Thoughts on The Book of Lilith and creativity
To become a whole and fully empowered individual it’s necessary to be aware of what you live your life for. It’s about living in balance with both your light side (what you know) and your dark side (what you don’t know). This concept of light energy and dark energy (the stuff that really moves and motivates you) is an interesting thing for me to contemplate, especially in connection to creativity. The key point for me is the creative energy, specifically the source of this energy. Sometime were are driven by mysterious impulses and that can be confusing. But understanding the character of Lilith and the knowledge she brings is important for women.
These rituals of feminine adornment are archetypically connected to Lilith and her essential female seductiveness. Conscious knowledge of this connection to Lilith and the Goddess is vital to woman’s spiritual and psychological development. – The Book of Lilith (Kindle Locations 779-780).
As a creative being, I’m familiar with the uprising of energy and drive to create something. Sometimes this energy is inspired by an external observation or experience like seeing a great art show. How I respond, creatively, to the energy I feel becomes part of my identity, my individuation process. (I did what?) The principle of individuation describes the manner in which a thing is identified as distinguished from other things. (wiki) We all do different things with our energy, some people create and some destroy, and we can know ourselves through witnessing our actions.
In the book of Lilith the the dark self could be described as a feeling of seduction. Seduction is the process of deliberately enticing a person, to lead astray, as from duty, rectitude, or the like; to corrupt, to persuade or induce to engage in sexual behaviour (creation). The word seduction stems from Latin and means literally “to lead astray”. (wiki) In this sense the creative impulse is a powerful and seductive energy that comes from an unknown part of our psyche and may not be what it seems.
In The Book of Lilith I was particularly excited to read visual descriptions of the dark side of the self including colors and shapes. Most of the colors being red or black to some varying degree representing the dark self. It might be why many cultures recognize black white and red as the first three colors and their language. I also found it fascinating to read the description of the light within the dark energy and dark energy within the light and energy (like yin-Yang symbol) as it was described during the story of when Adam slept with Lilith and yet Eve was Lilith at that time.
Quotes from The Book of Lilith
For my purpose I used the opalescent moon— colours on a base of silver; the purple that is a plum-colour, and the reds that are magenta or maroon, and the blues of sea-water and sky at night; never the strong primaries such as a man uses when he is a magus. Always the shadowy, blended colours are mine, for I am the shadow in the background.” – Koltuv, Barbara Black (1986-01-15). The Book of Lilith (Kindle Locations 726-728). Nicolas-Hays, Inc. Kindle Edition.
“Her ornaments for the seduction of the sons of man are: that her hair is long and red like the rose, her cheeks are white and red, from her ears hang six ornaments, Egyptian chords and all the ornaments of the Land of the East hang from her nape. Her mouth is set like a narrow door comely in its decor, her tongue is sharp like a sword, her words are smooth like oil, her lips are red like a rose and sweetened by all the sweetness in the world . She is dressed in scarlet and adorned with forty ornaments less one.” – Koltuv, Barbara Black (1986-01-15). The Book of Lilith (Kindle Locations 567-570). Nicolas-Hays, Inc. Kindle Edition.
“Although Lilith the seductress is dangerous to people who are completely unconscious, for someone already on the path of consciousness, the encounter with the temptress Lilith can be transformative. Jung calls her a “shamanistic anima.” 41 He comments that, “Sophia cannot be brought together with Eve, since Eve has nothing to do with magic, but she [Sophia] probably can with Adam’s first wife, Lilith.” 42 The adept meets Lilith when he is halfway up the philosophical tree. 43 She is shown in figure 5 with her serpent tail and animal foot, upside down in the tree of knowledge. Similarly, she is described by the Kabbalists as “a ladder on which one can ascend to the rungs of prophesy.”” 44 – Koltuv, Barbara Black (1986-01-15). The Book of Lilith (Kindle Locations 656-662). Nicolas-Hays, Inc. Kindle Edition.
“Lilith was called “the hand of Innana.” 48 It was her duty to gather men from the street and bring them into the temple. She used her seductiveness in the service of the feminine Self.” – Koltuv, Barbara Black (1986-01-15). The Book of Lilith (Kindle Locations 707-709). Nicolas-Hays, Inc. Kindle Edition.
Fashions change because novelty attracts and stimulates. But I who am the eternal woman, the archetypal feminine— I do not speak to the surface of consciousness, the sophisticated mind that the novelties catch, but to the archaic and primordial that is in the soul of every man, and I will pit my charm against that of any fashionable woman. They may have lovers, but I have been loved. – Koltuv, Barbara Black (1986-01-15). The Book of Lilith (Kindle Locations 758-761). Nicolas-Hays, Inc. Kindle Edition.
These rituals of feminine adornment are archetypically connected to Lilith and her essential female seductiveness. Conscious knowledge of this connection to Lilith and the Goddess is vital to woman’s spiritual and psychological development. – Koltuv, Barbara Black (1986-01-15). The Book of Lilith (Kindle Locations 779-780). Nicolas-Hays, Inc. Kindle Edition.
The demon in the mirror seduces the lonely young woman, and brings her face to face with Lilith. Disaster naturally follows such an unconscious possession. – Koltuv, Barbara Black (1986-01-15). The Book of Lilith (Kindle Locations 889-890). Nicolas-Hays, Inc. Kindle Edition.
When Lilith is split off from Eve in a woman’s psyche the woman is sexually cold . Often she marries a man who helps perpetuate the split by relating only to her Eve side. – Koltuv, Barbara Black (1986-01-15). The Book of Lilith (Kindle Locations 917-918). Nicolas-Hays, Inc. Kindle Edition.
Esther Harding points out that a woman needs to be true to her own feminine feeling, not to contract or law, for individuation to occur. – Koltuv, Barbara Black (1986-01-15). The Book of Lilith (Kindle Locations 960-961). Nicolas-Hays, Inc. Kindle Edition.
There is Eve, the mother of all who live, and Lilith, the punitive, childkilling lash of God. Eve is the life nourishing side of the instinctual feminine, while Lilith is its deathdealing opposite. – Koltuv, Barbara Black (1986-01-15). The Book of Lilith (Kindle Locations 995-996). Nicolas-Hays, Inc. Kindle Edition.
…of the individuating feminine ego that can only develop in the wilderness, unrelated, without eros and childless, ever jealous of Eve who remains in man’s embrace. – Koltuv, Barbara Black (1986-01-15). The Book of Lilith (Kindle Locations 1016-1017). Nicolas-Hays, Inc. Kindle Edition.
“Lilith’s murderous rage. 73 It comes most often when the mother herself is in need of mothering. That is, when she is tired, hurt, or sick, or when the Lilith side of her nature is threatened with being bound or pinned down by the needs of others, or patriarchal (animus) notions.” – Koltuv, Barbara Black (1986-01-15). The Book of Lilith (Kindle Locations 1041-1043). Nicolas-Hays, Inc. Kindle Edition.
On this intrapsychic level, the self destructive split between the child-nourishing Eve and the child-killing Lilith is seen in those women who are cut off from their own bodily needs. They drive themselves when tired, nourish themselves poorly and irregularly, and abuse their bodies in an attempt to strangle their inner child. The alternation of the Eve and Lilith qualities can readily be seen in the binging and purging cycles of the eating disorders so frequently encountered in women. – Koltuv, Barbara Black (1986-01-15). The Book of Lilith (Kindle Locations 1060-1063). Nicolas-Hays, Inc. Kindle Edition.
Thus, the Solomon-like wisdom of the heart connects a woman to her own feminine nature which contains both Lilith and Eve and prevents her from becoming wholly possessed by Lilith’s demonic power-seeking destructiveness. – Koltuv, Barbara Black (1986-01-15). The Book of Lilith (Kindle Locations 1084-1085). Nicolas-Hays, Inc. Kindle Edition.
Lilith is that part of the Great Goddess that has been rejected and cast out in post Biblical times. She represents the qualities of the feminine Self that the Shekhina alone does not carry. The first of these qualities is lunar consciousness, which is a connection to the cycles of waxing and waning: life death, and rebirth ; and the Goddess as maiden, mother, and crone. Lilith the Younger is Naamah, the maiden and seductress . Lilith the Ancient One is child killer, hag and snatcher, while Lilith, herself, – Koltuv, Barbara Black (1986-01-15). The Book of Lilith (Kindle Locations 1449-1452). Nicolas-Hays, Inc. Kindle Edition.
The second rejected quality of the Goddess that Lilith represents is the body— instinctuality, and sexuality. In patriarchal times, woman is seen as vessel and mother.. – Koltuv, Barbara Black (1986-01-15). The Book of Lilith (Kindle Locations 1453-1454). Nicolas-Hays, Inc. Kindle Edition.
Third, both Lilith and the Shekhina represent the rejected Goddess’ quality of prophetic inner knowledge and experience over logic or law. – Koltuv, Barbara Black (1986-01-15). The Book of Lilith (Kindle Locations 1456-1457). Nicolas-Hays, Inc. Kindle Edition.
The fourth and final feminine quality carried by Lilith is that of God the mother and creatix, in addition to God the father and creator. Koltuv, Barbara Black (1986-01-15). The Book of Lilith (Kindle Locations 1460-1461). Nicolas-Hays, Inc. Kindle Edition.
Again, a mirror is required to know the Lilith quality and transform it from self destructive killing to self acceptance and loving. Koltuv, Barbara Black (1986-01-15). The Book of Lilith (Kindle Locations 1070-1071). Nicolas-Hays, Inc. Kindle Edition.
