The First Woman, the Last Free – History, Myth, and Redemption of the Most Hidden Figure of Eden

Introduction

Lilith is one of the oldest and most controversial names in the spiritual and mythological imagination of humanity. A demon to some, an exiled goddess to others, a symbol of female rebellion, free sexuality, and forbidden knowledge, Lilith appears and disappears across millennia as a shadow that unsettles patriarchal power.

Reclaimed by feminist, neopagan, and esoteric movements, her story is rooted in Sumerian texts, Mesopotamian myths, medieval rabbinical literature, occult grimoires, and modern reinterpretations. To understand who Lilith was, one must travel through a map of fragmented sources and powerful legends that together form an ancestral tale of disobedience and denied power.

Lilitu: the Sumerian origin

The earliest known mention of a figure related to Lilith appears in ancient Sumer, around 3000 BCE. In cuneiform tablets, the “lilitu” are referenced—female spirits of the wind or night, considered dangerous or bringers of disease. In the epic poem “Gilgamesh and the Huluppu Tree” (circa 2000 BCE), a being named Lilith inhabits a sacred tree planted by the goddess Inanna in Uruk, alongside a serpent and a celestial bird.

In this text, Inanna tries to occupy the tree, but Lilith has made it her home. The hero Gilgamesh eventually expels her, and she flies into the desert. This scene would later be interpreted as a symbolic expulsion from Eden.

The lilitu also appear in Mesopotamian incantation bowls (6th century BCE – 4th century CE), where they are described as female demonic figures haunting homes. These magical bowls, found in Iraq and Syria, were used to protect families from their influence.

Lilith in Hebrew texts and demonization

In Isaiah 34:14, a creature named “Lilith” (in Hebrew לִילִית) is mentioned among wild beasts and night creatures, in a prophecy about Edom’s desolation. This figure is identified as a night spirit, which would later contribute to her association with witchcraft and sexuality.

However, her most detailed story emerges in a medieval text: the Alphabet of Ben Sira (10th century CE), a Hebrew satirical manuscript that develops a legend already present in oral tradition:

According to this text, Lilith was the first wife of Adam, created from the same clay as him. Therefore, she was his equal. However, when Adam demanded that she lie beneath him, Lilith refused and pronounced the sacred name of God, which gave her the power to fly and flee from Eden.

Her escape and divine punishment

Lilith fled to the Red Sea. God sent three angels—Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof—to force her to return. She refused, saying she preferred exile to submission. As punishment, it was decreed that 100 of her children would die each day. In retaliation, Lilith became a being that attacked newborns and pregnant women, fueling her legend as a night demon.

This tale is documented in medieval Jewish manuscripts preserved in the National Library of Israel and in various versions of the Alphabet of Ben Sira, maintained in Hebrew and Aramaic.

There are also indirect references to Lilith in Talmudic tradition. In the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat 151b, Lilith is mentioned as a figure with power over newborns. Here also appears the use of protective amulets bearing the names of angels to ward off her influence.

Lilith, Lucifer, and the rebellion of knowledge

A later interpretation, developed in esoteric and Gnostic circles, connects Lilith to Lucifer—the light-bringer. In this alternative tradition, both are symbols of rebellious knowledge and freedom from dogma.

According to this vision, Lilith and Lucifer were the ones who tempted Eve in Eden, not to condemn her, but to free her from Adam’s submission. The serpent, in this reading, represents not evil but ancestral wisdom.

This current is also associated with the modern Luciferian movement, where Lucifer is not a demonic figure but a symbol of free thought. Lilith, in this context, is his spiritual consort: the one who gives Eve the desire to know, to question, and to choose.

This idea also appears in esoteric versions of Genesis reinterpreted by 19th-century authors, such as those in the Theosophical Society, and in symbolic novels and alternative spirituality essays.

Lilith in the Kabbalah and the Zohar

In Jewish Kabbalah, Lilith appears as a female demonic force, associated with chaos, night, and sexual sin. In the Zohar, one of the foundational texts of Jewish mysticism (13th century), she is described as the companion of Samael, the angel of death, forming a kind of dark “anti-pair” opposed to Adam and Eve.

This Kabbalistic Lilith is seductive, beautiful, and dangerous. It is said she visits sleeping men to steal their seed and generate demonic spirits (the lilim). This demonized image coexisted for centuries with protective amulets and prayers invoking her name as something to ward off.

Kabbalistic tradition also describes a “Higher Lilith” and a “Lower Lilith”, the former being more spiritual and the latter more carnal and demonic. This duality reflects the symbol’s complexity and its role in esoteric Hebrew cosmology.

The feminist and contemporary Lilith

From the 20th century onward, especially with the rise of feminism and female spirituality, Lilith was reinterpreted as a symbol of empowerment and sexual freedom.

In 1976, the Jewish feminist group B’not Esh (“Daughters of Fire”) began reclaiming Lilith as a figure of autonomy.
In 1997, the Lilith Fair was launched, a musical festival founded by singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan, celebrating female talent in music.
Lilith Magazine, founded in 1976, is a Jewish feminist publication that addresses equality, religion, and politics with a critical and symbolic perspective, using her name as a banner.
In literature and art, Lilith appears as an archetype of the woman who does not submit, who chooses the desert over obedience, who protects her voice, her body, and her will.

In contemporary art, many authors, painters, and poets have represented Lilith as the liberating shadow accompanying processes of self-affirmation and spiritual awakening in women.

Lilith in astrology and magical traditions

In astrology, Lilith is known as the Black Moon Lilith, a calculated point that represents the Moon’s farthest distance from Earth. It is associated with repressed desires, female autonomy, sexual power, and the shadow self.

In a natal chart, Black Moon Lilith indicates areas where one seeks freedom, where rebellion against imposed roles may surface.
It is often interpreted as the untamed feminine, the part of the psyche that refuses submission or silence.
In magical traditions, Lilith is invoked in rituals of lunar magic, protection, and sexual empowerment. Her name is sometimes used in sigil work, shadow work, and modern witchcraft practices.

Lilith in literature and popular culture

Lilith has made a strong resurgence in modern media and literature:

In Neil Gaiman’s Sandman universe, she is referenced as a primordial being, tied to the realm of dreams and archetypes.
In the TV series Lucifer and other fantasy dramas, she is portrayed as the first wife of Adam, powerful, immortal, and deeply misunderstood.
In novels such as Lilith by George MacDonald (1895), she is depicted as a dark fairy-tale figure exploring the theme of redemption.
Lilith appears in video games, graphic novels, and songs as a symbol of the witch, the seductress, or the enlightened exile.

Her presence in popular culture reflects the enduring mystery and magnetism of her archetype—both feared and revered.

Documentation and key sources

Gilgamesh and the Huluppu Tree – tablets from Uruk, Iraq Museum and British Museum.
Book of Isaiah 34:14 – Hebrew Bible, versions like the Jerusalem Bible.
Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat 151b
Alphabet of Ben Sira – medieval manuscripts, National Library of Israel.
Zohar – Kabbalistic text, published in Spain in the 13th century.
The Book of Lilith – Barbara Black Koltuv (1986)
Lilith’s Cave – Howard Schwartz
The Hebrew Goddess – Raphael Patai
The Origin of the Lilith Myth – John Leeming
Women Who Run With the Wolves – Clarissa Pinkola Estés (analyzing Lilith as a liberating female archetype)
Sex and the Origins of Death – William R. Clark (essay on sexual mythology and female demonization)
Lilith: A Biography – Ada Langworthy Collier (1885)
Astrology for the Soul – Jan Spiller (section on Black Moon Lilith)
Dark Moon Astrology – Demetra George

Conclusion: the one who chose exile

Lilith was not created to please. She was made from the same clay as Adam, with the same soul, and chose not to bow her head. She paid the price with her name, her motherhood, her place in history. But she also lit a torch.

She is the goddess who walks alone in the desert, the mother of exiles, the first to say no. Her figure continues to be reborn because she represents what still unsettles: freedom, a self-owned voice, desire without guilt, a woman without a master.

Today, Lilith is no demon: she is a mirror. In it are reflected all those who were once silenced, exiled, cursed for speaking too loudly, loving too freely, or thinking too far.

Because in the beginning, before Eve, she was already there.