Book Review by Anne Carlini

Anne Carlini reviews ‘The First Sisters Lilith and Eve’ for Exclusive Magazine

Growing up in my household, and here focusing on the one lesser-known sister, we were told, and from a very early age, that there are multiple origin stories for Lilith, but that the most popular history told views Lilith as the first wife of Adam. Indeed, according to the first Eve story, Lilith was created by God from dust and placed to live in the garden with Adam until problems arose between Adam and Lilith when Adam tried to exercise dominance over Lilith.

One story tells that Lilith refused to lay beneath Adam during sex. She believed they were created equal, both from the dust of the earth, thus she should not have to lay beneath him. After Adam disagreed, Lilith fled the Garden of Eden to gain her independence. Adam told God that Lilith had left and God sent three angels – Senoi, Sansenoi, and Sammangelof – to retrieve her.

The three angels found Lilith in a cave bearing children, but Lilith refused to come back to the garden. The angels told her they would kill 100 of her children every day for her disobedience. In revenge, she is said to rob children of life and is responsible for the deaths of still-born infants and crib deaths (SIDS).

Furthermore, male children are at risk of Lilith’s wrath for 8 days after birth (until circumcision) and girls are at risk for 20 days. Although Lilith stole children’s lives in the night, she agreed not to kill the children who had amulets of either of the three angels.

After the angels’ departure, Lilith tried to return to the garden, but upon her arrival she discovered that Adam already had another mate, Eve. Out of revenge, Lilith had sex with Adam while he was sleeping and stole his seed.

With his seed she bears lilium, earth-bound demons to replace her children killed by the angels. Lilith is also said to be responsible for males’ erotic dreams and night emissions. Another theory says that Lilith is impregnated, thus creating more demons [by masturbation and erotic dreams].

So yeah, that was what I myself grew up thinking and as much as the stories ebb and flow still today, with a lot of them having grown in text and power, a few of them having lessened out in their child-killing prose, the core remains the same today.

Thus what we have here in Pagan Portals: The First Sisters Lilith and Eve by author Lady Haight-Ashton – herself a Third Degree Gardnerian High Priestess, a Third Degree Cabot Witch within the Cabot Hermetic Temple and a Priestess of Selket within the Fellowship of Isis – is a text of founded information, none of it smothered by her own personal opinion, and which will, perhaps, make you rethink a lot of what you were taught growing up (I know it has me).

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