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Next month we begin to explore how the Wisdom of Sophia is articulated within the human body. We welcome thoughts, questions, or comments, especially those you would like to share with other newsletter participants.
Please scroll down to view Marie's vision of the feminine divine in art and sculpture. How are you manifesting Sophia in the world? Let us know so that others can be inspired to use their unique talents and abilities to unfold AnthropoSophia in the world.
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Sixth Seal
Earthly and Cosmic Nutrition Streams
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| Outer, Inner and Secret Teachings The Apocalypse of Sophia The Mysteries of Revelation and Apocalypse The Revelation of St. John the Divine Ancient Mystery School Initiation The Mysteries of Sophia Esoteric Anatomy and Physiology Endocrine Gland System A Spiritual View of the Glands Earthly and Cosmic Nutrition Streams Foods of the Gods The Etherization of the Blood The Tongues of Flame Sophia and the Etherization of the Blood The Eucharist as Spiritual Nutrition Vajrayogini's Tantric Wisdom Plasma Generators in the Human Body Three Toroidal Fields of Force Brain Waves and the Threefold Human
The Three Worlds
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Lecture Five
Ancient Mystery School Initiation
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"
Be you therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves, for there is
nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; nor hid, that shall not be known."
The Gospel of Matthew
10:16
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When discussing the process of self-initiation, it is enlightening to first explore the initiation practices throughout history of the ancient Mystery Schools. Behind many ancient religions, mythologies, philosophies, sciences, legends, or any wisdom intentionally kept secret from the uninitiated lies a Mystery School, or university of the soul. Revered by all, these "schools" or "mysteries" were the source of spiritual life in the ancient world. Their existence reaches far back into remote antiquity, preserving the timeless Theosophia or divine wisdom of the ages while stimulating mankind's spiritual intuitions and evolutionary progress on Earth.
At one of these universities of the soul, one could study the mysteries of man's inner nature and the surrounding natural world. Here was taught a science of the spirit. By understanding mysteries, the student was able to perceive his own intimate relationship with the divine. Then, through continual self-discipline and devotion, he could strive to become "at one" with his inner god or goddess.
The priest-philosophers of the mystery schools carefully cultivated all that is good, noble, and grand in human nature, every divine faculty and aspiration. Their code of ethics, based on altruism, has since become universal. In all cities of the ancient world, one could find a temple for public worship and offering. In every community, philosophers and mystics spent their lives deeply versed in nature's wisdom.
Joining with like mind and purpose, these individuals formed secret philosophic and religious schools. The most important were known simply as the mysteries. Many of the great minds of antiquity underwent initiation into these secret schools through strange and mysterious rites. After being admitted, the initiates were instructed in the secret wisdom which had been preserved for ages. We have historical record of one initiate, Plato, who was severely criticized because he publicly revealed many of the secret philosophic principles of the mysteries.
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In the ancient world, nearly all secret societies were philosophic and religious. During the medieval centuries, they became less philosophic and took on chiefly both a religious and political focus. Today, secret societies in the West are largely political or fraternal, although a few of them, such as Freemasonry, still preserve the ancient philosophic principles.
Over time, many cults dissolved without revealing their secrets, but a few survived, their mysterious symbols preserved but little understood. Freemasonry, for example, still has remnants of the ancient ritualism. Modern rituals are based on the fundamental practice of subjecting candidates to trials before entrusting to them the keys of wisdom. Often, this entailed a ritualized death and the resurrection of the master. In fact, this message of eternal life is the key to masonic secrets.
Few modern thinkers realize the extent to which the ancient mystery schools influenced cultural and religious history. The advancements made in philosophy, science, and art among the ancients, for example, are the result of mystery schools' curricula in teaching the truths of religion, morality, and virtue. Their objective was to encounter the divine and find eternal life. The ancient initiates believed that without a fundamental knowledge of the laws of nature, no one could live intelligently. The mysteries were, therefore, devoted to instructing aspirants about the workings of divine law in the earthly sphere.
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By attending a mystery school, one learned to:
~ Use his faculties more intelligently
~ Be patient in the face of adversity
~ Be courageous when confronted by danger
~ Be true in the midst of temptation.
Most of all, one was trained to view his body as a sacred altar and his own pious life as the most acceptable sacrifice to the divine.
There were only a few mature minds in the ancient world. That's why the philosophic-religious doctrines were divided to meet the needs of two fundamental groups of human intellect:
~ Those who were truly philosophic
~ Those who were incapable of appreciating the deeper mysteries of life.
Only the discerning few in the first category had access to esoteric or spiritual teachings. The unqualified from the second category received a literal, or exoteric, interpretation. For example, in ancient mythologies, the vital forces of the universe were explained as gods and goddesses, to make simple the great truths of nature.
Along these lines, there were Lesser and Greater Mysteries in the ancient schools.
In the Greater Mysteries, the passage into the underworld was not a mere ritual of the Lesser Mysteries in which the candidate participates. He must now approach a type of death with full knowledge. In the garment of soul-consciousness, he must pass beyond the veil of visible nature into invisible worlds. Then came the mystic death, in which the body and lower principles were "put to sleep," and the soul temporarily freed. Passing into other spheres, the freed inner self was guided by the initiators while it learned its nature.
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| The Tablet of Isis or Isiac Table |
Thomas Taylor, the classical scholar of the mysteries, tells us that Plato was initiated into the Greater Mysteries at the age of forty-nine. The initiation took place in one of the subterranean halls of the Great Pyramid in Egypt. The Isiac Table formed the altar, before which Plato stood and received that which was always his, but which the ceremony of the Mysteries enkindled from its dormant state.
With this ascent, after three days in the Great Hall, he was received by the hierophant of the pyramid and given the highest esoteric teachings, each with its appropriate symbol. After a further three-month sojourn in the halls of the pyramid, the initiate Plato was sent out into the world to do the work of the Great Order, as Pythagoras and Orpheus had done before him.
The Egyptian priests believed that a great spiritual power was invoked by correct and unabridged sacrificial ceremonies. They learned a system of symbolism for exhibiting their mysteries, and placed these in the Isiac Table before the eyes of those admitted to the sanctum sanctorum to teach the nature of the divine and the prescribed forms of sacrifice. Since each of the orders of gods and goddesses had its own peculiar symbols, gestures, costumes, and ornaments, they thought it necessary to observe these in the whole apparatus of worship, as nothing was more efficacious in drawing the communion of the deities......
Click here to read remaining Lecture Five.
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Discussion Questions for this Lecture
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1. What types of rites, rituals and tools have you used to commune with the divine? Which of these has worked the best for you?
2. Is your goal in using rites, rituals and tools to tap into knowledge of the future - or another purpose?
3. What do you think we can learn from the ancient mystery wisdom schools?
4. Have you used a specific tool from the ancient rites, such as a chalice, mirror or other item to access your higher self?
5. Why does one need the Wisdom of Sophia to access the cosmic Wisdom of Christ?
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Lecture Six
The Mystery of Sophia
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Thank you, Marie from Colorado, for sharing images of your inspiring sculpture and painting of the divine feminine with readers. Marie has created unique images of goddesses that redefine how Sophia can be experienced in modern times. Her art can be viewed at
Marie David Art
In lieu of posting the entire Lecture Six with our readers, we felt that these images as well as the selection below, brought forth the imagery of the Mystery of Sophia.
We welcome reader feedback on how Sophia is impacting your life. We are especially appreciative of readers who are willing to share these images, art, stories, writings, poetry, and questions with our global community of Sisters of Sophia.
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A mystery of unity and integrity runs through the visible and invisible worlds. Rich with fertility and fruitfulness, acting as the Mother of all, this great mystery is known as
Wisdom
or
Sophia
. As a spiritual being, Her inexhaustible sweetness and purity is the very fountain of love and joy. With grace and humility, She generates a silent gentleness from the unseen root of all creation that flows tenderly between all things. She, Sophia, is my own being, my own nature of thought and breath, my sister spirit who speaks to me. Her voice awakens me from my slumber. With her whispers, I am born anew from Her deep womb.
Her soft voice rouses me from dreams. The unity of the spiritual world calls me from the separate self, which is so alone and isolated in the gravity and suffering of this Earth, this grave. Her voice breaks the spell of Eden. I am suddenly cast out seeking Her face everywhere as my beloved. The kiss of Eve transforms into the blessing of Sophia. The wisdom of the ages has progressed from Time's dawn into the future destiny of paradise regained. Sophia speaks to all who will listen. The small. The innocent. The humble. Into Her loving arms each night we entrust our very life, and each new day She awakens us with spirit refreshed. Sophia takes our hand and leads us across the threshold between waking and sleep. Then, She returns us to the dawn mist of a new day where acts of creation are present everywhere around us as a reminder of Her workings. Sophia is so close. She seems like our own flesh and blood, our divine breath. Her mercy receives us as Her child, precious beyond imagination. As Nature, like the greatest of trees, She incarnates to stand over us as a canopy of shelter for the budding self. Oh Sophia, Great Goddess of Wisdom, you speak through everything, yet are so silent in the waking world. When I wake, your visage becomes blurred. You wither into a dream where I weigh myself against the world. Difficult it is to hear the subtle whisper of mercy and grace unless our senses have been awakened in dreams to break through matter's delusions. When we abandon ourselves to sweet sleep in the arms of Sophia, She will awaken us to Her wonders. Her tenderness will draw forth the love of all others, and moral heart-flames will bathe the soul. Then, even in daylight, we will see the pure simplicity that all is One consciousness, a single ongoing force spreading throughout the world as Wisdom that embraces everything as offspring of a loving Mother. The heavenly world rejoices at the awakening of a soul that receives the light of spirit into the clear silence of the heart. It calls us to adorn ourselves with the eternal. Sophia speaks to us among the myriad distractions of the world as One voice. We must hear her. Light has fallen to the earth. Her children return this light to heaven by deeds of moral love: light from light, love from love. Sophia tends Her children like a garden, always attentive and protective of new growth that blossoms into fruit. The kindest, most loving gardener imaginable, She reveals the glory and power of Her children to grow unshakably towards the light. At the same time, She also is the fertile darkness of the soil from which life springs eternal, an unknown mystery that sprouts seeds into magnificent forms. |
In time, She brings forth creation, death, and rebirth in the natural world. This miracle alone demands awe, wonder, and reverence. Such a great Queen. Her Throne is the fulcrum of creation where all things find their center, their true orientation.
Only the humblest heart can be open and empty enough to receive Her presence, the sustaining pulse of all created worlds. Hidden and protected from the profane, She is naked and transparent to the humble one - for his self, through Her, stands visible and tangible. The admixture of Sophia's wisdom and the developing spiritual self are intertwined into One tree with leaves of devotion reaching for the light of Christ.
Sophia is the gardener who tends the seeds that will blossom into a promise of our higher self - the one that Christ gave us. More tender and precious is this fruit of the spirit to Sophia than any other. Humans were created from nothingness in the timeless realm of Wisdom. Therefore, we are the aim of all creation. Through conscious self-development, we can realize that fully.
With Sophia's help, the human bodily constitution becomes the altar and laboratory of conscious spiritual development. Each time we experience Wisdom's message through Sophia, we discover revelation in ourselves.
Sophia plays with Her children in the world through seen and unseen manners. She calls forth Her qualities:
~ Wisdom
~ Consciousness
~ Revelation
~ Humility
~ Meekness
~ Kindness
~ Purity
~ Mercy
~ Tenderness
~ Light
~ Life
~ Eternal love
In this way, She teaches us how to mirror the spirit. With Her guiding wisdom, we reflect the spontaneous participation of the human and divine in a wedding feast of soul to spirit.
Sophia exists in everything, just as air receives sunlight, delivering life to all in need. As a grail-offering of spiritual love, She unites all things. Knowing Her is to know communion of the spirit, to celebrate a thanksgiving of vitality, forever glorious. She, too, is filled with gratitude that all wise creatures praise Her name.
We are all invited to this spiritual wedding of Sophia to Christ. It is our own wedding. This feast is the undying source of creative Imaginations. It leads to radiant splendor and nourishing life in the etheric body of the human and the Earth. The marriage is a heavenly gift of light, life, and love that replenishes dying etheric bodies. As death is conquered, Nature is renewed through this alchemical marriage of the Queen to the King, our soul to our spirit - and immortality is born. As a source of mercy and grace, this is given to the striving aspirant to feed his spiritual hunger and thirst.
Sophia helps us cleanse our soul to be ready for this alchemical feast wherein we are also taught to forgive, a truly divine quality. Love and forgiveness become the well-spring of the fountain of mercy and grace. This Fountain of Life can overturn darkness into light, gravity into levity. When divine fountains begin to spring forth in our soul, we become co-creators with Sophia, transforming our former self into a brilliant radiance that sheds the weight of praise and blame, along with all earthly desires.
Mary-Sophia is the one created being who perfectly embodies the hidden Sophia in her soul. She is a personal manifestation of Sophia. In her nature alights the purest mother, the origin of a divine birth.
As Wisdom, Mary-Sophia has become perfect purity, prudence, love, power, and divine wisdom through mercy. She is sadness and joy redeemed through spiritual consciousness. It is she that places the crown upon Christ's head, enabling the gifts of the Cosmic Word to enter human nature. Through her embodiment of wisdom, freedom and love, Mary-Sophia anoints Christ with the glorious crown of suffering, humility, and kindness. This is the mysterious conjunction of the human with the divine, and the enduring model for all human spiritual development.
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