Lileth - The Dark Moon

She is reputedly Adam's first wife, before Eve. She is known as a demoness, the killer of infants in their cradles. She is the original woman, who refused to be subjugated to a man's desires. Consort to both the devil and God himself, she is the enigmatic and mysterious Lilith.

A little-known element in astrology charts, Lileth is known as the "dark Moon" and, as such, represents our "dark" or hidden emotional selves. According to Lois Daton, author of "Lilith, The Planet of the Doodler," the physical existence of Lileth was confirmed by the United States Weather Bureau in 1879. Lileth is the name used for two different celestial bodies - one is located in the asteroid belt and is not our subject here, the other is an invisible body orbiting the earth approximately three times farther away than the Moon, Luna. It is this Lileth which is of interest here.

Lileth’s placement in the chart is especially important to women, and represents the power of the original woman. In a man's chart, Lilith's placement will reveal the hidden power struggles or other issues he may have, resolved or unresolved, with the women in his life.

Lilith was known to the Chaldean astrologers; the Egyptians called her Nephthys. The name Lileth is from the old Semitic word for night, "lei" or "lelath", in Arabic "laylah," which also means "ghost" or "spectre" in Hebrew. She is associated with the Death card in Tarot and with the goddesses Persephone, Hecate, Athena, Minerva. She is associated with the Owl, representing secrecy and wisdom, and she is frequently connected with cats.

Lileth is perhaps best understood in contrast to her counterpart, the visible Moon, Luna. Luna receives her self-fulfillment and self-definition through the nurturing of others. Lileth is self-fulfilled and self-defined. Luna represents the visible emotions; Lileth is those emotions which remain hidden or secret. Lileth lives behind-the-scenes, usually undetected. She can be sneaky or deceptive.

(Published in The Second Road newsletter, October 1998. Copyright © 1998, Catt Foy)

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