The Demoness Lilith: From Wind Spirit to (First) Woman, Her Origins and Cultural Receptions with Western Esotericism Scholar Brennan Kettelle, Begins June 14
8-week Class taught online via Zoom
Saturdays, June 14 - August 9, 2025
2:30 - 4:30 pm ET (*Last class might run long to accommodate final projects)
$160 Paid Patreon Members/ $185 General Admission
*If you are interested in taking this course, but unable to afford the full price at this time, please don't hesitate to email Brennan at sarahbkettelle@gmail.com, to discuss sliding-scale payment options
Please note: All classes will be recorded for those unable to attend
All readings provided via PDF
The demoness Lilith is an enduring source of cultural fear and fascination. This antique wind spirit turned Adam’s first wife holds the fascination of both contemporary academia and popular culture. Existing under numerous monikers and forms, and accompanying humanity from Mesopotamia to present day, more recent centuries have witnessed several reclamations and weaponizations of Lilith. Perhaps most well-known, feminist scholarship and interpretations of the Lilith myth present her as a rebellious, patriarchy-smashing femme.
However, cultural receptions of Lilith – especially from the 19th-century up to our current decade – position the Jewish myth of Lilith as Adam’s first wife as her origin story, as the iteration/essence of Lilith. Furthermore, scholarship on Lilith thus far has primarily positioned her within a heteronormative framework. As a result, more complex and nuanced inquiries into Lilith’s mythic history have been overshadowed.
This eight week course aims to rectify these misconceptions and gaps in study, by first providing a comprehensive history of Lilith (prior to her iteration as Adam’s first wife), and secondly addressing her numerous cultural receptions within recent centuries. Additionally, this course aims to discuss and address the overlooked queer currents and connections within artistic, literary, political, and sociocultural discourses regarding the demoness.
This class will provide a brief overview of Lilith’s presence within folklore, art, and literature from antiquity to the Renaissance. Lilith’s diverse role in Jewish demonology and folklore will be a main focus. It will also examine Lilith’s interactions with culture, from the 19th-century to present, covering Lilith’s role in pre-Raphaelite paintings and Satanic plays and poems, to the ways in which both psychoanalytic and feminist discourses have shaped and impacted present understandings of Lilith, to Lilith’s 21st-century role within occultism and magical practices.
The two final instructor lectures will cover two special topics stemming from the instructor’s own research on Lilith, which investigates historical and discursive associations between Lilith and queerness within esoteric discourses, using monster theory as the method of analysis. The first special topics session will discuss Lilith and Monster Theory - providing an overview of the field of monster studies and discussing Lilith’s iterations as a religious monster, an embodiment of the monstrous feminine, and a representation of the monstrous-queer. Leading to the second special topics session, we will specifically examine historical associations between Lilith and queerness in the 19th-21st centuries, from the works of the lesbian-pagan poet Renée Vivien (1877-1909), to the sex magical practices of Neo-Gnostic guru Samael Aun Weor (1917-1977), to lesbian-feminist art and poetry in the late 1900s, and more.
Students will be invited to integrate what they have learned with a final presentation, which responds to and incorporates the material covered.
By providing a complete historical picture of Lilith, as well as by examining historic associations between Lilith and queerness, a more comprehensive understanding of the figure of Lilith is presented.
Brennan Kettelle holds a Research Master’s degree in Religious Studies, with a focus on Western esotericism (University of Amsterdam, 2021), as well as a Master’s degree in Gender and Cultural Studies (Simmons University, 2018). She is currently a PhD researcher at the HHP (Centre for History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents) at the University of Amsterdam, investigating 19th-century associations between Lilith and queerness. Brennan aims to utilize queer and feminist theories and methodologies in examining esotericism, investigating both queer currents within esoteric literature, orders, and figures, as well as esoteric themes within queer subcultures, politics, and histories. Her research interests include Lilith, nineteenth and twentieth-century occultism, sex magic, initiatory orders, esotericism and politics, and conspirituality.
Images: Albert Joseph Pénot, La Femme Chauve-Souris, c.1890; Lilith, Althea Gyles, 1898
8-week Class taught online via Zoom
Saturdays, June 14 - August 9, 2025
2:30 - 4:30 pm ET (*Last class might run long to accommodate final projects)
$160 Paid Patreon Members/ $185 General Admission
*If you are interested in taking this course, but unable to afford the full price at this time, please don't hesitate to email Brennan at sarahbkettelle@gmail.com, to discuss sliding-scale payment options
Please note: All classes will be recorded for those unable to attend
All readings provided via PDF
The demoness Lilith is an enduring source of cultural fear and fascination. This antique wind spirit turned Adam’s first wife holds the fascination of both contemporary academia and popular culture. Existing under numerous monikers and forms, and accompanying humanity from Mesopotamia to present day, more recent centuries have witnessed several reclamations and weaponizations of Lilith. Perhaps most well-known, feminist scholarship and interpretations of the Lilith myth present her as a rebellious, patriarchy-smashing femme.
However, cultural receptions of Lilith – especially from the 19th-century up to our current decade – position the Jewish myth of Lilith as Adam’s first wife as her origin story, as the iteration/essence of Lilith. Furthermore, scholarship on Lilith thus far has primarily positioned her within a heteronormative framework. As a result, more complex and nuanced inquiries into Lilith’s mythic history have been overshadowed.
This eight week course aims to rectify these misconceptions and gaps in study, by first providing a comprehensive history of Lilith (prior to her iteration as Adam’s first wife), and secondly addressing her numerous cultural receptions within recent centuries. Additionally, this course aims to discuss and address the overlooked queer currents and connections within artistic, literary, political, and sociocultural discourses regarding the demoness.
This class will provide a brief overview of Lilith’s presence within folklore, art, and literature from antiquity to the Renaissance. Lilith’s diverse role in Jewish demonology and folklore will be a main focus. It will also examine Lilith’s interactions with culture, from the 19th-century to present, covering Lilith’s role in pre-Raphaelite paintings and Satanic plays and poems, to the ways in which both psychoanalytic and feminist discourses have shaped and impacted present understandings of Lilith, to Lilith’s 21st-century role within occultism and magical practices.
The two final instructor lectures will cover two special topics stemming from the instructor’s own research on Lilith, which investigates historical and discursive associations between Lilith and queerness within esoteric discourses, using monster theory as the method of analysis. The first special topics session will discuss Lilith and Monster Theory - providing an overview of the field of monster studies and discussing Lilith’s iterations as a religious monster, an embodiment of the monstrous feminine, and a representation of the monstrous-queer. Leading to the second special topics session, we will specifically examine historical associations between Lilith and queerness in the 19th-21st centuries, from the works of the lesbian-pagan poet Renée Vivien (1877-1909), to the sex magical practices of Neo-Gnostic guru Samael Aun Weor (1917-1977), to lesbian-feminist art and poetry in the late 1900s, and more.
Students will be invited to integrate what they have learned with a final presentation, which responds to and incorporates the material covered.
By providing a complete historical picture of Lilith, as well as by examining historic associations between Lilith and queerness, a more comprehensive understanding of the figure of Lilith is presented.
Brennan Kettelle holds a Research Master’s degree in Religious Studies, with a focus on Western esotericism (University of Amsterdam, 2021), as well as a Master’s degree in Gender and Cultural Studies (Simmons University, 2018). She is currently a PhD researcher at the HHP (Centre for History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents) at the University of Amsterdam, investigating 19th-century associations between Lilith and queerness. Brennan aims to utilize queer and feminist theories and methodologies in examining esotericism, investigating both queer currents within esoteric literature, orders, and figures, as well as esoteric themes within queer subcultures, politics, and histories. Her research interests include Lilith, nineteenth and twentieth-century occultism, sex magic, initiatory orders, esotericism and politics, and conspirituality.
Images: Albert Joseph Pénot, La Femme Chauve-Souris, c.1890; Lilith, Althea Gyles, 1898
8-week Class taught online via Zoom
Saturdays, June 14 - August 9, 2025
2:30 - 4:30 pm ET (*Last class might run long to accommodate final projects)
$160 Paid Patreon Members/ $185 General Admission
*If you are interested in taking this course, but unable to afford the full price at this time, please don't hesitate to email Brennan at sarahbkettelle@gmail.com, to discuss sliding-scale payment options
Please note: All classes will be recorded for those unable to attend
All readings provided via PDF
The demoness Lilith is an enduring source of cultural fear and fascination. This antique wind spirit turned Adam’s first wife holds the fascination of both contemporary academia and popular culture. Existing under numerous monikers and forms, and accompanying humanity from Mesopotamia to present day, more recent centuries have witnessed several reclamations and weaponizations of Lilith. Perhaps most well-known, feminist scholarship and interpretations of the Lilith myth present her as a rebellious, patriarchy-smashing femme.
However, cultural receptions of Lilith – especially from the 19th-century up to our current decade – position the Jewish myth of Lilith as Adam’s first wife as her origin story, as the iteration/essence of Lilith. Furthermore, scholarship on Lilith thus far has primarily positioned her within a heteronormative framework. As a result, more complex and nuanced inquiries into Lilith’s mythic history have been overshadowed.
This eight week course aims to rectify these misconceptions and gaps in study, by first providing a comprehensive history of Lilith (prior to her iteration as Adam’s first wife), and secondly addressing her numerous cultural receptions within recent centuries. Additionally, this course aims to discuss and address the overlooked queer currents and connections within artistic, literary, political, and sociocultural discourses regarding the demoness.
This class will provide a brief overview of Lilith’s presence within folklore, art, and literature from antiquity to the Renaissance. Lilith’s diverse role in Jewish demonology and folklore will be a main focus. It will also examine Lilith’s interactions with culture, from the 19th-century to present, covering Lilith’s role in pre-Raphaelite paintings and Satanic plays and poems, to the ways in which both psychoanalytic and feminist discourses have shaped and impacted present understandings of Lilith, to Lilith’s 21st-century role within occultism and magical practices.
The two final instructor lectures will cover two special topics stemming from the instructor’s own research on Lilith, which investigates historical and discursive associations between Lilith and queerness within esoteric discourses, using monster theory as the method of analysis. The first special topics session will discuss Lilith and Monster Theory - providing an overview of the field of monster studies and discussing Lilith’s iterations as a religious monster, an embodiment of the monstrous feminine, and a representation of the monstrous-queer. Leading to the second special topics session, we will specifically examine historical associations between Lilith and queerness in the 19th-21st centuries, from the works of the lesbian-pagan poet Renée Vivien (1877-1909), to the sex magical practices of Neo-Gnostic guru Samael Aun Weor (1917-1977), to lesbian-feminist art and poetry in the late 1900s, and more.
Students will be invited to integrate what they have learned with a final presentation, which responds to and incorporates the material covered.
By providing a complete historical picture of Lilith, as well as by examining historic associations between Lilith and queerness, a more comprehensive understanding of the figure of Lilith is presented.
Brennan Kettelle holds a Research Master’s degree in Religious Studies, with a focus on Western esotericism (University of Amsterdam, 2021), as well as a Master’s degree in Gender and Cultural Studies (Simmons University, 2018). She is currently a PhD researcher at the HHP (Centre for History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents) at the University of Amsterdam, investigating 19th-century associations between Lilith and queerness. Brennan aims to utilize queer and feminist theories and methodologies in examining esotericism, investigating both queer currents within esoteric literature, orders, and figures, as well as esoteric themes within queer subcultures, politics, and histories. Her research interests include Lilith, nineteenth and twentieth-century occultism, sex magic, initiatory orders, esotericism and politics, and conspirituality.
Images: Albert Joseph Pénot, La Femme Chauve-Souris, c.1890; Lilith, Althea Gyles, 1898