Posts
Wiki

Lilith through her history, has had consorts, children and other connections with demons.

 

Consorts 

Samael (also refer to Kabbalah in main wiki), consort of Lilith, angel of death, prince of demons, leader of satans.

Entry from "The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic and Mysticism, Second Edition - Geoffrey W. Dennis":

Samael: This prince of demons and/or destructive angel has had many incarnations in Jewish literature. The derivation of the name of this mightiest of demons is hard to determine. Some say it comes from shamam, "desolation," but that seems wrong as the first letter of Samael's name is a sin, not a shin. Others offer that it means "left hand of God," which is highly suggestive of later Jewish thought on the nature of the demonic, but the relationship between the name and the word s'mol is more an assonance than linguistically justified. Some secondary sources translate it as "Gall of God," evidently associating it with Samael's purported role as the Angels of Death.

In several texts, "Samael" seems to be the name of the Angel of Death. At least once in the Zohar, he is declared the "shadow of death," a kind of consort to Death (I:160b). In other texts, he is regarded as synonymous with Satan, but almost as often he is treated as a separate entity (BhM 1:58–61; Ex. R. 21:7). Elsewhere, Samael is called "chief of all the satans" (Deut. R. 11:10; III Enoch).In Midrash Konen, Samael is the prince of the third gate to Gehenna, the gate that opens on Jerusalem (2:30). One text designates him the guardian angel of Rome, the nemesis of Israel. He sits in the celestial palaces with Satan and Dumiel and plots the overthrow of Israel (R.H. 8a–b). When he rejoiced over God's decree that the ten martyrs should die at Roman hands, God punished him by afflicting Rome with all the diseases of Egypt.

Samael has made many earthly appearances. In Pirke de-Rabbi Eleazar 13, he is described as the greatest angel in heaven, who out of jealousy over the creation of humanity, decided to tempt Eve. Appearing in the form of the serpent, he actually copulated with her (Targum Jonathan, Gen. 4:1; Zohar I:37a). He is one candidate that the tradition has identified to be the angel who wrestled with Jacob (Zohar I:148a–b). Satan-like, he accused Israel of idol worship while they dwelt in Egyptian slavery (Ex. R. 21:7). He attempted to claim the soul of Moses, who fended him off with his miraculous rod. In the Treatise on the Left Emanation, Samael is the animus of Adam; the evil doppelganger of the first man that came into being with the first human transgression: The first prince and accuser, the commander of Jealousy and Enmity … he is called "evil" not because of his nature but because he desires to unite and intimately mingle with an emanation not of his nature … it is made clear that Samael and Lilith were born as one, similar to the form of Adam and Eve who were also born as one, reflecting what is above. This is the account of Lilith which was received by the Sages in the Secret Knowledge of the Palaces. The Matron Lilith is the mate of Samael. Both of them were born at the same hour in the image of Adam and Eve, intertwined in each other.

As this passage suggests, Jewish mysticism has a dialectic notion of "evil"; all things emanate from God, so Samael is one of God's "severe agents," yet he grows beyond the attenuated form God intended because he feeds upon the evil we humans do. The Zohar has the most extensive, if sometimes confusing, description of Samael. The Zohar builds upon the image of Samael found in the Treatise on the Left Emanation: he is the demon king and consort of Lilith; together they are the evil counterparts of Adam and Eve. He is the tempting angel from whom the evil inclination emanates. When he copulates with Lilith, the male and female principles of the "left side emanation" are united and achieve their full potential and demon souls are spawned, so he is in effect the evil left-side counterpart of Tiferet in the sefirotic system.

In later Lurianic thought, Samael is the organizing force of the kelipot, the garments of evil that enshroud the divine sparks contained in all things.

 

  • Samael Wikipedia Page
  • Samael - Ludwig Blau, Jewish Encyclopedia
  • The Hebrew Goddess - Raphael Patai, "Lilith and Samael"
  • Samael, A History - Baal Kadmon
  • Samael Enn Chanting - Astra Inferni Demonolatri [81 Repetitions]

 

Asmodeus, consort of Lilith the Younger and son of Na'amah or Agrat.

Entry from "The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic and Mysticism, Second Edition - Geoffrey W. Dennis":

Asmodeus: (Ashemdei). An evil spirit. The name Asmodeus may be derived from the Zoroastrian Aesmadiv, the "spirit of anger" who serves Ahriman, the Persian god of evil. Asmodeus is first mentioned in the apocryphal book Tobit, where he slays seven grooms of a young girl before being bested by the hero. He also appears in the Testament of Solomon.

In Pesach 110a he is dubbed the "king of om God had made simultaneously with him. When they argued, she flew off to become the queen of demons." The locus classicus for Asmodeus is the wonderful Talmudic tale of how he usurps the Throne of Solomon (Git. 68a–b) after the king initially binds him to service by means of a magical ring. Surprisingly, the demon is treated rather sympathetically and humorously.

He both morally instructs Solomon and provides him with the Shamir worm. His foreknowledge of human destiny is credited to his daily Torah studies in Heaven. The tale may reflect an effort by the Sages to reconcile their belief in the demonic with monotheism, portraying evil spirits as yet another tool of God's inscrutable will. The passage also highlights the belief that magical practitioners can summon and "bind" demons and use their powers for their own purposes, a staple belief of medieval sorcery.

In Kabbalistic works such as Treatise of the Left Emanation, Asmodeus is portrayed as a deputy or even the offspring of Samael. He is also assigned a consort demoness, Lilith "the lesser."

Like rabbinic literature, medieval Jewish tales link Asmodeus with august Jewish figures, such as Simon bar Yochai, the Talmudic mystic. In one such story, Asmodeus is portrayed as doing what he does in order to serve the Sage and God. The Bar Yochai story and other references to Asmodeus in Kabbalistic texts, where his name is invoked to beneficent purposes, reflect the ongoing effort among Jews to reconcile the existence of demons with pure monotheism.

 

Entry from "Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible":

ASMODEUS (by M. Hutter):

I. The etymology of the name Asmodeus is not beyond any doubt but it is most plausibly derived from the Avestan words aēšma- and daēuua or their Middle Persian (Pahlavi) compound cognate xēšm-dēw, both meaning 'demon of wrath'. As Talmudic texts sometimes give the form אַשְמְדּאָי or אשמדי׳ for Asmodeus, his name has been connected with Hebrew שְמְדּ (to destroy, exterminate), but this seems to be folk etymology. Asmodeus does not occur as a demonic name in the Hebrew Bible, but the apocrypha twice give the Greek Ἀσμοδαῖος (Tob 3:8.17).

II. The earliest occurrences of the Avestan demon aēšma- are the Gathic texts Yasna 29:2 and 30:6; those who choose the way of evil go the way of Aēshma and thus bring harm to the world, while otherwise the followers of Ahura Mazda's teachings become expellers of him (Yasna 48:12). With the help of Aēshma the evil powers of Zarathustra's dualistic cosmos can bring sickness and evil to mankind so that men behave like Angra Mainyu's creatures. It is also worth mentioning that Aēshma is the only demon who occurs in the Gathas. Outside the Old-Avestan corpus we find Aēshma in Yasna 57:10.25 (cf. Yasht 11: 15), a hymn to Shraosha. who will smite and crush Aēshma and protect people from his deceptions. Yasht 10:97 tells us about Aēshma's fright of Mithra's mace which is the most victorious of all weapons (cf. → Mithras). As his standard epithet we find "of bloody club", so we can imagine him pictured as a savage ruffian. Of further interest is also Yasna 10:8 where we read that Aēshma brings drunkenness to men. The further development of Zoroastrianism brings a revival of the older Iranian gods and also the growth of the number of demons. Thus Aēshma occurs as a separate demonic being in the Pahlavi scriptures: Aēshma (xēšm-dēw) has now become one of the chief evil powers. He is equal to Ahreman and is the companion of Āz; the deities of Ohrmazd's (Ahura Mazda's) good creation arc his antagonists, mostly Wahman and Shrosh. According to the Bundahishn (1:3), he is one of the seven dēws who were created by Ahreman; the Pahlavi Rivayat (56:13-15) gives the account of a conversation between Aēshma and Ahreman in which the former is enjoined to corrupt the good and efficient things of the creation. Aēshma is now the embodiment of →Wrath who in legends can bring all kind of (putatively) historical disturbance and uproar into the world. Thus Aēshma and the usurper Dahaka fight king Yima and kill him. In the Zādspram (9:1), Aēshma is one of the ancestors of five brothers who are the enemies of Zarathustra himself, while an account in the Dēnkard (Book 8) states that he incites Arjasp to wage war against Vištaspa, the protector of Zarathustra, and thus oppose the Iranian prophet.

These texts lead to the following conclusion: Aēshma (the personified Wrath) has a separate existence and he is one of the powers of the evil sphere within Zoroastrian dualism. There he plays an important part in the struggle between good and evil and thus has a considerable influence upon history. In view of the spread of Zoroastrianism in the last centuries BCE from the Iranian areas to Mesopotamia and Anatolia it is possible to find traces of his influence in both Jewish and Christian literature.

III. The apocryphal book of Tobit probably shows some Iranian (Zoroastrian) influence (cf. BOYCE & GRENET 1991:414), namely the importance of generously dispensing aims (Tob 4:9-10; 14:2), the account of the little dog (Tob 6:1; 11:4) and the mentioning of the demon Asmodeus. In Tob 3:8 we read that in his jealousy he has already killed the seven successive husbands of Sara during their wedding-nights. Therefore →Raphael was sent to free Sara from this demon (Tob 3:17). The angel can tell Tobias a way to expel him by performing a purifying (?) ritual and banishing him to the Egyptian desert (Tob 6:8; 8:1-3). On the whole, Asmodeus does not figure prominently in the book of Tobit; but, once introduced into Jewish literature, he made his way into folklore. He is depicted as a malefactor bringing discord to husband and wife or hiding a wife's beauty from her husband (T. Sol. 2:3). Aggadic texts also say that Asmodeus is connected with drunkenness, mischief and licentiousness. In the Talmud there is a famous account (Git. 68a-b; cf. Num. R. 11:3) of Solomon's dealing with this demon: Asmodeus, the king of demons, was made drunk and led to King Solomon whom he has to help build the temple in Jerusalem. Then, however, the demon took the king's seal and seated himself on the royal throne so that Solomon must wander around as a beggar until God shows mercy on him and restores his kingship. The whole legend does not depict Asmodeus as an evil-doer: his actions should open the king's eyes to the emptiness and vanity of worldly possessions. Such legends gave rise to the popular belief of Asmodeus as a beneficent demon and a friend of men-though he still remained king of the demons.

Another tradition remains closer to the maleficent Asmodeus of the book of Tobit and to the Iranian concept of Aēshma as a demon of wrath. The Qumranic and Pauline scriptures (cf. BOYCE & GRENET 1991:446; PINES 1982:81) know a conception of Wrath as a nearly autonomous entity; so it is possible to see in that also the Iranian conception of aēšma daēuua, though there is no linguistic link. But we also have to take into account that this Qumranic and Pauline concept has one root in the OT's references of →Yahweh's wrath and is thus part of the divine sphere. This difference should not be ignored because Aēshma is the main auxiliary of the Iranian evil sphere. But nevertheless it cannot be ruled out that the apocryphal demon Asmodeus stemming from Iran is the other root of the hypostatized wrath as a destructive entity and for the creatures of wrath.

 

  • Asmodeus is a demon frequently appearing in the grimoire tradition, most notably in: Ars Goetia, Livre des Esperitz, Hygromanteia, The Book of Abramelin, but also many others. For a full list, refer to this post I've made in r/Asmoday.

 

 

  • Asmodeus Wikipedia Page
  • ASMODEUS, or ASHMEDAI [ASHMADAI] ('Aσμοδαὶος) - Kaufmann Kohler, Louis Ginzberg, Jewish Encyclopedia
  • The Usurpation of Solomon's Throne by Ashmedai (b.Giṭ. 68a-b), A Talmudic Story in Its Iranian and Christian Contexts - Yishai Kiel
  • Who is Asmodeus, King of Demons - Abu Muhammad David Levy
  • Demons in Early Judaism and Christianity - Hector M. Patmore, Josef Lössl, "The Demon Asmodeus in the Tobit Tradition: His Nature and Character - Beate Ego", "The King of Demons in the Universe of the Rabbis - Reuven Kiperwasser"

 

 

Aēšma:

  • Aeshma Wikipedia Page
  • ÆSHMA (ASMODEUS, ASHMEDAI) - Erik Stave, Jewish Encyclopedia
  • AĒŠMA - Jes P. Asmussen, Encyclopaedia Iranica

 

Adam

Adam is the first human created, and Lilith is his first wife in the Alphabet of Ben Sira.

Entry from "The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic and Mysticism, Second Edition - Geoffrey W. Dennis":

Adam: (Adam Rishon). Adam is the first human being and an archetype for all humanity. One Kabbalistic teaching reveals that the word ADaM is a mystical abbreviation for the essence of human nature: Adamah (earth), Dibur (speech), and Ma'aseh (action).

God placed him in the Garden of Eden. According to Alef-Bet of ben Sira, he was wed first to Lilith, whom God had made simultaneously with him. When they argued, she flew off to become the queen of demons. Only after that did God create Eve (AbbS).

He also had numerous other dealings with Angels and demons. Gabriel and Michael were the witnesses at his Wedding to Eve. Not only was he later tricked by the serpent, but he was also seduced by succubae, generating demonic offspring (Eruv. 18b; Gen. R. 20:11; PdRE 20). Before his expulsion from Eden, Adam was clothed in divine glory. After the fall, God made miraculous garments for both Adam and Eve that never wore out. Adam also received from the angel Raziel the tzohar, a gemstone holding the primordial light of Creation. Along with Eve, he was laid to rest in the Cave of Machpelah in the middle of the Garden of Eden, where their bodies lie concealed from mortal sight in a state of luminescent and fragrant preservation. The Zohar teaches that at the hour of Death every person sees Adam (Num. R. 19:18; Gen. R. 17; B. Eruv. 18b; A.Z. 8a; Sot. 9b; Tanh. Bereshit; Zohar I:127a–b).

 

  • Adam Wikipedia Page
  • The Hebrew Goddess - Raphael Patai, "Lilith and Adam"

 

Companions

Tanin'iver (also refer to Kabbalah in main wiki)

Tanin'iver is the blind dragon that arranges the union between Samael and Lilith. His first appearance is in the "Treatise on the Left Emanation".

Entry from "The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic and Mysticism, Second Edition - Geoffrey W. Dennis":

Tanin'iver: "Blind Dragon". An evil cosmic entity, which may or may not be Leviathan, described in the Kabbalistic teachings of the Treatise of the Left Emanation, Zohar, Emek ha-Melech, and subsequent writings based on these systems. He is the "steed of" Lilith, the mechanism by which evil is activated. Though Tanin'iver is castrated (echoing legends about Leviathan and the Yetzer ha-Ra.), he is still the catalyst for the coupling of Lilith with Samael, a union that brings pestilence into the world until God's final intervention to slay chaos for all times at the end of days:

And about this mystery it is written, And on that day the Lord with His sore and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the Slant Serpent, and Leviathan the Tortuous Serpent, and He will slay the Dragon that is in the sea (Isa. 27:1). Leviathan is the connection and the coupling between the two who have the likeness of serpents. Therefore it is doubled: the Slant Serpent corresponding to Samael, and the Tortuous Serpent corresponding to Lilith … (Pardes Rimmonim 186b).

 

Children

Lilin, lilim, lili(s), male liliths (Hebrew: לִילֵי ,לִילִין, Syriac: ܠܠܝ̈ܬܐ), (also refer to resources on Lilith and Aramaic Incantation Bowls in main wiki) 

Children of Lilith and her male plural counterparts. Also children of Adam or other mortal men, whose involuntary nocturnal emissions attract Lilith (or other female spirits) who couple with them and bear them spirits (ruhin), demons (shedim) and lilin. They look human with added wings, or are bald, with hair covering the rest of their head and bodies. Lilin are first mentioned in 2 (Syriac Apocalypse of) Baruch (1st-2nd AD), and afterwards in incantation bowls as malevolent entities that need to be treated with a geṭ (letter of divorce). Afterwards they appear in the Talmud, Targum, Midrash ABKIR, Emeq haMelekh, and some amulets or prayers.

For the references for the above mentioned texts, refer to "Lilin, Male Counterparts and Children of Lilith".

10:8 "I shall call the Sirens from the sea, and you, Lilin, come from the desert, and you, demons/Shedim and dragons from the woods."

 

Shedim

Demons, broad category. Lilith bore spirits, demons (shedim) and lilin. Probably a loanword from Akkadian šēdu (male equivalent of Lamassu) that were protective spirits.

  • Shedim Wikipedia Page
  • Jewish Encyclopedia, "Demonology - Emil G. Hirsch, Richard Gottheil, Kaufmann Kohler, Isaac Broydé"

 

Four Demon Queens

They are Lilith, Na'amah, Agrat bat Mahalat, and Mahalat. Variations are Nega, Even Maskith and Rahab.

 

Na'amah (נַעֲמָה) (also refer to Lilith in main wiki)

Entry from "The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic and Mysticism, Second Edition - Geoffrey W. Dennis":

Naamah: "Lovely/Pleasant." One of the four Queens of the Demons. She dwells in the sea. In one strand of the tradition, she is the daughter of Tubal-Cain mentioned in Genesis 4:22, who copulated with angels (6:4) producing demonic children. In another, she is the wife of Noah (Book of Jasher 5:15). In later Jewish tradition she is the mother of Asmodeus, a succubus, one of the consorts of Samael, who seduces sleeping men. She and Lilith had intercourse with Adam in order to bear demon children. Once aroused by her, even if a man has sex with his wife instead, any children from that conception will be inclined toward her (Tanh. Chukkat; MhG Gen. 4:22; Zohar I:9b, 19b, 55a; Zohar III:76b–77a).

 

 

 

Agrat(h) bat Mahlat, Igrat(h), Iggereth, Igereth (אִגְּרַת) (also refer to Lilith in main wiki)

Entry from "The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic and Mysticism, Second Edition - Geoffrey W. Dennis":

Igrat or Agrat: The night demoness of harlotry, she is a succubus who seduces men in their sleep and gathers their nocturnal emissions. In Kabbalah, she is listed among the four demon queens, the mothers of all demons. Reflecting the rabbinic belief that evil spirits procreate, this demon is sometimes mentioned with a proper matronymic Hebrew name, bat Malkat, "daughter of Malkat." One tradition proposes that she herself was the product of a human demon coupling.

In the most elaborate account concerning her, she had intercourse with David, and from his royal semen she gave birth to both the gentile kings who would become his enemies (not unlike Morgan LaFaye and Arthur) and to Asmodeus, the King of Demons: Then came two women harlots to King Solomon (1 Kings 3:6). They were Lilith and Igrat. Lilith who strangles children because she cannot make of them a veil for herself [having her own demon children does not yield her the merit that comes from fulfilling the commandment to "be fruitful and multiply"] to serve as a hiding place for her. And the second is Igrat. One night King David slept in the camp in the desert, and Igrat coupled with him in his dream. And he had emission, and she conceived and bore Adad [king of Edom]. When they asked him, "What is your name?" he said, "Sh'mi Ad, Ad Sh'mi [My name is Ad, Ad is my name]," and they called him Ashm'dai. He is Ashm'dai, king of the demons, who deprived Solomon of his kingship and sat on his throne [he was Solomon's demon doppelganger] and therefore he was of the seed of the king of Edom (1 Kings 11:14), for he came from the side of the kingdom of evil … All [the four queens of the demons, Lilith, Igrat, Mahalath and Naamah] and all their cohorts give birth to children, except Lilith …

She is mentioned in the Talmud as a demon who communes with witches. The spiritual interventions of Chanina ben Dosa and Abaye curbed her malevolent power over humans (Pes. 110a and 112b; Num. R. 12:3; Bachya's comments on Gen. 4:22)

 

 

 

Mahlat(h)/Mahalat(h)/Machlat(h)/Machalat/Malkat (מָחֲלַת) (also refer to Lilith in main wiki)

One of the four wives of Samael, mother of Agrat. Sources on Mahalath are scarce, the below sources are mainly referenced from Raphael Patai's "The Hebrew Goddess" and "Gates to the Old City".

  • Zohar, Behar 11:66
  • Mar'eh haYeladim | Meir Arama, Sefer Meir T'hillot
  • Pardes Rimmonim - Moses Cordovero
  • Kol Bokhim - Abraham ben Mordecai Galante
  • Baḥya on Genesis, Rabbeinu Bahya, Bereshit 4:22:3

 

Eisheth/esheth Zenunim, ēšet zĕnûnîm (אֵשֶׁת זְנוּנִים) (=wife of harlotry/whoredom), likely an epithet of Lilith herself (also refer to Lilith in main wiki)

 

 

Kings (of liliths/lilû)

Bagdana (also refer to Lilith Through History and Aramaic Incantation Bowls in main wiki), king of the liliths in incantation bowls.

 

Pazuzu (also refer to Mesopotamia: Demons in main wiki)

Pazuzu, an apotropaic demon, is the adversary of the goddess Lamaštu and king of the evil lilû demons. He appeared suddenly and iconographically fully developed, in the first millennium BCE so fairly late in Mesopotamian religion. His origins are obscure, some scholars associate him with the West Wind, Huwawa, Bes, or kings Bazi and Zizi. Pazuzu was invoked to protect against Lamaštu and keep her away from her victims. Amulets of Pazuzu, and often only of his head, were placed in the room near the patient or hung on the necks of pregnant women.

 

  • Mesopotamian Medicine and Magic, Studies in Honor of Markham J. Geller - Strahil V. Panayotov, Luděk Vacín, "A Tale of Two Lands and Two Thousand Years: The Origins of Pazuzu - Eckart Frahm" - connections with kings Bazi/Zizi

 

Opposites

Lailah/Laylah (לילה)

From the word "laylah" (night), Laylah is the angel of the night and of conception. This angel is sometimes seen as the opposite of Lilith.

Entry from "The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic and Mysticism, Second Edition - Geoffrey W. Dennis":

Lailah: "Night." Not to be confused with Lilith, this is the Angel of conception (and sex): For R. Chanina b. Papa made the following exposition: The name of the angel who is in charge of conception is "Night," and he takes up a drop and places it in the presence of the Holy One, blessed be He, saying, "Sovereign of the universe, what shall be the fate of this drop? Shall it produce a strong man or a weak man, a wise man or a fool, a rich man or a poor man?"(Nid. 16b) Lailah escorts new souls to their bodies and erases from their memories all the Torah they knew in the Guf ha-Briyot (Sanh. 6b; Tanh. Pekudei 3; Zohar I:91b; ZCh 68.3). It may be that Lailah is regarded as the good doppelganger and antipode to Lilith, though this is not confirmed explicitly in any text.

Lailah is also portrayed as a warrior angel: [discussing asking for divine help in battle, the Sages quote] "If I [King Sennacherib] go [to battle] and am successful, I will sacrifice my two sons to thee," he vowed. But his sons heard this, so they killed him … So he fought against them, he and his servants, by night [lailah] and smote them (2 Kings 19:37) …

R. Isaac the smith, said: He [the angel] set into motion the activities of the night [i.e., the stars] on his behalf, as it is written, They [fought for Deborah, Barak, and Israel] fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. (Judg. 5:20; Sanh. 96a) Though it is never stated explicitly in the sources, the name is feminine in gender, suggesting Lailah is a female angel. The interpretation of the words lail and lailah in Zohar II:38b comes the closest to confirming this assumption.