Resources On The Divine Feminine In Christianity

“In the beginning, people prayed to the Creatress of Life, the Mistress of Heaven. At the very dawn of religion, God was a woman. Do you remember“

- When God was a Woman by Merlin Stone

Resources on the Divine Feminine in Christianity

These resources provide biblical and historical evidence for the divine feminine in Christianity. I will update as I come across more.

Articles

Who is Sophia in the Bible?

The Feminine Imagery of God in the Hebrew Bible

Lady Wisdom - A Divine Feminine Entity

El Shaddai: The God With Breasts

El Shaddai and the Gender of God

Is God A Man?

Is God Both Male and Female?

Female Images of God

Lady Wisdom and the Gender Diverse Community of God

Gender Fluid Jesus is For Real

Jesus’s Vagina: A Medieval Meditation

The Enduring Symbolism of Doves

“Biblical Proofs” for the Feminine Face of God in Scripture

Masterpost: List of academic studies regarding the divine feminine in Christian texts and tradition

Blogs/Communities

Deidre Havrelock

Mother God Experiment

Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox

Sophiawakens

Sophia Inclusive Catholic Community

Ecosophian (Christopagan)

Books

Is It Okay to Call God “Mother”? Considering the Feminine Face of God by Paul R Smith

She who is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse by Elizabeth A. Johnson

Womanist Midrash by Wilda C. Gafney

Not Only a Father by Tim Bulkeley

In Memory of Her by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza

God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality by Phyllis Trible

The Divine Feminine by Virginia Ramey Mollenkott

Women and the Word by Sandra M. Schneiders

In Search of the Christ-Sophia: An Inclusive Christology for Liberating Christians by Jann Aldredge-Clanton

The Mother of the Lord by Margaret Barker

Our Mother – the Holy Spirit by Marianne Widmalm

Sophia-Maria: A Holistic Vision of Creation By Thomas Schipflinger

She Lives! Sophia Wisdom Works in the World by Jann Aldredge-Clanton

Sophia: Goddess of Wisdom by Caitlin Matthews (Christopagan)

The Woman’s Bible (feminist bible commentary)

Gender and the Nicene Creed by Elizabeth Geitz

God and the Goddesses by Barbara Newman

Wisdom’s Feast: Sophia in Study and Celebration by Susan Cole

Jesus as Mother by Caroline Bynum

Saints/Mystics

Julian of Norwich

Teresa of Avila

Jane Leave

Hildegard of Bingen

Thomas Merton

Jacob Boehme

Hadewijch

Authors

Elizabeth Johnson Jann Aldredge-Clanton Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza Matthew Fox Richard Rohr Joyce Rupp

More Resource Lists

Christian Feminism Today

Relevant Tags of Mine

Keep reading

okay but the female tummy is the center of the universe and the origin of all life as well as incredibly extremely beautiful. i am just saying. so if you see soft lady tummy and go 'eww' there is undeniably something unwell within you, like something in your brain is busted. i make the rules! sorry!

& you know what it actually IS lifechanging to smile at strangers & say please & thank you & goodmorning & compliment someones outfit & help someone in need & be more accepting of loving other people just because they are other people!!!

The Celestial Mother and the Holy Daughter are One Divine Person.

https://deanic.com/2018/03/15/the-celestial-mother-and-the-holy-daughter-are-one-divine-person/

Dear devotees and friends,

Over the years, we have spoken about the difference between Déa as being a Trinity/Tri-unity [1] of One in Three differing Persons/Aspects or a Triplicity in the archaic meaning of “the state of being triple” [2], of One becoming Three Forms and there is an important thealogical difference between the two concepts.

Janites fall somewhere in between Trinitarian and Triplicitarian concepts. Triplicity also means threefold, a term we use when describing the Janae of the Threefold Heaven. We do not consider the modern pagan definition of Triplicity which may imply One in Three Persons.

For Janites, in our praxis, or devotional practice, meaning in our worship, our prayers, our devotion and in our feast days, we are very highly Trinitarian in focus. However, in our fundamental thealogy, we are Triplicitarian due to the teachings that we have privately received from an early source. I refer to these teachings with the acronym of LKM which means lesser-known Madrian teachings. These teachings do not come from Lux Madriana. It is from the LKM that we learned that Dea is one with Three Forms rather than being a Trinity of differing Persons/Aspects.

Janites interpret this thealogical teaching in the following manner:

Mother of the world by Nicholas Roerich, 1924

Déa is Absolute Deity, whom both Janites and Luciennes refer to as Déa Matrona or the Great Mother God. She Who is Life. This is Déa’s Veiled Form. In Christianity, it is God the Father Who is considered to be Absolute Deity and Ground of All Being. In Gnostic Christianity, it is the Monos Who is rightly Absolute Deity. In Janite thealogy, this Monos is rendered in its original, feminine form of Monas, for the Great Mother.

Icon of the Mother of God Shroud by Valentina Murenkova, 2013

From Her Veiled Form as Monas or Absolute Deity, She manifests as Our Celestial Mother, Déa Madria or Mother God. She Who is Light. This is Déa’s Transcendent (Heavenly) Form.

Divine Sophia of Liturgy

From Her Transcendent Form, She takes on the rarefied Form of Soul, which, in Janite thealogy diffuses Celestial Mother’s Light into a more gentle brightness. This Soul Form is Her Heavenly-Earthly Daughter Form. Déa Filia or Daughter God. She Who is Love. This is Déa’s Immanent Form. (Definition of immanent: (of God) permanently pervading and sustaining the universe.) [2]

Where time is an illusion, an illusion which helps life to function on our plane of existence, and where the illusion of time does not exist on the plane of the Eternal Now, it is possible for Dea to be all Three Forms simultaneously. But because this is too difficult for our finite minds to fully grasp, Janites relate to Her, in praxis/devotions, as if She is a Trinity of Three differing Persons/Aspects though we know that She is not.

As an example of Her Oneness, there have been times when the Blessed Mother, as She is known in the Catholic Church, She Who is the suppressed and hidden True Mother God of the West (more to come on that subject in the future) has appeared to visionaries in Her Daughter Form. As we know, She also appears in Her Mother Form and yet, though She has appeared as both the Mother and the Daughter, She is One and the same Divine Person.

It is for this reason that we do not and cannot believe in the literal Death of the Holy Daughter because this would be impossible. If the Holy Daughter is the Celestial Mother in Her Immanent Form, then She cannot separate Herself from Herself and She cannot literally die because She is God. The Spirit of God cannot die, even for the tiniest fraction of a millisecond. If God was to die, for even the tiniest fraction of a millisecond, all of Creation would immediately cease to exist.

It is important to note that within both Filianism and most Greater Déanic Traditions, it is not mandatory that devotees believe in the literal Death of the Daughter, which includes Her Spirit, as long as they recognize the nature and function of the Sacrifice. How that Sacrifice was accomplished is open to interpretation. The Passion and Death of the Daughter in the Scriptures is one possible interpretation. Janites look to another source for our interpretation which does not require a literal death of Déa. This is why, rather than looking to the Mythos of both Inanna and Jesus, as is found in the Passion story of our Scriptures, Janites look to the Mythos of Sophia/Shekinah for our Moura-tide Mystery of Quassare, which means to shatter.

“For, it is the Shekinah that is ascribed by Kabbalists to be the Middle Pillar of Balance that unites the opposites, just as the soul allows for the opposites of body and spirit to unite, so too does the Shekinah play this role for us. Indeed, the Shekinah is the Soul of Man, what Kabbalists call the Neshamah, for She has given a portion of Herself in order for each human to come into being in this world. In giving of Herself to humans, in this state of physical density and isolation, the World Soul becomes shattered. This shattering can be metaphorically grasped in considering what might happen to a glass alembic or flask when too much pressure is put upon in the alchemical works. Thus, the Shekinah represents the ultimate archetype of selfless sacrifice. All Her sacrifices have been for the benefit of creation so that humankind may experience this life in order to fulfill its destiny and purpose.” [3]

Holy Daughter’s Descent through the realms

In this mythos, Sophia/Shekinah, in Her Lower Form, (Daughter Form) takes on the rarefied Form of Soul and suffers through a very painful and excruciating Descent down through the increasingly dense vibrational Realms in order to be Immanent with us and to provide for us the protective souls that we need in order to enter manifest Creation. Like a True Mother, She came to protect and provide for Her children.

In Janite thealogy, this Sacrifice was not like a Divine Father who sends His Son to incarnate in the flesh only to be brutally tortured and killed in order to satisfy the divine Justice of the Father; nor is this about an Heavenly Mother who allows Her only Beloved Daughter to suffer a terrifying Passion and Crucifixion (being hung on the Pillar) in order to save Creation, rather, Our Mother came to us, Herself, in Her Soul or Daughter Form, allowing no-one else to suffer in Her place… such is Her unimaginable Love for us.

Unfortunately, according to the Mythos, the density of our third dimension proved to be too much for Her delicate Soul and so It shattered like a crystal chandelier falling onto a marble slab. And due to this Shattering, each Piece of Her Soul became our soul so that we, through Her Sacrifice, are truly One with Her. We did not receive our own souls, rather, we are clothed with a Portion of Her Own Divine Soul. This is how intimately united we are with Our Heavenly Mother through Her Daughter Form.

We do not accept the Patriarchal Gnostic Christian teaching that She is trapped here and needed a Male Savior, rather we accept the teachings of the Shekina that She stays with us voluntarily. Rather then leave us, Déa, in Her Filia Form, has chosen to remain inherently with us and to sustain all of Nature by becoming the very World Soul, which is the Eastre Mystery of Aurora.

In Janite thealogy, and based on the LKM, we don’t believe that we turned away from Our Mother through selfish desires and therefore needed to be saved from this fault of our sovereign will, rather, we believe that we come here in order to learn that which we cannot learn in the Pleroma, in order to evolve and mature our souls, the souls that Our Mother gave us from Her Own Soul.

So, during this somber and yet most Sacred time of Moura, let us study those scriptural verses which teach us how to guard and care for our souls and let us study them with extra careful attention.

Let us bless the Holy One, Blessed is She.

ArchMadria Candra Sophia

Notes:

[1] https://deanic.com/holy-feminine-trinity/goddess-triads-triplicities-and-trinities-by-john-halstead/ Definitions: Trinity/Tri-unity “refers to one being with three distinguishable “persons” or aspects”. Part 1 Goddess Triads, Triplicities, and Trinities by John Halstead [2] Google definitions. [3] http://www.universalkabbalah.net/Shekinah

Mohja Kahf, “Most Wanted”, Hagar Poems

“The atheist staring from his attic window is often nearer to God than the believer caught up in his own false image of God.” ― Martin Buber

(a) Filianic Rosary

For your inspiration, the current version of the rosary prayers I use - Filianic at heart, heavily based on the Catholic ones, quite obviously, with minor adjustments, which happens to work for my practice. In many cases, the wording remained intact due to private philosophical understanding. I hope this example proves useful for those seeking to include this beautiful practice.

In the name of the Source, and the Mother, and the Rose Child. Amen.

Our Mother, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Love is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us now and in the hour of our death. Amen.

As a rule, I finish with a Hail Holy Queen intact:

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To you do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears Turn then, most gracious advocate, your eyes of mercy toward us, and after this exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

Come to the Mother as you are, and She shall guide you in Her ways🥀

“When Teresa of Avila was asked what she did in prayer, she replied, ‘I just allow myself to be loved.’”

— Anthony de Mello, Sadhana, a Way to God (via ophiraa)