Divine Feminine Wisdom: A Discussion on Pistis Sophia and the Gnostic Gospels with Shanna Vavra!

Hello beautiful souls! Have you ever felt a stirring within your soul, a call to explore the sacred mysteries of the divine feminine? Shanna Vavra, a spiritual journey mentor & podcast host of Sense of Soul, joins us to share her awakening to an authentic life, challenging the dogmas of her Catholic upbringing to discover a spirituality that resonates with her true self. Our conversation delves into the essence of the Pistis Sophia, re-evaluating the role of women in spiritual narratives and offering a richer understanding of religious history through the lens of inclusive faith and wisdom.

As we navigate the dreamscapes and synchronicities that connect us to the divine, I reveal how a prophetic dream shared by my daughter and my own serendipitous encounter with the goddess Bridget propelled me into a deeper exploration of esoteric texts like the Keys of Enoch. This journey rekindles a fresh perspective on the teachings of Jesus, shedding new light on the contributions and significance of feminine wisdom in our spiritual heritage. Together with Shanna, we unravel the threads of feminine energy woven through the Gnostic Gospels, revisiting the tales of Mary Magdalene, Norea, and Lilith, and their impact on our collective consciousness.

Join us as we contemplate the balance between divine feminine and masculine energies within ourselves and the transformative potential of embracing an inclusive spirituality. We discuss the importance of guiding the next generation in their quest for personal beliefs and the healing power of recognizing and honoring the divine feminine in our lives. Don't miss this soul-stirring episode, where ancient wisdom and modern insights converge, inspiring us to uncover and embrace the once-suppressed stories of our spiritual lineage.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:10

Hello beautiful souls, thank you so much for being here. Today's episode we're going to be discussing Pistis, sophia Faith Wisdom. This text is the most significant text to have surfaced prior to the discovery of the Gnostic Gospels in Nag Hammadi in 1945. It takes place after the resurrection and features Mary Magdalene in a prominent role, revealing a deep spiritual relationship between Mary Magdalene and Jesus. This text is unique because it features female disciples as equals. The text relates that Jesus remained on earth for 11 years after the crucifixion to instruct his disciples. After 11 years, he receives his true garment to reveal the higher mysteries. These mysteries relate to the complex cosmologies and knowledge necessary for the soul to reach the highest divine realms. Enjoy this discussion on faith, wisdom and the divine feminine. Thank you, hello soul family.

Speaker 1: 1:20

I am so excited today I have Shanna Vavra here with me. She's an intuitive Reiki master teacher, spiritual journey mentor and the host of the amazing podcast Sense of Soul. She is a seeker at heart, a spiritual sleuth. Her journey has led her to many surprising realizations. Using her inner compass to guide her, shanna journeyed into the unknown, from uncovering her ancestral roots to deep diving into the mysteries of ancient tech. She's a mother of four children and has been coaching for over 20 years. Her passion turned into her purpose and it became her mission to seek the truth, give voice to history once hidden and untold. Her passion is to encourage others to live authentically in their truth, offering support, guidance and wisdom that she has gained from her own personal experiences. She inspires others to awaken to their true sense of soul. Welcome, shanna, how are you?

Speaker 2: 2:19

I'm great. Thanks so much, kelly. I really appreciate you inviting me on oh.

Speaker 1: 2:24

I'm honored to have you here. I have to tell you I told you a little bit before we jumped on that I've been listening to your podcast and the way you frame with your approach to the Gnostic Gospels, which is going to be our subject today, is what have I been told to believe versus what have I experienced in my life? And when you said that I've been like applying that to everything now Everything, not just like that specific designation, but just really resonated. So thank you so much for that. But that is now like how I approach new subject.

Speaker 2: 2:57

Yeah, yeah, you have to. We've been so conditioned. We've been sold so many stories about history. We've been sold so many stories about history, about religion, about everything, and so when I realized that I was not living by my own experiences and that I was living out my ancestors, my family, society and everybody else's dreams, it just smacked me in the face.

Speaker 1: 3:25

I was like, oh my gosh, it was crazy. Do you want to give the listeners a little bit of an overview of your background, your journey, what kind of lit your fire?

Speaker 2: 3:32

Yeah, I am a mother of four children. So I was a young mother in my early twenties and then I had my last child in my late thirties. So I have children from two different generations actually almost three and so this sense of soul is really the first thing I've ever had like for myself. And it's pretty brave and courageous of me when I think about where I came from and not that the women in my family weren't courageous and brave, it's just, you know, I come from Louisiana, so I've got those really deep Southern roots and like Southern hospitality is like a real thing and it's served by the woman. And I do remember my son's first birthday, my mom coming up to me and saying, aren't you going to serve your husband? And like there was like this part inside of me that was like yes, I get to serve my family.

Speaker 2: 4:23

This is what I get to serve my family. This is what I've always dreamt of, and it was never about you, it was faith, family, friends. There's no you in that. And so my journey really was at that point in my real. I was in my thirties and I was trying to be like this perfect person, this perfect mother, this perfect Christian. You know, I'm very deeply rooted Catholic, generation after generation, which, in my ancestry journey that I went through for six years, really explained that this was really truly rooted from as early as the 1600s recorded.

Speaker 2: 5:03

I had an ancestor who was on those first five boats from France to the port of New Orleans. Before you got on that boat he was witness to make sure that you were baptized. And then I discovered, you know, in the Black Code there was also it was like the first law you had to be baptized Catholic. Then it was also my Acadian. Acadian, the Cajuns, that whole lineage were all really rooted from the indigenous people, First Nations, and they too, you know, were forced to be Catholic.

Speaker 2: 5:34

I even have one ancestor who was a great shaman. He was known as a tent shaker, like a sorcerer, and then he went on to be known as an apostate, which is someone that converted to Christianity, which that troubled me, because I just thought it was a travesty that you know these people who were living on this earth far long than we were, in that area especially, you know that the church had come in, the Jesuits actually had come in and really forced their religion on all of these people. So my journey just really with religion has gone in a more seeking manner, because it wasn't that I didn't believe, because I did believe. I just wanted to know the truth and some of the things that I grew up with, like the division and hell, you have to do this and you can't do that All those things just didn't sit right with me and so I just became a seeker at heart and I've always loved true crime, so I would go way deep. I go down those holes really really super deep.

Speaker 1: 6:39

I was also raised Catholic, so I totally resonate with everything that you said. You know, it was like we went to church every Sunday. I distinctly remember when I, my parents taught me about health and I cried and cried and cried to my dad. I was like I just don't want to go there, and he's like, well, then, you just have to do all the right things, you know, because that's what, that's what they were taught and that's what they taught me. You know, I will tell you I'm very different with my children than I am. I'm so, so different, but I'm not. I have no ill will towards being raised the way that I was. It's what my parents knew. But I've just since then, evolved, which you clearly have too.

Speaker 1: 7:17

A lot of it didn't make sense to me. I was always trying to. I studied like the world religions when I went to school, and, but my degree is in philosophy. So I, I was always trying. I studied like the world religions when I went to school, and, but my degree is in philosophy, so I, I was always trying to figure out what is this all about, the whole thing? So it's just really interesting. Our paths are very similar in that way that growing up. A lot of that didn't make sense. I think it didn't seem right.

Speaker 2: 7:40

I mean I had Diana Kelly, who is a beautiful soul. She also studies Sophia, which we will get into and she had said that she always felt more comfortable praying to Mother Mary because she was more accessible. You know, she wasn't judging or shaming anyone, so I found that to be interesting and that's really stuck with me over the past few months that she said that to me, and that's really stuck with me over the past few months that she said that to me. But yeah, you know, there's that fear aspect and I'll be honest. I mean, as you know, they do, like the senior projects in high school, like I wanted to be a pastor, like I brought a lot of people to Jesus over the years I really truly did, and to think, though, now, looking back, that I actually chose my children's religion before I met them is kind of concerning.

Speaker 2: 8:25

That's just not something I would ever consider doing where I'm at now to choose anybody's beliefs for them. I mean, this is an individual journey, and for me to have chose my children's beliefs before I met them, chose their journeys and not just religion before I met them, chose their journeys and not just religion.

Speaker 1: 8:45

I chose what sports they would play, and I decorated their room in the college that my husband liked, and you know, it's just all of these things that before I even met them, they had all these conditions, yeah, Well, you know, but we also do have to have grace and forgiveness for the person we were at that moment, because in that time, you know, we had certain sets of beliefs and things that we were operating with, and now, as we've evolved on our path, we wouldn't do things the same way. But, you know, I always say like we just have to have some love and forgiveness for our former selves, even though we may cringe or be embarrassed about things from the past. But all of those things, I do believe, really bring us to who we are today and if we hadn't done those things, then we wouldn't have those lessons and those things to learn from.

Speaker 2: 9:35

And I feel like my youngest daughter she really has been on things. When she was like four years old, she had told her older sister and I that she was once a man, an old man, and we're like what. And she even said, like her name was John Williamson. Okay, like this was a little girl that lived like my little pony and princesses, like why would she tell us that one time she was an old man named John Williamson? I haven't called her preschool.

Speaker 2: 10:03

I was like you guys, like researching about some you know people right now, some men in history, or I didn't even know, and she even was more specific. She said that he was. He lived in New York. I mean, she was strange, but we just flew it off. And then, about six months later, she's sitting at the table with us and she says did you know? Before I met you, I lived in Hawaii. It was just so random. So at the time and this is probably about eight years ago, yeah, cause she's almost 12.

Speaker 2: 10:31

And I did some research on past lives, which was something that I was open to by then. But you know, having that deep, strong rooted Catholic background, like it's not something I messed with too much. So what I did was I read some books. I read Brian Weiss's book you know, many Lives, many Masters, I mean like life-changing book Totally changed my thoughts. And another good one is Testimony of Life for Catholics out there or any Christians. This was a nun that experienced like a past life and actually mediumship. It was a really good book.

Speaker 2: 11:10

But I scheduled myself a past life regression and this was very interesting because I went in kind of almost as a skeptic, didn't know what to expect, and I just kind of surrendered and was like open to it too and it blew me away. In fact it aligned with my ancestry journey that I was about to go on, and so that was interesting, yeah, but it changed a little bit of my beliefs because I'm like, even now when I think back on the past life regression, it was like those are like memories now you know, now that they've been brought to the forefront, it's just like any memory I have when I think back. It was that real and so a lot of stuff started changing after that. My little one seems to always be like the catalyst of that journey, because she's always seeing things or bringing things to my journey like right before I go down those paths so interesting, that is really interesting.

Speaker 1: 12:08

Wow. If we could be a plan, the pre-life plan of that.

Speaker 2: 12:14

It had to have been precisely, planned, perfectly. And actually my oldest daughter and I always say that we feel like she was our mother. She mothers us even now. It's very interesting. She's always been that way.

Speaker 2: 12:25

But you know, she came to me one night and she, you know I used to lay with her before she went to bed and she would say, she said to me, I have a new angel. I had a dream about her and she's got a long red or long green dress and burgundy trim and I was like, oh, you know, she gave me such details and so I went to my bed and before I went to bed, like right next to my bed. I've always been a dream journaler, so, which is very important because my dreams have been a huge part of my journey but I wrote that down, I wrote the details of what she told me, and the very next day I had some synchronicity around it because I had this client, or actually not even a client she, she's a listener of Sense of Soul and she scheduled a soul chat and I had a new deck that I never opened. It was like you know, those fresh decks that like the cards stick together, and I was like I want to get it warmed. I'll just pull a card for you. And I pulled a card and it was the goddess Bridget. And here on the card was this long haired, looking, you know, feminine, with a green dress and burgundy trim, and I thought that's so crazy, like less than 24 hours, you know, the night before Hensley had said that and I didn't know much about the goddess Bridget I really didn't, but at the time I was preparing to have a guest on who I was super excited about, sean Johnson and the Wild Letters fan. If you have not listened to him, you have to. They're amazing and I even got to see them live last year. But he was going to release his new album on Sense of Soul podcast. It was like the premiere, and this was like three years ago, two, three years ago, on Halloween around that time. And so I'm listening to this new album you know that hasn't even been released and there's this beautiful song called Healing and at the beginning of the song, for like the first few minutes, he's just chanting Bridget. I mean I'm like Bridget, like this has nothing to do with the rest of the song. I'm thinking who the hell is Bridget Like? Is this someone he knows or what, but it actually ended up being the goddess Bridget. And then it was like the next week I had a Bridget on the Bridget Fink-get on with Bridget Fink-Claire.

Speaker 2: 14:45

Bridget Fink-Claire is a beautiful soul. She wrote a book and I was having her on to release her book. It was called the Red Dress. But at the beginning of her episode she says I teach a class, I teach two classes. I teach a class on the keys of Enoch and the priestess Sophia, and she's got a beautiful, beautiful accent it's, you know, british accent and I'm like, oh, I don't care about that Priestess of Fear one, but I have heard about the Keys of Enoch and I had been studying in the apocryphal text or the Book of Enoch. You know that was taken out of the Bible, right? So I was very curious and I couldn't wait to ask her questions about the Keys of Enoch, who the author is JJ Hertog, dr JJ Hertog. And so we get off and I ordered that book.

Speaker 2: 15:42

And then when I'm editing her episode and I'm like I wonder what this't find any book called Priestess of Fear. But I went to JJ Hertog's website and underneath the Keys of Enoch and the Keys of Enoch is this beautiful, like pearly white book and it's got like gold etch. The letters are in gold. It's beautiful. And underneath this book is another book. It looks the same but it's called the Pistis Sophia.

Speaker 2: 16:07

And all of a sudden Bridget Finklair's beautiful accent just pops in my head when she was like the Pistis Sophia and I was like it's not the fricking Pistis Sophia or this is the Pistis Sophia, this is the. I couldn't believe it and I was like I have no idea what this is, but maybe I should buy it. I mean, it was just like on a whim. You know, I had no idea what it was and from there I started to study both books, which I'm still on this journey even today. I mean it's been non-stop, non-stop.

Speaker 2: 16:34

I mean I didn't seek this, obviously, I didn't even know what a Sophia was and, no matter what every corner I turned, there she was and she is the feminine essence of God that has been hidden. And it was hidden deep in the Nagamati found in 1945. There also was pieces of the Pistis Sophia found in the 1700s. So you know, I'm thinking who is this Sophia? And really it's a Greek word for wisdom, just means wisdom, but yet there's all of these allegorical stories about wisdom and there are even some in the Bible. It's just lowercase wisdom but it is talked as she Like in Proverbs. There's a whole beautiful passage about wisdom and it talks about how she was there when the earth was created and it just goes into this beautiful detail.

Speaker 2: 17:30

There's stories of Sophia in some of the books that were left in the Catholic Bible, like in the Book of Wisdom, which some people say Solomon. That was Solomon's book, but you know, I did want to know why Solomon was so in love with Sophia, and that journey took me back into the Bible. So that was the interesting thing is that I found myself reading the Bible, probably more than I ever had in my life, but with new eyes, with totally new eyes, and so it actually kind of made my faith deeper in some way and my relationship with Jesus, because most of the Gnostic gospels are about Jesus's teachings after he resurrected and return and spoke and taught his disciples, and so there wasn't just Matthew, mark, luke and John. We know he had several disciples and he also had women disciples and that was a huge difference.

Speaker 1: 18:28

Oh my gosh huge, especially being raised Catholic. There's no women leaders ever talked about. It's a shame. It is a shame. You know the name that kept coming up when I was researching before I came on with you today was this woman, elaine Pagels, who's written about written the Gnostic Gospels talk more about illusion and enlightenment versus what the main Bible that most people know today is. You know about sin and repentance, and I was like wow, that's really a totally different view of and understanding of it. It's just really blows your mind.

Speaker 2: 19:07

And what was interesting, though, kelly, is that it was Mary Magdalene that was questioning Jesus a lot. In fact, the other guys were super pissed that she was like getting all of the attention, and I'm not sure that it was because he was romantically involved with her. I'm not sure about that, but what I believe is that she was so wise and she was a seeker much like I am, much like you are and she would ask very intelligent questions. And she actually asked about sin, and Jesus straight up said no, there is no sin. That is actually in the Gnostic Gospels.

Speaker 1: 19:44

Yeah, what a difference in thought pattern you know, and it is. It's just a totally different way of viewing our existence and what we're told Mary Magdalene in the Gnostic Gospels. She's treated as an equal. She's not like it's not higher. Right, yeah, I mean, it's a totally different view of everything. And you know, even I'll tell you what I was starting to look into this. Even the story of just the discovery of the Gnostic Gospels, like that, is a wild story in and of itself.

Speaker 2: 20:13

Well, I mean being in philosophy. I mean Carl Jung had a freaking Gnostic Gospel in his like he had it until he died and then his family and the museum actually kind of fought to get that back because they wanted to put it with the rest of the Gels, I mean. So you know, carl Jung was like he was totally into this stuff. It truly is amazing and you know what. So here you have all of these gospels and also, I would say, other scriptures too, like look at the Dead Sea Scroll. I mean there's so many. Even I heard in 2019, they found gospels. So they're still finding and unearthing this text and it's not been touched by a hierarchy right, it's not been edited over thousands of years. It's like virgin text.

Speaker 1: 21:02

Yeah, it's really crazy when you start to think about it, like everything changed in the fourth century when, yeah, emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and then he had that council of Nicaea where they all decided what was going to stay in the Bible, what wasn't, and this is something that I just discovered. There were all these different types of Christians the Orthodox Christians, the Gnostic Christians, you know, and then there were even in the Gnostic studies. There were different types there, but they were very different than each other. The Orthodox is more hierarchical and you know what we know, I mean today of what, at least definitely what Catholicism is a very hierarchical system. It's just it really started in Cathars.

Speaker 2: 21:40

You heard about the Cathars? No, I don't. So they had. They had a huge group of this Christian group. They were called the Cathars and they held Mary Magdalene, you know, up high. They held Mother Mary up high and they definitely believed in the divine feminine and there was complete genocide on the Cathars. In fact they went as far and there's stories of where the Cathars in fact in France there's the Church Monsecure, supposedly this is where the Ark of the Covenant was. You know, depending on what I mean, I have a whole nother theory on the Ark of the Covenant at this point in my life, but it supposedly was there and the Crusaders were.

Speaker 2: 22:21

That was their job to kill anybody who didn't believe in that canon. And that included whether or not you were Christian or not. If you were part of these other religious Christian sects, it didn't matter, but it was okay if you were like Muslim or Jewish, it was like you can choose from one of the Abrahamic religions that we approve of, but don't be a heretic and be a Christian outside of that. That was so interesting to me because it was like they believe they actually even believe, probably, and have the same scriptures you know, as you do, they just don't want to.

Speaker 2: 22:55

These are their beliefs for a lot longer than this religion that you just created. And so the Cathars were very I feel like they're very Gnostic. Cathar means like pure, so they believed really truly that we were stuck here in these bodies and they were trying to, through each lifetime, like purify their soul so they would go and be part of source energy, and this was like a cell or like a prison that we were in these bodies and so they really didn't believe in. They wanted population control, believe me. Yeah, and yeah, they killed them all. Yeah, it was like the first genocide definitely has gone untold, unknown and is horrific. But it said that two cathars had went down into some tunnel under the church and had gotten out with the ark of the covenant and they did the knights of templar wasn't I don't know if it was the knights of templar, but the Crusaders started that church on fire and locked everybody in it and started the church on fire. I can't believe them all. That's like a big story.

Speaker 1: 23:58

It blew my mind and then you know heresy actually just means choice. So to be a heretic is somebody you know you weren't allowed to have, choice which you should be able to have choice in what you believe, in, what you resonate with Cause everybody resonates something different Insane.

Speaker 2: 24:17

That just goes to show you how very conditioned we are. So when, so when one hasn't had an experience of their own and they're only following from generation to generation in their belief systems, no wonder, cause anything but was your heritage? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's so crazy, yeah, and I do believe that they've used a beautiful story of Jesus, you know, for power and control, and they've had that, they've had that, and I think that the younger generation, so you're gonna have to prove to them they're not just believing what they're told.

Speaker 1: 24:53

Yeah, I totally agree about the message of Jesus. You know, that's one of the things that never made sense to me. You know, like, growing up it's like we were always taught. You know God is ever loving, ever merciful, ever forgiving. But then if you think about the other side of it, but if you make this mistake or this mistake, you go to know and I do agree with you that they've taken the message of Jesus and they made it something was never meant to be.

Speaker 1: 25:17

I've been reading a lot about Christ consciousness and a lot about Jesus and all of the things he detested is what it ended up becoming. You know, the hierarchical and the political parts of it, like those are all the things that he wanted nothing to do with and spoke out against. And that's what it is today which gave me pause and which is why I've been on this path. Now, you know, looking at, and then there's a reason, like if they've taken these books out or somebody, I mean at the time there was all this to believe anything outside of what they had decided was going to be the, what everybody was going to be following. You were here, I mean, and there were some serious, like we just talked about genocidal con. You know people were being killed for this. So what I was hearing, with these texts that were found, discovered, is that somebody probably snuck out, took them and buried them somewhere to protect the knowledge because it would have been destroyed, you know.

Speaker 2: 26:13

So it's, it's just really mind-blowing yeah, and you think about right, and you have to also know that right, everything was like word of mouth for so long. I mean, all these people did not know how to write, so a lot of this stuff, yeah, yeah, or.

Speaker 2: 26:31

But you know what's interesting, though the Gnostic gospels are very much like some of the new tests and most of most of the new Testament stories. They're there, they're just a little different. Like when you hear the book of Thomas, you know the kingdom is inside of you and it's outside of you, and when you come to know yourself, then you will be known. You know there's similarities. We're almost thinking it's going to be word for word, and then there's this little week in it where it actually the power then is inside rather than outside.

Speaker 1: 27:02

It's everything you seek is within. Everything you seek is within. I actually read that Thomas quote. It's just really mind blowing. I actually wrote it down. It's like if you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you don't bring forth what is within you, what you don't bring forth will destroy you. I mean like how, wow, that is.

Speaker 2: 27:33

That's actually at the front of my book, really, yeah, because that's how it felt and I actually didn't hear that or didn't read that one, or it didn't stick with me anyways, because it's actually just a few lines right after the one I just said in the book of Thomas. It didn't stick with me and then, after I was doing this journey and I kept on thinking, at the beginning I didn't know if I should share it with people. I'm like people are going to think this is crazy, but then I just kept having all this validation that it wasn't, and so I started to share. I'd share with like one person, two people, but literally I had no one to talk about through this journey. Finally, I got brave enough to like JJ Hurtak on my podcast and some Gnostic scholars, and I was using my podcast to kind of get I had some clout to be able to ask these amazing authors on so that I could pick their brains on what was going on, because most of the things that was happening wasn't coming from books. It was happening through synchronicities, like real, amazing experience, which this is what I was looking for, because this is what I learned for that to be. My truth was the experience, like I just had one, this crazy kind of realization over the past few days. In fact, I've only told like one person, so I'll share it with you. So, back in 2022, I had realized that the word Sophia in Greek Hebrew actually had the first three letters of my last name in it and it says Vav, because Vav is the sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and it just really stuck out to me. Because, of course, it stuck out to me, you know, I mean V-A-V is not like a common prefix, and so it stuck out.

Speaker 2: 29:20

But that day I was in my backyard and I was talking to Ellen Catherine Shamilov, who I've had on my podcast a few times, and I was telling her about this because she's Jewish and she, you know, I was like what's this, bob, you know, and all this, and all of a sudden I'm sitting in the backyard and I don't even really look up. I just kind of noticed the sun and the moon are absolutely aligned in my backyard, like I don't have to turn my head at all, like the sun was in my right eye and the moon was in my left eye and it was a new moon and it was very, you know, I think it was a waxing moon which ends up being the crown moon. And all of a sudden, I'm like Ellen, I have to let you go, cause I was having like this realization that, you know, the sun and the moon are just polar opposites, right, like male and female, they're consorts. You can't have one without the other. You can't have night without dark, you know, or light without darkness. You can't have night without day. And it all just started like in one moment, all of this realization, it was huge. And then all of a sudden, I look up and there's this white dove above my head. It was so crazy, I took a picture of all of it. Sudden, I look up and there's this white dove above my head. It was so crazy, I took a picture of all of it because I was like no one's going to believe this is so crazy. So then I started to write and sometimes this happens, whether it's an experience or if I meditate, and I just start writing and I can't stop writing. It's like I'm just throwing up all over this paper. And then so I wrote about it. And this was what in 2022.

Speaker 2: 30:54

So now, 2024, just two days ago, and, looking through YouTube or something, I think I was looking for something because I follow a few people. I was looking for their YouTubes and I see this random thing that says alchemical marriage, and so I don't know why, but I clicked on it and it's a very old video that someone made. I don't even know who made, so I don't know why, but I clicked on it and it's a very old video that someone made. I don't even know who made it. I haven't even researched that part, but I listened to it and I'm like this is super weird. He's talking about the sun on the right side, the moon on the left, and he even says this and a marriage between the two and a dove. Above there's even a picture.

Speaker 2: 31:35

It was in a book that was like from the 1600s. It's a Rosicrucian story Actually. It's like hermetic philosophy and literally has this marriage and like things that I wrote are in that. I mean it's almost even word for word some of the things that I wrote and I was like I cannot believe this. This is so weird. I knew this story but I didn't so like where did it come from? So I'm like either I was a Rosicrucian in my past life or I'm being downloaded this hermetic philosophy somehow and it just is always very validating when stuff like that happens, you know, because I mean it's just like if I ever doubted that there was something greater than I, then something like that happens and I'm like no, there's definitely something going on here.

Speaker 1: 32:24

Unbelievable, Wow. I mean, that's so synchronistic and you must have been channeling when you were writing all of that stuff. That's so interesting yeah absolutely, but the. Pistachio, it's Hellenic teachings are weaved into that. Correct or Hermetic? I'm sorry. I said Hellenic.

Speaker 2: 32:42

You know what we're Hellenistic? No, I mean, she falls into that too, you know? That's the thing. Sophia is Bridget, she is Isis, right. She's Kalima. She is every iconic goddess, right. She is the divine feminine wisdom of God, his equal, his consort, his syzygy, as it would be said in the Gnostic Gospels. So everything they believed has, you know, the sun and the moon, has an opposite, has polarity, and it cannot be without.

Speaker 2: 33:23

And what's amazing about the story of Sophia was just the story that Jesus taught to his disciples and you know he did this in a lot of those books in the Gnostic Gospels, which is why I think they were probably hidden. They were either hidden Well, I think they were hidden for that but these were also known secret teachings of Jesus. He knew he couldn't teach this to the mass because it's very deep teachings. This is for the people who are willing to really sit around him, like his disciples, and learn on a very deep level, because there was all of this hidden wisdom even within his stories. You know all you know, like Zen stories, I totally saw Jesus as like a Zen master. He was wicked, really poetic and wise in the Gnostic Gospels. But you know, if you think about it.

Speaker 2: 34:15

Another part in the Gnostic Gospels is that Trinity. The Trinity is actually only mentioned one time, I believe, in the New Testament. The Trinity is all over the Gnostic Gospels, but it's not Father, Son and some Holy Ghost, of course. It's a mother. There's a mother God. How would you have a holy family with just a father and a son? I mean, it's just common sense, but yet we've been so brainwashed for so long. But the dove usually does symbolize Sophia, you know, or that fully feminine aspect of God.

Speaker 1: 34:53

Yeah, oh my gosh. So how has approaching this changed your?

Speaker 2: 34:59

life. Oh my God, it's changed everything, especially because, you know, there were times I was mad. I'm not going to be honest. I mean, I will be honest about that. I would be like for 2000 years. How can you know? How could we have not known all of this? You know, god, they suppressed all of the feminine. I mean, look at Mary Magdalene or, from the beginning, hold on Eve, my God and her dumb mistake that she makes with eating an apple, when clearly eating from the tree of knowledge was a great decision.

Speaker 1: 35:30

Yeah, it's all the spin on the story, right.

Speaker 2: 35:34

But all the way till you know, only virgins are spoken of highly and then everybody else is a prostitute. Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute, you know, and the church has admitted that already and calls her now the disciple of all disciples. But she actually was Mary of Bethany, like, do your homework. It's absolutely insane. Know how much you know that bible? It was written by men, foremen period. I do feel like I mean, I learned the story of norea, which is one of adam's daughter, adam and eve's daughters, I mean, and it's a beautiful story. It's ridiculous. We don't know this story and you know. I mean she was powerful and she refused to lay before a man. I mean she was just like this powerful feminine story that was just written out. Then you also have the story of Lilith. I mean, many Jews believe in the story of Lilith, but they fear her as some sort of demon, when she too, the story is that she wouldn't lay before Adam. And it's clear in the Bible when you read it you know.

Speaker 2: 36:39

It first says you know God made them, you know man and woman. Then later on it says you know that he made Eve, took Eve from Adam's rib. So who is them? I mean that was Lilith. I mean all of these very strong stories of the feminine you know were taken out or downright altered and you know, to keep women suppressed.

Speaker 2: 37:02

I learned about just a few months ago I was studying Mary Magdalene, for not Mary Magdalene, mother Mary for months, and that I mean I just it blows me away. I went to my mother, who is still Catholic, and I sat with her and I said who's St Anne? And she goes well, that's Mother Mary's mom, right, Jesus' grandmother. I said but how do you know this? She says because it's in the Bible. I said no, it's not. So how do you know? I don't know. Everyone knows that St Anne is her mother. So I dig.

Speaker 2: 37:34

One of the books was in the Gnostic Gospels, Kelly, it was the Nativity of Mary. Then there was another one I found in the Infancy Gospels, which there's a whole bunch of Gospels that they found, I think, in the 1800s, where they all talk about Jesus. Everyone's always wondered what happened to those missing years of Jesus. Well, they were buried too, to those missing years of Jesus. Well, they were buried too. Yeah, that book as well was St Anne and Joachim, her father, mary's parents, and the story was amazing. I mean, it seriously is amazing.

Speaker 2: 38:06

I don't yet understand why it wasn't included, but they couldn't get pregnant. I mean, they were living in were they living in? They weren't living in Nazareth, they were living in. Were they living in? They weren't living in Nazareth, they were living in. Maybe they were living in Nazareth. Well, one was from Galilee, one was from Bethlehem, and they were both from the house of David. You know, because lineage always matters, right, except for Mary's, never did, but that's true, they never cared to record the women's lineages. I guess they didn't matter, but you would still think the mother of God would be important. You would think I mean just saying, right, she was the best soul. Maybe that's why, maybe that is why, but you know, so Anna couldn't get pregnant.

Speaker 2: 38:52

It'd been 20 years that they had been married and you know, they've been praying for this and Joachim goes away for 40 days, 40 nights, and prays, and she prays too under this laurel tree, and kind of like the same story you've heard before, where Archangel Gabriel comes and says you know, you are going to have a child. In fact, this child is going to be so famous and also hold the seed of the Savior. And then it goes. Then also this angel goes to her husband, tells him the same thing and she gets pregnant and she promises to this angel that she will give her child to the Lord. And I didn't quite know what that meant until I kept reading.

Speaker 2: 39:36

But at six months old Mary was acting like a very advanced child, like she was talking and walking at like six months old, which they thought this is because you know she's a miracle.

Speaker 2: 39:48

You know the angels said she was, and at the time Zacharias was the head priest of the house of Israel and this was also Elizabeth's husband, and Joachim wants to send this six month baby to go live at the temple. But Anna's like can we just wait till she's three and I'm not breastfeeding her anymore? And so they do. And at three years old she takes, they take Mary to the temple and in one story it says that she climbed up the stairs like with no problem and it was like 15 stairs going up. And another one says they called the Hebrew girls to like carry their lanterns and like kind of lead Mary into the temple and they pray that she doesn't look back. And she doesn't, and she goes and lives there until she's of age, which is 12. And then the rest of the story. Most, now, but the fact that that's kind of a cool story.

Speaker 1: 40:44

I've never heard that background of Mother Mary before ever.

Speaker 2: 40:47

Well, guess what? It's also in the Quran. That exact story is in the Quran. So people want to say, oh, you know, don't believe these apocryphal texts, these Gnostic Gospels, these buried Gospels. Well, there's a little bit of credit to it when it's also still in the Quran.

Speaker 1: 41:05

It's corroborated with something else and I don't see what's. You know, what is everybody afraid of? You know, with people reading the Gnostic Gospels, reading anything everybody should be able to I think this of everything read, come to their own conclusion. You know people are capable of that. There's reasons. You know what I'm with you, Like if you're removing books.

Speaker 2: 41:28

Yeah, in my book, in my book that I am writing, I am only sharing my experiences, Like I don't want anyone to believe what I believe. I encourage you to go out and have your own experiences. That's exactly how I live my life, but I'm just. You know. The thing is, is that if I can give a voice to poor Mary's story or Sophia's never been heard right, or Mary Magdalene's story or any beautiful, divine feminine who absolutely was part of a history that is so historic throughout the world that so many people believe in and kill for, even right, and I just I feel like we need to know the truth. We're at this time in our life, in the world, where we don't have to buy into fairy tales like we can go and create our own if we want to. Like this is it's no longer, it's like gone. Are the days right? It's time. The time is now to let women have a voice and also let women have a voice for those before us. I think it's very important, yeah.

Speaker 1: 42:33

And share this knowledge that it's been around for thousands of years and been suppressed and there's no reason other than for control, and that it's manipulation and whatever you know of how they wanted people to believe their existence was you know.

Speaker 2: 42:52

It is hidden. In plain sight, plain sight, it's all over. I mean, I was watching the beginning of the war in Ukraine and there's this reporter reporting from outside of the St Sophia Cathedral that looks like frickin' Disneyland. And then I look, it's a world sight, the Hagia Sophia in the center of Instable, which was then Constantinople. Right, right, it's like nothing you've ever seen before. It's ginormous, and now it's a mosque because it's gone back and forth muslim and into christianity. But it was originally created to be the center of christianity and it's called holy sofia. Like holy shit, like what? And whoever questioned what that was or who she was? It's right there, it's all over. Look at the first robot. They named her Sophia. You know this first humanoid? You know that they made. I mean, it's everywhere. Nasa has some sort of telescope, first of its kind, that flies up. It's named Sophia.

Speaker 1: 43:55

That is really interesting sort of telescope, first of its kind, that flies up. It's named Sophia. That is really interesting. All of that. That's so interesting, it's so crazy.

Speaker 1: 44:00

It is, you know, the divine feminine, the divine masculine, just like that balance right there and all that it is. It's a balance of energies, and there's divine feminine and masculine in each and every one of us, and just learning about it and knowing what that means to each of us as individuals, it's really interesting how this is all coming together. Yeah, I mean, if you look at the world today. Yeah, I mean I look at the world today and I think, I mean and this is just a view I have the imbalances that we see and the chaos, the atrocities. Is it because this lost knowledge of the divine feminine, this other way of living and these Gnostic gospels? It's a type of Christianity that is more diverse, more forgiving. You know, it's a way of living that we haven't seen or experienced and maybe there's something to this, you know, that can help heal where we're at.

Speaker 1: 44:56

I think more people should be exploring and living the way that you have said. You know, how much of this have I been told to believe, how much of this have I experienced for myself, my altering for me when I heard you say that, because everything I read, everything I do, now I think about that. You know what have I experienced for myself? It's a very eye-opening way to approach everything you know. If it doesn't have to be religion either, yes, it could be. Yeah, I mean, what have you actually experienced? And it's so interesting. You know all of this stuff but oh, my goodness, so it's your truth.

Speaker 2: 45:34

Nobody can can take it from you. It's your truth. Once you do it that way, you know it's yours and you know this is my experience. I haven't experienced. You know that to be true, you know, or I. You know I have, and no one can take it from you.

Speaker 3: 45:50

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 45:51

Yeah, so it's so crazy, but you're right, you could think about it in any way. Someone will tell me that too. You know, I use this detergent so good. You know. Whatever you can think, about it that way.

Speaker 1: 46:08

You're like, well, let me experience it first. Hey, absolutely, I mean it is. It's a good way to to look at everything. Oh my gosh, and I'm conversation. I've been really interested in Mary Magdalene too, because she has been painted in such a unfair way, you know, and when I started to like learn the truth about her, I was like, oh my gosh, everything that I was told was a lie. And when you start to understand, you know her and what she was and what she brought to the table. You know her and what she was and what she brought to the table. It's really interesting, you know, that whole her being an equal just really was mind blowing to me and that that was hidden.

Speaker 1: 46:46

I mean, I have two daughters, you know. One of the things for me is like I don't want to raise them in a faith where they would feel like they couldn't have a role, a leadership role, if they wanted. That I tell my kids. I'm not going to tell you what to believe. If you ask me questions about things, I'll tell you what I think or what my. You know what my beliefs are, but you don't believe what I believe. You need to figure it out for yourself. You need to go out into the world, research experience and come up with that on your own. I've just been this way since my spiritual awakening, you know, but with my older two. So I have three kids. My oldest is 14. That's my son, and then I have two girls, 11 and six, and I did the first two.

Speaker 1: 47:31

I got baptized and you know, I got married in the church and all the things. And then I went through my awakening and I was. You know, I got married in the church and all the things. And then I went through my awakening and I was, you know, all of a sudden it was just like it didn't make sense to me anymore and my dad, who is very Catholic still and I love him to death but he says so when are you going to be baptized, holly? And I was like I don't think I'm going to.

Speaker 1: 47:50

You know, it's just. It just doesn't resonate with me. We're Not that I have anything against anybody. I don't believe that God will. When she crosses over, when her life has come to an end, I don't believe it will matter whether she was baptized or not. I think there's other things that are more important, like how you chose to live your life, how you made people feel you know. Those are the important things, those are. The measure of your life is where you, how you gave and received love and did you live joyfully, did you share your you know, your knowledge and your love with the world. I mean, that's what I really believe.

Speaker 2: 48:21

I mean, you just wait like 10 years that Pope's changing so many things. You know all the things that he's changed over his time, I mean, and actually not just even him. I mean, mediumship is okay, you know.

Speaker 1: 48:35

Yeah, I mean that was always the devil's work, right? I mean tarot cards, all the things like oh, you know, be aware of this, it's the devil's work. And you know I laugh now a little bit because it really is a way I really feel like you know, when you work with any sort of cards oracle cards, tarot cards or you work with spirit in general I mean you're a Reiki master when you're in your session, you know you're intuitive, you're working with spirit, you know like that's all tools, your connection to the divine. So I think it's funny that they would demonize like a way for people to connect with spirit or with the divine. It's just, it's really interesting to me and they have no problem.

Speaker 2: 49:13

Yeah, and they have no problem. Yeah, and they have no problem like burying statues, like in their front yard to sell a house, like that's not voodoo or something right, it's just pick and choose, right.

Speaker 1: 49:25

I guess it's just so funny, the some of the things you know, but yeah it's okay, and you know.

Speaker 2: 49:31

They also said there's no hell. They also say there's no more hell. Have you heard that one?

Speaker 1: 49:36

I have heard it?

Speaker 2: 49:37

yeah, I mean well, I don't really.

Speaker 1: 49:38

I don't believe in hell anyway.

Speaker 2: 49:40

But right, right. But so whenever you, I hear stuff, I'm like wait, have you gotten the updates? You know now there's even gay marriages, you know are right, you know, or okay, so there's lots. I mean you've got to evolve. I mean we're a lot more evolved now. So I had one time on nadia bolts weber I don't know if you know she's a powerhouse and she said you know, churches better wake up. She said it in a lot more stronger way than that and she said because the churches are just getting empty, more empty, empty, and if they don't start evolving and waking up, they're not going to have anybody to preach to.

Speaker 1: 50:20

Yeah, spirituality is just going to evolve and change. I mean, people will experience the divine in just different ways than going in to the church to get that connection so interesting. Oh my gosh, Shanna. Well, this was such a great conversation with you today. I'm so thankful for you coming on. What closing thoughts would you like to leave with the audience today?

Speaker 2: 50:40

Well, first of all, just thanks for having me on. I love talking about this because I feel like not a lot of people do. I mean, even if you search for this information, it's kind of hard to find, like you have to really go dig. You're not going to hear about this on your news for sure. There's not a lot of information out there, but there's more and more now, which is amazing. But there's also, sadly, not even that many women who study this. So it is amazing that Ms Pagels does.

Speaker 2: 51:09

But I just feel like you know what? Go out and experience something for yourself, even if it's reading the gospels for the first time, as an experience. You know, it's kind of hard sometimes to take out all of the things that you've been conditioned with to believe about some of the scripture, but it's pretty darn amazing. You may not get first, you may not get past those first few chapters without thinking that angels, maybe aliens, is what I came to think. But I mean, yeah, but go out and experience, yeah. Or just ask yourself how much of what you've been told have you just been told to believe? You know, and how much of that have you actually experienced to be your truth? And that's to me the most empowering thing that a human can do for themselves ever.

Speaker 1: 51:57

Absolutely Well, shannon, do you have anything new coming up or anything you want to share with the listeners?

Speaker 2: 52:03

Oh, I do have some new stuff coming up and I can't even tell you, can't tell anybody. It's super exciting, though, oh, my God, I want to tell people, but I do have something amazing coming up, so you'll have to watch out for that. I'll be letting everyone know, but I have a mini series on Sophia and this is through my Patreon. You know you could be a member for like five bucks and still get it, but you also now can be a member of Patreon and not have to be a paid member at all, and I do circles every month and I try to talk about stuff like this and do circles around Sophia, around like we're going to do one for the eclipse coming up, because that is such a feminine, masculine alignment, is it not? So that's perfect for kind of what everybody is experiencing right now.

Speaker 2: 52:52

And you know, I think that it's not even so much about like masculine and feminine. It's the divine, that sacred masculine, the sacred feminine coming together, because there's definitely distorted of both, that's for sure. But yeah, so you know, friends of soul patreon and soulpodcastcom is my website and yeah, I've got really good episodes coming up as well. Oh, my God, I have a man who he's actually he's. He's dying and he wanted to come on to talk about what it's like to live, knowing that. You know you, I have a death doula coming on, two of them Actually.

Speaker 2: 53:31

I don't know why all this. You know transformation is coming up, but my podcast is like that. I don't know if yours is like that, Kelly, but whenever I need in my life like starts to come forth in my podcast episodes.

Speaker 1: 53:50

Yeah, it's all synchronistic. You just start going down certain pathways and it just leads you in the most amazing direction. It really does.

Speaker 2: 53:59

I love podcasting, so yeah, and you're going to be coming on.

Speaker 1: 54:05

Yes, yeah, I'll be a guest on your show. I'm so excited for that. Oh, shanna, this has been so amazing. I want to say I truly honor the beautiful, beautiful light you are in this world and all the things you share with your listeners. I really highly the beautiful, beautiful light you are in this world and all the things you share with your listeners. I really highly encourage everybody please go out and listen to Sense of Soul. It is life-changing to listen to everything to Shanna, her story, her guests and all the things that she has to offer. So, thank you so much for being here and oh gosh, what a great conversation today. Yeah, so fun. Thank you.

Speaker 2: 54:34

Oh gosh, what a great conversation today. Yeah, so fun.

Speaker 3: 54:41

Thank you. Hey, it's Jen Mitchell, host of the Soul Traveler podcast and your partner in leveling up your life through quantum hypnosis. I'm sure that you've heard before that all answers lie within right. Well, it's true. Do you ever wonder how some people are so wildly successful and seem to achieve all of their life goals? It's because they've figured out life's secret the power of the subconscious mind. Highly successful CEOs and entrepreneurs have used hypnosis to make their dreams a reality, and it's no longer a secret. Now you can transform your life with the power of the subconscious by using these same techniques with quantum hypnosis. Let's level up your life.

Speaker 3: 55:20

Visit me online at thesoulexperiencescom and click on hello beautiful soul.

Speaker 2: 55:43

Thank you again for listening I'd like to ask you to please rate, review and follow the show it really helps to have it become more visible and the beautiful messages be spread to more people.

Speaker 1: 55:55

I also wanted to mention that I am now offering Reiki distance sessions. The link will be in the podcast notes. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions about that. Also, I wanted to put out there. If there is something that you have to share, you have to be a guest on the show. Please reach out to me and we'll see if it's a good fit. Thank you again for being here and sending love, light, joy, peace and magic your way.