LILITH SPEAKS:

THE BLACK MOON GODDESS

IN DREAMS AND DRAMA

by M. Kelley Hunter

A female tiger. She is magnificent, powerful. We treat her with respect, awe,
carefully so as not to arouse her anger. She can hurt, but we are allowed to stroke her.
Somehow she is surrounded by a round enclosure, trapped. A number of male cats come
in and rape her. She is covered in blood after the second. After that, she is left encaged,
her heart destroyed. Anyone who approaches her is stopped by a terrible, hateful, warning
snarl. She is dangerous, ferocious, destructive, defensive. Why such a royal upbringing
to be led to this fate?

 
Thus Lilith entered my dreams several years ago – in 1987. I recognized her from a
recent reading of the occult fiction novel, Lilith by George MacDonald, in which she
takes the form of a large cat. Mac Donald follows the most-known myth of Lilith from
Hebrew tradition that identifies her as the first wife of Adam. He portrays her as willfully
claiming the sole power of creation over the Lord, based on her ability to give birth. She
wanted Adam to worship and obey her, and when he would not, she deserted him and
took up with the Shadow, who made her Queen of Hell. At night, she turns into a
leopardess who hunts for babies to suck their blood. The spots on the leopardess' s body
are the darkness and shadows that stream out from her eyes. Another version has it that
Adam wanted Lilith to be submissive to him, but she would not be put beneath him and
left him instead. He was then given Eve for his wife. In any case, Lilith went into exile.
Out of jealousy and/or rage, it is said, she would come in the night for her revenge, taking
babies and giving men wet dreams to sap their strength. Amulets were worn to ward her
off.

Lilith is one of the dark goddesses, like Isis, Persephone, Hecate, or Kali,
expressing the feminine power of the divine creative, transformative force. If we follow
their trail back in time, down to the roots to find the source of their darkness, of the fear
and negative side they typically represent in mythologies, we often discover, not only a
major shift in the collective human image of the feminine, but also some deep
undercurrent, some hidden essence that needs to be acknowledged and healed in our
personal lives.
Lilith began to speak as I wrote:

I'm so ugly. They hate me. They cut me out of their lives because I am
so whole, because I will not take a back seat, second place. I believe in wholeness and
sharing. I undercut you when you're not being whole, when you cut yourself off, where you seek blood. I give – on my terms, elemental, the one woman before man. Am I the Creator – or the first emerged feminine? There is no difference. I am of that original Heaven. I do not leave it.

 
In The Book of Lilith, Barbara Koltuv shares her research. One story she relates
from the Hebrew mystic tradition – that God made two great lights, the Sun and the Moon,
shining with equal brightness. They were not at ease shining together in the same sky. So
God said to the Moon, "Go and diminish thyself." The Moon felt humiliated and asked,
"Why should I be as one that veileth herself?" God replied, "Go thy way forth in the
footsteps of the flock," (i.e., following the shepherd). Since that time, the Moon has had
no light of her own, but reflects the light of the Sun. This represents a change in the status
of woman, represented in Western cultures by the Moon. She now reflects the light of the
Sun, of man, as the consciousness of Eve comes from the rib of man's body. It is further
told that from the demeaned Moon's resentment at the loss of her freedom of choice,
Lilith is born – a woman down to the waist and flaming fire or a serpent below. In this
form, she is sometimes pictured offering Eve the apple in the garden of Eden.
Astrological theory postulates a Black Moon. This "moon" occupies the second
epicenter in the elliptical orbit of our Moon around the Earth and is an unseen center, an
invisible vortex of energy. Whereas the reflective Moon represents personal subjective
feelings, the Black Moon represents a primal, impersonal, creative source which seeks
manifestation beyond the material or emotional. This Black Moon is named Lilith. Her
energy lures us through whatever our selfish, illusionary dream is in order to purge
negative desire and lead us to the truth within our hearts, thereby awakening the deepest
desires of the soul.

As part of the Earth-Moon system, Black Moon is a center intimately bound to the
center of the Earth. These are the two centers or the double center, around which the
Moon orbits. Lilith is a twin to the core energy of the Earth, the deep heart of fire. This is
the central fire that feeds and sustains our body and our Earth bodies. The creative vitality
of the Sun gives life to the Earth and fuels this central core fire. Black Moon Lilith takes
in the energy of the Sun as well, but she takes it into a different dimension. She is not a
manifest energy on the material plane like the Earth. A sister to the Earth, she reminds us
of our source on other planes. She is not a physical body, but is in relationship to the
physical bodies of the Earth-Moon system. There is a trinity here, of the Earth, the Moon
and the Black Moon. Mother Earth, Grandmother Moon and the Holy Spirit.
Another figure in Hebrew mythology is the Shekinah, God's Beloved, known as
Sophia in Gnostic Christianity. She, too, is Wisdom as a feminine aspect of divinity.
Later Christians came to call her the Holy Ghost. Imagine Lilith as the deep-rooted
Shekinah, like the root of the tree seeking sustenance in the soil, while Sophia is the sky-
reaching branches and the fruits. Truly they are one, but as the Judeo-Christian religion
elevated the masculine aspect of divinity, they de-spiritualized material, sensual reality.
The "lower" Shekinah became unclean, unholy. The Hebrews came into the Sumerian
and Babylonian lands, where the Venusian love goddesses Inanna and Astarte were
celebrated in a sacred marriage ritual between her priestesses and the kings. In these
cultures and as well as in the Celtic culture, it was the goddess who gave the king his
power through her love. The religious transition to masculine gods made these rites
blasphemous. However, the sacred marriage comes down to us even in the Bible, as
Solomon's Song of Songs.

In Sumerian mythology, the oldest known literature, Lilith was the handmaid to
Inanna, goddess of love. Lilith brought the men in from the fields for the sacred rites. In
another story, Lilith lives in the tree that Inanna has planted in her garden, the first
Garden of Eden. Lilith, with a snake and a large wild bird, dwell in the tree and have
knowledge to give Innana, who is not yet ready to accept it. She calls in her brother,
Gilgamesh, to get rid of the creatures and cut down the tree for her throne and bed.
This myth was developed by Dragon Dance Theater in Vermont, USA into a
creation play called The Huluppu Tree. I played Lilith, creating a character to give voice
to my dream, to explore her issue of the female vital life force betrayed, suppressed, now
to be acknowledged and redeemed. I found material in the Biblical Song of Songs, the
Gnostic Gospels and other sources (see monologue).
Shaping this material during the eight months of rehearsal was a profound
experience, which underscored other aspects of my life and relationships. As I continue to
perform and refine this piece, now in monologue form, Lilith lures me into deeper aspects
of my unknown self. The creative work provides a channel through which to process an
inner and outer transformation, recognizing some darker emotions, acting from my
personal center, expressing more fully my sexuality, and clarifying appropriate levels of
intimacy in relationships.

 
LILITH AT THE U.N., September 1993
I was not in very good shape as I headed to the Big Apple. I had a migraine
headache coming on so strong I felt nauseous. I was continuing now on will power and
desire. I wanted to do this. I was in minor panic; performing in NYC was daunting. Mary,
who had invited me to be in the performance, had never seen my work. We were going
on sheer trust. I found the downtown studio on First Ave. and went up its labyrinth. The
musicians were rehearsing. When I heard Mary's song, "Soul Wind," I knew why I was
there.

Lilith is a dark goddess who speaks from deep feminine attunement to the
mysteries, the life-death-rebirth cycle of the Great Round. The source of her wisdom and
power is hidden, subtle and sacred. Like a flute player serenading a cobra, she pulls up
the energy from deep within the Earth, and we are pulled down into our soul selves to
meet it. At the invisible second center of the Moon's orbit around Earth stands the Dark
Goddess, She Who Knows the Way, She Who Sees in the Dark. We must trust her, for
we have no choice.

My friend, singer/dancer Mary, invited me to participate in a special presentation
at the United Nations by the Humanitas Institute, an organization for cultural
therapeutics, promoting creative expression as a personal healing tool that leads to
healing of the collective. The presentation at the U.N. was a series of pieces to
demonstrate this work.

After showing my piece to the small rehearsal group, Mary and her dance partner
worked with me. It was great to get feedback from these trained actors. Seeing how ill I
was, they encouraged me to be with my body. My stomach felt hollow, sick and sore. I
spoke Lilith's words from this empty dark hole. Moving slowly, I put less dramatic force
behind my voice and gesture. I began to allow the still power of my body and the words
to speak for themselves. Lilith was teaching me – and healing me. At the end of an hour of
rehearsal, I felt fine for the first time in two days.
The next day at the U.N. was opening day of General Assembly. Because of
recent threats, security was very tight. It took us over an hour to get our group in. We had
no time to rehearse on the stage. The audience was small, but the delegates from Bosnia
and Azerbajhan were there. Mary and John's dance, a powerful piece about a woman's
inner terrorist, was dedicated to the women of Bosnia. And Lilith called for peace in the
Middle East.

It was autumn equinox, a day at the balance of light and dark. Chiron was
conjunct Venus in Virgo, sign of the Virgin goddess, She Who Is Whole Unto Herself.
Here was an opportunity for witnessing the wound of the goddess that can lead to a
healing – between spirit and body, male and female, country and country, reminding
humanity of the life-giving power of Gaia-Earth.
"Please, call me back," pleaded Lilith.

 
Lilith challenges both women and men to connect with their instinctive passion
for life, for this natural force denied, unfulfilled, caged or exiled, turns destructive. Her
voice is crying out very strongly now around the world – in Somalia, Bosnia, in the
stormy weather, volcanoes, tidal waves, hurricanes, fires. Lilith came to me in another dream, this time in her serpent form. I share this dream to honor the healing power re-emerging from the depths of Earth herself for our
shared awakening.

I am walking down a narrow path between apple trees. A large poisonous snake crosses my path. I retreat. It disappears and walk on. I pass into a stone chamber. On the doorway there is a smaller snake of the same kind curled in a spiral on the door frame. In the chamber there are many snakes – on the floor, on a table, on a chair. I am afraid. (I start to wake up and go in to lucid dreaming). I open my throat and let my voice sound strongly in various tones. I light a torch. I feel more comfortable with the snakes, thought still afraid. I consider letting a boa climb up my arm. Will it strangle me?

 
A new scene. I have requested a dab of snake venom to be put on my wrist pulse. I will die in 12 hours or 12 days. I continue on with my life. I go on a journey with a friend and visit my childhood neighborhood. I decide I do not want to die. A small yellow and black snake is on a table. It shows me a pattern, like an infinity sign. If I move around in this pattern, I will live. I do. The snake unfolds the center of her body.

 
As the dark goddess will continue to unfold her meaning....

 
References:
1. Pagels, Elaine, The Gnostic Gospels, Random House, NY, 1981.

2. "The Song of Solomon," The Holy Bible, King James version. *I adapted the translation of this line.

3. Sterling, George, Lilith, The Macmillan Company, NY, 1926.

4. Inner Visions, women's chants.

Also: Koltuv, Barbara, The Book of Lilith, Nicolas-Hays, Inc., York Beach, Maine, 1986.

Jay, Delphine, Interpreting Lilith, AFA, Tempe, Arizona, 1981.

Mac Donald, George, Phantastes and Lilith, Wm. B. Eerdsmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1964.

George, Demetra, Mysteries of the Dark Moon, Harper, SanFran,1992.

George, Santoni and Suyterman, The Black Moon Book, Sum Press, Fairfield, IA, 1994.

M. Kelley Hunter (shown here with daughter Sonya) is an astrological consultant, star gazer and educator. Co-author of Astrology for Women, she offers an astrological mentorship in Depth Astrology. She will present a performance piece of the Dark Goddess Lilith at the Great Eclipse conference of the Astrological Association of Great Britain in August 1999. Her booklet on Black Moon Lilith is being published by ACS Publishing. Email: kelleyh@viaccess.net. You can also reach her at 1-888-7ALTAIR or PO Box 37, St. John, USVI 00831.

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