Lilith

I am sitting on the couch with my foot up. A heat pack on my ankle and an iPad in hand. I decided to continue working on  a piece I started years ago. This piece has a beautiful orange-red mosaic base and a powerful and peaceful woman with an owl on her shoulder. The main form is made from Monte Marta air dry clay and I am working over it in polymer clay and plan to add crystals along the way. I always thought of this feminine sculpture as a Goddess but tended to automatically think of Athena but somehow this didn’t feel right as their was wisdom, not war in her and I have learnt to go with my instincts so I researched.

For many years I have loved the deeper meaning I saw behind the Goddess Lilith and as I research I am aware that this sculpture is a powerful  aspect of the way I see Lilith. She has a powerful wisdom.

If you do not know the Lilith myth (briefly) she was said to be Adam’s first wife but was thrown out of the Garden of Eden because she refused the missionary position…symbolically to be subservient to Adam. For this she was thrown out of the garden before the fall and so is said to still live today. Back in the garden Eve was created from Adams rib so she would do as she was told…worked for awhile but really didn’t work in the long run….the apple …punishment …thrown out of the garden etc…

Well one of the prevalent patriarchal propagandas about Lilith is that she is the eternal whore. This ability to be sexually alive and owning this part of our feminine nature is something to be celebrated not demonised as so often done when we read about her. This sexual personification is not the side of Lilith that my sculpture is portraying as I believe that her symbology goes much deeper than this. We are so much more than a single aspect.

I see her as a woman who knows her own mind and listens to her instincts. Her disobedience in the garden is a powerful symbol of this. She does not question her decision but knows iwhat is right for her. Even without the tree of knowledge she had this knowing as it was always part of her. Unlike Eve, she did not question what she knew inside was right. The owl, as wisdom and guide through the inner world allows her to evolve and step into our own time and reminds us of the importance of honouring our inner knowing. The vessel is a soul vessel that we carry with us as women. That part of us that needs to be nurtured. I am yet to choose the crystals I will add as she is developed into my representation of this universal Goddess but I will do some more research and see where it leads. Moonstone maybe…but not sure what else. The red/orange base grounds her but is also reminiscent of the passion and fire that is part of her. Even in this very gentle inward looking representation of Her, their is a sense of her power.

There are sites that emphasise the dark nature of the patriarchal view of Lilith …personally I prefer to see her from the feminine standpoint that is about reclaiming our matriarchal heritage. Sexually alive and empowered with a deep guided inner knowing and a powerful strength that we carry. No not a feminist as such but someone who believes that by looking at both sides of our natures ( yin and yang) we can start to find a balance that helps us to move into our future together as equals…. I guess this is my core …that their is so much to learn from all the energies that surround us. I have a strong feminine vibration so it is what guides me to balance my life as I step out into the external  world of work. Lilith reminds me to find my inner balance and follow my intuition and stand in my own possibilities rather than following the expected path. Now that is a good role model.

I will post this image as she evolves as she is evolving and in the process of creation.

Finding Lilith…inner wisdom by Cheryle Bannon©