Some of you folks have probably heard other Devil worshipers talking about a certain girl named Lilith. This sermon is dedicated to those of you who don't know who Lilith is, but would like to.
Lilith is a very famous demoness who first appeared in ancient Akkadian mythology. Her name is derived from the Proto-Semitic root "LYL," which literally means "night." She was a female spirit that roamed the nighttime wilderness, and who was believed to harm newborn children. In some cases, it was claimed that she was the vengeful ghost of a woman who had died in childbirth. In Akkadian myth, she was called Kiskil-lilla, the "dark maid."
About a millennium later, a variety of female vampire-like spirits called the Lilu are mentioned in Babylonian demonology. Like Kiskil-lilla, these entities were associated with the deaths of children and pregnant women during childbirth. They were further linked with the screech owl, a nocturnal bird of prey that the ancients imagined to be a blood-drinking spirit.
The ancient Greeks also believed in the existence of female vampire spirits whom they perceived as dangerous to children. These were called the Lamiae, and there is no doubt that stories of both these creatures and the Lilu influenced the development of similar figures - the Lilin - in later Jewish folklore.
Lilith is only mentioned in the Bible once, in Isaiah 34:14:
Wildcats shall meet with hyenas, goat-demons shall call to each other; there too Lilith shall repose, and find a place to rest.
But during the medieval era, an anonymous book of Jewish folklore entitled The Alphabet of Ben-Sira first appeared, and it is from this book that most modern views of Lilith are derived. Here, it is said that Lilith was the first woman ever created by Jehovah, long before Eve. Like Adam, She was created from the mud, and She became his first wife. For a while, the two of them were happy together in the Garden of Eden, but Lilith eventually got tired of always having sex in the missionary position. Since She had been created the very same way as Adam, She figured that She was his equal and She ought to be able to sit on top for once. But Adam refused to see the reason in this, and demanded that She be completely subservient to him.
Lilith refused to be Adam's sex slave, so She just got up and left the Garden of Eden - by Her own free will. Out in the dark wilderness, She came across the Prince of Darkness and other demonic entities, and She ended up sleeping with all of them. (Presumably, Ol' Snakey had no qualms about letting the woman be on top.)
From this union, Lilith gave birth to all of the Lilin, the Jewish equivalents to Lilu and Lamiae. And as punishment for Her desertion of Adam, Jehovah dictated that one hundred of Her demonic children would die every day.
As the medieval era passed into the post-Reformation era, the emphasis in Lilith's story began to shift from explanations for childbirth problems to explanations for nocturnal emission among adult males. In European Christian folklore, the Lilu/Lamiae/Lilin became known as succubi, with Lilith as their Queen of course. The succubi (singular: succubus) were female demons who would "rape" adult Christian men in their sleep at night and steal their semen.
And of course, Lilith became the one demoness who was most often called the "Bride of Satan." Out of all the female demons that populated the Christian world, Lilith was the one who was most often thought to be the Prince of Darkness' true love - which would make Her the Princess of Hell.
In the latter half of the twentieth century, Lilith was redefined by Jewish feminists as the archetypal "free woman." It seemed to them that Lilith was more of a heroine than a monster, for in Jewish myth She was the very first woman in history to have claimed equality with a man. This association soon spread among Neopagan and secular feminists to the point where Lilith is most usually recognized today - and in some cases, even worshiped - as a beneficient goddess by many people. There is even a music festival called "The Lilith Fair" which is essentially a celebration of independent women in music.
Some people even go so far as to claim that She has always been a goddess and that She only became "demonized" by the ancient patriarchies - but there is absolutely no archaeological evidence to support this. The evidence indicates that Lilith is an example of just the opposite; She was a demon who became "un-demonized" and redefined as a goddess.
I think the ancient association of Lilith with the deaths of newborn babies is actually quite relevant when we compare this to both Her later role in Jewish folklore and Her present-day role in Jewish and Neopagan feminism. For me, the idea that Lilith had sex with demons after leaving Adam, only to have a hundred of Her children die each day, essentially symbolizes the practices of contraception and abortion.
Think about it. According to Ben-Sira, Lilith gets to have sex all the time. Every single day. She can have absolutely any man that She wants. She doesn't even have to seduce him, She can just take him while he sleeps at night. But She doesn't have to worry about raising a billion little munchkins. The man doesn't either - because his semen is stolen by the succubus, rather than ejaculated into a womb. With Lilith, childlessness is a recurring theme.
Certainly Lilith is praised today by many women who are feminists, lesbians, and/or musicians. She is praised by women who value their right to both prevent and terminate pregnancies. In today's day and age, Lilith may perhaps be appropriately called "The Goddess of contraception, abortion, sodomy, and sexual equality." Each of these things have been condemned as evil and "against God" in ages past; but they have each become acceptable and commonplace - for the most part - in twenty-first century Western culture. Perhaps Lilith the demoness became Lilith the goddess in today's world because today's world is more agreeable with Her nature than the ancient one was.
The ancient world had no shortage of sexy fertility goddesses who encouraged their worshipers to have wild animal sex. But all of these goddesses were invoked for fertility - i.e., in the interest of conceiving and giving birth to children. In that She has always been associated with sex and fornication, Lilith is not all that different from such fertility goddesses. But She is different in one very important way: Her influence was not considered to be very lucky if you expected to conceive a child during sex. In fact, we might call Lilith an infertility goddess - a spirit who encourages Her worshipers to have wild animal sex strictly for pleasure and never for procreation!
Given this context, it is very easy to understand why even places like ancient Babylon, which were known for their blatantly sexual fertility cults, would hate and fear someone like Lilith. Her attitude toward sex - i.e., for pleasure only - was just too blasphemous for them to handle. But here in the twenty-first century, it's become a sacred rule of thumb.
Most people in today's world want to be able to have sex without worrying about making any babies. Perhaps this is because in ancient times, a culture depended upon large numbers of offspring in order to survive. But in modern times, the Earth is vastly overpopulated. We don't need to reproduce like we did when we were still using sundials to tell the time. And perhaps this is why Lilith has received such popular sympathy in modern Western culture. Just as Set is the "Lord of this world," perhaps Lilith is truly the Lady of this age.
There are at least four ways of telling the two of them apart from each other:
(1) Lilith has really only had one name throughout the history of Her manifestations (or rather, all of Her names come from the same root, "LYL"). Set, in contrast, has had more applicable names and titles than you can easily shake a hoof at.
(2) Lilith deals more specifically and immediately with the sphere of human sexual relationships, while Set deals more with basic human nature in general.
(3) Lilith would appear to only ever manifest as a feminine energy, while the Devil has been known to manifest under both masculine and feminine forms.
(4) There's just something about Lilith that grants her a higher rate of acceptability even within close-minded circles, while Satan is often considered taboo even within the most open-minded circles.
I first met Lilith for myself during the autumn of 1999. It was a time in my life when I was beginning to explore the feminine side of Satan. You see, the Dark One revealed Himself to me as Tiamat at this time, and of course Tiamat was viewed as a feminine principle in Sumer and Babylon. Because of this personal revelation, I felt driven to learn all I possibly could about ancient goddess worship.
In books like When God Was a Woman by Merlin Stone - which was perhaps the most important book I was reading at this time - the details about ancient goddess worship are often viewed through the rose-tinted glasses of modern feminism. Nevertheless, my interest in celebrating the divine female led me to invoke the spirit of Lilith one night. On that unforgettable evening, I learned that there really is something to those old medieval tales about close encounters with succubi after all.
Since then, Lilith has been an ever-present force in my life. She has blessed me in many ways, most particularly in the development of a friendship that I hold very dear. This friendship is with a woman who I swear is the closest thing to a human incarnation of Lilith that there will ever be. She is not even a believer, but just like Lilith, she is independent, powerful, and has a very commanding presence. She takes life by the throat and takes what she wants from it. She knows how to get what she desires, and she wastes no time. She will never be subservient to any man (or to any other woman, for that matter). Her Lilithian personality is one that I admire very strongly - and I wish that all women everywhere could be just like her.
From my own experiences with Her, I view Lilith as being one of the many angels (i.e., Greek for "messengers") who are in the Devil's service, as discussed in my first sermon. But She is not just any old angel. I see Her as Set's second-in-command - the Devil's Archangel. She is the Emissary of Set, who is Princess of Hell and Goddess of this age. My relationship with Her is secondary to the one I have with Set Himself, but I nevertheless consider it to be very meaningful and important. Lilith worship is just as much a part of my Satanism as Devil worship. And with that in mind, I say hail Lady Lilith!