One question…why do we always overlook Lilith? Is it because she was demonized? She is a more powerful archetype for some women than even Eve.

Lilith places an interesting spin on the whole myth of the Garden of Eden. Did God make a mistake? No? So then in reality, it is woman’s natural place to be joined with man, have power with man rather than man having power over her.

My blog post called “Makin’ S*** Up–Semi True Stories” parodies the Creationist myth a bit, but it is presenting a point nonetheless.

Reminds me of a joke–one of the last ones I told my mother before she passed away; a devout Mormon, she laughed her head off.

One day Eve spoke to God:

EVE: I’ve got a problem.

GOD: What’s the problem, Eve?

EVE: I know that you created me and provided this
beautiful garden and all of these wonderful animals, as well as
that hilarious comedic snake, but I’m just not happy.

GOD: And why is that Eve?

EVE: I am lonely, and I’m sick to death of apples.

GOD: Well, Eve, in that case, I have a solution. I
shall create a man for you?

EVE: Man? What is that?

GOD: A flawed creature, with many bad traits.
He’ll lie, cheat, and be vain; all-in-all, he’ll give you a
hard time. But he’ll be bigger, faster and will like to
hunt and kill things. I’ll create him in such a way that
he will satisfy your physical needs. He will be witless
and will revel in childish things like fighting and
kicking a ball about. He won’t be as smart as you, so he
will also need your advice to think properly.

EVE: Sounds great, but what’s the catch?

GOD: Well… you can have him on one condition.

EVE: And what’s that, dear God?

GOD: As I said, he’ll be proud, arrogant and
self-admiring… so you’ll have to let him believe
that I made him first. And it will have to be our little
secret…you know, woman to woman.

:0)

Hey, BiV. I hope you don’t mind a linkbomb, but The Fob Bible also reinvented Eve a few times (only some of the reinventions by women though — some of the works are part of the free sample in the margins.

You also have to check out Annie Poon’s Evish comic, “Me Good, Me Bad“. It’s very cool (sample page here—scroll down a bit). She’s currently animating it.

Mostly I refuse to give these guys the power to hurt me,as I don’t accept that such behaviour is a manifestation of priesthood power.Occasionally it gets under my skin,but I soon see from my husbands love that such behaviour is inappropriate.I simply do not accept that anyone other than the Saviour is my mediator in my relationship with God,however limited someone else’s definitions of me may be.

I’m working on loving my lover better,as he has been working on loving me.Joyful work.

This is a deep irony for me as far as Mormonism’s gender teachings go, BiV. Mormonism attempts to redeem the account of the Fall and rescue Eve from strict wrong-doing, calling her actions thoughtful, deliberate and essential to mankind’s progression. You would think that would be something that would pose good news for women.

And yet, the LDS church somehow arrives at the exact same conclusion that most of the Judeo-Christian world has arrived at for the last four millenia: women are meant to be subordinate to men.* My husband’s favorite justification for the priesthood ban on women is that it was implemented because Eve was the one who ate the forbidden fruit first, and he claims that this is taught in the temple (you guys would probably know what he’s talking about better than I would). It all just makes me sigh. All that effort for naught.

I would also argue that changing the account to say that Adam was tempted first and resisted the temptation hurts the current egalitarian apologetics for women’s status and the Fall. Currently some translations render Genesis 3:6 “[A]nd [Eve] also gave some [fruit] to her husband who was with her, and he ate,” therefore it’s argued that Adam was present at the temptation the entire time and did nothing to stop Eve, so he’s just as culpable. The temple account eviscerates this argument by having Adam get unsuccessfully tempted on his own beforehand as well as clarifying that Adam was not present at Eve’s temptation, so Eve is responsible for instigating the Fall all by her lonesome. If you’re arguing that the Fall isn’t a bad thing, then maybe that’s not a bad thing, but if the temple does portray Eve as being punished for the Fall and Adam as being rewarded for initially resisting, then it’s a step backwards.

*Could all you defenders of the status quo just butt out for once? Yes, I know you vehemently disagree that the church subordinates women, and I really don’t care. I’ve heard you’re terribad apologetics before, and this time I’d really like to not hear about heads and necks or how “preside” doesn’t really mean “preside” or how awesome mommyhood is or how all the men who run the church only serve with the consent of their wives and that somehow means women are the real power in the church. Thanks in advance.

I like that JFS said that disseminators of the Bible made “a great mistake” when they called the Fall shameful. If this interpretation of the Fall is in error, what assumptions about women’s roles (which rest on the theory that Eve was misguided and sinful) are also great mistakes?

I’m niether a feminist nor a masculinist. I’m a theistic humanist.

On a slightly different note I believe that archetypes are supposed to be polysemic and I believe they can serve different purposes for us spiritually. In fact I believe that when archetypes become too fixed that is when we are in danger of carrying to extremes, like has happened with Eve. I tried to deal with this on a previous psot regarding the council in heaven. At times Adam image of provider can be important while at others his actions of responding to his wife. The images we see are conflicted, even schizophrenic. I think that is ok because it makes them seem like real people whom we can engage with rather than being flat characters in a narrative that become cliche.

I’ve enjoyed both Brooke’s poem and the artwork it inspired, and am in turn inspired by it all!

Dexter, what WOULD the world be like without that seminal story? Quite different, I imagine, as evidenced by societies which were NOT influenced by it. That said, I do enjoy archetypes and myths as a pathway for understanding the unconscious mind, so it’s cool to unpack the Adam and Eve story and play around with it to see where it can take us. I absolutely love that these women have been able to do it through their artistic creations.

Some other fascinating Eve images I encountered were: Rubble Riser by Anahi Decanio–just look at all the symbolism in the mixed-media piece. Also Shawn Dell Joyce’s Eve/Gaia. (third image down) This one contrasts the shame/rape of nature (Eve) by the industrial world, with redemption through sustainability represented by a Gaia figure. Both of these works demonstrate what I am talking about when I speak of a reimaging of the Eve myth.

(Btw, her slaying the angel is inspired by Virginia Wolf’s statement about needing to Kill the angel of the house in order to become a writer.)

Oh, speaking of Eve, I LOVE Lynnette’s recent post on the subject.

Thanks for sharing, BiV (and G).

Bored in Vernal, I thought the article was interesting. I wonder what the world would be like if the adam and eve story were never told.