Bone of My Bones, Flesh of My Flesh focuses on the binary creation myths of Abrahamic religions. Lilith, a figure from Judaic biblical tradition and Mesopotamian folklore, is Adam’s first wife. Created from the same clay as her male counterpart, she is considered a ‘primordial she-demon’, banished from Eden after refusing to accept subservience to Adam. Certain interpretations of Lilith claim she denied Adam’s requests for her to lay physically under him during sex. Others describe her as consuming her own children in a constant cycle of creation and destruction, patron of still-births and infanticide. The only mention of Lilith within the Old Testament goes as follows:
‘Her nobles shall be no more, nor shall kings be proclaimed there; all her princes are gone. Her castles shall be overgrown with thorns, her fortresses with thistles and briers. She shall become an abode for jackals and a haunt for ostriches. Wildcats shall meet with desert beasts, satyrs shall call to one another; There shall the Lilith repose and find for herself a place to rest. There the hoot owl shall nest and lay eggs, hatch them out and gather them in her shadow; There shall the kites assemble, none shall be missing its mate. […] For the mouth of the LORD has ordered it, […] It is He who casts the lot for them, and with His hands He marks off their shares of her; They shall possess her forever, and dwell there from generation to generation.’ (Isiah 34:12-18)
by Bella Blazwick-Noble
