In the wake of a natural disaster recently, I noticed a non-profit dedicated to raising funds for emergency abortions. What? Why? The name of the organization also stood out: The Lilith Fund.
First off, why would that be an organization's first response to a hurricane? Second question: why is Lilith getting involved? I've got a bad feeling about this.
Who is this Lilith? Despite her dark origins, she has become an Icon of Feminism and now the Patroness of Abortion. Check out her connection to Adam and Eve from Jewish folklore. Also, find out why an alliance with Lilith is both terrifying and illuminating.
In the aftermath of natural disasters, nonprofits are often scrambling to take care of the needs of the homeless, the stranded, those who have lost everything, and ... those who want to abort their children?? One of these is not like the other.
The Lilith Fund is a Texas nonprofit striving for "reproductive equity,” whatever that is. In the wake of the hurricane’s devastation, the group created an emergency fund to provide financial help to “Harvey survivors seeking abortion care.”(1)
Pundit Sean Davis hit the nail on its head when he tweeted that the Lilith Fund "is a great investment if you think the biggest problem with Hurricane Harvey is that it didn't kill enough people."
All joking aside, this is a new level of insidiousness for the pro-abortion movement. But why?
[WARNING: MATERIAL GRAPHIC IN NATURE]
Who is/was Lilith?
I kid you not. Lilith is a sexually wanton demon that comes in the night and steals newborn babies. The name "Lilith" actually means "night." As you will see, she is the tailor-made patroness or icon of the abortion movement.The Lilith class of demons
Lilith appears to be the surviving member of an ancient class of female demons, known to the Babylonians and other Mesopotamian peoples as the lilītu.The Sumerian King List (2400 BC) contains the earliest reference to her. It states that no less than the greatest figure of Babylonian mythology, Gilgamesh, was the son of a Lillu-demon.(2)
The Arslan Tash tablet depicts Lilith as a winged sphinx across who body is written, “O flyer in a dark chamber, go away at once, O Lili!”(4) This is an ancient prayer used to protect women in labor!
Is Lilith in the Bible?
There may be an obscure reference to Lilith in the Bible. At Isaiah 34:14, this is how the Prophet describes an inhospitable wilderness: “There goat-demons shall greet each other, and there the lilit shall find rest.”Scholars disagree as to the meaning of the word “lilit." This is the only time this term appears in Isaiah. There is, therefore, no basis for comparison.(5) While some scholars believe it is a reference to the demon Lilith, others dismiss it as a reference to a night owl or screech owl.
Here's a good overview of whether Lilith is found in the Bible from Jimmy Aken on Catholic Answers:
Lilith in Christianity and Judaism
At some point, she was incorporated into Jewish folklore. There is a large amount of ancient Semitic texts beyond that which is preserved as the Hebrew Bible or the Tanakh, i.e. the Old Testament.There is a reference to Lilith in the Jewish commentaries on the Scriptures: "One may not sleep in a house alone, and whoever sleeps alone is seized by Lilith."(7) Lilith is known in demonology as a succubus.
Here's another video overview of Lilith in archaeological and Jewish texts. The video includes an amazing Aramaic exorcism prayer against Lilith, as well as descriptions of anti-Lilith amulets. Watch out, though. Some of the Biblical exegesis is wrong, such as the claim that Genesis 1 and 2 contain contradictory accounts of the creation of man and woman.
Lilith and Adam
This is where things get really interesting. Between 700 and 1000 years after Christ, Lilith began to have an entirely new origin story. In the Alphabet of Bin Sira, an anonymous work, Lilith is depicted as the first wife of Adam.(8) Here is the passage concerning Lilith's creation:[God] said, "It is not good for man to be alone" (Genesis 2:18). He then created a woman for Adam, from the earth, as He has created Adam himself, and called her Lilith. Adam and Lilith began to fight. She said, "I will not lie below," and he said, "I will not lie beneath you, but only on top. For you are fit only to be in the bottom position, while I am to be in the superior one." Lilith responded, "We are equal to each other inasmuch as we were both created from the earth." But they would not listen to one another. When Lilith saw this, she pronounced the Ineffable Name and flew away into the air.
God then sent three angels to bring Lilith back. The angels came upon her at sea:
They told her God's word, but she did not wish to return. The angels said, "We shall drown you in the sea." "Leave me!" she said. "I was created only to cause sickness to infants. If the infant is male, I have dominion over him for eight days after his birth, and if female, for twenty days." When the angels heard Lilith's words, they insisted she go back. But she swore to them by the name of the living and eternal God: "Whenever I see you or your names of your forms in an amulet, I will have no power over that infant."(9)
There are many interesting features to this text, but I would first like to note that Lilith has a potty mouth - she curses the Name of God twice in this short passage. Actually, this reminds me of some of the vulgar pro-abortion rhetoric often heard at rallies and marches.
Lilith: Icon of Feminism
Lilith has become an icon of feminism due in large part to the first passage from Ben Sira quoted above. The second part of the passage is usually ignored, of course.Notice that Lilith is born from the same earth from which Adam is created by the hand of God, unlike Eve who is formed from a rib from Adam's side. Lilith argues that her origin determines her equality with Adam and the basis for her rejection of Adam's superiority.
Ironically, the very fact that Eve is formed from a bone from Adam's side means that she is of equal dignity to Adam. If Eve had been created from a piece of Adam's foot, he would have been superior to her. It would have been a sign of dominance, like being trampled "underfoot." Likewise, if Eve had been created from a piece of Adam's skull, she would have been superior to him.
Nevertheless, Lilith has been embraced as the first-ever spokesperson for women's rights. Rabbi Jill Hammer writes the following about Lilith's surprising fandom: "The most notorious demon of Jewish tradition becomes a feminist hero."(10)
Lilith, Icon of Lesbianism
Lilith has been embraced also as an icon of lesbianism. You probably remember the Lilith Fairs during the summers of the late '90s? The music festival, which has been called "Lesbian-palooza", featured only woman musicians or woman-led bands, such as Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow, Tracy Chapman, Paula Cole, Fiona Apple, Joan Osborne, Indigo Girls, Shawn Colvin, and Natalie Merchant.Lilith Fair was a benefit concert for charities - can you guess which charities were involved? Planned Parenthood, among others. "Offering booths to Planned Parenthood and helping both the AIDS awareness group LIFEBeat and the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network hotline are among the clear highlights of the tour," Sarah McLachlan said in an MTV interview.
To be fair, the 2010 Lilith Fair revival was heavily criticized for allowing donations to benefit pro-life crisis pregnancy centers, as well.
Why is Lilith the Anti-Mary?
Whereas Lilith said "No" to God, the Virgin Mary said "Yes." In the passage above from the Ben Sira text, Lilith explicitly tells God "No." Just as there is prophesied to be an Anti-Christ, Lilith is the Anti-Mary.While still apparently far superior to Lilith, Eve also implicitly told God "No" when she committed the Original Sin. As Saint Irenaeus said, the knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience (to read more, follow the link).
Also, notice this odd statement in the passages above:
But she swore to them by the name of the living and eternal God: "Whenever I see you or your names of your forms in an amulet, I will have no power over that infant."
I would argue that Saint medals, especially the Miraculous Medal and the Scapular, are the amulets Lilith is referring to in the passage above. If the form of angels is repellent to her, how much more the Queen of Angels? Perhaps this is part of why the Blessed Mother encourages us to wear these, because they are repellent to the Cursed Mother.
Our Lady, Queen of Angels, pray for us!
I hope this post wasn't too dark to share with you ...
Please let me know what you think about all this in the comments below! Also, please share this post with people you know, especially those in Texas.Lilith Footnotes:
(1) DeSanctis, Alexandra, "Hurricane Harvey Nonprofit Fundraises for . . . Abortion?"National Review, Sept. 1, 2017.
(2) Patai 1990.
(3) On a completely unrelated note, I felt that I had to comment on the odd juxtaposition of the words "Arslan Tash", as "Aslan" and "Tash" are both featured in The Chronicles of Narnia, wherein Aslan is the embodiment of Jesus and Tash is a demonic deity, the antagonist to Aslan in The Last Battle.
(4) Adler, Shelley R., Sleep Paralysis: Nightmares, Nocebos, and the Mind-body Connection, Rutgers University Press (2011): 38.
(5) The term is hapax legomenon, a word that occurs only once in a particular text.
(6) ibid.
(7) Talmud, tractate Shabbath, folio 151b.
(8) More on the spread of Lilith tale in folklore: "This version of the Lilith tale in the Alphabet of Ben Sira quickly spread throughout Jewish life, and others expanded on it. The Zohar, a mystical work from 12th century Spain, imagines Lilith not only as the first wife of Adam but also as the wife of Satan. In the Kabbalah, Lilith takes on cosmic power. She is a chaotic counterpart to the Shekhinah (the feminine Divine Presence, the bride of the Infinite). In fact, the Zohar imagines that while the Jews suffer in exile, the Holy One (the masculine aspect of the Divine) separates from the Shekhinah, and consorts with Lilith.Lilith’s sexual-spiritual link with the Divine will only end when the Messiah comes and the brokenness in the world is mended."
(9) Alphabet of Ben Sira, 23a-b; trans. Stern and Mirsky 1998, 183-184.
(10) Hammer, Rabbi Jill, "Lilith, Lady Flying in the Darkness," MyJewishLearning.com.
70 Comments
It would have been slightly more interesting if you had cited respectable exorcists who had confronted a demon calling itself "Lilith", but only so much; such a name would probably be no more than description (like "Legion") of the role the demon was playing, and it would not validate the whole folktale. Quite possibly one or more demons is now playing the role of "Slenderman", even though this is a fictional character made up quite recently.
It is important to keep the distinction clearly in mind. Mary was (and is) a real human being, born in a specific time and place, and her "Yes" to God actually happened. Lilith is a character in literature, like the Big Bad Wolf. She is not an Anti-Mary in parallel to the Anti-Christ, because he will also be a real human being.
Mary of Guadalupe intercede for a respect for life in all its stages and in all its diversity.
Thank you for a well written article,my miraculous medal goes every where with me.
BTW, I began praying the pro-life rosary and Divine Mercy chaplets at a PP abortion megaplex here in Aurora, IL. PP has begun hiring agents provocateurs (paid counterprotesters) to mingle with the pro-lifers up front, who attempt sidewalk counseling despite an impossible physical layout. They have been bashing into them, running in front of them holding up homemade signs when they try to sidewalk counsel, name-calling, mocking, jeering.
Last week (and I personally witnessed this, I am not making this up), the pro-aborts showed up with a boombox the size of a large window air conditioner. It had wheels on the bottom and a pull-out handle like a suitcase. They had this cranked up full blast with heavy metal rock, which competed with the elevator music that PP blasts outside to help drown out the pro-lifers.
An overweight blonde female, well-endowed above the waist, started dancing in a very lewd and lascivious manner right in the middle of the service drive which separates PP's premises and parking lot from the vacant lot across the service drive, where the pro-lifers are forced to stand (if you set foot on PP property, they have cameras in place, will call the police immediately, and will have you arrested and prosecuted).
The blonde female put her clothes back on (she had stripped down to a black bodystocking), then started a strip-tease to the heavy metal music, again right in the middle of the service drive, bouncing her endowment right in the face of one of the pro-life male sidewalk counselers, who was seriously embarrassed. The 6 or so pro-aborts were mocking and jeering at this poor male's embarrassment. Satanic or not?
Also, by "Maris" do you mean "Ave Maris Stella"? In that context "Maris" means sea and not Mary, directly. Ave Maris Stella means "Hail Star of the Sea."
Greetings from a Louisiana Ex=Patriate! (waves)
No other references to a Lilith exist in Hebrew or Christian scripture unless you want to try dragging in nonsense from the ecumenically debunked tales of Pseudoepigrapha.
MAY 6, 2019 AT 9:17 AM
Thought provoking post!!! Could it be .... could it be .... just asking .... could it be that Mary who we find a century or more post-Thomas Aquinas .... the Mary that appears in the trees, the Mary that appears in Mexico in the form of an ancient goddess, the Mary that Saint Demonfort depicts as threatening to destroy those who refuse to pray the rosary., the Mary whom just might "despise our prayers," the Mary that is rarely depicted with a crucifix .... could this Mary be, with her demonstrated affection for amulets, in her demonstrated desire to be venerated, actually Lillith undercover, Lillith being her very most strategic, Lillith playing a long game to deceive the elect of the nations? Just asking, could it be, in the realm of possibilities, could it possibly be? Recall that the faith community of the old covenant was rebuked by YHWH for falling into goddess worship, likely without even knowing it was an offense to YHWH when they did. Could it be the Church as also? Anne's husband
Someone recently placed a picture of the Tilma in the perpertual devotion room at our parish. It was covered with strange coating, looked like grape skins, and had no depiction of Christ, symbolically or otherwise, on it. Seemed it would have been just as much at home in a shaman's shack.
The tilma is full of Christian symbolism. Take the constellations depicted by the stars on Mary's mantle, for example (I describe this in detail in another post on this site). First, Leo the Lion is depicted across Mary's womb. The Lion of Judah is the Christian and Jewish symbol for the Messiah. Second, the Southern Crown is situated on Mary's head. Our Lady of Guadalupe thus depicts the crowned Queen of Heaven at Revelation 12. Third, she is also depicted as expecting at or around Christmas, given her posture and belly circumference.
The infant Jesus is depicted lifting up the Blessed Mother. A goddess, for example, would not need to rely on the power of her child to raise her to Heaven. Also, it shows that Mary is an utterly dependent creature. Very rich image, theologically.
At this place [Tepeyac], [the Indians] had a temple dedicated to the mother of the gods, whom they called Tonantzin, which means Our Mother. There they performed many sacrifices in honor of this goddess ... And now that a church of Our Lady of Guadalupe is built there, they also called her Tonantzin, being motivated by those preachers who called Our Lady, the Mother of God, Tonantzin. While it is not known for certain where the beginning of Tonantzin may have originated, but this we know for certain, that, from its first usage, the word refers to the ancient Tonantzin. And it was viewed as something that should be remedied, for their having [native] name of the Mother of God, Holy Mary, instead of Tonantzin, but Dios inantzin. It appears to be a Satanic invention to cloak idolatry under the confusion of this name, Tonantzin.[31]" Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: Introduction and Indices, Arthur J.O. Anderson and Charles Dibble, translators. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1982, p. 90 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Guadalupe bjb - Anne's hubby
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHFxncb1gRY
So just who is Zep's May Queen referenced in a song attributed to the spirit world?
"Robert Plant recalled writing the lyrics in a flash of inspiration. Said Plant: "I was holding a pencil and paper, and for some reason I was in a very bad mood. Then all of a sudden my hand was writing out the words, 'There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold/And she's buying a stairway to heaven.' I just sat there and looked at the words and then I almost leapt out of my seat."
Plant's implication that something else was moving his pencil for him led to speculation that it was Satan who was dictating the words, and along with the backward messages and Page's Aleister Crowley connection, there was enough evidence for many listeners that the devil had some role in creating this song.
This is rumored to contain backward satanic messages, as if Led Zeppelin sold their souls to the devil in exchange for "Stairway To Heaven." Supporting this theory is the fact that Jimmy Page bought Aleister Crowley's house in Scotland, known as Boleskine House. In his books, Crowley advocated that his followers learn to read and speak backwards."
I like the "Stairway to Heaven" reference, but have no idea what Robert Plant was thinking.
Take the Amalekite and Midianite genocide where Yahweh ordered the racial genocide of these people including the male babies and children but for the young virgin girls you could take them as sex slaves. Not to mention where he caused the death of David and Bathsheeba's baby not for anything the baby had done personally just to punish his parents because racism aka inherited guilt/original sin is a part of the Abrahamic faiths where one inherits the guilt or worth of their ancestors. Not to mention when Yahweh caused the death of the first born children of Egypt even though the Pharaoh in question was going to let the Hebrews go Yahweh sent his Ruach Ra aka the Evil Spirit and counterpart to the Ruach Ha Kodesh aka the Holy Spirit to Harden the Pharaoh's heart and mind control him against doing so. So he could kill kids.
Likewise we have the story of Jepthah's daughter where Jepthah made a vow to kill the first thing that came to greet him in exchange for Yahweh letting him win a battle and well the first thing that greeted him was his daughter and to satisfy his death with his god he sacrificed her as a burnt offering.
Not to mention the trial by ordeal of Sotah in the Bible where if a Hebrew man suspected one of his wives or sex slaves of being unfaithful to them he was instructed to bring her to the Priest who would make a magic potion from the dust of the Earth to which she would be forced to drink and if the child belonged to her husband's or owner's then nothing would happen. However if the child belonged to another man then it would induce a miscarriage/abortion etc. Not only that but the Hebrews were also instructed by Yahweh to offer up the first born of every creature they owned including their children as a sacrifice for Yahweh killing the first born children of Egypt for them (even though again that was Yahweh's fault NOT the Pharaoh's). A later verse abrogated this to where you could buy back your child if you had enough money but a verse after that cancelled that out to where you had to offer your child up.
Likewise since you mentioned the Virgin Mary and even used a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe it is interesting that for all of the Emphasis the Catholic Church has placed on Mary which honestly has more to do with the Byzantine Empress Pulcheria securing her power in a misogynist time them to the Biblical Mary. I mean in Catholicism Mary is pretty much a non Divine Mother Goddess. She is called The Queen of Heaven, Queen of the Angels, Star of the Sea, Seat of Heaven, Rose of the World etc and has powers and abilities that only a Supreme Goddess of a Pantheon would have. The notion to any ancient and traditional people that The Queen of Heaven and Queen of the Angels would be a non divine human woman would be seen as equally preposterous and yes equally hubristic and blaspheming as the notion that a non divine human man could be the King of Heaven and King of the Angels and much of Mary's Titles and even imagery looks very similar to other Goddesses like even Isis Pantheia. The Supreme Mother God and Queen of Heaven in the Classical World and Source and True form and power behind all other Deities and the Isis Faith was in many ways a Western form of Shaktism in the Hindu Faith. It is obviously no coincidence that many apparitions of Mary like Our Lady of Guadalupe occurred on sites which had formerly been the site of worship for various Mother Goddesses.
Tonantzin BTW like Quetzalcoatl was one of the few Aztec Deities where human sacrifice was not practiced nor did these two Deities approve of it. There may be more but to them this was absolutely forbidden.
In her apparition to this deposed Aztec royalty she makes no claim to be the Virgin Mary of Nazereth nor does she make reference to Jesus, god the father or any other male Deities. Rather she says that it is SHE who would be the one to answer their lamentations and prayers and offer them comfort, relief and blessings and even made cryptic statements like how "she was close to them as one of their Aztec Princesses" and indeed she was dressed like an Aztec Princess and statements like "I have always been here as your Mother." and so it was then that the Church was built. Again Our Lady of Guadalupe made no reference to being Mary of Nazereth nor did the Church have any good reason to think that she was but they did see it as a way to bring Aztec believers into the Catholic fold atleast nominally at first and the Catholic Church has through out it's history tried to convert the worshipers of various Mother Goddesses into the veneration of Mary. So if the question is would the Church rather people worship The Queen of Heaven inside or outside the church then the church would prefer the former. However if the question is would the church rather people worship Mary as God or as an adjunct to a male god then of course the Church would prefer the latter so the Church has always played a double game with Mary. That was why there have been movements of people like the Collyridians who have worshiped Mary as Divine because her imagery and attributes are obviously divine regardless of what the Church has stated and you haven't seen heretical movements of really any other Saints being worshiped as Divine with the exception of maybe some like Saint Brigid who is clearly the Celtic Goddess Brigid just dressed like a Abbess.
Allow me to explain. Let's say the fall never happened and that Adam nor Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge and gained the forbidden knowledge Yahweh tried to hide from them. In that case there would have been no need for Jesus to become incarnate. Of course atleast in Catholicism Jesus exists as a co equal person of the trinity so he would still be there but would he become incarnate? It is doubtful as the main purpose of his incarnation was to offer himself up as a sacrifice for man's sins etc. So if this is the case if there were no need for Jesus to be incarnate there would be no need for Mary's immaculate conception. This if she was born at all she would be just another sinless human in a world of sinless humans. She most likely would never have been Jesus's mother, The Mother of God and most likely never would have risen to be the Queen of Heaven, Queen of the Angels and most perfect being in creation because she would been like all other beings in creation. So really the original sin was the best thing that could have ever happened for Mary because had it not she would have been just any other human woman not the pseudo Goddess of Catholicism.
However what Lilith in the Abrahamic faiths does show is that Abrahamics yet again ripped off Paganism. Because Lilith in Sumer and Babylon was originally a creation of Inanna/Ishtar aka their Queen of Heaven and was one of Her main servants like Ninshubur aka Ishtar's Sokkal or second in command. Lilith would even find men for her mistress to mate with and aside from their conflict with the Hulippu Tree with Gilgamesh they mostly were on good terms. In fact when Lilith was kicked out of the Tree she then went to reside from the desert and that part in Isaiah was taken from when after Lilith was kicked out of the tree by Gilgamesh at Ishtar's behest so this part in the Bible could very well have happened after Gilgamesh's epic and regardless of what Abrahamics think other Gods are shown as existing in the Torah, Bible and Quran and not always in opposition to Yahweh though some obviously are and some like Chemosh even defeat and triumph over Yahweh at times. Not to mention the fact that many Pagans identified Yahweh with various deities usually evil ones though like how the Greeks and Romans identified him with Typhon the Father of all Monsters who desired to be the sole god and to usurp the Gods and the Egyptians who identified him with Set the murderer of Osiris and beyond that Yahweh's worship originated amongst the polytheistic Canaanites aka the ancestors of the Hebrews who saw him as one of the 70 sons of El Elyon and Athirat.
So again you might not want to go down the road that Lilith's existence shows because it shows your religion as not only inaccurate, but false and evil too.