This is a short extract from the first chapter of the Cosmic Shekinah “Naming Wisdom” by Sorita d’Este and David Rankine. We are including it here as a short introduction to The Shekinah for those readers who are as yet unfamiliar with this phenomenal and influential figure of the Divine Feminine.
This extraordinary historical study of the fascinating history of the Wisdom Goddess of the Old Testament and Qabalah is available from May 2011, you can pre-order your signed copy (with free p&p) from the publishers at http://avaloniabooks.co.uk/221/new/the-cosmic-shekinah/ now.
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The Shekinah is the primordial light of creation, the heavenly glory of divine wisdom and the inspiration for prophecy. She is also the world soul, manifest through the divine sparks of her light which comprise human souls and thus unites us all. With roots in the wisdom goddesses of the ancient world, the Shekinah is the manifestation of feminine divinity from the unnamed Wisdom Goddess of the Old Testament found in the Jewish mystical systems known as the Kabbalah and Merkavah mysticism.
The name Shekinah first appeared in material found in the Onkelos Targum, which dates from the first-second century CE. This text, by an unknown author, was misnamed during the medieval period after Onkelos the Proselyte (35-110 CE), who translated the Bible into Aramaic. In the Onkelos Targum the term Shekinah is used to illustrate a divine presence which is separate from Yahweh, as in the paraphrase of Exodus 25:8;
“And they shall make before me a sanctuary and I shall cause my Shekinah to dwell among them.”
The first glimpse of the power or function of the Shekinah is seen in the meaning of her name, which is derived from the Hebrew root Shakhan meaning ‘to dwell’. This meaning hints at her tangible presence as a visible manifestation of the light of wisdom in the books of the Old Testament, as the burning bush seen by Moses, in the Ark of the Covenant and in the Temple of Solomon. Her name was also Aramaized to Shekinta in some texts like the Targums, which are Aramaic translations of the Bible that often included commentaries.
The Shekinah is first hinted at as the unnamed Wisdom Goddess of the books of the Old Testament, as well as being named in apocryphal and pseudoepigraphical books from the latter part of this period, spanning a thousand years from the seventh or sixth century BCE through to the third or fourth century CE. Whilst it has been suggested that the Shekinah was simply a hypostasis of God’s glory, personifying his qualities, the traces found in these ancient writings make it clear that she was much more than this.
By exploring the myths and deities of the ancient Middle East, it becomes clear that the origins of the Shekinah may be found in several earlier goddesses associated with wisdom in civilizations such as those of Sumer, Egypt and Canaan. From the rich cultural cross-fertilization between these civilizations sprang the Shekinah.
(c) Sorita d’Este & David Rankine, 2008,2011
