Amongst the original Christians the Divine was seen as having both a masculine and feminine face. They related to the Divine Feminine as Sophia, the wise Goddess.
Paul tells us, ‘Among the initiates we speak of Sophia’, for it is ‘the secret of Sophia’ that is ‘taught in our Mysteries’. When initiates of the Inner Mysteries of Christianity partook in Holy Communion, it was Sophia’s passion and suffering remembered. Amongst the original Christians, priests and priestesses would offer initiates wine as a symbol of ‘her blood’.
The prayer would be offered: ‘May Sophia fill your inner being and increase in you her Gnosis. It was Sophia who was petitioned:
‘Come, hidden Mother; come, you who are made manifest in your works, and give joy and rest to those who are bound to you. Come and partake in this Eucharist which we perform in your name, and in the love feast for which we have assembled at your invitation.’
The eradication of this Christian Goddess by the patriarchal Roman Church has left us all motherless children. Women have been denied a sympathetic rapport with the Divine Feminine. Men have been denied a love-affair with a female face of Deity.
Spirituality has become part of the battleground which separates the sexes, when it should be the sanctuary of eternal fellowship.”
Words: Jesus and the lost Goddess; The Secret Teachings of the Original Christians
(Timothy Freke, Peter Gandy)
Artwork unknown