The Cosmic Shekinah: A historical study of the goddess of the Old Testament and Kabbalah Paperback – April 16, 2011

My favorite aspect of The Cosmic Shekinah: A Historical Study of the Goddess of the Old Testament and Kabbalah, by Sorita d’Este and David Rankine, is the large amount of source material they index and use to illustrate who Shekinah is, a more-or-less universal wisdom goddess, across a handful of traditions, and her symbolism is explained often. I love that, because this symbolism can be used by spiritual seekers to access the goddess. This book is a source of symbolism that I am sure other authors have forgotten simply through lack of breadth of research. Symbols contain power because they help us access the energy of the divine. D’Este and Rankine argue that Shekinah used to have an important role in ancient times of engaging certain qualities of humanity, and with people putting them together to achieve something, could be honored and trusted. This is important to show how she did survive, and why. Every effort is made to give Shekinah and her counterparts a positive role and place in the societies that worshipped her, and the authors show that she was still worshipped in old ways after she was outlawed. This is valuable because Christianity still assumes dis-accreditation, or continues the erasure of Shekinah, from its space. She’s still there; it’s covered over with rubble. The authors attempt excavation.While the authors make a case to show that the wisdom goddess couldn’t be eradicated from the Bible, D’Este and Rankine do not highlight what was lost conceptually when the Shekinah left the earth, so to speak, because they are more concerned with how she morphed and changed into other goddesses. They clearly illustrate the transition from ancient religion to Christianity in terms of Asherah, and the transition to Mother Mary is shown, although it has to be defended. --What survived from this transition was very little in terms of strength, power, and influence. The goddess loses her name. She loses her place. d’Este and Rankine focus on how Astarte/Shekinah/Asherah made the change from important goddess to background presence, and do not say what happened next. The authors provide a transitional piece that follows the goddess tradition with how it moved, mentioning, but not emphasizing, what sank into the realm of time; that is for us to discover. While not the entire story with all its remnants, this remains one of the most definitive and inscribing sources upon which the text of Shekinah is still being written, and gives guides on how the Shekinah was worshipped throughout time.

From someone who has a BA in religious studies and who continuously studies the complexities and histories of religion(s), I must say that this book is a true winner. The amount of info is amazing, and although the authors make some leaps quite often, the language is always clear as to the information vis-a-vis the authors' interpretations. The common threads linking Wisdom, The Goddess, The Serpent, and other concepts/symbols/signs/what-have-you are amazing to behold, and there are plenty of breadcrumbs given that are worth slowing down for and exploring through one's own research. This book is a goldmine and should be more widely read - do not let the fact that a major publisher didn't publish this book put you off.

You can always count on d'Este and Rankine to produce a solid, well-researched work on whatever topic they choose. THE COSMIC SHEKINAH is no different. For such a short book, it is packed with documented and noted information, with an exhaustive bibliography for the more curious. They discuss the precursors of the Shekinah and her progeny, as well as goddess figures that might have inspired or are at least parallel to the Shekinah. The book's biggest weakness comes in its connection to Kabbalah and the Tree of Life--not that it isn't well-researched; it simply is not beginner's information. To fully understand this book, it is necessary to have a working knowledge of the Kabbalah already, as no real background information is provided in these sections.This book would be a great addition to anyone's collection on The Old Testament, Kabbalah, or goddesses. A must read for those who are pagans with a Christian flavor!

This is a must get title along with Sophia, godess of wisdom, Bride of Christ, On the Wings of Shekhnah. As a historian, one presumes we have no idea what the Shekinah glory as found in the Bible is. This show the lack of understanding of the modern man of the cloth when it comes to how the early church taught, what the early Jews believed. These three books shows a plethora, indeed a goldmine of information on this subject. It is modern mans lack of knowledge and personal bias that makes this topic hard to understand. I recommend you grab these three title and go back to how the early church and early Jews viewed this all important topic.

I learned so much I never knew. It was a deep book and still need to finish it. But Women we are more then we think we are. Bravo to the author!!!!!

The book is informative. It is at times almost too detailed but it answered all of my questions threw and threw. I would definitely recommend this book.

All Christians should read this and discover that the Holy Spirit Dove has a very long life and history. It is a book I will keep to be used in thought when I am writing. It is very much worthwhile in my library.

great book for those interested in the Wisdom Goddess and Her manifestations throughout various cultures and spiritual traditions. great foundation for further exploration of Jewish mysticism. As always, the bibliography is an excellent source of other reading material to explore.

I got the kindle edition of this book because it wasn't very expensive and I needed something to read.Based on the title and cover art, and the fact that I'd not heard of the authors I was expecting it to be terrible hippy nonsense. It isn't. This is actually one of the best books on the subject I've read. It's more accessible than Margaret Barker or Raphael Patai, and the authors have an understanding and respect for the source material from a wide range of religious and magical traditions. It's the perfect introduction for anyone who isn't familiar with the topic, but also had much to add even to someone like me who has spent the last twenty years reading anything I can get me hands on about it.

Brilliant

Very well researched, technically accurate. Not an easy read unless you already have a basic knowledge of the Kabbalah/cabbalah/Qabbalah.The book could do with a diagram of the Sephirotic tree - it's ok if you have one in front of you or know it by heart, but not if you're a beginner to the system.The same could be said of the whole book - I really enjoyed it, but it's not for people just starting out with this system.Sometimes read as a textbook, rather than a book to curl up with and relax. I did find it a good book.

This was an informative read, somewhat academic in style and a little dry and repetitive in places, but nevertheless well written and easy to read. However, I was disappointed by the large number of typos in the Kindle edition, many of which resulted in the creation of serious grammatical errors, probably due to the text being spell-checked but not grammar checked prior to publication, so that words like 'made' weren't picked up, when in fact the authors intended to use the word 'make'. Sloppy. (Note to authors: online Grammarly software comes highly recommended!)That said, for £3.18, this is a treasure-trove of information on the divine feminine principle and the history of 'her' role in religious thought, from Sumerian times to the present day. Crucially, this shows how Abrahamic religions, particularly Christianity and Islam, played down the importance of the feminine role, whilst women were made second-class citizens.Interesting then that the rise in neo-paganism and natural religions worshiping the divine feminine principle has coincided with the rise in equality for women. From an agnostic perspective, the question is, does the Below reflect the Above, or is the reverse true?3.5 Stars (rising to 4 once typos are removed).