The first time I read the Bible cover to cover I was surprised by the description of Sophia in Proverbs 8. Women are an afterthought in the Bible, which is why I appreciate books like Anita Diamant’s “The Red Tent”. It would be neat if there was a novel like that detailing Sarah’s perspective.
I took a class about women in early Christianity in university and wish I had been more passionate about it at the time, but I was still at the beginning of my spiritual journey and was overcoming my hurdle of agnosticism. I always love learning more about your own journey though!
Thank you for that beautiful reminder of Sophia, Sylvia. I find it fascinating how we often overlook or dismiss things that are discordant with our worldview. I love that those beautiful lines leapt out at you!
What a wonderful journey, Allysha! Thank you so much for sharing this! I have been SUPER drawn to the women of the bible too, even having taken several classes from an amazing organization called the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute (which is now, unfortunately, no longer open). A couple nonfiction books that changed my life (in case you are interested) are The Hebrew Priestess by Jill Hammer and Sarah the Priestess by Savina Teubal (one of my all-time favorite books ever). I think the world really is beginning to reclaim all this feminine divinity and I'm so excited for it!
Excited to look into these books, Jenna! I love how many amazing resources there are now. When I think about the archetypes our grandmothers were offered and then look at our freedom to explore and feel empowered by this new vision of the Feminine… it gives me so much hope for humanity!
Allysa, there was much to relate to in this post for me. I loved the Mists of Avalon! And the Darkover novels by the same author. She wrote about powerful female characters that inspired me! Especially during a time when I did not feel like I had a lot of power. I love the bible stories, but it was mostly about men, where were the women? Powerful females did survive the great inversion though. Sophia, Black Madona, Mother Mary, Innana from the Song of Songs, and Mary Magdalene!
When I was teenager, I saw the Broadway show, Jesus Christ Superstar, and immediately got the album. That summer I played it every day. I would have these incredible meetings with Jesus, Mary Magdalene and Judas. I was a told about a story, a life that was not in the bible. They opened my heart and filled it with so much love. It wasn’t till later that I found the gnostic gospels, and just devoured them. I loved the commentaries by Jean Yves Leloup specifically on the gospels of Philip, Thomas, Mary Magdalene and Judas. A different story emerges… I felt completely validated. I have also read many fiction books on Mary Magdalene. I am just now discovering your book Allysa, and it's going immediately on my list.
Oh, thank you for sharing, Julie! Talk about relatable! I just love all of this 💜 Jean Yves LeLoup is my favorite translator of gnostic scriptures. I love that you have had your own experiences with these sainted figures. That’s where it really starts to get interesting. Don’t even get me started about Judas 😉
Love that you’re looking into The Heretic… I can’t wait to hear how it shows up for you!
As a little girl, I’d always favored female characters. In an era when characters in stories were dominantly male, my unequivocal favorite was always the token girl in every story. This really struck me Allysha, as though you knew even then you would question this until you discovered the truth that made sense to you.
There are so many threads from my early life that I see woven into my story now. At the time it often felt like confusion or searching for belonging, but now I can see how all those pieces led me here. 💜
The first time I read the Bible cover to cover I was surprised by the description of Sophia in Proverbs 8. Women are an afterthought in the Bible, which is why I appreciate books like Anita Diamant’s “The Red Tent”. It would be neat if there was a novel like that detailing Sarah’s perspective.
I took a class about women in early Christianity in university and wish I had been more passionate about it at the time, but I was still at the beginning of my spiritual journey and was overcoming my hurdle of agnosticism. I always love learning more about your own journey though!
Thank you for that beautiful reminder of Sophia, Sylvia. I find it fascinating how we often overlook or dismiss things that are discordant with our worldview. I love that those beautiful lines leapt out at you!
Sophia's song of delight in creation in Proverbs 8:22-31
The Wisdom of God cries aloud:
"You, my God, created me when your purpose first unfolded,
Before the oldest of your works.
From everlasting I was firmly set,
From the beginning before Earth came into being
The deep was not, when I was born,
There were no springs to gush with water
Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills, I came to birth,
Before you made the earth,
The countryside, or the first grains of the world’s dust
When you fixed the heavens firm, I was there;
When you drew a ring on the surface of the deep;
When you thickened the clouds above
And fixed fast the springs of the deep,
When you assigned the sea its boundaries,
So the waters could not disobey you
And when you laid down the foundations of the earth,
I was by your side a unique craftswoman
Delighting you day after day
At play everywhere in the world,
Delighting to be among the human family."
I love this! Sophia, Wisdom, is part of my personal pantheon. ❤️
What a wonderful journey, Allysha! Thank you so much for sharing this! I have been SUPER drawn to the women of the bible too, even having taken several classes from an amazing organization called the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute (which is now, unfortunately, no longer open). A couple nonfiction books that changed my life (in case you are interested) are The Hebrew Priestess by Jill Hammer and Sarah the Priestess by Savina Teubal (one of my all-time favorite books ever). I think the world really is beginning to reclaim all this feminine divinity and I'm so excited for it!
And I can't wait for the Heretic's Happy Hour! 🤗
Yay! Looking forward to seeing you there, Jenna!
Excited to look into these books, Jenna! I love how many amazing resources there are now. When I think about the archetypes our grandmothers were offered and then look at our freedom to explore and feel empowered by this new vision of the Feminine… it gives me so much hope for humanity!
Allysa, there was much to relate to in this post for me. I loved the Mists of Avalon! And the Darkover novels by the same author. She wrote about powerful female characters that inspired me! Especially during a time when I did not feel like I had a lot of power. I love the bible stories, but it was mostly about men, where were the women? Powerful females did survive the great inversion though. Sophia, Black Madona, Mother Mary, Innana from the Song of Songs, and Mary Magdalene!
When I was teenager, I saw the Broadway show, Jesus Christ Superstar, and immediately got the album. That summer I played it every day. I would have these incredible meetings with Jesus, Mary Magdalene and Judas. I was a told about a story, a life that was not in the bible. They opened my heart and filled it with so much love. It wasn’t till later that I found the gnostic gospels, and just devoured them. I loved the commentaries by Jean Yves Leloup specifically on the gospels of Philip, Thomas, Mary Magdalene and Judas. A different story emerges… I felt completely validated. I have also read many fiction books on Mary Magdalene. I am just now discovering your book Allysa, and it's going immediately on my list.
Oh, thank you for sharing, Julie! Talk about relatable! I just love all of this 💜 Jean Yves LeLoup is my favorite translator of gnostic scriptures. I love that you have had your own experiences with these sainted figures. That’s where it really starts to get interesting. Don’t even get me started about Judas 😉
Love that you’re looking into The Heretic… I can’t wait to hear how it shows up for you!
As a little girl, I’d always favored female characters. In an era when characters in stories were dominantly male, my unequivocal favorite was always the token girl in every story. This really struck me Allysha, as though you knew even then you would question this until you discovered the truth that made sense to you.
There are so many threads from my early life that I see woven into my story now. At the time it often felt like confusion or searching for belonging, but now I can see how all those pieces led me here. 💜