Lilith
Lilith · Witch of the Night — Adam's First Wife, Mother of Demons
Female demon of Jewish lore. Some traditions hold she was 'the first woman,' shaped from clay alongside Adam — not from his rib. Considering herself his equal, she refused to submit to him and left Eden. She is said to have then mated with Satan and bore countless demons (the lilim). Long feared as a witch who steals infants at night, in modern feminism she has been reinterpreted as the first woman to resist patriarchy.
Origin
Isaiah 34:14 names 'Lilith' as a night-spirit dwelling with the wild beasts — the canonical seed. The Jewish apocryphal Alphabet of Ben Sira (8th–10th c.) developed the myth of her as Adam's first wife. Etymologically linked to the Mesopotamian night-demoness 'Lilitu.' She is the archetypal female demon in religious history, depicted in art as a long-haired beautiful woman.
Features
- Beautiful woman with long black hair
- Bat or owl wings
- Often shown entwined with serpent or lizard
- Night-demoness who preys on newborns
Stories
In ancient Jewish amulets, protective talismans bearing her name's banishment were placed over newborns' cribs. In modern times she is widely invoked in feminism, gothic, and dark fantasy as a symbol of autonomous femininity, dissent, and the femme fatale. In Kabbalistic tradition, she is Satan's consort.