How it all began...

The first depictions of Lilith come from Mesopotamia, a goddess who protected women and children. She was the handmaiden of Inanna and therefore associated with sex, love, and beauty. She was associated with serpents and birds, often being depicted as having wings and talons. She was a midwife, assisting women in childbirth and nursing babies born in ill-health.

In the Jewish legend, the Hebrew god sends three angels after Lilith to order her back to Adam. She is threatened with “100 of her children dying every night” if she doesn’t return. Determined to be her own free woman, Lilith remains where she is. She is said to give birth to demons and sacrifice the children of mortals to prevent her own children from being killed. She won’t return to Eden, even though it means the death of her children.

In other stories...

Though the Mesopotamian and Jewish depictions of Lilith are the most well-known, in other traditions, she is seen as a vampire (sometimes the progenitor of all vampires, as Cain is sometimes known), a witch, a demon, and a dark goddess. Many of these depictions find foundation in her original legends and lend to her place in modern Wicca and Pagan worship. Especially the view of her as one of the original practitioners of witchcraft.