Creation: Adam and Eve

                      Genesis, chapter 1

                      26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion

                      over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth,

                      and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own

                      image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God

                      blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and

                      subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over

                      every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

                     Genesis, chapter 2
                     20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but

                     for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. 21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to

                     fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

                     22 And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto

                     the man. 23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called 

                     woman, because she was taken out of Man.

Many have hotly debated these two seemingly different accounts of creation. Many believe there was a first wife, Lilith. Lilith was not submissive enough and Adam was given a more submissive and docile wife, Eve. While the story of Liltih works well for many, it doesn't fit in with my belief system. Furthermore, the addition of Lilith doesn't answer questions that arise later in Genesis.

Later in Genesis, the reader finds herself asking several questions. Where did Cain and Abel find wives? Were they their sisters? If so, isn't this incest, which is strictly forbidden?  The next question has to do with Cain after he killed Abel. Who was he afraid would kill him if his family were the only people on earth?

For me, these issues can be solved if you look at the accounts from a different perspective.

                      Genesis 1:27 
                     "And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female

                      created he them."

What if this means God/dess created a race of people and each person was both male and female. This would be in the image of God/dess, both male and female. Then in chapter two, God/dess separated human into male and female sexes.

Now, the two accounts don't contradict each other. Chapter two is simply a continuation of the story. There is no need to fill in the gap with a first wife. Women would not be expected to be submissive to men, because they would not be a small part of the man (his rib).  The woman would be equal to the man, his other half. 

Now,  instead of there being only two people on earth there could be hundreds or thousands. Cain and Abe would not have had to marry their sisters. Also, this would provide people for Cain to fear and necessitate the mark of protection placed on him by God/dess.

While my explaination is not the only one possible, I do feel that it answers many of the questions that have been left unanswered by traditional theologies.

music: To Go Beyond-Enya
http://www.thehealinghealers.com/creative/midi.html#mystic