Sophia - The Feminine Spirit of Wisdom

<Susanrose/Arianna> It is my pleasure to welcome back Gina, a Spiritual teacher from New
Zealand for our gathering tonight.
About tonight's topic.....

Many in the Women's Spirituality Movement that has swept across
this country have embraced the feminine side of divinity. Groups
gather to honor the Earth Mother, as well as the feminine side of
all creation. The necessity of such a grass roots reclaiming
of this concept is partly due to the feeling of being second class Spirits
when trying to function within the boundaries of organized religion.

So we find many white suburban people from mainstream
religion at such things such as Native American Pow-Pows,
searching through Celtic pre-Christian beliefs.
We are looking outside the patriarchal society for fresh ways
to relate to the divine, in ways that will value the feminine side of
expression, both within and without.

I wanted in this presentation to remind all of us, however,
that the roots of the divine feminine aspect also have their
place in the birthplace of the Judeo-Christian religions.
The essence of the Goddess reveals herself in many names and
cultures, and it is up to us to "reimagine" her within the framework
of the Judeo-Christian beliefs.

So the Spirit of the divine feminine is not for pagans only,
(smile) she is right there in all religions, if we choose to bring
her to our consciousness.

We will start with Sophia, her Greek name, or Sapienta,
her Latin name, meaning wisdom. From Jewish literature:
"She reaches out from one end of the earth to the other with full strength
and orders all things well.. herself unchanging, she makes all things anew."
Early Christians called her the Holy Spirit, Gnostics calling her Mother of All.
The Shakers recognize her in this rhyme: Wisdom holds the Mother's seat,
and is the Father's helper-meet."

Go ahead Gina!

<Gina> thank you Susanrose.
The Sophia:
Titles: Divine Mother. The Universal Mind. The Creatress. The Mother.
The Mother of All. The Celestial Virgin. The Holy Ghost. The Word.
Wisdom Incarnate. The Holy Wisdom, a Progenitrix of Matter.
The Savior of Mankind. The Ancient Mother. The Renewer.

The Sophia means Wisdom, female logos of the Gnostics-
the Universal Mind and the female Holy Ghost to others.
Sophia Achameth is known as the daughter of the Sophia.

In the Wisdom of Solomon (Sun Man), Wisdom is described
as- Wisdom is a Spirit devoted to man's good
Wisdom shines bright and never fades; she is easily discerned
by those who love her, and by those who seek her she is found.
She is quick to make herself known to those who desire knowledge of her.
I value her more than scepter or throne and reckoned riches
as nothing beside her.
All good things came to me with Her,
and in Her hands wealth past counting;
and all mine to enjoy.

<Gina> A knowledge of the structure of the world
and the operation of the elements;
the beginning and the end of epochs and their middle course;
alternating solstices and changing seasons;
cycles of the years and the constellations;
the nature of living creatures and behavior of wild beasts;
the varieties of plants and the virtue of roots.
I learnt it all, hidden or manifest, for I was taught by her
whose skill made all things, wisdom.

Wisdom pervades and permeates all things.
She is but One, yet can do everything; herself unchanging,
she makes all things new; age after age she enters into Holy Souls.
She is more radiant than the sun and beyond every constellation;
compared with the light of day she is found greater.
She spans the world in power from end to end,
and orders all things benignly

What I am setting up here is an order
in which we can measure the other Goddesses
who I have selected to discuss...
<Gina> ready?
<Susanrose> ok
<daughter> ready Gina!

<Gina> One of the next Goddesses we will look at is Sephira.
Her titles: The Mother- The wife...The Crown.
In Cabalistic philosophy Sephira is regarded according to the summary
in the Secret Doctrine, as one of the Triad
which includes also Chokman and Binah.
Sephira is described as an active potency spreading in every direction.
At the head of the Sephirothal Tree,
Sephira is the sacred aged or divine intelligence,
the same as the Sophia. There is a close link between Sephira
in her primordial aspect and Shekhina
and also between the former and Sophia.

<Dove> how do you ask her to work with you? Prayer?.
<Gina> dove I just prayed and she over shadowed me
one day three years ago
She came in on a pure white light...so bright that it was blinding
three people in the room felt the energy...
but could not put words to what they felt or saw
<Susanrose> She has appeared to many
In dreams as well as in Spirit
<Gina> yes...I believe so...
She says we only have to ask for her to come and help us

<Gina> Malkuth is the 10th Sephira
Sometimes known as the Queen as Heaven
Titles The World. The Earth. The Terrestrial World. The Queen
Malketh is the most closely related to the earth being both on and within.

Shekhina or Malkuth was known by the Jews
as the cloud of glory which rested on the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies.
Shekhina is also known as the veil of Ain-Soph,
the endless and the Absolute,
The bride of the Sabbath, The Divine Woman that is welcome
on the eve of the Hebrew Sabbath.
Sabbath is derived from the Semitic Akkadias word Shapatu,
meaning "the night of the Full Moon."

<Susanrose> Adding to Shekhina now, this is information from inside
the album cover of "Shekhina, Restoring the Balance".
I am quoting the composer, Alan Bachman:
http://www.city-net.com/~arianna/gaiashe.html

"Shekhina is the radiant presence of the Divine.
Shekhina is 'the quantum collective consciousness of the entire universe'.
I believe that this consciousness must reach a critical mass of appropriate
prayer
(including thought, art and actions) on Earth to initiated the Messianic Era.

The word for deity, mentioned over 7000 times in the Hebrew bible,
is composed of four letters : Yod, which stands for Father,
Heh which stand for Mother, Vav, which stands for Son, and Heh,
which stands for daughter.

Shekhina is associated with the Heh letter
While it is clear that the female is given equal importance
in the written representation of Deity in Holy Scripture,
conscious acceptance of the female was nearly eliminated
with the patriarchal takeover thousands of years ago.

As stated in Proverbs: "Happy is the one who finds wisdom (Shekhina)
and the one who gets understanding... She is more precious than rubles...
Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand are richer and honor.
Her ways are ways of pleasure, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life
to those who lay hold to her; and happy are those who hold her fast".

It is said that Shekhina fled when her Jerusalem temple was destroyed
thus Divinity was split apart. Cabalistic writings teach that the absence
of her feminine Spirit within the Divinity
is the source of great distress and imbalance
in the world. For many centuries, Hebrew peoples have prayed for her return.

The most important reason for connection with Shekhina
is the experience of true joy.
This is an experience one has in the womb.
In current society we are taught to look outside ourselves
for satisfaction and contentment. Our society is experiencing
this iniquity with widespread violence, toxicity, and disease.
To turn this around we must understand that all our thoughts,
art forms and acts are prayers. Since prayer does work,
and since every thought is a part of our prayers, our world reflects
the sum total of these prayers. The Messianic Era occurs
when the common consciousness reaches the threshold of connection
with this experience of true joy by connecting with the essence of the
Shekhina Within.The first step to having a whole people is a whole Divine."

<Gina> The next Feminine Aspect we will look at is:
Ashtroreth- Ashtart- Astarte are all one of the same Goddess and are identified
as coming from Venus, with the title Queen of the Heaven.
As we are all aware there are many different realms or heavens and many
Gods
and Goddesses come from these realm or eons.

<Gina> It is claimed by the people of Byblos,
that the Goddess first descended to Earth
as a fiery star and landed in the lake at Aphaca (near Byblos).
To the Egyptian Byblos was important and rich in human history.
Situated close to Mt. Carmel and one of the first Homo Sapien
habitations-around 9000 BC.

<Gina> The worship of Ashtoreth continued until around 300AD
when the shrine was closed by Emperor Constantine along with other
Goddess Temples of Syria, Lebanon and Israel.

Interesting that all the myths on this Goddess say she arrived here
on Earth in a fire ball from the sky. A space craft?
I found these Goddesses interesting because of their relationship
with different planets

<^alex^> Are gods and goddesses actually ascended beings from other
planes?
<Gina> some are alex while others are from different planets,
they came in the very early stages
of humanities evolution to aid them in civilization
<Dove> I've read that the earth was supposed to be some sort
of an interstellar trading post of sorts
<Gina> interesting concept dove

<Gina> In the Holy City of Syrian Hierapolis, that stood by the waters
of the Euphrates, there is a shrine which was built after the great flood.
Tradition claims a great chasm opened on the very spot and the waters
of the flood poured into it and disappeared. Since that time waters
from the Euphrates is carried to the Temple twice a year.

The Temple is dedicated to the Queen of Heaven,
who was also called Atargatis, she who had a tail of a fish,
yet gave birth to a daughter who walked upon the earth with two feet.

<Gina> The other Goddess that I feel played
a lot in the evolution of Mankind was the Hathor
While often seen as the Cow Goddess
she was in fact a race of Star Beings.
She was also known as the Queen of the 7 stars
and that could be the 7 sisters of the Pleiades.

Other titles: Ancient Cow of Heaven
Lady of the Stars
One who shines as Gold
Mistress of the Desert
Lady of Heaven
World Mother
In the Tarot Ator is an old Latin name for Hathor- the wheel- the law.

The Hathor has only one temple left in Egypt today
and it is still classed as one of the most beautiful.
For anyone interested there are three temples
which I feel are still important in Egypt today...
One is called the Valley Temple and found in front of the Sphinx
The other is Osiris Temple found in Abydos
the last the Hathor Temple found in Luxor.

<logos> why do you feel they are still important Gina ?
<Gina> firstly I feel that people drawn to those temples
will tap the energy and receive information direct to help them
in their Spiritual growth.
Then they can take the information out into the world and share it.
<^Angel^9> Gina -- you mean any visitor?
<Gina> hahha visitors run in and out of temples...
serious seekers sit and meditate and learn

<Susanrose> The Goddesses are still important because people
in all time and place are longing for the return of a kinder,
softer deity of unconditional love, she is close to the hearts of her children.
<Gina> yes , we are also in the time of wisdom
and that is also why we want to know the Goddesses more.

<Susanrose> I was raised Catholic, and my only role model
of femininity in Spirituality was Mary, who was a Handmaiden,
not to be divine in her own sense
<Gina> I think that Mary was also very high up the ladder of evolution
The church did not and never has wanted to see woman in that light...
the thought that a female could be equal to God
would have been enough to wipe her out of the Bible
<Susanrose> Mary is not as subservient as they would picture her,
but HIStory is written by those in power.
<Summer> I would like to learn more about Mary

<Susanrose> Mary is a symbol fo divine motherhood.
<Gina> Mary had to hold an energy pure and true
to allow the form of Jesus to incarnate
<Susanrose> in the Aquarian gospel of Jesus the Christ,
She traveled to Egypt to study prior to her pregnancy

<Susanrose> Mary has appeared all over the world,
Lourdes, Fatima, Guadalupe, Fontanelle, and in Medjugorje.
In her global please for peace in times of world crisis,
Mary is seen more as a univeral Spiritual mother and divine parent,
concerned with the safety and welfare of her entire human family.
<Gina> I believe that Mary...Jesus...
John the Baptist all were trained by the Essene
<^Angel^9> Gina Love --- How did you arrive at that opinion?
<Gina> I also think that some of their teachings are being translated now
from scrolls found three years ago in another place by the dead sea
<Gina> angel dear I was there
<Susanrose> Is that a past life memory, about being with the essenses Gina?
<Gina> yes Susanrose although I can tap into all my past lives
there are still things for me to learn and look at

^alex^ is clueless about essences....where might I look for info?
<Gina> the dead sea scrolls will lead you in the right direction alex
<Susanrose> Alex, I liked the book
"The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ", an old classic
You might turn up something in a web search on Essenes
<Gina> Prophet of the Dead Sea scrolls by Upton Clary Ewing
The dead sea scrolls uncovered by Robert Eisenman & Michael Wise
Another book you may like alex is Eyewitness to Jesus
By Thiede & D'ancona
^alex^ wonders if any of these will be in the Public Library....
<Gina> they are all in print alex so should be available

<tharaja> Susanrose do you like Freya?
<Susanrose> Freya is a Germanic Feminine Deity, I think...
<tharaja> yes she is
<tharaja> if you want to read about a powerful and sexual
goddess she is one

<Susanrose> All minor deities are thinner and thinner slices
of the large pie of ALL THAT IS
Realize that when you invoke a minor diety,
you are focusing in on a certain trait for particular help.
Sometimes the bravery of these feminine models were invoked
in times of war for protection of the community and the success
of their warriors.
Just as Popeye called in a can of spinach for a difficult task,
a particular diety may be of help to a unique problem facing you.
This does not mean you need a steady diet of spinach. :)

<Susanrose> A while back,
Dove asked how we can connect with the Feminine Divine....
While we all can pray, of course, I want to remind you that
the full moon is a lovely symbol of the Goddess...
as it is that soft light of the night that helps us through dark times,
and like us, she has a 28 day cycle
<^alex^> So praying to Sophia or any other Goddesses
on a full moon would give more to the prayer?
<Gina> yes alex
<Susanrose> for 7 years I met monthly with a group of women in a circle.
We asked that a silver ray moon beam light our circle
with the presence of the Goddess
Alex. it would aid your faith in her to do so on a full moon
It is not necessary to do it then,
but it will give you the OOMPH you need to know she has arrived
<Gina> not just at full moon...
you should aim your thoughts whenever possible at the Sophia
The full moon just adds the higher energy
<Susanrose> Once you have felt and tasted her presence,
you will be able to draw her in, and Evoke her energy from within yourself
<Summer> I find great power in the dark moon as well

<Dove> how do you "aim" you thoughts at the Sophia?
<Gina> Dove I just talk in my head to her all the time
<^alex^> ok...following my logical thought along then
I'd think she would also be stronger to you at night as the moon
is the main source of light at that time...?
<Gina> yes alex

<tharaja> Susanrose you might be interested
that there are some moon god's too. and Sun Goddess's
<Susanrose> Usually Sun Gods are masculine,
Moon deities are feminine, but not always,
In Japan, Amaterasu is a Sun feminine deity, from the Shinto
Tradition. She is the Spirit of the universe, who delights in
delights in sharing her warmth and gifts with her people.
<Summer> yes the Cherokee greet Grandmother Sun

<Susanrose>As Moon Goddess, however, she is a soft reflection of the sun...
during a dark time when we need her light to guide us at night,
and also, the moon has a strong pull on the water of the planet...
notice the tides, and the 28 day women's cycle...
since we are mostly water,
we feel the pull of the moon on us in her many phases.

An experiment where clams were removed from their home on
the east coast of the USA to a laboratory in Chicago, the clams were
kept in sealed containers which admitted no light,
and were stored in laboratory which was kept at a constant temperature.
At first they continued to open and close their shells as if on the eastern time,
opening at times of east coast high tide.
But within 2 weeks without any possible stimulus of the normal senses,
the clams were opening and closing at the times
that high tide would occur in Chicago.
The clams adjusted to the new location on the basis of being affected
by the gravitational force of the moon.

Now we all have tides within ourselves that feel
the pull of the moon. We need not be in the ocean to react to it.
The full moon is a traditional time for requests to the mother Goddess
"Once a month, better it be when the moon is full,
ye shall come to some secret place and adore the Spirit of me,
Queen of the Wise".... it is from gypsy folklore from Tuscany Italy.

<^alex^> hmmm....if I was a feminist that might be insulting to be
thought of as a reflection of the masculine....
<Gina> I think that its best to remember that you need both the male God
and the female God to balance within you....call on both and go
as high as your energy will allow and then call them for more energy
to take you higher
<^alex^> yes...I fully agree...We all reflect both after all....

<tharaja> I think a nice way to look at it is men and woman are different
but we are still a part of each other and we need each other
<Gina> We are in the Time of Wisdom...
Compassion and all need to acquire these aspects within...
with no regards to gender...
<^alex^> And besides....Spiritual is genderless...
the gender assigned is merely a way to describe...
<Gina> there is no difference between the male or female
other than what we give it...we all are capable of doing the same things...
thinking the same thoughts and using our brains and energy in the same way...
there is no difference
Its the time of the Divine Mother in Balance with the Divine Father
<Susanrose>The honoring the Feminine Divine in the Ancient Goddesses,
as well as seeing Her in yourself, your sisters, your lovers, your planet...
will bring us hope...and returning the respect that was taken from the Feminine.
<Gina> right on Susanrose :)

<^alex^> the time of "Divine Unity"
<Susanrose> Yes, alex. both men and women will claim be made whole
by the return of the feminine to complete the thought of Divine expression in
the physical world.

If any of you can see the moon tonight,
go outside and gaze at her face,...
then squint a bit, causing rays to dart out...
Direct one of these rays to your chest and heart.
Ask that she who is greater will give you strength
and connect with you in a greater way..
<Summer> may you sleep in the arms of the Goddess
<SilverOne> :)

<Gina> ok people thanks for coming and sharing your thoughts
<tharaja> bye Gina thanks
<Summer> nite and B*B Gina
<^alex^> Thanks Gina...very interesting....!!!
<^Angel^9> {{{{{{{ Gina }}}}}}}
<Paza> thanks Gina :)
<Leonardo & daysi> Bye Gina
<daughter> thanks Gina
Aleka regretfully waves and sends farewell aloha hugs to all...
<logos> thanks Gina
<Dove> Thank you Gina :) Good night all :) Love & Light to All :)
<Susanrose> Thank you Gina for the Class Tonight!
<^Angel^9> {{{{{{{ Susanrose }}}}}}}

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