Lilith In The 9th House: The Sexy Serpent

Understand that Lilith and Eve go hand-in-hand in the story from Genesis – you can’t have one without the other.  Some aspect of Eve very often shows up in the house where Lilith resides – in the 9^th House, this is more obvious than in other houses, for some reason.

One’s view of Eve can be influenced by how much one identifies with traditional feminism.  Conservative women aspire to be Eve, and in my view, her gifts to a native should never be underestimated.  Feminists feel more uncomfortable with her “help-meet” status, and since the 1960’s, they have turned to Lilith as an “antidote” to Eve.  This is good, in the sense that Lilith has been rehabilitated to some degree, and her astrological gifts are finally being recognized.  But it’s also scary, because a liberal view of Lilith downplays her demonic darkness – the value judgments of an ancient culture are intact for a reason, and people who think a modern reinterpretation will sanitize Lilith are mistaken.

A Few Observations

Looking around on the Internet, I noted various observations:

·         Wants to transcend all limits.  Needs to be revolutionary in ideas; not solely interested in power for its own sake.  These people can complete change the shape of an ideology or an industry.

·         Drops out of higher educations because they are bored – not motivated to stick it out when there are “better things to do”.  This is a real issue for young people who need a degree, and really don’t have better options.

·         Gets along on sharp instincts and shrewd intuition when it comes to figuring out people and things.

·         Sometimes a tendency to encounter Lilith-types on long-distance travel.

·         A number of the women tend to marry higher status men, or men who are older and richer.  This is the woman who marries the boss – women with this placement have an instinct for men who can act as gurus and further their careers.

·         A surprising number of women with this placement either do not remarry after their first marriage, or do not get married at all.

The best way to understand Lilith in the 9^th House is to look at a lot of different people, and watch as patterns start to emerge.  Some 9^th House Lilith celebrities have certainly made a fortune, but their signature still seems to be how they wield influence, or how they change prevailing ideologies. 

Revolutionaries in Ideas

Martin Luther King

One of the most famous icons in American history, he was convinced that non-violent resistance could end segregation in America.  His “I Have a Dream” speech established him as one of the greatest orators in American history – “I Have a Dream” is a classic summation of 9^th House Lilith with a clear vision.  In 1964, he became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize at age 35.

Che Guevara

He was a South American Marxist leader of Cuban and international guerillas.  He was trained as a doctor in Argentina, and encountered many dispossessed, “cast-out” peasants while travelling around South America as a young man. After lending his revolutionary glamour to the Cuban Revolution, he left Cuba in 1965, intent on spreading the Marxist Revolution.  He was captured in a military operation supported by the CIA and US Special Forces in Bolivia, and purportedly executed by the Bolivian Army in 1967.

Guevara was darkly handsome as a young man (a consort of Lilith?), and his images became synonymous with revolutionary ideals – his picture on a T-Shirt identified the wearer as a “rebel with a cause” and as an “alternative” liberal through the 1980’s and 1990’s in the United States, decades after his death.

Oprah Winfrey

·         Host of the Oprah Winfrey Show, the most influential talk show on American television.

·         Ranked the richest African-American of the 20^th century, and the only black billionaire for three consecutive years.

·         Her Book Club has had a huge influence on what types of books sell in America; her ideals shape the books that publishers select to publish.

·         President Obama courted her attention before the 2008 election, realizing that he would need her tacit seal of approval in order to win.

Need I say anymore?

Margaret Thatcher

She changed the power structure in England completely by destroying powerful unions in deeply entrenched working-class factory cities, and promoting the growth of a wealthy banking class instead.  She was also not the feminist leader that women were hoping for (shape-shifting Lilith took an unfamiliar shape indeed).

Thatcher made tactical errors – including big ones that led to her resignation, but her sharp intuition was behind some of her best decisions – like realizing that the Euro was bound to become a “train wreck”, and making sure that Britain didn’t go near it.

Like many 9^th House Lilith women, Thatcher also had an instinct for snagging a man who could teach her and further her career.  Her Wikipedia article notes, “At a dinner following her formal adoption as Conservative candidate for Dartford in February 1951 she met Denis Thatcher, a successful and wealthy divorced businessman, who drove her to her Essex train.”

Note the contrast between a political leader like Margaret Thatcher and 10^th House Lilith Angela Merkel, a conventional politician who keeps the German economic powerhouse on track and on top.  Thatcher’s leadership style was far more innovative and controversial.

Thomas Edison

Lilith’s gift to Edison was the genius of innovation, a golden talent for mental shape-shifting that generated endless new forms which had a huge impact on mankind.  He invented the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting light bulb, AND he perceived a way to distribute electric power by building a power station, a development that made modern industrial society possible, AND he became the fourth most prolific inventor in history, with 1093 US patents to his name, AND he founded 14 companies, including General Electric, one of the largest publically traded companies in the world – you get the picture.

Also note that Thomas Edison only had about three months of formal schooling before his mother withdrew him due to his inability to focus, and told him to study at home with her.  As the youngest of seven children, he began part-time employment around age 7.  As a pre-teen, he was conducting chemical experiments on a train when he should have been working, and by age 16, he left home to take a job as a telegraph operator.


Edward Snowden

One thing that worries a lot of us is a vast, silent, cyber war that could make US civilians victims of our own government or secret spy agencies.  Edward Snowden was a hyper-smart rebel who got bored of high school and dropped out (his father claims that he missed too much class time due to illness, but I suspect that public school had little to offer a teenager with his talents). Despite his lack of formal schooling, the young computer whiz somehow managed to obtain top-secret clearances, and eventually went to work at Booz, Allen with the admitted intent to steal national security secrets. 

Snowden has picked up Julian Assange’s torch, but the American public still does not know all of the info he took with him on his sojourn across the world – first Hong Kong, then Russia, with hopes for Ecuador.  He finally managed an undisclosed deal with Putin, in order to remain in Russia, and one can only hope that the Russian government treats him reasonably well.  Snowden’s 9^th House BML fits like a glove – he is a maverick who hopes to overthrow the existing system, he lives immersed in a shadow world of spooks, and he meets the dangerous, seductive Lilith in long-distance travel – it still remains to be seen whether Snowden or Putin will have the upper hand. 

My Note:  How does he differ from Julian Assange, in terms of natal Lilith? 

Both men have been described as heroes, whistleblowers, and dissidents.  Snowden has also been described as a traitor and a patriot - his idealism is more in question because he took on his own nation's government.

Assange has BML conjunct Pluto right on the 11th House cusp.  His personality has been described as difficult to work with - on a personal level, he was strongly disliked by upper management in the NY Times even before they published parts of his trove, and he was also in conflict with some members of his volunteer staff at Wikileaks.  On a public level, he is hated by the American government, but widely admired by other governments, and by many people worldwide.

Snowden doesn't have the same  11th House BML "people issues".  He is far more articulate than Assange, even though both men are highly intelligent, and is perceived as being less of a "weirdo". As a 9th House Lilith, he may also continue to enjoy greater freedom of movement between countries than the grounded Assange does.

Those Who Attract the Sleazy Side of Lilith

Lilith is naturally at home with the energy of Saturn (and also Pluto).  When it comes to Jupiter, the “fit” isn’t as perfect.  Lilith can grant a bonanza in the 9^th, as it harnesses the energy of Jupiter, a god known for transcending limits and generating a multitude of new forms.  But often the expression is twisted and surprising – Lilith is “tainted” by Jupiter’s energy, to some degree, with sordid results.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn

Former managing director of the IMF, and at one point, a strong contender for the French Presidency, DSK brought about his own downfall through chronically seeking encounters with Lilith-like women while he travelled in France and outside of it. 

He met his match in Nafissatou Diallo, a shady “ho” who was given a strict upbringing in Guinea, the country where I did my Peace Corps service. Her personality is revealed “between the lines” in a New York Times article.  Diallo, the daughter of an imam, was so quiet and secretive that “Even if she were hungry, she wouldn’t tell you.”  As a teenager, she somehow made it to sexually liberal Conakry, only to be called home by her father two months later for marriage.  Her husband died a year or so later, and Diallo escaped back to Conakry, apparently with enough connections for a US visa.  Once in the US, she became either a hard-working maid who had the misfortune of being DSK’s victim, or a woman who was laundering drug-money while she made a stink about DSK, in hopes of a large payout, which she got.  You decide…

And Others…

Roman Polanski had to leave the US to avoid prosecution for sex with a minor.  Charlie Sheen, born Ramon Estevez, a child actor in a family of actors who was booted from school for poor grades and lousy attendance, and who boasted of having sex with over 5000 women.  Arthur Rimbaud had a steamy affair with the poet Paul Verlaine while still a teen-ager – Verlaine deserted his wife and child, but the relationship was so out of control that it ended with the 18-year-old Rimbaud accusing Verlaine of assault, and Verlaine doing two years in jail.

Sylvia Browne

In all fairness, the sleaze factor also taints some women with a 9^th House Lilith.  One who immediately comes to mind is Sylvia Browne.  Like many readers, I was blown away by her description of Heaven in Life on the Other Side, and really wanted to believe that she was gifted with a special sight, and in turn shared her gift with others through vivid descriptions of the best the Afterlife has to offer.  Her vision of a “woman in blue” – a South American Indian woman who she believes lived around 500 years ago, was breathtaking.  As a Catholic, I felt closer to Mary when I read this.  Part of me still believes in her books – they are so spiritually uplifting.

Yet Browne’s Mars is partile conjunct my Ascendant, and her Neptune is three degrees away, so I felt particularly angry (Mars), and deceived (Neptune), when I discovered the securities fraud and grand larceny in her background – Browne has a debilitated Venus in Scorpio partile conjunct her MC (a vision of a spirit guide in stunning blue recalls both Mary and Venus).

Others have complained that her church ministers seem way too concerned about the money during psychic sessions where the audience would rather focus on deeply emotional questions.  Her Other Side books are so good that I had a hard time accepting the truth – Sylvia Browne is the Martha Stewart of Heaven!  “Wise serpent” Lilith and the “snake in the grass” are both operating in typical 9^th House fashion.

Ladies Who Have “Talent In Their Knickers”

Here’s the thing about Lilith in the 9th house – the women “put out” signals of Eve to powerful, wealthy, higher status men who would never be attracted to Lilith, yet to a large extent, they don’t get trapped in an Eve role.  This is the big difference between the 9^th and 10^th House as far as Lilith is concerned – 10^th House Lilith women largely eschew the Eve archetype.

The women below all carved out their own niche – they use Eve to get what they want, but some of them manage to surpass her, too, using sharp instincts and shrewd intuition.  Another thing to note is that most of them exploit the Eve role when they are very young  - Condoleeza Rice being the exception.

That said, this is a “tricky” position for Lilith, where Eve casts a long shadow.  Ordinary, non-celebrity women, particularly those who had little interest in school, may find that Eve comes naturally, and don’t aspire to more.

Coco Chanel

Chanel generated new forms in fashion design the way Thomas Edison generated new inventions. Her suits, hats, handbags, and signature scent, Chanel No. 5, all became iconic items, and her Wikipedia entry notes that she was the only fashion designer to appear on Time Magazine’s list of 100 most influential people in the 20^th century.

Chanel was born illegitimate and dirt poor – at a time when illegitimacy still mattered.  Thus Lilith was operating right from her birth. She was placed in a convent for orphaned and abandoned girls at age 12, where she learned to sew.  The convent discipline didn’t stick, however.  As soon as she left, she made straight for the cabaret, where she got her name “Coco”, derived from the French cocotte, or “kept woman”.

Chanel hooked up with a French cavalry officer and wealthy textile heir by age 23, giving his current mistress the boot.  She also snagged the role of mistress with one of his close friends, and this man’s sartorial style inspired the early conception of the Chanel look.  Chanel would become the influential mistress of a lot of men, whom she exploited for money and connections, but her couture design business was profitable from the start due to her own business acumen.  She never married – Lilith won out over Eve.

Kate Middleton

Kate is a total Eve – her Wikipedia entry notes that she got the name “Waity Katy” from the British media  for her apparent lack of work ethic and unwillingness to work – when the truth is that getting a marriage proposal was her full-time job from age 18, and she wasn’t going to waste it on anybody unworthy.

Kate strikes me as an extremely shrewd operator.  And Lilith shows up in the Palace decision to make her first-born child heir to the throne even if it is a daughter – Kate herself was certainly behind that huge leap into the modern era.

Priscilla Presley

Priscilla met Elvis when she was 14.  The rest of her adolescence was not wasted – by the time she was 18, she was living in a house with his relatives instead of her own.  She married at 22, had a baby at 23, and she and Elvis had agreed on a separation by the time she was 27.  She had enough talent for a limited career in her own right, but her platform was undoubtedly based on that early marriage to Elvis.  She had a number of other affairs with wealthy men, but did not remarry.  Lilith may have had an impact on her choice of church as well – she was a spokesperson for the Church of Scientology.

Condoleeza Rice

As the first black Secretary of State, and the second female to hold the job, Rice was briefly considered one of the most powerful women in the world. Other than the fact that she never married, there is no overt link to Lilith.  She is also a very private person, and almost no information is available on her personal life.  But for many years, it was whispered that she and George “Dubya” Bush had a sporadic and extremely discreet affair.  In their Style section, the Washington Post carefully reported a word-for-word transcript of she and Dubya finishing each other’s sentences.  The White House made no comment.

Coming Up Next:
Lilith in the Eighth House:  The Elitist

What Did I Miss?
Lilith in the 10th House:  Where Lilith is Shape-Shifting Boss


SOURCES
For a look at celebrities with 9th House BML:
Astrotheme Horoscopes of Celebrities with 9th House Lilith

This is an interesting New York Times profile on a journalist-filmmaker duo behind Edward Snowden, both of whom now avoid living in the United States. 

How Laura Poitras Helped Snowden Spill His Secrets


Quick "Toot Toot" for my old blog, Slushpile Astrology:
There are a lot of interesting, accessible articles here, including a four-part series "Help for Vedic Beginners", a great article on astrology in the fashion industry (how and when to shop for certain colors), and the series on Marilyn Monroe which inspired me to look further into Lilith, and figure out what makes her unique in each zodiac house.  Astrology lovers with an afternoon free could do worse than kicking back with a pot of tea while they surf my old site.