Shekinah: The Voice of Wisdom

"She says that she is with her beloved from the beginning, before the foundation of the world, speaking from the deep ground of life as the hidden law that orders it, the craftswoman of creation. She is the intelligence within nature, the animating energy of the cosmos; rooted in tree, vine, earth, and water and active in the habitations of humanity. She is the principle of justice that inspires all human laws. She is the invisible spirit guiding human consciousness; a hidden presence longing to be known, calling out to the world for recognition and response. To those like Solomon, who prized her more highly than rubies, she becomes their wise and luminous guide."

The Divine Feminine
Exploring the Feminine Face of God throughout the World
Godsfield Press UK and Conari Press USA 1996
Anne Baring and Andrew Harvey

There were different schools of Kabbalah. Some saw the Shekinah as separated from the godhead, in voluntary exile on earth, describing her as a daughter cut off from her mother, and as a widow, until she is able to return to the divine ground, having gathered to herself all the elements or sparks of her light that had been scattered throughout creation during the process of emanation. The blackness of the Shekinah's robe, inherited perhaps from the black robe or veil of Isis (who was also called "The Widow" during her search for Osiris), is the darkness of the mystery that hides the hidden glory of her Light.

Another strand in this tapestry of the Divine Feminine in the Hebrew tradition are the Wisdom Books of the Old Testament (of which the greater part were mysteriously lost), written down from the fourth to the first centuries B.C., after the end of the Captivity in Babylon. The Shekinah comes to life in the passages where Wisdom (called Hokhmah in Hebrew, or Sophia in Greek) speaks as the Holy Spirit calling to humanity. She tells us that she is immanent in our world, with us in the streets of our cities, calling to us to awaken to her presence, to obey her laws, to listen to her wisdom, promising her blessing if we can only hear her voice and respond to her teaching. These magnificent passages transform the voice of the Shekinah, speaking as Divine Wisdom, from abstract idea into presence, friend, and guide. She speaks as if she were here, in this dimension, dwelling in the midst of her kingdom, accessible to those who seek her out. Widowed because of her voluntary separation from her spouse, she is unknown and unrecognised, yet working within the depths of life, striving to open humanity's understanding to her justice, her wisdom, and her truth.

She says that she is with her beloved from the beginning, before the foundation of the world, speaking from the deep ground of life as the hidden law that orders it, the craftswoman of creation. She is the intelligence within nature, the animating energy of the cosmos; rooted in tree, vine, earth, and water and active in the habitations of humanity. She is the principle of justice that inspires all human laws. She is the invisible spirit guiding human consciousness; a hidden presence longing to be known, calling out to the world for recognition and response. To those like Solomon, who prized her more highly than rubies, she becomes their wise and luminous guide.

The Divine Feminine
Andrew Harvey & Anne Baring - Conari Press
Berkeley, CA
ISBN 1-57324-035-4 (hardcover)
Pgs. 94-95

NOTE: If this page was accessed during a web search you may wish to browse the sites listed below where this topic or related issues are discussed in detail to promote global peace, religious harmony, and spiritual development of humanity:

www.adishakti.org/
www.al-qiyamah.org/
www.adi-shakti.org/  — Divine Feminine (Hinduism)
www.holyspirit-shekinah.org/  — Divine Feminine (Christianity)
www.ruach-elohim.org/  — Divine Feminine (Judaism)
www.ruh-allah.org/  — Divine Feminine (Islam)
www.tao-mother.org/  — Divine Feminine (Taoism)
www.prajnaaparamita.org/  — Divine Feminine (Buddhism)
www.aykaa-mayee.org/  — Divine Feminine (Sikhism)
www.great-spirit-mother.org/  — Divine Feminine (Native Traditions)