Monday, June 13, 2016

Lilith - Who is Lilith?



Lilith is quite the popular gal in the Middle East.  Her name has echoed throughout the Mesopotamia area for over 4,000 years.  Her origins lie in Babylonian demonology, where amulets and incantations were used to counter her evil spirit who preyed on pregnant women and children.  In Hebrew and Arabic she is known as Lilit and in Akkadian Lilitu.  The pre Semetic wood is L-Y-L which literally translates to a nocturnal female demon. The root word is used when referring to any female night demon.   The Sumerians first associated Lilith or Lilituas a class of wind/storm demons or spirits.  A good reference is NIN.LIL or “lady air,” goddess of the South Wind or wife of Enlil. In Jewish folklore, she is known as the night demon.  Lilith had an encounter with the mighty Gilgamesh.  Their story is found in the epic of Gilgamesh entitled Gilgamesh and the Huluppu Tree.  Basically, Lilith is one of the creatures who haunts the Huluppu tree which is in the holy garden of the gods.  At the foot of the tree lies a snake and at the top is a bird.  Lilith and her compadres try to scare the goddess Inanna who is unable to approach the tree.  Gilgamesh, the mighty hero killed the snake and scared the other creatures from out of the tree and garden for Inanna.


Lilith was also known as the first wife of Adam.  Even in the book of the Generations of Adam, Chapter 4 makes a brief reference to Lilith as Adam’s wife that produced or acquired Cain. Another reference of Lilith is also found in the Testament of Solomon.  She is known as Obizuth who is the demoness responsible for strangling unprotected children in childbirth.  The wise King Solomon stripped away her powers and then had her hung in front of the Temple for all to see.





Lilith is quite the popular gal in the Middle East.  Her name has echoed throughout the

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