring new<br> meaning to the scriptural text.<br> <br> Employing both a philological method and often an ingenious imagination,<br> midrashic writings, which reached their height in the 2nd century CE,<br> influenced later Christian interpretations of the Bible. Inconsistencies in<br> the story of Genesis, especially the two separate accounts of creation,<br> received particular attention. Later, beginning in the 13th century CE, such<br> questions were also taken up in Jewish mystical literature known as the<br> Kabbalah.<br> <br> According to midrashic literature, Adam's first wife was not Eve but a woman<br> named Lilith, who was created in the first Genesis account. Only when Lilith<br> rebelled and abandoned Adam did God create Eve, in the second account, as a<br> replacement. In an important 13th century Kabbalah text, the Sefer ha-Zohar<br> ("The Book of Splendour") written by the Spaniard Moses de Leon (c.<br> 1240-1305), it is explained that:<br> <br> <br> At the same time Jehovah created Adam, he created a woman, Lilith, who like<br> Adam was taken from the earth. She was given to Adam as his wife. But there<br> was a dispute between them about a matter that when it came before the<br> judges had to be discussed behind closed doors. She spoke the unspeakable<br> name of Jehovah and vanished.<br> In the Alpha Betha of Ben Sira (Alphabetum Siracidis, or Sepher Ben Sira),<br> an anonymous collection of midrashic proverbs probably compiled in the 11th<br> century C.E., it is explained more explicitly that the conflict arose<br> because Adam, as a way of asserting his authority over Lilith, insisted that<br> she lie beneath him during sexual intercourse (23 A-B). Lilith, however,<br> considering herself to be Adam's equal, refused, and after pronouncing the<br> Ineffable Name (i.e. the magic name of God) flew off into the air.<br> <br> Adam, distraught and no doubt also angered by her insolent behaviour, wanted<br> her back. On Adam's request, God sent three angels, named Senoy, Sansenoy,<br> and Semangelof, who found her in the Red Sea. Despite the threat from the<br> three angels that if she didn't return to Adam one hundred of her sons would<br> die every day, she refused, claiming that she was created expressly to harm<br> newborn infants. However, she did swear that she would not harm any infant<br> wearing an amulet with the images and/or names of the three angels on it.<br> <br> At this point, the legend of Lilith as the "first Eve" merges with the<br> earlier legend of Sumero-Babylonian origin, dating from around 3,500 BCE, of<br> Lilith as a winged female demon who kills infants and endangers women in<br> childbirth. In this role, she was one of several mazakim or "harmful<br> spirits" known from incantation formulas preserved in Assyrian, Hebrew, and<br> Canaanite inscriptions intended to protect against them. As a female demon,<br> she is closely related to Lamashtu whose evilness included killing children,<br> drinking the blood of men, and eating their flesh. Lamashtu also caused<br> pregnant women to miscarry, disturbed sleep and brought nightmares.<br> <br> In turn, Lamshtu is like another demonized female called Lamia, a Libyan<br> serpent goddess, whose name is probably a Greek variant of Lamashtu. Like<br> Lamashtu, Lamia also killed children. In the guise of a beautiful woman, she<br> also seduced young men. In the Latin Vulgate Bible, Lamia is given as the<br> translation of the Hebrew Lilith (and in other translations it is given as<br> "screech owl" and "night monster").<br> <br> It needs to be remembered that these demonic "women" are essentially<br> personifications of unseen forces invented to account for otherwise<br> inexplicable events and phenomena which occur in the real world. Lilith,<br> Lamashtu, Lamia and other female demons like them are all associated with<br> the death of children and especially with the death of newborn infants.<br> <br> It may be easily imagined that they were held accountable for such things as<br> Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS, also called crib death, or cot death)<br> where an apparently healthy infant dies for no obvious reason. Cot death<br> occurs almost always during sleep at night and is the most common cause of<br> death of infants. Its cause still remains unknown.<br> <br> By inventing evil spirits like Lilith, Lamashtu, and Lamia, parents were not<br> only able to identify the enemy but also to know what they had to guard<br> against. Amulets with the names of the three angels were intended to protect<br> against the power of Lilith.<br> <br> Lilith also personified licentiousness and lust. In the Christian Middle<br> Ages she, or her female offspring, the lilim, became identified with<br> succubae (the female counterparts of incubi) who would copulate with men in<br> their sleep, causing them to have nocturnal emissions or "wet dreams."<br> <br> Again, Lilith and her kind serve as a way of accounting for an otherwise<br> inexplicable phenomenon among men. Today, 85 percent of all men experience<br> "wet dreams" (the ejaculation of sperm while asleep) at some time in their<br> lives, mostly during their teens and twenties and as often as once a month.<br> In the Middle Ages, celibate monks would attempt to guard against these<br> nocturnal visits by the lilith/succubus by sleeping with their hands crossed<br> over their genitals and holding a crucifix.<br> <br> Through the literature of the Kabbalah, Lilith became fixed in Jewish<br> demonology where her primary role is that of strangler of children and a<br> seducer of men. The Kabbalah further enhanced her demonic character by<br> making her the partner of Samael (i.e. Satan) and queen of the realm of the<br> forces of evil.<br> <br> In this guise, she appears as the antagonistic negative counterpart of the<br> Shekhinah ("Divine Presence"), the mother of the House of Israel. The Zohar<br> repeatedly contrasts Lilith the unholy whorish woman with the Shekhinah as<br> the holy, noble, and capable woman. In much the same way, Eve the<br> disobedient, lustful sinner is contrasted with the obedient and holy Virgin<br> Mary in Christian literature.<br> <br> Through her couplings with the devil (or with Adam, as his succubus), Lilith<br> gave birth to one hundred demonic children a day (the one hundred children<br> threatened with death by the three angels). In this way, Lilith was held<br> responsible for populating the world with evil.<br> <br> If you ask how Lilith herself, the first wife of Adam, became evil, the<br> answer lies in her insubordination to her husband Adam. It is her<br> independence from Adam, her position beyond the control of a male, that<br> makes her "evil."<br> <br> She is disobedient and like Eve, and indeed all women who are willful, she<br> is perceived as posing a constant threat to the divinely ordered state of<br> affairs defined by men.<br> <br> Lilith is represented as a powerfully sexual woman against whom men and<br> babies felt they had few defenses and, except for a few amulets, little<br> protection. Much more so than Eve, Lilith is the personification female<br> sexuality.<br> <br> Her legend serves to demonstrate how, when unchecked, female sexuality is<br> disruptive and destructive. Lilith highlights how women, beginning with Eve,<br> use their sexuality to seduce men. She provides thereby a necessary sexual<br> dimension, which is otherwise lacking, to the Genesis story which, when read<br> in literal terms, portrays Eve not as some wicked femme fatale but as a<br> naive and largely sexless fool. Only as a Lilith-like character could Eve be<br> seen as a calculating, evil, seductress.<br> <br> Lilith is referred to only once in the Old Testament. In the Darby<br> translation of Isaiah 34:14 the original Hebrew word is rendered as<br> "lilith"; according to Isaiah, when God's vengeance has turned the land into<br> a wilderness, "there shall the beasts of the desert meet with the jackals,<br> and the wild goat shall cry to his fellow; the lilith also shall settle<br> there, and find for herself a place of rest." The same word is translated<br> elsewhere, however, as "screech owl, "night creatures," "night monsters,"<br> and "night hag."<br> <br> Although it has been suggested that the association with night stems from a<br> similarity between the Sumero-Babylonian demon Lilitu and the Hebrew word<br> laylah meaning "night," Lilith nonetheless seems to have been otherwise<br> associated with darkness and night as a time of fear, vulnerability, and<br> evil.<br> <br> In her demonized form, Lilith is a frightening and threatening creature.<br> Much more so than Eve, she personifies the real (sexual) power women<br> exercise over men.<br> <br> She represents the deeper, darker fear men have of women and female<br> sexuality. Inasmuch as female sexuality, as a result of this fear, has been<br> repressed and subjected to the severest controls in Western patriarchal<br> society, so too has the figure of Lilith been kept hidden.<br> <br> However, she lurks as a powerful unidentified presence, an unspoken name, in<br> the minds of biblical commentators for whom Eve and Lilith become<br> inextricably intertwined and blended into one person. Importantly, it is<br> this Eve/Lilith amalgam which is used to identify women as the true source<br> of evil in the world.<br> <br> In the Apocryphal Testament of Reuben (one of the Testaments of the Twelve<br> Patriarchs, ostensibly the twelve sons of Jacob), for example, it is<br> explained that:<br> <br> <br> Women are evil, my children: because they have no power or strength to stand<br> up against man, they use wiles and try to ensnare him by their charms; and<br> man, whom woman cannot subdue by strength, she subdues by guile.<br> (Testament of Reuben: V, 1-2, 5)<br> <br> References to Lilith in the Talmud describes her as a night demon with long<br> hair (B. Erubin 100b) and as having a human likeness but with wings (B.<br> Nidda 24b). In Rabbi Isaac ben Jacob ha-Kohen's "Treatise on the Emanations<br> on the Left," written in Spain in the 13th century, she is described as<br> having the form of a beautiful woman from her head to her waist, and<br> "burning fire" from her waist down. Elsewhere, Rabbi Isaac equates her with<br> the primordial serpent Leviathan.<br> <br> A Babylonian terra-cotta relief dated to around 2000 BCE in the collection<br> of Colonel Norman Corville has been identified as a representation of Lilith<br> (the identification has been questioned by a number of scholars). The relief<br> shows a nude woman with wings and a bird's taloned feet. She wears a hat<br> composed of four pairs of horns and holds in each upraised hand a combined<br> ring and rod (similar to an Egyptian shen ring amulet). She stands on two<br> reclining lions and is flanked by owls.<br> <br> Despite the fact that she is not officially recognized in the Christian<br> tradition, in the Late Middle Ages she is occasionally identified with the<br> serpent in Genesis 3 and shown accordingly with a woman's head and torso.<br> For example, the bare-breasted woman with a snake's lower parts posed<br> seductively in the branches of the tree between Adam and Eve in the scene of<br> the temptation carved into the base of the trumeau in the left doorway of<br> the West façade of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris has been identified<br> as Lilith.<br> <br> <a href="http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnRlbXBsZXV2dXAub3Jn">Temple United Vampyre Unitarian Pagan Web Site</a> <br> <br> <a href="http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnRlbXBsZXV2dXAub3Jn">..<img src="http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p180/chrstvampyre/Temple%20United%20Vampyre%20Unitarian%20Pagan/HopefullyUVUPankhShows.jpg"; border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a> <br> <br> <br> <br> --------------------------------------------------------------------