Circle
of Sophia
Dallas, Texas, U.S.A.
Authorized by The
Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn
I am the hearing that is attainable to everything;
I am the speech that cannot be grasped.
I am the name of the sound
And the sound of the name.
I am the sign of the letter
And the designation of the division.
And I will speak his name” (The Thunder, Perfect Mind, 597-599).
Sophia (Greek), is Divine Wisdom. She symbolically represents the way to Knowledge and Union with God. Sophia appears in early Christian and Gnostic texts known as Wisdom Tradition literature. The largest body of this literature was written in Late Antiquity, in Syria and Alexandria, Egypt (Hellenistic Greek culture).
Sophia's descriptions, roles and gifts are an outline of the stages, and processes involved in obtaining spiritual consciousness and Union with God. From the literature of the Wisdom texts, one can conclude that Sophia is a feminine aspect of the sephira Chokmah on the Tree of Life. Chokmah automatically leads by reciprocal activity to the sephira of Binah, and then to Kether. Sophia is pivotal to crossing the abyss associated with the pseudo-sephiroth of Da’ath (Intuitive Knowledge), as she is often called an “Initiate in the Knowledge of God” (WS 8:3-4). Because of her position on the Tree of Life, she shares much in common with the Judaic Shekhinah. The Shekhinah is the feminine aspect of God who often appears to mankind. Sophia's energies and descriptions are also very similar to the Christian Virgin Mary.