A respectful beginner's practice

Your goal in this lesson: to begin a calm, honest Lilith practice if you want one, and to know its limits.

Four rules of respect

1. Say what your practice is. If you are not Jewish, your Lilith practice is a modern pagan, witchcraft or personal practice drawing on Jewish history.
2. Leave Jewish sacred material out. No Hebrew divine names, no verses used as spells, no copies of birth amulets and no three angels’ names.
3. Never cast Judaism as the villain. Many who reimagined Lilith as a heroine were Jewish women.
4. Your body and choices are yours. Nothing in a practice should pressure you into anything you do not want, with anyone, including a teacher or group.

When to pause

Please pause and talk to someone if practice leaves you frightened most of the time, unable to sleep, convinced you are being watched or controlled, or cut off from the people who care about you. These are not signs of a goddess’s anger. They are signs that you deserve support.

A reflective altar

Modern For Lilith I suggest a reflective altar: a place to sit, think and write, rather than to worship in any fixed way. A shelf, a tray or a box you can close is enough. You need a candle or an LED light, a cup of water, a journal and, if you like, a small mirror.

A first evening rite

1. Wash your hands, sit before your altar and take three slow breaths.
2. Light the candle or switch on the LED: “I light this in the dark, for clear sight.”
3. Pour fresh water into the cup: “Lilith, I offer you this water, in respect.”
4. If you use a mirror, look into it for a moment and notice your face without judging it. Keep the room lit enough to see clearly. In dim light a face can seem to shift, which is a normal trick of the eyes.
5. Say a short prayer in your own words, or this modern one I wrote: “Lilith, who in the old story would not take the lower place, teach me to know my own mind, to speak it plainly, and to respect the freedom of others.”
6. Sit in silence for two or three minutes.
7. Write a line or two in your journal, then say “Thank you” and put out the flame.

Pour the water away the next day. The rite promises nothing. It is a way of paying attention to your own voice.

Keeping it going

Some people repeat the rite at the dark moon, others when they face a hard conversation. Keep reading too: return to the history of Lilith in sources whenever a new claim surprises you.

Try this

Today’s exercise: try the evening rite once, or simply sit with a candle and write one page on the question “Where in my life do I need to know my own mind?” Both count.

Quick recap

• Say honestly what your practice is, and leave Jewish sacred material out.
• Pause and seek support if practice brings fear or isolation.
• A light, water, a journal and a mirror make a reflective altar.
• The rite is short, modern and promises nothing.

Keep going

You have reached the end of the course. Press “Mark as done”, and when every lesson is done you can open your certificate of completion. Then try another free course in the School, such as Hekate for Beginners or Witchcraft for Beginners.

To go deeper into altars, moon work and a personal practice, read my book The Novice’s Guide to Witchcraft.

Need a refresher? Go back to Lilith transformed or see the whole course.

Sources

• Raphael Patai, The Hebrew Goddess, 3rd enlarged edition (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1990).
• Judith Plaskow, The Coming of Lilith: Essays on Feminism, Judaism, and Sexual Ethics, 1972 to 2003 (Boston: Beacon Press, 2005).
• Lauri Mukkala, The Novice’s Guide to Witchcraft, chapter 4, “Creating Your Altar”.

Go deeper: the Lilith pages on this site, and The Novice's Guide to Witchcraft

Mark as done