Nazi
I think I know what this is about so I'm just gonna say it here.
There's a video going around right now about Lilith's sigil and how it is a racist problematic symbol primarily because 1. It is not ancient (created in 2007) 2. It was created by Robin Artisson, who was a racist, transphobe among other things.
My argument was this:
1. The primary character in the sigil of Lilith was not created by Artisson, and most importantly, it does not reference Jewish text, imagery, or scripture. The main character in the sigil of Lilith is actually just the astrological glyph of Saturn, used to recognize her placement as the female emanation of the Saturnian current. This designation of the Lilim as saturnian spirits was already established before Artisson officially coined the "Lilith sigil". They are dark death spirits. The other most common sigil of Lilith, the crescent moon, is also just the Saturn glyph upside down. The components belong to a broader planetary language, not a specific ethnoreligious one.
2. Lilith's sigil only contains one symbol, the Saturn glyph with a cross beneath it to represent the female Lord of that current. What it distinctly does NOT include is: any Hebrew characters, any references to Elohim or Adonai, any references to the sephirot, trinity, or any sacred scripture. It only draws upon the astrological correspondences associated with the species of demon known as the Lilith, Lilitu, Lilim, Lilit, Lilis, spirits to multiple communities in the ancient near middle east including the Babylonians, Assyrians, Mesopotamians, Canaanites, and of course, Isrealites. Later Jewish oral tradition participated in these narratives about how these demons operated in the ancient middle east.
3. Artisson did not originate the Saturn glyph or the idea of Lilith being Saturnian, and most importantly, the symbol itself does not have racist origins, was ever used in an act of hate or violence, or represents a racist idea. The translation of this glyph would not say or reference anything hateful about any particular group if translated. This was never used as a dog whistle. I really want to make it incredibly clear that this is the Saturn glyph. Devotees who have this symbol tattooed do not have a racist symbol tattooed.
The creator of that video then went on to claim that the Saturn astrological gyph is also racist, based on the idea that a man named "Sephariel" invented it in the 1900s.
This claim is wild. The astrological glyph for Saturn (♄) has roots tracing back to late classical antiquity. Its origins are found in Greek papyri, specifically the Oxyrhynchus Papyri from the early centuries CE. Historical analysis identifies the symbol as a monogram of the Greek letters kappa (κ) and rho (ρ), which serves as an abbreviation for Cronus (Κρονος), the Greek name for the planet. While "Sephariel" (Walter Gorn Old) was a influential late 19th and early 20th century astrologer who wrote on planetary influences and zodiacal symbolism, the glyph itself is much older than his work. Sephariel’s writings often utilized these established symbols in his predictive and horary work, but he did not originate the glyph. Similarly, Artisson may have officially "coined" this new Lilith symbol but the basis of this symbol far predates him.
If you are using the symbol to tune into the Saturnian current, the provenance of the visual representation matters. It matters a lot to the magical systems these practitioners operated under. Based on its planetary components this is a legitimate, time-tested tool rather than a cheap modern prop created by a controversial person.
This is why it is so so so so important to understand the actual contexts practicing devotees used these sigils in. Lilith as she was revered in western demonolatry was explicitly NOT the "First wife of Adam" folk tale that comes from Jewish oral tradition and that Satirical Essay. It is very important not to conflate the two. She is the syncretic archetype that represents what the species of Lilitu represented to multiple ancient middle eastern communities. She was the Night Demon associated with the most primal, rejected, dangerous, and difficult aspects of femininity, menstruation, pregnancy, and carnality. The assumption that anyone who uses this sigil or works with Lilith must only be drawing from Jewish theology is simply extremely inaccurate. The Mesopotamian Lilitu and Babylonian Lilit demon are arguably more influential to the grimoire tradition of the Saturnian Lilith, (who is sometimes regarded as a place rather than a person). These spirits were historically viewed as dangerous, chthonic, or atmospheric forces, not humans who were "oppressed" by Adam. The Lilitu as a species and broader archetype do not originate nor are they exclusive to that specific folk tale.
She is, in this context, a primordial daemos, and her sigil is in reference to PGM style planetary magic sigils, not Jewish text, not Hebrew, not the Torah, Talmud, not the Tetragram. Angelic seals were created in a similar fashion, except they do explicitly reference Hebrew because those are the powers in draws upon. This sigil clearly does not.
To make this all the more clear, the sigil for Lord Azazel is also just the symbol of Saturn/Lead with a single line added, identical to Lilith.
Foundational texts like Agrippa's three books go into the reasons why these spirit's sigils are literally just astronomical designations in extensive detail. The high irony here is that is one of the very few examples of an invented sigil literally not containing some bastardized Hebrew or a sephirot crudely inserted in there because it's "special". It doesn't contain the Tetragram, it doesn't reference a sphere of Heaven she fell from, because that's not the intention of this sigil, that is not the planetary energy being invoked, that is not the lore being referenced.
Hey so this is extremely weird! ^This is a desecration of a highly sacred holy name!
I'm not here to speak anything towards Artisson's character or beliefs because I don't know enough about his controversies. But I know people are going to immediately run with the "a racist made this so you're racist if you associate with it" narrative and start harassing Lilith devotees who have the symbol tattooed.
The astrological symbol for Saturn is ♄
Lilith's sigil is a direct reference to her Saturnian nature, her associations with death, the wild, crib death, sex, abortion, and the dark aspects of female reproduction.
My argument is that if the user’s intent and the historical, esoteric use of the glyph are devoid of hate, then the symbol itself remains neutral, I do not believe Artisson owns this sigil, and I don't think anyone wearing it is claiming to agree with his viewpoints. If every magical tool were permanently poisoned by the potential flaws or biases of anyone who designs or uses them, the entire Western grimoire tradition, which is full of figures with medieval views on gender, race, and hierarchy, would be unusable.
I'm debating linking that video because I genuinely do not want to send hate their way, I think this is a great conversation to have about Lilith and what her sigil actually communicates symbolically. The article she wrote on the history of Lilith and her context within Judaism is really great. I acknowledge that Lilith does have shared history within Jewish folk tradition.
I could just so quickly see all of the comments immediately polarizing Lilith devotees as dumb ditsy girls who didn't do their homework. Yes, there have always been foolish people in every single pagan community. I highly doubt that devotees who have this symbol permanently tattooed on their body do not know what the Saturn glyph is, what Lilith, Lilitu, the night demon is, or here what her reputation across the middle east was in general. I would like to give them the benefit of the doubt and think that if they have this Saturnian Death Deity tattooed on their flesh, they know that she's y'know, ... a dark deity.
"Why would any woman ever reclaim an archetype associated with infant death, wildness, and the betrayal of modern society and the biological expectations of the female sex?"
Because ... they are witches.
