With all this talk of the emerging
female, I love the idea of the asteroid Lilith beginning a transit of deep,
dark, mysterious Scorpio! Is there really anyone among us, male or female, that
isn't a bit afraid of the true power of the untamed, forever wild, woman ? Think
of how we're always shifting blame to those among us that dare honor her in
any way. Lilith is the consummate,
cosmic, bad girl! If you think of
all the things we tell little girls not to do in order to be considered a good
girl - yeah, Lilith choose to cast all those aside. There're many elements to
the legend and lore of Lilith, from being the handmaid of the Goddess Inanna, to Adam's first wife, and everything in-between,
but the common thread, in all of her stories, is that Lilith had a problem submitting
to any patriarch; her sexuality was hers to command, and she refused to go down
without a fight! Her rebellion to all things which caged her is a dynamic
symbol of sacred rebellion for both women and men. In Lilith's story, the daunting task of dispelling the Goddess depended on oppressing all the
mysteries of the feminine through the world's longest and most
effective smear campaign, and yet she continues on with an unwavering will to survive, no matter what has been thrown at her, like many women I know today.
In astrology (it is an astrology
blog, after all), Lilith, is actually the name of an asteroid (Lilith #1181), the
name of a sensitive spot in space, as measured by our visible moon's apogee (Black
Moon Lilith), and a mythical, or hypothetical, second moon of the earth, said
to be almost always hidden to us because of its position, named after Lilith
(Dark Moon Lilith). Add to this list, a fixed star at about 25 ° of
Taurus, named Stellar Lilith, and it can get a little confusing to figure out. With
all these different heavenly bodies and theoretical sensitive, and hidden spots,
all named after this dark Goddess who represents all that is wild and free
within the feminine psyche, you would think she'd be more easily found!
When I read through what I can find
regarding Lilith, in many ways, I see the very oldest of threads remaining of
the history of all my mothers and sisters before me, since the beginning of
time. At her very worst, Lilith can be selfish, destructive, and deceptive; but
when Lilith is at her best, she's sensuous, a gateway to the deepest
mysteries, the Goddess in all her wonderful and fierce forms, embodied by every
woman that wants to find her. As with so many things we don't quite understand,
we all fear these things Lilith represents. Her embodiment of the Goddess here
on earth as the handmaid of Inanna, with her role as the sacred prostitute in
the temples, and the vessel by which the rites of fertility were practiced, Lilith
created a sense of omnipotent presence which all women pay the price for to
this day.
Much like the powerful feminine
rising today, Lilith is hard to find, difficult to understand, multi-faceted,
and impossible to keep down forever. When we look at how women spend their
energy trying desperately to keep her feminine desires, impulses, sensuality,
and wisdom pushed down small enough to not freak guys out, it isn't hard to see
all the ways Lilith rebels to be seen! Part of the lesson of Lilith is survival
by any means. Sometimes survival means retreat, hide, adapt to the best of your
ability, but sometimes to survive you must be fierce, aggressive, and
unyielding! I find it interesting in our
male dominated, war driven, control based society, we not only allow men to
embrace all of Lilith's qualities, good and bad with no judgment at all, but we
find these assets exciting and desirable.
Why, as women, do we constantly
hand our power away, or feel shame and guilt when we refuse to? Even worse,
some of us get ridiculed, made to feel small and dirty, by our own sisters. The
survival technique of retreat; quietly submitting; hiding in plain sight, in
order to manipulate the story, and making the story sweeter than it really is:
not only are these the methods used most often by women to survive, these are
the methods by which we have been able to keep the Goddess alive for our
daughters and grand-daughters. As Lilith has started coming back to light,
so, too, has the rise of feminism, and women's proper place as a divine being,
in and of, herself. I don't think it was any accident that the asteroid, Lilith
#1181 was discovered toward the end of the 1920's, just when the roaring
twenties, with flappers and bobbed hair, was in full swing, with women
beginning bold enough to demand rights and respect. Since her discovery in the
early 1900's until now, the theme of Lilith has become more and more interwoven
into our culture, subconsciously awakening in our psyche, and establishing
herself more and more prominently in astrology.
Since 1927, when the asteroid Lilith was discovered at 7 °
Leo, the Black Moon Lilith has made roughly 9 transits through the
zodiac. The number nine, a number that represents the end of a major cycle,
movement into unconditional love of all mankind, and mathematical magic by its
very nature, is a wonderful representation of Lilith in her many miraculous,
and mundane, forms. Although much about Lilith is embodied by the number 9, in
astrology she feels most at home, and
seems to revel in, all things Scorpio, and the mysteries hidden in the
eighth house. It's almost as if, armed only by her divine wisdom, and pure
faith in subconscious impulses, she knows she must purify herself through
excess, submission to the beast within, and complete dissolve into the mystic
of the abyss, before she can rise like a phoenix in the ninth house of
Sagittarius; rising above, aiming for her purist destiny - the embodiment of
the Goddess here on earth, in all her glory!
It's no accident that the
rediscovery of Lilith, and the rise of feminism, have gone hand in hand. It's
not by coincidence that Lilith is complicated, multi-faceted, misunderstood,
and chastised for her very existence and refusal to die. It isn't just happenstance that started the
rise of women's awakening to the idea that we were created whole, equal to man
in our own right, and with our own power to command, at our will, without the
need for permission or approval from any man. The idea of "As above, so
below" comes to mind when I contemplate how the asteroid Lilith was always
there, and yet not visible, much like all the other elements of Lilith. The
Power and magic of the Goddess has followed the example of Lilith; always here,
but not always boldly seen with the naked eye. Lilith is both, so subtle she
can hide in plain sight, yet too wild and powerful to disappear.
As Black Moon Lilith moves out of
Libra and into Scorpio around mid-may, she's going to be ready to push us to
extremes, helping us to embrace those parts of the divine feminine that we will
no longer apologize for like: the way we bleed with the rhythm of the moon
cycles; how we can bend the mathematical rules that the rest of the world uses,
and insist that for us, one plus one equals that magic number 3; to nurture
comes second nature, and we can heal with the salve of release. Scorpio reminds
Lilith that her body was once worshiped as a temple, in and of itself, and her
wisdom was law. While Lilith in Libra has been asking us to examine where we've
been off balance, urging us to examine the dark and bitter aspects of our
relationships, looking at partner as a reflection of self, and uncovering the idea
that the sparkly, beauty of desire, needs to be balanced with substance and
depth by both partners - Lilith in Scorpio demands so much more to reach her
full potential.
By its very nature, Lilith in
Scorpio will leave scars somewhere while we transit through this next nine
months together. On a large scale, we
move beyond the world stage presenting all the deceptive ways we've been trying
to balance the scales of male vs. female, and start bringing to the forefront
all the truly unapologetic ways in which we embrace being fully formed women
(and men for that matter). Scorpio and Lilith are both known for going to
extremes. Sometimes we don't know what our limits are unless we push them; our
impulse for drowning in ecstasy, and submitting to the lusts of the flesh, can
be a learning experience you can't deny. Just like a woman's body knows how to
create life from nothing, manifestation is a woman's birth right to reclaim
without asking permission. We're not only allowed to conquer the world, in our
own way, we're being asked to lead the charge to heal, applying the salve that
only mystery, and awakening to the ancient wisdom within can accomplish. In
nine months we push into a more detached, and destiny driven sort of feminine
energy, but for now we're reconnecting with the kind of impulses to passion,
and lust that blows our mind, and pushes our boundaries. I'm not just talking
about the kind of lust that brings you to your knees within the confines of a
relationship, because women may actually feel a little imprisoned by their
circumstances, right now, if their partner isn't encouraging their wild and passionate
nature; I'm talking about finding that kind of passion and lust for life in
everything you are doing - including your partner!
If I could give some words of
advice for the next 9 months, it would be to reconnect with the rebel within;
your inner "Black Widow", the femme fetal all men want but could
never possess. Most of the time, we fear the idea of failure less than the
thought of fully embracing the full spectrum of how bad ass we could truly be.
You see, failure is easy to comprehend, but the boundaries of creative
manifestation are limitless, and scary! As with so many things we fear, the
fear itself speaks to us. Lilith embraces, without thought to reason, all that
is powerful and omnipotent about the divine feminine, whether it can be
controlled, once unleashed, or not. Over the next 9 months, understand that
always holding the reigns tight will only leave you with bloody hands and damage the mouth of your stead; while letting go of your control, and accepting
the power between your thighs, will drive you and the horse to limits you both
fear and crave, with little more than sore muscles and a new thirst for life.
If you feel like I've written this
blog post for women, with no thought to the men out there going through this
transit, don't fear - I love you guys, too! While Lilith challenges women to fiercely
embody their shadow side, and all we've been told to suppress, you're being
tasked with being man enough to trust us to take on all that we truly are as
women, and not squash you in the process! Looking at the Jewish tradition of explaining
Lilith as Adam's first wife, we're given a wonderful parable of how NOT to
treat the woman you love! This story of Lilith is actually pieced together from
different legend and lore, but the long and short of it is: God first created
Adam and Lilith (or the first Eve), as the male and female halves of an androgynous
being, that was then split in two by God. In this first creation story, while
Lilith considers herself equal to Adam, he is insistent that she submit. She
literally throws a fit, in this story, over Adam refusing to allow her to be on
top during sex, and she leaves him.
Obviously there's more to the
story's depth and symbolism, just as there's more to the control issues, in modern
life, between men and women. In many ways, Lilith embodies all these control
issues that can develop into outright abuse. Here's an interesting idea, as we
become more and more evolved humans, I believe we'll learn to tame some of the
more destructive tendencies of the Lilith within, by embracing and allowing
sacred space for our wild and mysterious impulses. I think we can all agree
that women, in all their many phases in life, with our innate connection to the
rhythms and cycles of the Earth and the Moon (which I believe extends much,
much further than that), are magic walking. We can be soft, warm and nurturing,
while understanding the need, and value, of being hard and unyielding. Our love
can know no bounds, but with a loving shove we can mark the passage that says
it's time to let go. The bodies we came into this world with can offer comfort,
and life nurturing milk, not to mention a gateway to connecting with the gods.
When we, as a society, begin again to embrace these truths, we'll finally start
breaking free of the gender roles, and control issues, that keep us estranged
from true communion. I encourage men to take this time to consider what scares
you about abandoning all reason, submitting to pure emotion and the unknown. I
know with my whole being, that we must still honor the penetrating, focus of
male energy; however, while the divine male, God made real on Earth, is needed
like we need the Sun, what good would the Sun do any of us, if there was not
fertile fields to receive, and transcend, the penetration into life. We need
each other like a mirror needs a reflection; like the sea needs the shore; like
night needs the day.
If you haven't looked into Lilith
in your chart, or you are feeling the call of the rising feminine within, I
encourage you to find out more. If you're interested in exploring some of the
more raw and powerful, yet subtle and misunderstood, dynamics of the feminine
energy, and how she is emerging at large in the world, start digging into, and
connecting with her history. Some women have little to no connection to Lilith,
and the calling from this dark, shadowy, feminine energy may be felt mostly in the
Lilith themes playing out around them. Other women may feel Lilith like a
shadow sister, that finally helps make it all fit into place. The same is true
for the men we share this new age of Aquarius with. A dynamically placed Lilith
in a man's chart will leave its mark on him as well. I, personally, have my sun
sitting right on top of Stellar Lilith and trine Black Moon Lilith, so I may
have a tendency to sugar coat and romanticize her, but my feeling is, you can
already find plenty of nasty things to read about her; you don't need me to add
to that. I have a personal affinity for Lilith, that makes me love her wild,
free, untamable spirit, and frankly, I love the ugly parts to Lilith, as well.
She was damaged, but choose to save herself. Lilith was willing to face
uncertainty, and self imposed isolation,
over oppression and continued deprecation. Let's face it, as women, we're often
faced with next to impossible odds, and throughout history we have accomplished
the impossible time and again.
