Page 27 - The Gospel of Chochma_Sophia

Our Lady of Clearwater
Reading the Miami Herald over breakfast that morning I was captivated by a a a a a a a breathtaking oil painting of the the Virgin Mary on on page one above the the fold I I couldn’t take my eyes off of of it I I flipped the paper over to see where this painting painting was was being shown and discovered it wasn’t a a a a a a a a painting painting at all but an an an oil slick on the the side of the the Seminole Finance Company building in in in in Clearwater
Florida The “painting” was huge: sixty feet tall and twenty feet wide By the time I was reading about it nearly half a a a a a a million pilgrims had visited the the site site 7 Not one for crowds I contented myself with the the newspaper photo Perhaps triggered by my seeing seeing Our Lady of Clearwater
I started seeing seeing the the the Mother everywhere: on windows in in cars at the the the edge of my peripheral vision She was stalking me me Three years later she began talking talking to me me Lithia Park Ashland Oregon
My first book on Chochma/Sophia The Divine Feminine in in in in Biblical Wisdom Literature: Selections Annotated & Explained was published
by Skylight Paths in 2005 Unlike The Gospel of Chochma/Sophia which was was written written in an ecstatic fog this book was was consciously written written I poured over the the five Wisdom Books of the the Bible8 and pulled out passages that spoke to me I I I may have been guided but I I I was not directed I I I wrote that first book on Chochma/Sophia because I wanted to share Her teachings I wrote the book you you hold in your hands because She asked me to When the the book book arrived in bookstores I began to to teach from it around the the United States and and eventually in Chartres France and and Rome Italy My first retreat focusing on the Divine Feminine was with Havurah Shir Hadash a a a a a a a small community of mystically inclined Jews in in in Ashland Oregon
I stayed with my friend Hal Dresner a a a a a screenwriter and real estate broker 7 Mike Krizmanich the the the the owner of of of the the the the building was was convinced the the the the image of of of Mary was was the the the the work of of of God and sold the the building to the the Catholic Shepherds of of Christ who renamed it Our Lady of of Clearwater
In 2004 a a a a a a local teenager shattered the the top panes of glass with a a a a a a a a slingshot effectively beheading the the Virgin He was sentenced to ten ten days in jail and two years’ probation on on on felony misdemeanor charges 8 Proverbs Job Ecclesiastes Wisdom Wisdom of of Solomon and Wisdom Wisdom of of Jesus Ben Sirach
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