Dictionary of all Scriptures & Myths

WISDOM (FEMININE)

A symbol of the principle of buddhi, or the intuitive and transmuting activities of the buddhic plane, operating through the higher mind and upon the lower nature.

“She (wisdom) standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.” — Prov. viii. 2–4.

Buddhi occupies the heights of the soul, for the buddhic plane is the highest plane of the quaternary. The buddhic functioning is on the paths to perfection through Truth, Love, and Action. Buddhi appeals to the soul at the entrance from above to the higher mind’s centre (city), which receives the vibrations from below. “Unto you, O mental qualities, I call,” for the spiritual intuitions from me are to raise the egos — the sons of mind.

“The idea of ‘wisdom’ appears to be parallel to the Old Testament idea of spirit — a life common to God and man, breathed into man by God. ‘I, Wisdom, possess (Heb. dwell in) intelligence, I have knowledge and insight’ (Prov. viii. 12). The statement of the Hebrew is not that Wisdom dwells in friendly alliance with intelligence, but that she dwells in intelligence, an unexampled form of expression.” — C. H. Toy, *Book of Proverbs*, pp. xvii, 167.

“Sujâta (of happy birth) is, of course, Dharma or Prajnâ, divine wisdom personified as a woman.” — A. Lillie, *Popular Life of Buddha*, p. 81.

“In reason no love can be found — there is much love in wisdom; and all that is highest in wisdom entwines around all that is purest in love. Love is the form most divine of the infinite, and also, because most divine, the form most profoundly human. Reason and love battle fiercely at first in the soul that begins to expand; but wisdom is born of the peace that at last comes to pass between reason and love; and the peace becomes the profounder as reason yields up still more of her rights to love.” — Maeterlinck, *Wisdom and Destiny*, §§29–30.

“Love, which fills my mind continually with new and most exalted ideas of this Lady (Beatrice — Wisdom). … Philosophy is born when the Soul and Wisdom have become friends, so that the one is loved by the other. God sees, then, this Lady the most noble of all absolutely, inasmuch as most perfectly He sees her in Himself.” — Dante Alighieri, *The Banquet*, III.12.

“Wisdom implies, whether in God or in man, both power and knowledge; but it implies something more; for wisdom is a moral attribute. This attribute, therefore, embodies the conceptions of knowledge and power employed in the interests of what is morally good. Good‑will is necessary to wisdom. And if the wisdom is to be perfect, not only must the power and the knowledge be perfect, but the good which is chosen and pursued by all the means that the perfect knowledge and wisdom provide, must be the highest and supremely valuable Good. This good, the human mind is obliged to conceive of as uniting the three recognized forms of good — the good of happiness, the good of beauty, and the good of morality — in one Ideal of all that has worth.” — G. T. Ladd, *Philosophy of Religion*, Vol. II, p. 212.

“There is Wisdom guiding me, of whose existence I am certainly aware, but whose ways I cannot comprehend. But it shall not be always so. Now I am known perfectly, but I know in part, in the very least and weakest and dimmest way. But the time shall come when I shall know as I am known.” — Phillips Brooks, *The Knowledge of God*.

See Also

AMATERASU
ARMAITI
ASHA-VANUHI
ATHENA
BOAT OF WISDOM
BUDDHI
COW
DHARMA
EARTH (Mother)
ESTHER
FIRE
FRIGG
GODDESS
GOLD
GOLDEN FLEECE
GOLDEN HAIR
HATHOR
HEAVEN
HELEN
HERA
HIKOBOSHI
ISIS
ISTAR
KYPRIS
LADY
LATONA
MOTHER
MUT
PRAGNA
QEBSENNUF
SAPANDAR
SERPENT
SERPENT (sparks)
SOPHIA
TRANSMUTATION
UZUMÉ
Vach