From: kat@bigwpi.WPI.EDU (Flame's Passion)
Newsgroups: alt.vampyres
Subject: More on Lilith...
Date: 10 Oct 1992 17:13:39 GMT
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
NNTP-Posting-Host: bigwpi.wpi.edu


After all this talk about Lilith and the confusion that she's caused, I decided
to do a bit of research on my own.  Unfortunately, an engineering school
has little to offer in the way of a religion section in the library, but I did
get a start...

I'll be going to a bigger and better library in the near future. Perhaps then
I can get in more detail.

For those of you who want references, I got my info from two books:

_The Encyclopedia of Religions_, Vol 8, Macmillan Publishing Co.

_The Encyclopedia of Judaism_, Macmillan Publishing Co.

Lilith was identified in postbiblical Judaism as a female demon who seduces men
and kills unsuspecting children.  She is the main female character in Jewish
demonology.  She is also identified as the first wife of Adam and a consort of
Samael.

Her origins are actually from Babylonian demonology.  In it, there were male 
and female characters named Lilu and Lilthu.  The actions of these spirits
included the seduction of men and the endangering of women in childbirth.  
These names carry over into the Talmud and she is supposedly mentioned in the
Bible once :

Isaiah 34:14
' Wildcats shall meet hyenas, goat-demons shall greet eachother; There too the
 lilith shall repose and find herself a resting place.'

According to another source, she was never mentioned in the Bible.  
[Unfortunately, I don't remember which book I saw this in. I didn't have the
time to copy everything that I saw about her.... If anyone's interested, I'll
go find it again]  This source went on to say that she was often confused with
another evil spirit, Lamia (I think) and that through the years, the 
translations of the Bible have muttled it all up and Lilith went from a mis-
understanding to a reality.

Anyway... She's described in the Talmud as a winged creature with long hair 
that haunts people sleeping alone in their homes.  It also says that when
Adam was seperated from Eve, he gave birth to spirits, demons, and liliths.
According to later traditions, Lilith seduced him and bore from him spirits
and demons.

She is only active at night and according to Babylonian folklore she seizes
men and forces them to have sex with her.

According to the biblical commentary, _Alphabet of Ben Sira_ (written sometime
between the 7th and 10th centruries)....
"When God created Adam, he realized that it was not good for man to exist
alone,a nd so he created a woman out of the earth...and called [her] Lilith.
Immediately, [they] began to quarrel.  Insisting they were equals, Lilith
refused to lie beneath Adam, while he argued that it was proper for him, as a
man, to lie on top... Lilith flew away. In response to Adam's complaints, God
sent three angels...to bring [her] back, telling her that if she refused, one
hnudred of her demon children would die each day.  [Upon hearing this], she
vowed to inflict harm on male infants up until the eighth day after birth...
[She] also made an additional vow: if she saw an amulet bearing the name
of the three angels, she would not harm the infant in any way."

She is also reputed as to have been one of the two harlots who stood before
Solomon and that the Queen of Sheba was actually Lilith.  

-------------

This is all that I have for now.  Sorry if the info isn't quite as organized
as it could be.... I just picked and chose the important parts of the
two articles.  If anyone's interested in more info...fell free to E-mail me
or post questions here.  I plan on doing more research. (I don't know when
but I will....)

kat
 ***************************************************************************
      Christina Freeman                                 kat@wpi.wpi.edu
		"Was there not, from the first, more poison in
 			  your nature than in mine?" 
                           - _Rappaccini's Daughter_ 
			      Nathaniel Hawthorne
                  ********************************************
  


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