thewillowtree | A witchy rant (Reply)

I suppose this comes out of left field for those that only know me for my fannish activities, but this is my blog and I can do what I wish.

The core issue I am ranting about is part of a larger issue I'll tackle another day. For now, and with lament as some context will be missing for my ire, I'll focus on the specific pin prick that I'm tired of being struck with.

Many witches have reclaimed and sought religious figures, specifically feminine, from their childhoods/upbringings and seen them again in new light. The light of witchcraft. That's great! That's wonderful! I'm so glad.

However, if one is to mention Lilith, please. She is of Jewish folklore. She is not a Christian figure. She was never acknowledged by Christianity. Do not erase that from her when deciding to research/work with/what have you. I'm exhausted hearing people claim her as an element of Christianity "hidden" from them. You did not hear of her because she is not in the Christian mythos.

That's not the main pin prick. That is a side mark linked to my main one.

I see other witches claiming and working with Lilith, Mary Magdalene, Virgin Mary, even Jezebel. Yet, next to none will touch Eve.

Is it because you perceive her as weak? Unintelligent? A weapon used by preachers for centuries to feed their misogyny?

Refusing to unpack that is feeding that sexism, in my honest opinion. Especially, if you will look at a figure in Greek mythology like Pandora and give her a chance in better light when she was used as an excuse for hatred/annoyance of women in her time.

Full disclosure, I come from a Christian upbringing. Evangelical specifically and was a pastor's child. I have studied and read the Bible cover to cover (most times by force, others by pure curiosity and research) in multiple translations. While having left the faith ages ago, I will speak on this from that background.

The fall of man did not occur until Adam also ate of the fruit and blamed her and God for it. Not when Eve partook.

(important to note, she is not known as Eve at this time. but for ease I will refer to her as such)

In fact, Eve was not around when God said not to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. She does know of it though as she references this rule to the serpent though it's up to debate if she retained this knowledge when she was with Adam as one whole or if Adam told her after. Regardless, she reasoned with herself and the serpent and ate. Then, she gave it to Adam. Where was Adam? After combing through earliest translations, I've come to the conclusion he was standing right there with her not saying shit. And he, of all there, knew better and knew the rule. Yet he partook.

That is when their "eyes were opened" and they felt shame.

Oh, but we aren't done. When God confronts them and asks Adam, Adam says, "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat."

Completely passing blame off himself. Where as Eve admits to being beguiled by the serpent and eating the fruit.

Most stop their interpretation of Eve at her punishment where God declares women to have pain in childbirth and be ruled over by their husbands, completely jumping over the verse prior.

"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

Please focus on "her seed." It erases man from the picture with the lack of his seed. The choice is very telling for me. If that is not enough, after all of this and their fall, Adam finally names her. And he names her Eve which means mother of all life. Yet, we are to believe she is this bringer of the fall and death when her own husband named her in the opposite?

I have confronted many pastors, preachers, and the like and have been escorted out of churches for bringing these details up when the misogynistic take of the Garden comes out. It has been used as a weapon for femme and AFAB people to see them as lesser and to place blame. I understand the need for distance and how one might not reach for Eve when searching for entities/beings to work with or study. But I am begging my fellow witches to reconsider their full abandonment if you are dipping into religious figures for your workings.

Lilith has been reclaimed by Jewish feminists and spread beyond as a woman of strength who refused to submit. We've seen other ladies in folklore and mythology go through the same (see Medusa). Yet, we won't give room for Eve?

It is unfortunate most who I find who don't abandon her are Gnostics. Gnosticism, while fascinating (and hey, to my roscest lovers, you can see where XVI took some inspiration from) has heavy roots in antisemitism and is wielded this day by the same types. So please, if you research, remind yourself of this as you go (also I recommend Dr. Sledge of ESOTERICA on youtube for a variety of estoteric research, but his coverings of Gnosticism are wonderful). But you can independently take the time to re-evaluate and unpack this story and perhaps see this figure, the Mother of all Life, in a different light.

It's odd in some ways for me to be on this rant, as I do not do any deity work nor do I care all that much in my own practice relinking it with Christianity. However, that does not mean I do not see this repeated injustice and wish for my peers to reconsider their stances/neglect.