The role played by Norea in the gnostic version of the flood myth is in many ways reminiscent of the Jewish story of Adam’s hot-tempered first wife, Lilith. Like Norea, Lilith too is fiery – the name Lilith even means “fiery wind.”
According to legend, Adam grew lonely in the Garden of Eden and fell into the habit of having sex with animals. Understandably disgusted, God decided that Adam needed a companion, and so He created Lilith just as he had also created Adam, from the earth.
Overly impressed with her origins, Lilith refused to lie beneath Adam during sex (the so-called “missionary position”) – she wanted to be on top (the “female superior” position, also favored by certain Tantrik deities).
Angered by Adam’s pushy protestations, Lilith uttered the magical names of God and flew off into the ether, recalling Norea’s airborne escape.
When Adam complained before God that his mate had deserted him, God sent three angels to capture Lilith and persuade her to submit to Adam. The angels found her living by the Red Sea, giving birth to demon after demon on the beach.
The angels threatened to kill a hundred of Lilith’s demon children a day until she returned, but to no avail. Lilith preferred this punishment to living with Adam, and so God created Eve as a replacement.
An amulet bearing the image of the three angels sent to capture her is said to be the only protection against Lilith’s vinidictive habit of injuring human newborns to this very day.
