Aztec Ruins Kiva

The Great Mother

 
The Great Mother or Goddess archetype resides within the psyche of all human beings. She is symbolized in many forms and called by many names in diverse cultures throughout human history. She is Isis in Egypt, Ishtar in Babylonia, Inanna in Sumer, Astarte in Canaan, and Kuan-Yin in China. In the Judeo-Christian tradition she is called "Sophia." 
http://www.christosophia.org/essaysthecallofsophia.html 

 

Tree of LIfe as a Torus

 

 

Sophia Emanates the Tree of Life

 

The ancient Hebrew name for Wisdom is Khokhmah, a feminine noun. In Jewish scripture, it was Khokhmah who personified the female Divine. She is understood as an emanation of God, yet she resonates with the Hebrew Goddess who is otherwise assailed in the Bible, especially Asherah, she of the sacred Tree. Proverbs 3:18 calls up an image of Khokhmah that originates in the oldest core of Jewish culture: “She is a Tree of Life to all who lay hold of her.”  

 In the same book, Khokhmah sings, “The one who finds me, finds life.” 

 Wisdom is another form of the Shekhinah, the divine Presence. Both are “expressed in light and glory,” both involved in creation, enthroned in heaven, intermediaries between god and the world, ascending and descending, and winged. 

 
The Book of Wisdom of Solomon, written by Alexandrian Jews in the Hellenistic era, renames Khokhmah as Sophia, the Greek word for Wisdom. 

http://www.suppressedhistories.net/articles/sophia.html 

 

The Nag Mammadi Library

 The Nag Hammadi library^[1] is a collection of Gnostic texts discovered near the Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945. Twelve leather-bound papyrus codices buried in a sealed jar were found by a local peasant.

 Complete list of codices found in Nag Hammadi....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nag_Hammadi_library 

Other Gnostic Links
Gnostic Christianity and history
http://www.essene.com/Gospels/GnosticAndSophia.html
Gnostic Anthropology
http://www.gnosisusa.org/
Gnostic Archive
http://www.gnosis.org/sophia.tale.html
Gnostic Jargon
http://magdelene.wordpress.com/category/gnostic-jargon/
 

History of Gnosticism

 

As Rome spread many cultures and beliefs mingled.  Because of the violence there was a renaissance of spiritual thought and many Christian Sects developed.
By 325AD, Constantine brought these leaders together to develop one Church system in order to unify his Empire.  The Gnostic beliefs of understanding God from within was buried by the Roman Church/State's rule that God could only be understood through the Church.

For a complete understanding....
Gnostic Christianity and history http://www.essene.com/Gospels/GnosticAndSophia.html

Visions of the Sophia