I just received and have begun reading Llewelyn Vaughan-Lee's new book, The Return of the Feminine and the World Soul - a collection of his talks and writings on the Divine Feminine. In it he writes:
"In a culture that is so steeped in masculine values as ours is, articulating these long-forgotten themes only once may not be enough. There is a need to emphasize her again and again until her qualities once again become part of our relationship to life. The more we are reminded of her, the better she will find a foothold again in our individual consciousness and in our collective culture." (p. xxii)
He also reminds us that Sophia "is a way of relating to life and to oneself and to the divine."
My own journey of remembering Sophia, the Divine Feminine, which has had more than a few messy, uncertain, awkward, and occasionally frightening moments. I've found it true that the more I immerse myself in Her through reading, prayer, meditation, conversation, writing, invocation, and sensing, the more I find myself getting a sense of Her.
This energy and consciousness that we call Sophia, or the Goddess, or Great Mother, or Divine Feminine, has a different way of working in us than the more linear, rational, 'clock and calendar time' to which most of us have been oriented and acclimated.
For me, and perhaps for you, this different way of being, visioning, and accessing guidance and wisdom, and acting from it has been a challenge and a deep practice. Given that we embody the memory of centuries of rather brutal 're-education' that has taken us away from our inherent knowing, sensing, and trusting of the Feminine, of Sophia, it's understandable that remembering takes practice and a willingness to not know, to be awkward.
Unlike the linear, rational, scientific, measurable, mental or intellectual processes, Sophia is circular, relational, sensual, intuitive; Her ways are as much watery fluidity and Mystery as they are a recognizable language and guidance system once we get familiar with them again.
Hers are the ways of the intuitive, of connection with all things -- and all things speaking with and to us to provide guidance and clues along the path. They're ways of sensing, of embodying, of receptivity, of conscious use of the imagination and inner/energetic landscape, and of 'letting go to know'. They're experiential and spontaneous, rather than pulled from the tool-and-trick box of the mind's storage house of 'how it's been done' and 'how you should do it'.
Sophia's 'plan' is devoted service to Life and your soul's song, of going within, of receiving guidance on the next step, and of watching what arises around us in the way of clues and signs and synchronicities that lead us forward. Hers is the way of thought and action inspired and guided by the wisdom of the Heart and womb, and the wisdom of life itself.
I don't know about you, but that's pretty different from the analytical, 'think and then do', plan it and will it way that I excelled at!
Yet the adventure of remembering Sophia is crucial, because in remembering her we literal re-member our own wholeness and access the inspiration and guidance necessary for healing and resolving the challenges of our times.
As Vaughan-Lee writes, when we choose to remember, "...we can begin to reclaim the world, not with masculine plans, but with the wisdom of the feminine, the wisdom that belongs to life itself...A world that is not connected to its soul cannot heal. Without the participation of the divine feminine nothing new can be born.
This is as true for our organizations and businesses as it is for each of us individually. It's an experiment, and a homecoming to wholeness. Remember Sophia -- embody Her, express Her, and bring Her wisdom, guidance, and healing ways into all that you do.
Blessings on the Sophia Way,
Jamie
Comments