Pagan Portals - The First Sisters: Lilith and Eve

by Lady Haight-Ashton

It was said in the beginning, in a garden called Eden, that woman was created at the same time as man, and not from his rib. Lilith, the first female, created equal to stand as a partner. But she proved to be a person so troublesome that she vanishes from her rightful place in civilization’s mythological legends in place of Eve, the first wife. With her younger sister Eve’s story heralding the future of all womankind, Lilith and her story stands alone as a testament to the Sacred Feminine and man’s fear of the mysteries that lie within her. The First Lilith and Eve is a gateway to a provocative awakening.

Genres: Spirituality

114 pages, Paperback

Published February 22, 2019

Reviews

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always been intrigued by Lilith. Maybe in Judaeo Christian Religions she was evil. But to me she seems the true Independent Feminine Strong woman to look up to. Childless and free she was one to look up to also. Then there is her sister Eve, getting a bad rep for being "Tamer and subservient" However, Lady Haight Ashton did perceive her as an independent woman in her own right. After all, she was tempted by the promised wisdom and not just a bite of fruit. Where as she held the fruit to Adam and said, "Eat." And without any other temptations he did. Says a lot about the falsely accussed/ misplaced punishment. This book explores it all in very gentle ways.

[Rose Noir · Rating 2 out of 5]

This might have worked better as a book solely focused on Lilith, who the author seems to work with more within her practice as a goddess but I give her credit for paying homage to Eve and for giving us her upg of the sisterly bond between the two. I find that one of the most frustrating things about Lilith devotees is how they hold up Lilith as a Powerful Feminist icon and yet usually disrespect Eve in the process; calling her submissive or passive. Anyone who has the vaguest knowledge of the Eden myth should know that is absolute nonsense. But even besides that, pitting women against each other is simply misogyny in a feminist mask. So kudos to the author for giving Eve her due as a figure that sought divine knowledge over meek obedience.

That's pretty much where my praise for the book ends however. There is very little authentic research on Lilith that hasn't been pulled from Wikipedia. The author is of a Christian background and while I don't believe one needs to be Jewish to work with Lilith I feel like they should have a better understanding of the lore. The author runs with the belief that Lilith was the 'original' woman mentioned in Genesis 1 but was then edited out of scripture back in the Bronze Age. There is simply no evidence for this and the folklore about Lilith being the "first woman" does not crop up until Jewish writings in the second century CE. The only mention of Lilith in the Bible occurs in Isiah and is referring to demons who are present in Mesopotamian mythology who seem to have no link to any Creation myth that we know of thus far. Little of this is brought up by the author, she prefers to portray Lilith as a strong feminine goddess who was 'demonised' when evidence points to the opposite. Many Lilith devotees I know of embrace her gladly as a Demon Mother or infernal in her own right, almost seperate from Jewish and Christian lore.

And then there's Eve, who as I said the author speaks slightly more kindly than she often gets from either Christians or Pagans, but still seems little compared to Lilith. It is a shame that the author seems unfamiliar with Gnostic and Sophian myths were Eve is elevated to a higher status. She is the embodiment of the Daughter of Divine Wisdom (Zoe Sophia) who wakes Adam by giving him a soul and a connection to God. For this, he calls her Mother of the Living. When the Goddess departs from Eve, leaving her human and ignorant, Zoe returns in the form of a serpent to tell Eve to eat the apple and remember her True Self. I feel the author would have found this interesting and seen parallels with her own theory that the serpent who instructed Eve was Lilith, returned to help her sister.

But even without the Gnostic remimagining of the Genesis myth, the author makes such common misteps as claiming Eve was created to be demure and submissive, again something not mentioned in the text. She also repeats the mistranslation that Eve was created from Adam's "rib", when most scholars today understand the word to be 'side'. Meaning Eve is literally just the other side of Adam, who in Jewish Mysticism is understood to have originally been Intersex. So woman was not created from man, but rather Human split into male and female. This is also found in the Gnostic myth and grants Eve a higher status than Adam (the male half) as it is She who awakens first and then wakes him via the breath of Sophia. She then does so again with the fruit of Knowledge.

I had hoped that my journey to find a book that praises Eve as a divine feminine figure worthy of veneration - alongside figures like the Madonna and the Magdalene - would be found here but sadly was not the case.

[Rachael · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a thought piece, the author writes her take on the Jewish/Christian creation myth and asks the readers to expand their mind and ask 'what if' the myth took a different turn? What if the writers of the myth valued equality rather than using it to opression women? What if our ancestors didn't use the male-centric religion to brutally wipe out female-centric religions and female empowerment legends? I've always loved the myth of Lilith and while I grew up with the Adam & Eve creation myth, I also grew up in predominately female household and never truly bought into the 'woman was the downfall of humanity' thing anyway. So reading this book that rewrites Lilith and Eve as sisters- with Lilith, the snake, only reminding Eve of her worth and power and sexuality, rather than evil, was beautiful. If you are looking for a more researched and indepth book about the mythos of Lilith and Eve, this isn't it, but a good read nonetheless.

[Rammy Chan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, it was an ok book. Easy and quick to read, written nicely too. It's just I didn't feel like I learned much about Lilith or Eve from this one.

Honestly the whole book felt a little bit like a big rant about the patriarchy and it sounded a lot like "man bad" at times. As a woman who has experienced the depravity of the male sex first hand and is very sensitive to women's struggles concerning the matter, I got tired of it. I also got tired of how many times the word "herstory" was used in these 100 pages.

There was some decent information in it though, I especially loved the mention of the priestesses and "sacred prostitutes" of antiquity and their work of chanelling the divine feminine. Also the spells were nice.

[Gabrielle Jarrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

The First Sisters is a well documented rendition of the Garden and God's revenge upon Lilith - Adam's first partner - who according to several sources, refused to lie beneath him during their sexual encounters. She made equal with him, according to the first version of the Creation in Genesis. After her banishment, Eve was created from Adam's rib and called his wife, subservient to him. Lilith went on to become the mother of prostitutes and fallen women. But then, Eve and those following her were subject to severe childbirth pain and desiring only their husbands. It's amazing what I was taught and believed growing up in a conservative branch of Lutheran Christianity...

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow what a disappointing read. It starts off alright with some general information about Lilith then the rest of the book is the author rambling about a handful of topics and similar Goddesses with no mention of Lilith until the end of the chapter in a short paragraph. The writing is dry and at times condescending. And for some reason we have some prayers and rituals dedicated to Eve, I didn't really want that I read it for Lilith and she was like 25% of it.

[Chelsea Covey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is short, and what was written was very good. My ownly issue is it is presented as an op ed. Also, the author restates concepts so much so that it feels more repetative than thematic. Its already a shortbook, without the repetitveness it would probably be half the size. Otherwise, the information provided is interesting, the references used are pretty good. Over all it was ok.

[Chase · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dissapointing rambling book. Could not even finish it.

[zoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

[Penny Wright · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wikipedia is cited as a source multiple times in this book. Absolutely not. There are some decent or even really good Pagan Portal books, and this is not one of them.