[Exit, Pursued By A Sloth]

unreconstructedfangirl:

Encyclopedia Mythica entry on Lilith

My favourite part:

Adam tried to make Lilith lie beneath him during sexual intercourse. Lilith would not meet this demand of male dominance. She cursed Adam and hurried to her home by the Red Sea.

Adam complained to God who then sent three angels, Sanvi, Sansanvi and Semangelaf, to bring Lilith back to Eden. Lilith rebuffed the angels by cursing them. While by the Red Sea Lilith became a lover to demons and producing 100 babies a day. The angels said that God would take these demon children away from her unless she returned to Adam. When she did not return, she was punished accordingly. And, God also gave Adam the docile Eve.

Just FYI, the Burney Relief (this image) is no longer considered to be a depiction of Lilith by scholars. The claim it was came a mistranslation of the Epic of Gilgamesh involving owls (Lilith can mean screech-owl, yadda yadda yadda, it’s a whole big long boring owl story). It’s more than likely Inanna/Ishtar, the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war and fertility/sex/love, the original Bad-Ass Bitch. Lions were her spirit animal (literally), and the little Devo hat she’s wearing is very typical of Ishtar. Don’t her bird-feet remind you of of a certain maenad?

And Lilith didn’t just curse Adam, she said the ineffable name of God to escape his attempting to force the issue of sexual dominance. Then when the angels came, she basically got into an argument with God, and won. She was not dragged back to Adam as God originally demanded. The woman bargained with God. She was left free, though a hundred of her demon babies were killed each day, and she couldn’t kill any human babies that bore the mark of the three angels. But she was free.

And Eve wasn’t completely docile, she did rather notoriously exercise her free will and all. It’s my own personal head canon that sometimes Eve would sneak off and join Lilith for some beers at the local pub, where they would rail against the patriarchy and make fun of Adam. “Oh, I just jizzed in my pants while I was sleeping. My old girlfriend must have snuck in and whacked me off in my sleep! Demons! I’m not masturbating it’s DEMONS!”

In Gnostic tradition, Eve was not considered subservient to Adam. She lifted him off the ground and allowed him to walk when all he could do was crawl (she also might have been the Earthly manifestation of a supernatural entity called Sophia Zoe). The Authorities (ahem), a group of supernatural, sorta demonic middle-men between God and mankind, got pissed off when she did that, as she became a threat to them. So they came to the garden to rape and defile her, and she laughed and said NOPE and her soul hid in the tree of knowledge. She left a dopple of herself with Adam. Confused, the Authorities ended up defiling each other and the faux Eve (possibly impregnating her), but they altered Adam’s memory into believing that the woman who once saved him and lifted him up off the ground was actually his inferior, and was created from his rib. The Serpent, who was either a manifestation of the true Eve or acting on her behalf, cajoles Dopple Eve to eat the fruit so that she might be made whole again. Dopple Eve and True Eve (Sophia Zoe, maybe?) are separate, but not. And everyone ends up believing the Authorities lie.

And yes, I see the parallels with Sookie (Eve, fractured by a rape with her mind and glory stolen) and Eric (the Serpent, trying to instruct her and make her whole again).

And Eve’s daughter, Norea, also once uttered the ineffable name of God to escape a rape (she could also breathe fire, both of which I’m sure were gifts from her aunty Lilith). This time God sends the golden angel Eleleth to smite the would-be rapists, and Norea fangirls over him so hard. It’s kind of adorable. “Now as for that angel, I cannot speak of his power: his appearance is like fine gold and his raiment is like snow. No, truly, my mouth cannot bear to speak of his power and the appearance of his face!”, which is equivalent to the modern I CAN’T! I HAVE ALL THESE FEELS! FUCK YOUR PERFECT FACE!