Pistis - Sophia Our Divine Feminine Mother Of All

Pistis Sophia (Koinē Greek: Πίστις Σοφία) is a Gnostic text discovered in 1773, possibly written between the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. The existing manuscript, which some scholars place in the late 4th century, relates one Gnostic group's teachings of the transfigured Jesus to the assembled disciples, including his mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Martha. (In this context, "transfigured" refers to Jesus after his death and resurrection, not the event during his life where he spoke to appearances of Moses and Elijah on a mountain.) In this text, the risen Jesus had spent eleven years speaking with his disciples, teaching them only the lower mysteries. After eleven years, he receives his true garment and is able to reveal the higher mysteries revered by this group. The prized mysteries relate to complex cosmologies and knowledge necessary for the soul to reach the highest divine realms.

The story of Pistis Sophia's fall and restoration (chapters 29-82) dominates much of Books 1 & 2. She dwells in the thirteenth aeon, is tricked into leaving her aeon and descending into Chaos, has her light-power stolen, and is not allowed to return to her place until Jesus ascends through the aeons. She recites many repentances and prayers, and is repeatedly persecuted by wicked archontic beings before being allowed to wait just outside of the thirteenth aeon for restoration.

It is noteworthy that she is not a divine being, as portrayed in other versions of the Gnostic myth such as the Apocryphon of John. She is a being of the material aeons, and her restoration is only as far as the thirteenth material aeon. The myth as a whole seems to have been adopted to address the beliefs of another Gnostic group, and to assert the superiority of this text's system: humans who receive the mysteries of this group can surpass Pistis Sophia and reach the divine realms of light.

Songs of Sophia

The Wedding Song of Sophia

The Maiden is Lights Daughter;

On her the Kings’ Radiance resteth.

Stately her Look and delightsome.

With radiant beauty forth-shining.

Like unto spring-flowers are her Garments,

From them streameth scent of sweet odour.

The Wedding Song of Wisdom, a title given by Mead, is a fragment in the gnostic Acts of Thomas, describing how St. Thomas broke into song out of dismay while attending the Indian King’s wedding banquet for his daughter.

The Thunder, Perfect Mind

I was sent forth from the power,

and I have come to those who reflect upon me,

and I have been found among those who seek after me.

Look upon me,

you who reflect upon me,

and you hearers, hear me.

You who are waiting for me, take me to yourselves.

…

I am the one who is honored,

and who is praised,

and who is despised scornfully.

I am peace,

and war has come because of me.

And I am an alien and a citizen.

– Nag Hammadi Library

The Voice Of Sophia

Listen, O dearly beloved!

I am the reality of the world, the center of the circumference,

I am the parts and the whole.

I am the will established between Heaven and Earth,

I have created perception in you only in order to be the

object of my perception.

If then you perceive me, you perceive yourself.

But you cannot perceive me through yourself.

It is through my eyes that you see me and see yourself,

Through your eyes you cannot see me.

Dearly beloved!

I have called you so often and you have not heard me;

I have shown myself to you so often and you have not seen me.

I have made myself fragrance so often, and you have not

smelled me,

Savorous food, and you nave not tasted me.

Why can you not reach me through the object you touch

Or breathe me through sweet perfumes?

Why do you not see me? Why do you not hear me?

Why? Why? Why?

– The voice of Sophia from “Book of Theophanies”, by Ibn ‘Arabi
quoted in Alone with the Alone by Henry Corbin, (1997).

The Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic

(The first section

as understood through a gnostic and kabbalistic lens)

Abwoon D’washmaya

Nethqadash Shmokh

Teythey Malkuthakh

Nehwey Sebyanach

Aykanna D’washmaya

Aph B’arha

Abwoon

Oh, Source of All! Mother-Father of the Cosmos

D’washmaya

With Radiant Light that bursts forth from you

Nethqadash Shmokh

We tune our hearts as instruments of your Holy Tone

Teythey Malkuthakh

Come quickly! May Your Kingdom within become alive in us.

Newey Sebyanach

As is your desire, your yearning,

Aykanna D’washmaya

May your Holy Light that fills the heavens

Ahp B’arha

Be with us, here, now, in all beings.

Gayatri Mantra

Om Bhur Bhuvaha Svaha

Tat Savitur Vareniyam

Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi

Dhiyo yo nah Prachodeyat

(Dear) God that pervades Earth and Heaven

The One God (Goddess) of Light that is The Most High (Universal Source)

Oh Divine Luminous Radiant One, Who Flows Like Sacred Waters

Ignite our Being with your Light.

Translation:

Om Bhur Bhuvaha Svaha
(Dear…) God(dess) of earth (3D?) of the astral level (4D?) of the localized heaven (5D?)

Tat Savitur Vareniyam
That God(dess) of Source Light the Greatest.

Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi
Luminous Light Divine Radiance, that flows like sacred waters

Dhiyo yo nah Prachodeyat
Internal Spirit Consciousness our (Inspire) Ignite us.

Trimorphic Protennoia

And I hid myself in everyone, and showed [myself] forth in them.

And all acts of thinking desired me and sought me,

For it is I who have imparted image unto the eternity;

They were misshapen, and I changed their forms into (temporary) forms until such time as the entirety should be formed.

It was through me that the sound came to exist.

And it is I who put breath into my own.

And I injected the eternal holy spirit into them,

And I ascended and proceeded into my light.

I [bore fruit] down upon my branch, I sat [in the seed within the] children of the [eternal] light.

And [brought them to] their dwelling place. Amen!

– First Thought in Three Forms or Trimorphic Protennoia, circa prior to AD 350. Nag Hammadi, MS NHC XIII. From Layton, Bentley; The Gnostic Scriptures, 1987. Note: text represents words from the “Afterthought” or the Sophia who extended into the lower worlds from the Higher Sophia (who is known as Thought, Holy Spirit, or Great Emanation.) Interpretation support: “imparted image” – implanted Light. “I changed their forms” – from an original creator god human creation that then was implanted with Sophianic spirit of Light. “sound came to exist” – meaning essential sound as an expression of supernal Light vibration.