Sophia: Divine Wisdom

Proverbs 9:1 "Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars"

In the Septuagint, the Greek noun sophia is the translation of Hebrew חכמות ḥoḵma "wisdom".

the Great Mother or Goddess archetype resides within the psyche of all human beings. She is symbolized in many forms and called by many names in diverse cultures throughout human history. She is Isis in Egypt, Ishtar in Babylonia, Inanna in Sumer, Astarte in Canaan, and Kuan-Yin in China. In the Judeo-Christian tradition she is called "Sophia."

But where shall Sophia be found?… Man does not know the way… It is hid from the eyes of all living… Job 28: 12, 13, 21

Sophia: Divine Wisdom

‘Sophia was above all chosen and sent to unite herself with Mary and to strengthen her, so that she would be able to become the mother of the incarnating Logos. She incarnated into Mary; Mary is the incarnated Sophia.’ JAKOB BOEHME (1575-1624)

The Lady Wisdom: The Feminine Sophia Principle…

“God’s Wisdom was sometimes personified as the female figure Sophia (Greek for wisdom). Sophia’s visible body was the night cloak of stars. This idea came through the Hebrew books of Psalms, Proverbs, and other, more mystical sources where “Lady Wisdom” had adventures in the cosmos of which she was cocreator. Lady Wisdom came as the world-stranger, negated, despised, or simply unseen by the blind folly of humans, but to those who truly recognized the value of her services, virgin or whore, her price was far above rubies. Giving herself freely to all who sought her and were worthy of her, Lady Wisdom remained ever pure, virgin spirit, wise mother, wife, sister, whore.”

The Invisible History of the Rosicrucians: The World's Most Mysterious Secret Society Tobias Churton .

Aurora Consurgens (a 15th-century alchemical treatise attributed to Thomas Aquinas or “Pseudo-Aquinas”) presents a stunning monologue of Lady Wisdom identified with the materia prima. She proclaims:

“I am the flower of the field and the lily of the valleys, I am the mother of fair love and of knowledge and of holy hope… As the fruitful vine I have brought forth a pleasant odor… I am the most prudent virgin, coming forth as the dawn, shining exceedingly, elect as the Sun, fair as the Moon… I am exalted as a cedar… and my name is as ointment poured forth…. I am the mediatrix of the elements, making one to agree with another… I am the end and my beloved is the beginning.”

Aurora Consurgens (15th c.), “Wisdom” speaking

Nature-Sophia describes herself as the holy bride of the alchemical wedding – the maternal font of love and knowledge, the lily and rose, the dawn and moon, the mediating soul uniting the elements. Such imagery shows how alchemists revered the natural world not as inert matter but as a living, ensouled feminine presence.

They often called her Natura naturans (Nature naturing/creating), depicting her as a magician and teacher. Paracelsian writers described Nature as a magissa (sorceress) who performs God’s work in the sublunary world, imprinting all things with divine signatures for those with eyes to see . The concept of Anima Mundi, the world-soul, likewise cast Nature as a universal spirit suffused through matter – a hidden Venus or Sophia whose “invisible light” animates all forms . In sum, the alchemists honored Nature as a Mother and Wisdom figure: nurturing, mysterious, and worthy of devotion. They sought union with this Anima Mundi or Sophia, believing that in cooperating with the feminine soul of the world, they could heal the split between Man and Nature and perfect both.

Hagia Sophia - Holy Wisdom

The Sophia of Wisdom

The Wisdom of Sophia

The Woman Wisdom

“When I was young, before I was led astray, I sought wisdom through prayer. I lifted my hands up to heaven and my soul was illuminated through wisdom.” - Sirach

“Therefore, I asked for wisdome and it was given to me; I called and the Spirit of Wisdom came to me.” - Solomon

Sophia - Wisdom

Shekinah - indwelling presence

The Spirit fo God -rurach elohim

After Kether — Chokmah(Wisdom)

The entire Art of Alchemy is about Sophia Alchymya - the feminine patron spirit of alchemy

Chymical Wedding The union of the soul of the alchemist with the spirit of god The union of Sophia and Christ

Sophia is the fallen wisdom that must ascend from below - Christ is the descending redeemer bringing light to Darkness

The Bride of Christ

“She is the Breath and Power of God and an exact mirror of his goodness. (Wisdom 7:25)

Aurora Consurgens (Rising Dawn)

King Solomon and Wisdom

she “discloses her innermost secrets only to them who love her.”(Scholem 1949)

The Woman Wisdom is the Word of God

The HGA

The Holy Spirit

the book of Baruch states she is the Torah itself (4:1)

The Wisdom of Solomon - “She passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God and prophets. (Wisdom 7:27)

The muse of the Philosophers

Virgin Sophia - From Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians

Christine Eike Virgin Sophia: Origins of the Rosicrucian Diagram in Jacob Boehme - Rosicrucian Tradition Website

Liberating Fallen Sophia from the Realm of Materiality

Nature Conquers Nature: Liberating the Spirit from Nature’s Forms

"Nature rejoices in nature, nature conquers nature, nature rules over nature"

This Sophia figure represents the "hidden wisdom of nature" that directs the alchemical process, even when the work appears to go "contra naturam" (against nature) by challenging ingrained habits or conventional understanding. Alchemists believed their opus assisted in liberating the spirit concealed within nature's forms.

This pervasive identification of Nature with Sophia and the Alchemical Queen represents a profound re-sacralization of the material world, elevating matter to a sacred status and portraying it as the realm where the divine feminine is "imprisoned" and requires "rescuing" through the alchemist's work.

For Kabbalists within the alchemical tradition, Sophia was recognized as the Shekinah, the Bride of God, embodying the divine ground of the phenomenal world. This Divine Wisdom, however, was understood to transcend conventional notions of "nature," connecting humanity to a vast, intricate web of planetary and cosmic life, a dimension that modern science is only beginning to explore through concepts like dark matter and the invisible universe.

The feminine archetype has historically been linked to the earth, nature, and the soul—not merely in a personal sense, but as the unseen dimension of reality and the great connecting web of all life. This cosmic matrix was personified across various traditions, from the ancient Great Mother and goddesses like Isis to the Divine Wisdom and Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, and the Cosmic or World Soul in Platonic and Neoplatonic philosophy. During centuries of European culture that suppressed the Feminine, alchemy served as a clandestine vessel for preserving and honoring this disowned divine aspect.

Alchemists reported visions of a cosmic woman, recognizing her as a living force and divine presence that poured out love and illumination upon humanity. Dr. Marie-Louise von Franz noted that alchemy implicitly tasks humanity with rescuing this hidden, feminine aspect of God from its "imprisonment in matter" through their "opus," thereby reuniting her with the manifest, masculine deity.

Wisdom, in memorable alchemical words, directly addresses the alchemists: "Understand ye sons of Wisdom, Protect me, and I will protect thee; give me my due that I may help thee". This message underscores the alchemist's collaborative role and the profound relevance of protecting and serving nature in contemporary times. This perspective suggests that the alchemist's work is not merely about chemical transformation but about participating in a cosmic act of redemption—liberating the divine spark from its material entanglement.  

Proverbs 8:22-31

22 "I, wisdom, was with the Lord when he began his work, long before he made anything else. 23 I was created in the very beginning, even before the world began. 24 I was born before there were oceans, or springs overflowing with water, 25 before the hills were there, before the mountains were put in place. 26 God had not made the earth or fields, not even the first dust of the earth. 27 I was there when God put the skies in place, when he stretched the horizon over the oceans, 28 when he made the clouds above and put the deep underground springs in place. 29 I was there when he ordered the sea not to go beyond the borders he had set. I was there when he laid the earth's foundation. 30 I was like a child by his side. I was delighted every day, enjoying his presence all the time, 31 enjoying the whole world, and delighted with all its people.

Chokhmah

The word Chokhmah itself may be broken into two words -- koach ("potential") and ma ("what is"). Thus, Chokhmah means "the potential of what is", or, "the potential to be." This aspect of Chokhmah describes the state of Chokhmah in relation to the sefira of Keter. As Chokhmah emanates from Keter, the first dawning of the "Infinite Light", it "appears" in an obscure and undefined state that is a virtual non-being. Thus the verse states, "and Chokhmah emerges from nothingness" (Job 28:12, see Zohar II, 121a, Zohar III, 290a, commentaries). The light of the Ein Sof becomes unified in the world of Atziluth through clothing itself first in the sefira of Chokhmah. In the soul, Chokhmah is associated with the power of intuitive insight. In the Zohar Chokhmah is the primordial point which shines forth from the will of God and thus, is the starting point of Creation. All things are still undifferentiated at this point and only become intelligible at Binah.

I am the Wisdom of God, the wisdom He used to build the world. I was with Him as He laid the foundations of the universe and placed the stars to light the firmament. I am the Wisdom through which your kings and rulers use to govern their kingdoms. Without me, they are lost and end up driving themselves and their own kingdoms to ruin. You seek me, and at the same time despise me. You prefer Ignorance to me. You love me and hate me at the same time. Who I am? I am Sophia, the Lady Wisdom.

Thomas Merton studied the Russian Sophiologists and praised Sophia in his poem titled "Hagia Sophia" (1963).11 The Roman Catholic Valentin Tomberg in his magnum opus Meditations on the Tarot incorporated many Sophiological insights into his Christian Hermeticism, pairing the Holy Trinity (Father-Son-Holy Spirit) with the Trino-Sophia (Mother-Daughter-Holy Soul), which together he called “The Luminous Holy Trinity”.

Valentin Tomberg’s Our Mother prayer:

Our Mother, Thou who art in the darkness of the underworld,

May the holiness of Thy name shine anew in our remembering,

May the breath of Thy awakening kingdom warm the hearts of all who wander homeless,

May the resurrection of Thy will renew eternal faith even unto the depths of physical substance.

Receive this day the living memory of Thee from human hearts,

Who implore thee to forgive the sin of forgetting Thee,

And are ready to fight against temptation, which has led Thee to existence in darkness,

That through the Deed of the Son,

The immeasurable pain of the Father be stilled,

By the liberation of all beings from the tragedy of Thy withdrawal.

For Thine is the homeland and the boundless wisdom and the ail-merciful grace, for all and everything in the Circle of All. Amen.

Steiner offers a similar verse: Isis-Sophia

Wisdom of God

Lucifer has slain her,

And on wings of cosmic forces

Carried her away into the depths of space.

Christ-Will

Working in us

Shall tear her from Lucifer

And on grounds of spiritual knowledge

Call to new life in human souls

Isis-Sophia

Wisdom of God.

Proverbs personifies Divine Wisdom, which existed before the world was made, revealed God, and acted as God's agent in creation (Prov 8:22–31 cf. 3:19; Wisdom 8:4–6; Sir 1:4,9). Wisdom dwelt with God (Prov 8:22–31; cf. Sir 24:4; Wisdom 9:9–10) and being the exclusive property of God was as such inaccessible to human beings (Job 28:12–13, 20–1, 23–27). It was God who "found" wisdom (Bar 3:29–37) and gave her to Israel: "He hath found out all the way of knowledge, and hath given it unto Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved. Afterward did he shew himself upon earth, and conversed with men." (Bar 3:36–37; Sir 24:1–12). As a female figure (Sir. 1:15; Wis. 7:12), wisdom addressed human beings (Prov. 1:20–33; 8:1–9:6) inviting to her feast those who are not yet wise (Prov. 9:1-6). Wisdom 7:22b-8:1 is a famous passage describing Divine Wisdom, including the passage: "For she is the breath of the power of God, and a pure influence flowing from the glory of the Almighty: therefore can no defiled thing fall into her. For she is the brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of his goodness. And being but one, she can do all things: and remaining in herself, she maketh all things new: and in all ages entering into holy souls, she maketh them friends of God, and prophets." (Wisdom 7:25–27). Solomon, as the archetypal wise person, fell in love with Wisdom: "I loved her, and sought her out from my youth, I desired to make her my spouse, and I was a lover of her beauty." (Wisdom 8:2).2 It is likely some ancient Jews literally believed in the existence of Chokhmah as a second creator,3 and as an angel or angel-like being.

According to the Bahir: "The second (utterance) is wisdom, as is written: 'Y-H-W-H acquired me at the beginning of His way, before His deeds of old' (Prov 8:22). And there is no 'beginning' but wisdom."4 Chokhmah, the second of the ten sefirot, is the first power of conscious intellect within Creation, and the first point of 'real' existence, since Keter represents emptiness. According to the book of Job, "Wisdom comes from nothingness".5 This point is both infinitely small, and yet encompasses the whole of being, but it remains incomprehensible until it is given shape and form in Binah.6

Sophia

“Central and foundational to Martinism and the Traditional Martinist Order is La Voie Cardiaque, The Way of the Heart. Far from being emotional or sentimental, this is one of the most widespread spiritual paths on the planet, embraced by countless spiritualities. And it is effective. The Way of the Heart is part of what some scholars call the Sophia Tradition. Sophia, or Wisdom, has many meanings. One of these is the Gnostic Myth of Sophia, in which she is an Aeon, emanated from the One, who falls from grace and is one of the ways that the material world is created. But that is not the Sophia that we will be dealing with in this study, although there are connections to our Sophia. The Sophia of the Way of the Heart is a feminine image of the Divine. One of her earliest appearances is in Plato’s Protagoras, where Wisdom is one of the four cardinal virtues. Of course, her name is part of the whole field of philosophy, which means love of Wisdom.”

“Judaism has enshrined this concept of the feminine Divine manifestation as Shekhinah, both in Eternity and here below. That is why each Rosicrucian Temple has a Shekhinah at its center, the Divine presence within the Temple. Christianity continued this Wisdom Tradition. Eastern Orthodox, Byzantine and Roman Catholics, and the Reformed Churches (Anglicans and Protestants) all consider Sophia as a feminine manifestation of the Divine. In Orthodoxy, Icons of Holy Sophia have all of the earmarks of the Icons of Christ. Indeed, as in Neoplatonism, especially in Philo, Sophia and the Logos are linked, perhaps even the same. Holy Wisdom is Sophia/Logos incarnate in the Christ. She is seen as Divine.”

• Martinism: The Way of the Heart, Steven Armstrong

Perhaps her most famous appearance is in Proverbs 8:22-36; 9:1-6: Adonai the Lord made me as the beginning of his way, the first of his ancient works. I was appointed before the world, before the start, before the earth’s beginnings. When I was brought forth, there were no ocean depths, no springs brimming with water. I was brought forth before the hills, before the mountains had settled in place; he had not yet made the earth, the fields, or even the earth’s first grains of dust. When he established the heavens, I was there. When he drew the horizon’s circle on the deep, when he set the skies above in place, when the fountains of the deep poured forth, when he prescribed boundaries for the sea, so that its water would not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, I was with him as someone he could trust. For me, every day was pure delight, as I played in his presence all the time, playing everywhere on his earth, and delighting to be with humankind. Therefore, children, listen to me: happy are those who keep my ways. Hear instruction, and grow wise; do not refuse it. How happy the person who listens to me, who watches daily at my gates and waits outside my doors. For he who finds me finds life and obtains the favor of Adonai. But he who misses me harms himself; all who hate me love death. Wisdom has built herself a house; she has carved her seven pillars. She has prepared her food, spiced her wine, and she has set her table. She has sent out her young girls with invitations]: she calls from the heights of the city, “Whoever is unsure of himself, turn in here!” To someone weak-willed she says, “Come and eat my food! Drink the wine I have mixed! Don’t stay unsure of yourself, but live! Walk in the way of understanding!”

The Divine Feminine Goddess Across Cultures

Behold me, Lucius; moved by thy prayers, I appear to thee; I, who am Nature, the parent of all things, the mistress of all the elements, the primordial offspring of time, the supreme among Divinities, the queen of departed spirits, the first of the celestials, and the uniform manifestation of the Gods and Goddesses; who govern by my nod the luminous heights of heaven, the salubrious breezes of the ocean, and the anguished silent realms of the shades below: whose one sole divinity the whole orb of the earth venerates under a manifold form, with different rites, and under a variety of appellations. Hence the Phrygians, that primæval race, call me Pessinuntica, the Mother of the Gods; the Aborigines of Attica, Cecropian Minerva; the Cyprians, in their sea-girt isle, Paphian Venus; the arrow-bearing Cretans, Diana Dictynna; the three-tongued Sicilians, Stygian Proserpine; and the Eleusinians, the ancient Goddess Ceres. Some call me Juno, others Bellona, others Hecate, and others Rhamnusia. But those who are illumined by the earliest rays of that divinity, the Sun, when he rises, the Æthopians, the Arii, and the Egyptians, so skilled in ancient learning, worshipping me with ceremonies quite appropriate, call me by my true name, Queen Isis. Behold, then commiserating your calamities, I am come to thy assistance; favoring and propitious I am come. Away, then, with tears; leave your lamentations; cast off all sorrow. Soon, through my providence, shall the day of deliverance shine upon you. Listen, therefore, attentively to these my instructions.

• Metamorphoses Metamorphoseon (The Golden Ass) Book 11, ch. 47 tr. Bohn’s Library (1866)

Sophia in Gnosticism

In the Gnostic tradition, there are two personifications of Sophia, upper and lower. The lower Sophia is the one who fell from Heaven and into earth. Seduced by the serpent, she is the dark one who lives in the mountain, animating all of creation. She is the vibration that rumbles beneath our feet. For this reason, the alchemists perceived her, and her consort the serpent, as a somewhat complex and symbolic form of primordial spirit – serpens Mercurii, the earth spirit, or anima mundi.

In her higher state, Sophia is the wisdom of God. Sophia, the Greek word for wisdom, is the guide and the goal. Without the grace and wisdom of Sophia, God’s creation is nothing but dead matter. God may have the power to create mountains, but Sophia has the power to give them life. It is difficult to understand the higher and lower aspects of Sophia in purely abstract terms. It is much easier to imagine her by way of metaphor, perhaps as a glacier, overwhelmingly bright in the sun, but also as cool water that melts and descends from the mountain, providing life to all that is below. Jung writes, “The wisdom is the nous that lies hidden and bound in matter, the “serpen mercurialis” or “humidum radicale” that manifests itself in the “viventis aquae fluvius de montis apice” (stream of living water from the summit of the mountain). That is the water of grace, the “permanent” and “divine” water which “now bathes the whole world”. (Jung, 1954/1969, p. 236)

Goddess Sophia

the feminine side of the deity

The voice of the heart

the light and intelligence of nature that guides man through life's processes and initiations.

• “In order for the gate to the heart to open and heal the gap between above and below, the alchemist must symbolically chop off his own head and carry it in his hand. Thereby one cuts off the dualistic vision of the intellect and can move the consciousness to the etheric heart or nous which is the gate between soul and spirit.”
• “The Black Madonna is, in Gnostic tradition, the blackened Sophia who fell from above or descended into matter to form the womb of creation itself. As mater or mother of matter, she has had to experience all the emotions that belong to becoming human. There is nothing that she has not experienced herself and nothing in man that she finds possible to condemn. Her only prayer to man is that we follow our hearts. Because where one's heart is, there is also the treasure.”
• “Through her search for wisdom, Sophia is a goddess who pushes boundaries to explore the unknown lands. Her desire to know the beyond is also what causes her to fall according to Gnostic myth. She leaves the divinely holistic pleroma or fullness to descend into the lower regions. God thus seeks knowledge of himself. The feminine aspect separates from the One and descends to know the absolute opposite of wisdom – ignorance. *When Sophia, in accordance with the Gnostic myth, creates a child without her male partner, she falls like Lucifer and becomes trapped in the prison of matter. She falls because of the imbalance that occurs when she no longer co-creates with her male partner – Christ. In cosmic alchemy, she loses the whole when the opposite pair's union breaks. Christ and Sophia, who are otherwise a universal alchemical wedding couple, thereby lose their unity, but the consequence is also that an aspect of Sophia thus descends into the earth. *You can formulate it as through Sophia's fall, matter is created which limits the goddess and man, but if we humans free the fallen goddess from the earth, she can show us the way back to the fullness and unity of the original pleroma. In alchemy this unity is not created in the world beyond but is a result of matter's completion and coronation as the Philosopher's Stone.”
• “Sophia expressed as the love goddess Venus, Isis, Inanna and the moon goddess, are among the main alchemical goddesses and they all seek a union with their male partner. Once the goddess is reintegrated through the alchemical magnum opus, the wedding of the god and goddess can be celebrated in the macrocosm above and in the microcosm below. The fusion of the bride and groom in the holiest of chambers gives birth to the third – the divine child.”
• “Through the alchemist's work with his great work, both the goddess Sophia can be restored and the man as the alchemist can be crowned by the Red King. We often see it as the Virgin Mary or Mary Magdalene being crowned at the end of the opus in the alchemical works. The motif shows that soul and matter have now reached their absolute perfection and are therefore crowned. The Moon Queen, as well as man himself, who previously only reflected the light of the sun, now shines by his own power. Sun and moon, spirit and matter, deity and man now await their final wedding in order to transcend binary reality.”

Goddess Sophia - Katerina and Tommy

• (The text is taken from: Alchemy of the Heart - The Secret and Revealed Doctrine & Alchemy - The Hermetic Art)

We see the GODDESS OF WISDOM SOPHIA as the feminine side of the deity and she is expressed in different traditions and cultures under different names. She is a mercurially transformative force that unites the opposites of the divine feminine.

Sophia, as the light and intelligence of nature, guides man through life's processes and initiations. In order for the gate to the heart to open and heal the gap between above and below, the alchemist must symbolically chop off his own head and carry it in his hand. Thereby one cuts off the dualistic vision of the intellect and can move the consciousness to the etheric heart or nous which is the gate between soul and spirit.

THE DARK MADONNA

However, we mostly meet Sophia either in her light or dark aspect. As the dark moon goddess, as in the alchemical work Aurora Consurgens, she is standing on the sun of dark matter, bearing in her womb the two poles of the universe, symbolized by the two serpents coiling around a staff. The black goddess carries within her the caduceus of the winged god Hermes, with which the duality and division of both man and creation can be healed.

The black Sophia inspires us all to be alchemists and seek to unite the bright sun above with the dark sun niger of matter and unite the illumination of the full moon with the black moon. Through her gracious blackness, she shows that the dark side of existence is just as important as the light, so that people can experience harmony and balance. She conveys the insight into the role of divine darkness in the cosmic dance between opposites.

Sophia invites us into the dark mysteries through her beauty and her fragrance. In the alchemical, Gnostic and esoteric tradition, as well as in the wisdom books of the Bible, she is referred to as Sophia, which means wisdom. Her revelation is described in the apocryphal Acts of Thomas: "She is radiant with a shimmering beauty. Her clothing is like spring flowers, a fragrance of sweetness wafts from them. The truth rests on her head.”

When we approach the goddess, however, the wonderful meeting with the beautiful Sophia is often followed by an experience of the deepest sorrow which is ultimately a part of the mother god herself. We have then entered the black mourning cloth that covers the light of the goddess. The mother's veil over her radiant revelation prevents man from being consumed by her immense power. The black stream of grief that emanates from her veil conveys the holy water that dissolves the armor around the human heart hardened by suffering and pain.

The Black Madonna is, in Gnostic tradition, the blackened Sophia who fell from above or descended into matter to form the womb of creation itself. As mater or mother of matter, she has had to experience all the emotions that belong to becoming human. There is nothing that she has not experienced herself and nothing in man that she finds possible to condemn. Her only prayer to man is that we follow our hearts. Because where one's heart is, there is also the treasure. The heart is seen here as the higher mind which forms a link between soul and spirit and between man and deity. Sophia's dark water of mourning dissolves the dirt that prevents man from being in touch with the etheric heart or nous, which is the Greek name for the spiritual awareness that conveys direct knowledge of the divine and the innermost nature of created things.

The Black Madonna offers us a divine archetype that embraces the opposites of the sacred feminine. Through her sometimes painful lessons, man can embrace his dark shadow and therefore become whole again. If the queen and goddess are allowed to exist in both their high and low qualities, with their wisdom of things above as well as below, she can retake her place on the throne and the whole eternal masculine so that he can take his place as the king at her side.

THE FALL OF SOPHIA IN THE GNOSTIC MYTH

Through her search for wisdom, Sophia is a goddess who pushes boundaries to explore the unknown lands. Her desire to know the beyond is also what causes her to fall according to Gnostic myth. She leaves the divinely holistic pleroma or fullness to descend into the lower regions. God thus seeks knowledge of himself. The feminine aspect separates from the One and descends to know the absolute opposite of wisdom – ignorance.

When Sophia, in accordance with the Gnostic myth, creates a child without her male partner, she falls like Lucifer and becomes trapped in the prison of matter. She falls because of the imbalance that occurs when she no longer co-creates with her male partner – Christ. In cosmic alchemy, she loses the whole when the opposite pair's union breaks. Christ and Sophia, who are otherwise a universal alchemical wedding couple, thereby lose their unity, but the consequence is also that an aspect of Sophia thus descends into the earth.

You can formulate it as through Sophia's fall, matter is created which limits the goddess and man, but if we humans free the fallen goddess from the earth, she can show us the way back to the fullness and unity of the original pleroma. In alchemy this unity is not created in the world beyond but is a result of matter's completion and coronation as the Philosopher's Stone.

SOPHIA'S CORONATION AND WEDDING

Sophia expressed as the love goddess Venus, Isis, Inanna and the moon goddess, are among the main alchemical goddesses and they all seek a union with their male partner. Once the goddess is reintegrated through the alchemical magnum opus, the wedding of the god and goddess can be celebrated in the macrocosm above and in the microcosm below. The fusion of the bride and groom in the holiest of chambers gives birth to the third – the divine child.

The alchemical wedding

In alchemical literature she is also called Sapientia Dei. With her wisdom and fragrance, she illuminates the alchemist's path when his mind is plagued by doubt, despair and fear. We then meet the beautiful figure of Sophia who shows the way for the alchemist. Aurora Consurgens is another alchemical work, attributed to Thomas Aquinas, which depicts in text and image Sophia's own healing, integration and completion in the encounter with the alchemist and the male Godhead. Wisdom

• ALL GOOD THINGS came to me with her, this wisdom of the south who preaches abroad, who utters her voice in the streets, shouts over the heads of the multitude, and in the gates of the city utters her words, saying: Come to me and be enlightened, and your operations will come not to be confused; all who long for me shall be filled with my riches. Come children, listen to me; I will teach you the science of God.
• Ur Rising Dawn

SOLOMON'S LOVE OF WISDOM

• She fell in love with me; I chose her in my youth and strove to make her my bride. I was seized with lust for her beauty. She shines with her high origin, for she lives with God, and the ruler of the universe loves her. *After all, she is initiated into the knowledge of God and takes part in his work. If wealth is something to strive for in life, then what is more valuable than the wisdom that brings it all together? If wisdom can accomplish anything, who in the world is a greater artist than she? And if anyone loves righteousness, it is through her labors that the virtues come: she teaches moderation and prudence, uprightness and courage—the best that a man can possess in life. And should anyone long for learning, she knows the past and can foresee the future. She understands the language of thought and can solve riddles, signs and wonders she knows in advance, and she knows how times and stages will end. *So I decided to bring her home and live with her, because this I knew: With her advice she will give me success, she will encourage me in worries and sorrow. Thanks to her I gain honor among men, even as a young man I am honored in the circle of the old. I will show shrewdness as a judge and be admired by the powerful. They shall wait when I am silent and listen when I speak, and if I speak at length they shall be respectfully silent. Thanks to her I get immortality, I leave an indelible memory for future generations.
• From the Wisdom of Solomon

When man meets the primal mother, stripped of her dark veils which she wears to protect us from being burned by her fiery waters, she reveals herself as the divine wisdom, the feminine side of the godhead – the red Sophia or Isis as the morning star who guides us with love back to divine unity. Her red elixir brings wisdom and permeates our being like a positive radioactive radiation which in turn radiates from the person so that everyone around is affected by this outflow.

Through the alchemist's work with his great work, both the goddess Sophia can be restored and the man as the alchemist can be crowned by the Red King. We often see it as the Virgin Mary or Mary Magdalene being crowned at the end of the opus in the alchemical works. The motif shows that soul and matter have now reached their absolute perfection and are therefore crowned. The Moon Queen, as well as man himself, who previously only reflected the light of the sun, now shines by his own power. Sun and moon, spirit and matter, deity and man now await their final wedding in order to transcend binary reality.

Today we can once again feel the beautiful scent of the goddess of wisdom. If we penetrate the blackness, the red Sophia emerges as the female Redeemer that she is and shakes the dualistic perspective to its core. People testify that the Black Madonna is here with her fire to pierce our hearts and our whole souls. For it is the goddess of wisdom in union with her deity that sets our heart on fire.

Sophia! You with the whirling wings, Circling and all-encompassing God energy. You give life to the world through your embrace. A wing swings in the sky, A wing sweeps over the earth, And the third flies in the midst of us. Hail Sophia! Let the whole earth pay homage to Sophia.

• Hildegard of Bingen

At the Sophia Temple, we work with all of Sophia's facets as they are expressed and conveyed through different cultures and traditions. Our temple's great guiding shoes are Sophia incarnated as Isis, Mary the Prophet and Mary Magdalene.