Lilith Untamed, a Guide to the Astrological Black Moon, by Christina Rodenbeck, is a richly detailed look at yet another addition to the astrological lexicon.
Signifying the untamed, wilder, anti-social elements of human temperament, the author relates it to Adam’s first wife in paradise who refused to accept the inferior role, and to the rage-filled Kali the Hindu goddess, as well as figures from other cultures. An archetype which encompasses the creative, erotic, unboundaried, uncivilized, violent, crazy, unstable, unconventional. In Jung’s terms “an archetype is like an old watercourse — digging a deep channel for itself. … and sooner or later the water will return to its old bed.”
What is complicated is that Black Moon Lilith is not a planet or body, but rather a point, and should not be confused with the asteroid, Lilith. And to add to the confusion there is a True and a Mean Lilith. The author says she generally uses the mean Lilith but that both are valuable. My Janus software for some reason will only add the True Lilith glyph.
Calculating all the Liliths can be done on: https://horoscopes.astro-seek.com/asteroids-astrology-online-calculator?no_mobile=1
And Café astrology has an ephemerides as well as calculator:
https://cafeastrology.com/whats-my-black-moon-lilith.html
https://cafeastrology.com/black-moon-lilith-signs-houses.html
Lilith gets an entertaining and extensive analysis with dates for Lilith in each sign (every nine years), illuminating quotes from famous examples and an analysis of what each sign and house represents. Lilith in daring Aries, the initiator, has Christian Barnard, the first heart transplant surgeon as an example. Vincent van Gogh, a Lilith in Taurus was on his Lilith return when his painting exploded in a vibrancy of colour. Emily Bronte, whose wildness lived out solely through her writing had Lilith in Gemini — and on through the signs.
The houses also get a detailed run down. Marilyn Monroe had mean Lilith on her Ascendant with many of the motifs associated with the Black Moon – abusive childhood, several marriages and miscarriages, treated as an outsider etc
Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage both with Lilith in the 3rd house of communication – wild and wayout in language. Barack Obama has his Lilith in the 7th house of close partnerships – starting life as an outcast, ending up with a strong, independent wife. The 8th house, not surprisingly has Elvis Presley, Bardot, Angelina Jolie, Sophia Loren. The tragic Whitney Houston who drowned in a bath had an 8th house mean Lilith conjunct Neptune.
The Lilith cycle is pointed up as being important as is the Via Lamia – the gap between the mean and true Lilith.
This is an all-round one-stop-shop of an informative and entertaining primer on Lilith and worthy of a space in anyone’s astrological library.
Thanks Marjorie. Yet another interesting book for my collection. Asteroid Lilith is conjunct my Mean BML in Leo in the 12th. I have a stellium of Asteroids there, along with Uranus and NN. The ‘outsider’ theme and imposter syndrome has been a big part of the struggle with those placements for me, but because it’s in Leo, I suspect that it might me my way of feeling ‘special’. Standing out in any way had certain risks attached to it in my early childhood.