Several months ago I became “more” intrigued with the idea of Sofia, the true divine feminine. It’s not that I hadn’t heard or known of Sofia, or thought and read about Sofia, it was simply a matter of not finding much information about Sofia, anywhere. Even the Gnostic Gospels are limited in the expression of Sofia.
Then I looked for images online and found Alex Grey’s mystical Sophia image, which led me to rummaging around in my books seeking “Sacred Mirrors,” a book of Alex Grey’s mystical and yet very “worldly” images.
Ah, Sophia was there. I found her and I’ve been studying her allegories ever since.
Later I found information that proclaimed Sofia as the Mother of God and she who birthed the Universe. Some say that Sofia is the blond female figure emerging from under God’s arm in Michelangelo’s fresco on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
Just the other day, my friend “B” answered my plea for input on the divine feminine, telling me that his Sufi studies speak to the Universe as a feminine energy. Not only a principle, she is an entity who birthed all things…and if this is so, we actually live in the womb of the Universe…our container is feminine.
Also according to “B,” and I do love to paraphrase, we embrace this principle every day as we trust that all physical things are real. Like the walls in our homes or the giant architectural structures standing tall in the world’s largest cities, we believe they will hold and they do. Holding is a feminine principle, trust is a feminine principle.
Holding anything is akin to giving it a place to rest or reside, a cave of sorts. On a physiological level, the part of our nervous system responsible for resting and attuning to the natural rhythms part of us is feminine. (For more information on stress, the nervous system as it relates to masculine & feminine principles, please see the recent blog posts on Stress as well as the last newsletter and accompanying posts about the Autonomic Nervous System).
That same day while I researched images and information about “The Sofia” (or Sophia as it is often written), I found this amazing mystical chart that shows the womb of Sofia evoking all. It’s in Latin–and I have not found the artist or origination point–or I’d give credit and interpret it further. See for yourself. What do you feel or think about this? What is evoked from within as you look at this image?
I haven’t found my own ground of being in any of this yet, so I won’t suggest you think or feel any particular leaning. Even so, when I look at the Mystical Sofia and this chart of the divine feminine, I am filled with calm and joy, ease and blessed relief that someone, someplace in this world knows how to express what I feel is true.
On the contrary recently, while attending a Baptist wedding, I felt my bones twisting, my heart racing and my jaw tensing. In the ceremony, there was a strong focus on Eve, how she grew from Adam’s rib, and how likewise the bride that day came in purity to her husband having given up her identity, all combined with the very misogynistic application of a twisted interpretation of creation.
Here are some softer, more balanced and Sofia-like ideas to contemplate:
Sofia is the Holy Spirit in the Trinity (Gnostic).
Sofia was the bride of Christ & the Mother of God (Gnostic, Cathartic).
Sophia is the revelation of god’s inward thought which evoked the form and order of our Universe (Jewish Alexandrine philosophy).
Wisdom is feminine (Proverbs 8).
The Source, The Beginning.
Magdalene.
Hidden Mother, Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom Incarnate, She who knows the Mysteries…the Dove.
Again, I ask, what do you think…how do you feel…what is called forth from within you?
