And yet, I do think a sympathetic conversation between Christianity and neo-paganism can be had in regards to how the divine feminine relates to nature. The bridge here is the vision of Sophia from the Old Testament.
Proverbs 3 describes how Sophia (Wisdom) was "the first of his [God's] acts" of creation. And once created, Sophia is depicted as a co-creator with God, standing "beside" God as "a master worker." Proverbs 8:22-36:
“The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of long ago.
Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth,
when he had not yet made earth and fields
or the world’s first bits of soil.
When he established the heavens, I was there;
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
then I was beside him, like a master worker,
and I was daily his delight,
playing before him always,
playing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the human race.
“And now, my children, listen to me:
happy are those who keep my ways.
Hear instruction and be wise,
and do not neglect it.
Happy is the one who listens to me,
watching daily at my gates,
waiting beside my doors.
For whoever finds me finds life
and obtains favor from the Lord,
but those who miss me injure themselves;
all who hate me love death.”
Simply, Sophia is a divine principle, imagined as feminine, that co-creates and pervades the natural world. More, we are called to live in attunement with this divine, feminine principle. Whoever finds Sophia, says Proverbs, "finds life" and "obtains favor from the Lord." Negatively, those who "miss" Sophia "injure themselves" and those who "hate" Sophia "love death."
These connections deepen when we turn to the Deuterocanonical book of Wisdom, found in the canon of the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Admittedly, this is a long passage to share, but if you're a Protestant you've likely never read it and it would be illuminating to give it a close, attentive reading. It's a pretty startling and mind-bending text:
Wisdom is radiant and unfading,
and she is easily discerned by those who love her
and is found by those who seek her.
She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her.
One who rises early to seek her will have no difficulty,
for she will be found sitting at the gate.
To fix one’s thought on her is perfect understanding,
and one who is vigilant on her account will soon be free from care,
because she goes about seeking those worthy of her,
and she graciously appears to them in their paths
and meets them in every thought. (Wisdom 6:12-16)
May God grant me to speak with judgment
and to have thoughts worthy of what I have received,
for he is the guide even of wisdom
and the corrector of the wise.
For both we and our words are in his hand,
as are all understanding and skill in crafts.
For it is he who gave me unerring knowledge of what exists,
to know the structure of the world and the activity of the elements,
the beginning and end and middle of times,
the alternations of the solstices and the changes of the seasons,
the cycles of the year and the constellations of the stars,
the natures of animals and the tempers of wild animals,
the powers of spirits and the thoughts of human beings,
the varieties of plants and the virtues of roots;
I learned both what is secret and what is manifest,
for wisdom, the fashioner of all things, taught me.
There is in her a spirit that is intelligent, holy,
unique, manifold, subtle,
agile, clear, unpolluted,
distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen,
irresistible, beneficent, humane,
steadfast, sure, free from anxiety,
all-powerful, overseeing all,
and penetrating through all spirits
that are intelligent, pure, and altogether subtle.
For wisdom is more mobile than any motion;
because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things.
For she is a breath of the power of God
and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty;
therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her.
For she is a reflection of eternal light,
a spotless mirror of the working of God,
and an image of his goodness.
Although she is but one, she can do all things,
and while remaining in herself, she renews all things;
in every generation she passes into holy souls
and makes them friends of God and prophets,
for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom.
She is more beautiful than the sun
and excels every constellation of the stars.
Compared with the light she is found to be more radiant,
for it is succeeded by the night,
but against wisdom evil does not prevail.
She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other,
and she orders all things well. (Wisdom 7:15-8:1)
Like I said, a remarkable passage. Sophia is a "pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty." Sophia "pervades and penetrates all things." Sophia is the "fashioner of all things" within the created order, from the solstices to the nature of animals to the varieties of plants to the virtues of roots.
As should be obvious. there are resonances here between Sophia and the neo-pagan vision of a nature goddess. Both describe a divine feminine principle that infuses and suffuses nature, from solstices to herbal remedies, that we must live in attunement with.
Now, can Sophia be connected to St. Brigid from a Christian perspective? It can, and it comes through that Marian association we've already discussed. We'll turn to that issue as we wrap up this series.
