Divine Sophia : A Review of the Spiritual and Psychological Role of the Sacred Feminine in Corbin, Ibn'Arabi, Jung, and Alchemical Symbolism

This literature review examines core concepts of the psychospiritual function of the Divine Sophia in humans' experience of the divine. It looks at the philosophy of Sufi Master Ibn' Arabi, mostly through the translations and interpretations of French scholar Henry Corbin. I also review the work of Jung and Jungian scholars on the archetype of the higher anima or Sophia as well as some alchemical symbolism. This review shows how Corbin's analysis oflbn' Arabi's spiritual philosophy relates to the field of depth psychology. Jung, Corbin, and their followers postulate that spirituality is an intrinsic part ofhuman's psyche and search for meaning. They thus find great value in masters like Ibn' Arabi who reported the experience of gnosis, a direct encounter with the divine through Imagination. One aspect of this path to spiritual awareness is to reconnect with the divine feminine and the ancient wisdom of the world-Sophia-in order to rebalance the masculine and feminine aspects oflife. The Feminine, Fatima-Sophia (Corbin, 1990/l 998b) appears as the preeminent symbol of the Self, and to have knowledge of oneself is to have knowledge of God. Sophia, as the Feminine-Creator or the soul of the world, presents herself and the Divine in nature, animals, and the arts, enabling each of these to serve as a bridge to the Divine. The religion ofthefedeli d'amore, or faithful in love, is the religion in which the fedeli d'amore are reborn in, or give birth to, their true, angelic self (Corbin, 1958/1998a). The literature review focuses on the central place that Sophia holds in the psychospiritual experience of the divine, and therefore in humans' ability to know their true selves, that is, their divine nature. Several core concepts are examined, beginning with the angelic function of a being as the true self, that is to say the pure divine essence of a being. The second core concept is God's Names or divine attributes, which are the ways in which God describes Himself to humans through themselves. One can know God's attributes only by one's knowledge of oneself, and one can discover and experience the Names in one's own mode of being. Therefore, by giving substance to and manifesting a Name one becomes a theophany, a visible manifestation of God. For this manifestation to be possible and recognized as divine in essence, one must feel sympathy for the Divine. One must put oneself in the service of mystical love and have an ardent desire to be at the service of the Divine. Imagination is a core concept of the religion of the Jedele d'amore. Imagination, the ability to attain a state of mind that allows for an encounter with the Divine, is possible only through a sympathetic relationship to the Divine. It involves seeing with the heart, where the heart is understood as a spiritual function, "an organ of subtle physiology" (Corbin, 1958/1998a, p. 221).