Description
Owning Lilith
Duration: 3 hours 45 Minutes
Myth and adaptability
The Black Moon is all the rage at the moment and many astrologers dig into this fascinating topic, trying to make sense of Lilith, the dark side of the moon, which is a point, not a planet. In my chart I have her directly on my MC, so she must be of some significance to me, I reckon. The problem is, I don’t know in what way. I have read over a dozen books about Lilith, but unfortunately still haven’t quite gotten my head around her. It feels frustrating and I don’t think it does her justice to just boil her essence down to ’emancipation’. So, I did my own research, in order to make the ancient Lilith myths usable for modern chart interpretation.
Lilith was there first…
The kick off is easy enough. Lilith was the first wife of Adam, before the much more famous and familiar Eve. The two were very different, almost like the proverbial good and bad sisters in a fairytale. But Lilith was there first, and, unlike her replacement Eve, had not been created out of Adam’s rib. Instead she was, just like Adam, created out of the dust of the earth, so she was his companion in Eden as an equal partner. Well, not quite equal. When it came to sexual intercourse, she was not supposed to be on top, but had to content herself with the rule book missionary position.
This restriction made her furious. She just wouldn’t budge and even went so mad that she took god’s name in vain. After this incident she either vanished voluntarily or was banished from paradise by God. Adam, on the other hand, wanted her back, interestingly.
Punishment
Lilith took to living in the wilderness and made it with demons, brooding on revenge. Some sources claim that she, to accomplish this, disguised herself as the infamous snake and seduced Eve to eat the apple. Other stories have her punished by the gods by making either herself sterile or making her sex partners sterile. But she craved for babies and stole them from other women, which made her, understandably, a very scary archetype, both for men and women.
What strikes me is that this figure is so negative and unsympathetic. How am I supposed to work with this point in a chart? Aren’t there some pieces missing in the puzzle? Was Adam really so adverse to a little experimental spice in his sex life? Why did he miss Lilith? And what about Eve? Were they rivals or friends? Or a little bit of both? This is important when touching issues like women’s lib solidarity, e.g. #metoo. And why was Lilith denied to have children?
Hidden from view
While the moon represents what is most familiar to us, Black Moon Lilith is what is hidden from view, blocked from sight and thus difficult to consciously feel. It is obvious that this fierce and powerful female archetype is at odds with tradition and patriarchal dominated gender stereotypes. It goes against everything ‘normal’ in society, and is against the god given order. Lilith says no to what is expected from her (by a male god) and rather wants to find her own way of expressing her femininity. Since this is particularly frightening to men this witch archetype must, be punished.
The moon has to do with biological fecundity, Lilith has to do with fecundity on other levels. (Lynn Bell)
Lilith deals with finding one’s own sexuality and gender role by saying no to the patriarchal order, finding one’s own fecundity and seeking equal status. In a female chart, therefore, it can be enlightening to explore what Lilith wants to say. But what about the Black Moon in a male chart?
This is a series of lectures I gave for the Astrological Lodge of London in 2020
1st part: Projecting Lilith
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- The myth of Lilith, the first wife of Adam
- Gender stereotypes part 1
- With biographical examples and charts of gay actress Cynthia Nixon, primatologist Dame Jane Goodall, Joan Crawford, Michelle Obama, Phyllis Shlafly, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Woody Allen, Vivienne Westwood and husband Andreas Kronthaler
2nd part: Owning Lilith
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- Gender stereotypes part 2
- With biographical examples and charts of Amy Winehouse and Blake Fielder-Civil, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mata Hari, Donald Sutherland and Steve McQueen
3rd part: Transforming Lilith
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- Gender stereotypes part 3
- With biographical examples and charts of androgynous model Alex Veit, non-binary actor Sam Smith, pop singer Pete Burns, actor David Walliams (Little Britain), drag queens Pearl, Bianca DelRio and Chad Michaels, Cher
