Nathan Brown

The Rape of Lilith: the Degradation of the Dark Mother Nathan Brown

Lilith. This female figure has remained a part of Middle and Near Eastern religious mythology for roughly 5,000 years. Though she has existed in myths for thousands of years, the question of Lilith?s true origins remains a mystery. The solution to the enigma surrounding the ?birth? of Lilith may suggest that her name at one point referenced a widely worshipped creator goddess. However, her divinity has been continually diminished by the myths of male-dominated cultures with more developed written languages. Lilith?s fall has been long and far: from creator goddess to destroyer goddess, from deity to human, and from human to succubus-like demon. The terrifying Lilith of modern religious perception may be little more than a diminished and tainted shadow of the original creator goddess worshipped by such prehistoric Mesopotamian groups as the lost civilizations of Al- Ubaid and Çatalhöyük. Embodying both womb and tomb, the Dark Mother is as lovely as she is terrifying. Lilith screams to us from the shadows, demanding we either open our eyes to her ... or have them ripped out.