After stumbling on the Wikipedia articles Lilith in popular culture and Lilith disambiguation, I realised how much Lilith has influenced modern media, and frequently as Adam's first wife. What is your preferred modern depiction of Lilith? Personally I'll have to go with Lilith's design in Diablo, a game I look forward to playing in the future.
This post is less academic compared to the rest, as it's essentially my own thoughts, but I try to place Lilith's connection with ghosts in its broader context.
It's known by now that Lilith is the syncretised form of the goddess-demoness Lamaštu and the ghosts-demons lilû/lilītu/ardat-lilî. It's a process that started in Akkadian sources with Lamaštu's inclusion in the lilû class, and finally appeared in Aramaic incantation bowls with the liliths (lylyt) and lilin/lilis (lylyn/lylyyn), who embodied both the succubi spirits and the child-snatching demoness, mirroring the lilītu and lilû. The connection of the lilītu/ardat-lilî and Lamaštu with Lilith is not an opinion of mine, it's been extensively talked about by scholars.
While the figure of Lilith is not identical with the ghosts separately, does it matter that they're ghosts? I stressed this feature of them before, and separated the demons and ghosts in my mind, though recently while reading and researching more, I realised this distinction is not that simple. One such reason for my distinction was the assumption (in Geller's "Healing Magic and Evil Demons") that one of them has Ištar as a patron, but given new scholarship (Marie Barkowsky's "Studies in Mesopotamian Demonology") that doesn't seem to be the case either.
The figure that would become the later Lilith is documented already in Babylonian times, as Lamaštu when syncretised with the lilû-demons. Can the lilû class be aspects of Lilith even if they're ghosts of the unsatisfied dead? The lilû, lilītu and ardat-lilî was not used interchangeably with Lamaštu, but they had enough similarities for Lamaštu to take their characteristics, be included in their class, and use their names as epithets. They don't embody everything that the Liliths do, however they're direct forerunners to her, and I do now consider them aspects of Lilith, even if I was previously cautious with this term. It's also important to remember that such distinction of demonic categories into ghosts and demons does not exist in Aramaic sources, there is no origin to the liliths, they're a demonic class by themselves, hence they embody both.
The issue comes when "aspect of Lilith" or "vaguely reminded someone of Lilith" is taken out of context, something that was done frequently in scholarship around 80 years ago. Lilith was "found" in the Huluppu Tree, Burney Relief and the Arslan Tash amulets, while recent scholarship has rejected all of these appearances. The only spirit from this list that Lilith has a connection to is the ki-sikil-lil-la-ke/ardat lilî, a maiden of the wind, who made a nest in Inanna's Huluppu Tree. Here too, the translation to "Lilith" is unnecessary, as preferred translations are demon-girl/maiden/phantom. It's akin to translating Inanna to Aphrodite or Astaroth, and while there is direct influence, there are more accurate terms of translation in each instance.
A similar story with mortals happened with Gello and Lamia. Gello died as a virgin, found development in Byzantine sources and was used interchangeably with Abyzou, that later appears as a name of Lilith. Lamia was the queen of Libya, who was used to translate lilith in the Vulgate. Lilith in the infamous "Alphabet of Ben Sira" starts out human. Similarly then, the lilû class starts human and then ends up being compared to goddess Lamaštu herself.
So while the figure of Lilith(s) is not identical to the ghosts separately, since it's their syncretism with Lamaštu that resulted in the known figure of Lilith, they are aspects of the Lilith(s) as the beings that encompass both Lamaštu and the lilītu/ardat-lilî in Aramaic sources, which gets reflected in their gender distinction (lilû/lilin and lilītu/lilith), role and etymology.
Do Lamaštu and Lilith have connections with living women themselves? Scurlock and Montgomery respectively have interesting thoughts on their categorization:
Baby-Snatching Demons, Restless Souls and the Dangers of Childbirth - JoAnn Scurlock
Unloved and unlovable as she was, Lamaštu had ample reason to be disagreeable--the poor thing was hardly the vision of loveliness. Moreover, her personality profile strikingly resembles the role played in other societies by the ghosts of women who had died in childbirth. Her behavior was less that of a demon who delighted in destruction for its own sake than that of a frustrated mother: "The daughter of Anu daily counts the pregnant women; she goes around after those (about to) give birth. She counts up their [months]; she marks the days (of their confinement) onto the wall. For the lying-in women giving birth (this) is (her) incantation: "Bring me your sons so that I can give them suck; let me put the breast into the mouth of your daughters."
[Note: "Frustrated motherhood" is also mentioned by Wiggermann in "The Mesopotamian Pandemonium" and "Lamaštu, Daughter of Anu"]
Aramaic Incantation Texts from Nippur - James A. Montgomery
Especially in the case of this species most exact descriptions are given of their foul ways and apparitions, for the Liliths were the most developed products of the morbid imagination—of the barren or neurotic woman, the mother in the time of maternity, of the sleepless child.
While Lamaštu's behaviour towards children points to what would usually be categorized as a woman that died in childbirth, she's not one of them. Instead she is a goddess in her own right, and I believe that puts into perspective all of the other beings equated with her. In my view, she is the one emanating the other spirits through her, the only goddess in the chain of the other demons, and an origin for the other child-killing succubi that follow. Lilith, as the name that survived through millennia, is the crossroads that connects all of the emanations together.
I created a ritual to honour Lilith during the Waning Moon. Some passages are referenced from incantation bowls, Lamaštu incantations, and name lists. The opening is taken (and slightly altered) from PGM IV. 2241-2249 "Document to the waning moon". Artwork is "Lilith, the screech owl" by Mitchellnolte on DeviantArt.
Document to the waning moon
Hail, Holy Light, Ruler of the Underworld,
Who strike with rays; hail, Holy Beam, who whirl
Up out of darkness and subvert all things
With aimless plans. / I'll call and may you hear
My holy words since awesome Destiny
Is ever subject to you. Thrice-bound goddess,
Set free yourself. Come, rage against those who wish me harm.
For Klotho will spin out her threads for you.
Assent, O blessed one!
Opening: Come Lilith, [Lamaštu-lilītu/ardat-lilî, Lamia], the terrifying, eternal void. Come and listen to my voice and prayer.
Lilith, the seducer, you who are present in death and decay, succubus, mourning mother, married and divorced phantom, accept my offerings and hear my voice, for I am your devotee and follower. You who appears in the subconscious of humans in many cultures, you who haunts them through generations, listen to my voice.
Help me with what I need, help me with [...]
I call you, lilith, male lilin, female liliths, the grabber and the snatcher: the three of you, and the four of you, and the five of you. Accept my offerings, Lilitha, the suffocatress.
Offerings: black/red candle, incense (frankincense/dragon's blood)
Food Offerings: Fruit (apples, pomegranates), chocolate
Libations: coffee, tea, wine
Oh Lamaštu, daughter of Anu, the one present in the lives of humans for millennia, bless my path and get rid of what is not needed, don't let your grip tighten around my neck, but watch me as I walk this path.
She is monstrous, the Daughter-of-Anu, who wreaks havoc among the babies.
Her paws are a snare net, her bosom hold spells death.
Cruel, raging, malicious, rapacious, violent,
destructive, aggressive is the Daughter-of-Anu.
Her head is a lion's head, donkey's teeth are [her] teeth.
Her lips are a gale and spread death.
From deep in the mountains she came down,
roaring like a lion,
whimpering all the time like a bitch.
Instead of having your hands immersed in (my) flesh and blood,
accept from me offerings,
accept from me libations to satisfy your thirst,
accept from me food to satisfy your hunger,
Let there be peace between us, my goddess!
Offerings: black candle
Food Offerings: bread, flour, grain
Libations: oil, beer, water, broth
Closing: May I find your strength, may your followers grow into who they need to be. Ave Lilith, Ave Lamaštu!
The wild and untamed
When my eyes close and my blood boils, when the only thing visible in the darkness is the starry night in the screech owl's blind eyes, when the shrieking pierces my ears and saves me from my eternal deafness, can I see her. She turns her neck sideways, her blinding red eyes following my footsteps as I try to split my own being in half, both approach her and run from myself to the other side of the world. Only then can I see her in all her glory, the bird, the prey, the predator. Only then can the Strix consume the flesh she's been waiting to rot.
When my eyes open and move in panic, when my standing hair turn into flames and burn my flesh, only then do I notice her. The feline, tearing my skin open with her fiery fangs, using her claws to move my bones out of her way. She looks down on me, her yellow eyes focus on my breath, her gaze follows my soul twirling in the air as I yet again fail to escape the void. The lioness, she yet again found me, to taste the blood I owe her.
When my eyes roll back and I break through the ice I immersed myself in, digging deeper into the cold to move away from my tarnished presence, only then is my being melted and becomes one with her. Her ice cold touch burns, her fingers push me to the bottom of the ocean and strangle me. Her nails cut me open to reach for the heart I'm keeping away from her. Only then can I see her black, void eyes, that eat me alive, that let me sink finally into the last breath of my consciousness, till I'm yet again absorbed by her.
When my eyes focus on her, when I'm finally met with the goddess that is the aeon, when I acknowledge the heat that brought me life, when I accept that she's all there is, and all there will ever be, can I finally exhale all of the smoke I've been keeping while clenching my teeth. Only then can she hand me my body back, whole, scarred, consumed. Only then can I accept that Lamaštu and Lilith is the all, the one, the eternity waiting for me.
The artwork is an offering to Lamaštu, inspired by the Burney Relief, named "Queen of the Beasts" after its present name "Queen of the Night". I present Lamaštu as a cosmic goddess, the necessary for the world to function, the balance that's needed and inescapable.
I'm currently focused on Lamaštu's fall from heaven (for wanting to taste human flesh), and how it parallels Lilith's decision to leave the garden of Eden in the satyrical Alphabet of Ben Sira. While separated by thousands of years, they share a common motif.
Starting from her Mesopotamian roots, her appearance in Judaism and syncretism with other demons of the ancient world, what is one myth that speaks to you the most?