Part 24 (2/2)

Related to the Sumerian G.o.ddess Ninlil, Lady of the Air Who Gave Birth to the Moon, Lilith, Hand of Inanna (see story), is identified with the lily or lotus. The lily is the Great Mother's flower Yoni, which begets Herself and the world (see stories of Juno and Astarte). The sweeping s.e.xuality of Her Person characterizes the endless mysteries of growing things over which She once unquestionably ruled. Her powers, however, were politically unacceptable to the nomadic tribes who coveted the fields of Her farming peoples. The nomadic storytellers, therefore, invented a degrading biography for the Lady of the Moon.

Except inasmuch as Her image was collapsed into that of Lucifer, the G.o.ddess Lilith lost Her place entirely in the Judeo-Christian Bible. In both Eve and the serpent, biblical writers subverted images of the Creator G.o.ddess honored by earlier Middle Eastern creation myths. In Eve, they reduced the One Who is Complete to wife or the first man, subordinate and obedient, experiencing s.e.xuality for procreative purposes only. The snake, who possesses the secret of the Tree of Knowledge, is a disguised and diaboli zed version of the G.o.ddess Herself. And Eve's very rebellion hints of the wisdom of the Great Feminine.

Rabbinical writers, on the other hand, retained the Divine Lady in the form of the Night Hag in the mystical book of the Kabbalah (see story of the Shekina). They wrote Lilith Herself into the script as Adam's first wife. She refuses to do Adam's bidding, however, and flies away when he insists that She forego Her ancient position of pleasure and lie beneath him. While G.o.d creates Eve, Adam's second wife, in this story, Lilith takes the form of a She-Demon who spends Her evenings in the beds of dreaming men, milking them for nightly e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.e and making of their sperm a hundred new demons a day. Beautiful temptress She is, they tell us, with long waving hair and claws for feet, like a bird of prey (see story of Cerridwen).

It is easy to see Eve and Lilith as two Sisters, both degraded versions of the G.o.ddess who, split from each other, represent two halves of a once-sacred s.e.xual whole. Eve is the Sister of Pregnancy and Motherhood; Lilith is the Sister of Menstruation and Independence.

Integrated, They represent a body of wisdom that scorns the intellectualization of truth. Penelope Shuttle and Peter Redgrove have helped me to understand the connection of Eve and Lilith through their book, The Wise Wound: Menstruation and Everywoman.

I wrote Lilith's story as a kind of political cartoon, playing with the biblical creation myth's teaching that humans are to set themselves superior to the animals. Lilith, who can be represented by a juicy, saucy red apple, is the G.o.ddess for me who lauds the kind of knowing that builds no hierarchy.

The First Woman and the Moon In the beginning was the woman Lilith and the man Adam. They were wife and husband and lived in a garden called Eden. The garden was so green it rested the eyes like a cool cloth.

Its fruits were as many as the stars of the sky. Together Lilith and Adam grew to know the plants and animals they lived with and to lie together, quiet and joyful, under the whispering trees.

But one day Adam took an idea into his head.

”Lilith,” said Adam, ”let's think up a name for each of the animals.”

”I don't see a need for that, Adam. Seems like we're all just fine here without names,” said Lilith.

But Adam liked his new idea, and he began to spend whole days picking just the right sound for each creature. All day he paced and thought and named animals. Even at dinner he continued his project.

One day Adam said to Lilith, ”Lilith, have you ever noticed how big I am? Why, I'm way bigger than you. See?” Adam showed his muscles.

”And look how tall I am.”

Lilith looked quietly at Adam.

”Lilith, you know what my name is going to be?” said Adam.

”King. King. I'm king of this garden.”

”I don't like the sound of that, Adam,” said Lilith.

”It doesn't really matter if you like the sound, Lilith,” said Adam.

”I am the biggest and the strongest. So you've got to do what I say.”

”You know, Adam, there are other ways to measure bigness than in inches, and other ways to measure strength than in muscles,” said Lilith.

”Oh, come on, Lilith,” said Adam.

”I'm the king, and you're my queen.”

”That's not for me, Adam,” said Lilith.

”The way I see it is that we're all sisters and brothers in this garden. Each of us is as important as the other. n.o.body's king and n.o.body's queen.”

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