Lilith





"Lilith has been described as a demon and as goddess-Eve's shadow side and Eve's feminine side. She is said to have preceded Eve as the defiant first Mrs. Adam, leaving after refusing to submit to him--specifically to lay under him for sex. She has been used as a tool of patriarchy and to justify male ascendancy - as in :"Wives obey your husbands or get out of town." Likewise, she has been used by feminists as a tool of liberation-as in: "I will not submit to your authority just because you're a man...

Lilith lurks in the shadows of women's religious history as a mysterious and presence--haunting the minds of biblical commentators and those who comb through ancient texts looking for names that have l's....Since men have had the pen for the last 6000 years, Lilith seems to personify the deep fear they have of women, particularly their unbridled sexuality."  ~Mary Faulker, Women's Spirituality: Power and Grace

Painting by Elisabeth Slettness

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