As with many things, there are many ways people reference the Divine Feminine. Some connect with Her as The Great Mother, others resonate more with Isis or Mary, or the Black Madonna, and a host of other 'faces' from traditions that grew from the earliest traditions. For me, Sophia seems the most powerful.
I was born on St. Brigid's Day, named after the Christian Saint who Herself grew out of the Goddess Brigid revered by Celtic peoples. Brigid was a fire goddess, and seen as the patron of healers, poets, craftspeople, and blacksmiths.
She provided the fire of inspiration and transformation of one thing to another, whether metals to tools, sickness to wellness, or inspired ideas to writing and poetry and craft.
She has her roots in earlier fire goddesses whose roles were closer to the Great Goddess Danu, the Whole Feminine, the spark or flame at the center of the community, the home, or within us.
Brigid was celebrated at Imbolc, the early February celebration of the spark of fire, of Light, in the midst of Winter. She reminded people that the returning light and life of Spring was already taking root and growing beneath the soil, even in the middle of the darkest season. She reminded that the flame of illumination and light is found at the center of darkness -- the very depths.
Given that I was born on Brigid's Day, and that there is no small alignment between what she symbolized to people in those times (and perhaps to some still), you'd think I might resonate with the Great Feminine by that name and face.
And yet it's to Sophia that I'm called, and return to, again and again. Whether in the power or vibration of the name itself, or because some deep, ancestral, ancient part of me aligns deeply, I am strongly and instantly connected to a power beyond myself, or at least beyond my smaller self.
The connection with Sophia goes beyond any intellectual description of Her, who she was to ancient peoples or in ancient, long-standing traditions, though that's all very interesting. It's always good to know the tradition, while realizing that to get to the core of it we have to sift through layer upon layer of misrepresentation and ultimately allow it to carry us within, and through our inner connection, to the deep wellspring of Feminine Wisdom.
And that's what the name, or word, Sophia means, stemming from the Greek: Wisdom. Feminine Wisdom. The tradition itself finds its roots in earlier times, with earlier peoples, and She is referenced in 'the Wisdom texts' of the bible, and in other traditions as well, by that name or another.
Yet these are just words that try to capture that which cannot be contained by them. Words allow us to communicate with one another, and name something, yet some things, some great energies, are far beyond words.
As with many things in the Way of the Feminine, we're called beyond words -- though we may use them to describe and connect -- to a deeper knowing, a more embodied experience of that which one name can't possible contain or truly describe. She speaks in a richer, deeper language that was forgotten long ago by most people.
It's difficult for me to find words to describe the connection, the energy, because it is so much a 'full bodied', experiential, energetic one. For me, the connection is powerful, grounding, empowering, and clear, amongst other things. Other people notice the energy as well, though I've not done anything other than connect in some way with Her.
For any of us who are called, and do find our way back to that garden from the cold, dry, linear world of the intellect, it's a tangible, palpable energy, a very real 'conversation', with very real effects.
Though we might find inspiration from all around us, and She is that, too, to truly find Her we must go within, deep within, to the very wellspring within. We must experience Her to know Her, and knowing Her we're transformed and inspired.
Blessings,
Jamie
* Image: Sophia, by the artist Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947)
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