Our Mission
Transformation through Sacred Art,
Sacred Science, and Sacred Practice
Toward a world imbued with love and freedom —
We are forging a new path to Christ, the essence of Divine Love, and Sophia, the wellspring of Divine Wisdom, to serve individual growth on four levels.
- Self ~ engaging in a continual process of inner development to actualize our transcendent nature and redeem our shadow.
- Humanity ~ including interpersonal relationships, community relations, and relationships with other cultures.
- Nature ~ reclaiming our responsibility to Mother Earth and awakening to the starry heavens.
- Spirit ~ opening an experience of the trans-subjective spiritual world, to cultivate co-creative, intuitive capacities in service of God.
The Sophia Foundation’s mission carries forward the spiritual inspiration of Rudolf Steiner, Peter Deunov (Beinsa Douno), Valentin Tomberg, Daniel Andreev, Anne Catherine Emmerich, and other great mystics. We serve to connect Sophia communities around the world working in the spirit of these teachings.
Who is Sophia
Sophia is the wisdom that is the very fabric of our existence. She is so close, so pervasive, that we may not know how to speak of Her, or even know of Her existence. Sophia is the name we give to Her who has guided creation from the beginning. We know Her as beauty, as love and as wisdom.
Sophia means “wisdom” in Greek. Wisdom can be defined as the ability to discern what is true, right and lasting. But Sophia is not merely an intellectual concept. In a higher sense, She is a living being with whom everyone can come into relationship.
She has inspired men and women throughout the ages and in all cultures. It is Sophia who is at the heart of every true religion, guiding those who will to know and act in the light of what is true, right and lasting. She has been known as Radha, as Tara, as Prajna Paramita, as Isis, as Demeter, as Quan Yin, as Schekinah, and as the Virgin Mary.
Robert Powell, author of The Sophia Teachings; the Emergence of the Divine Feminine in Our Time, writes in his introduction: “I am not talking about an abstract quality […] I am referring to a living being, a being who is the Divine Mother of humanity, who cares for every one of us, who is deeply concerned about what is taking place in the world.
It is Sophia whom we seek as we strive to bring beauty, love, wisdom, justice and peace into our dear world. The mission of the Sophia Foundation is to assist people to find and deepen a relationship to Sophia.
Click below for more information on
Sophia in history & literature, and
regarding our sources of inspiration.
The Work of the Sophia Foundation
Founders
Robert Powell
Robert Powell was born in 1947 in Reading, England, and studied mathematics at the University of Sussex, graduating with a Master's degree. At the same time, he developed an interest in astronomy and this, in turn, led him to explore the roots of astrology, the ancient science of the connections between the stars and human beings.
In the early 1970s, while researching these fields at the British Museum Library in London, Robert discovered the Rudolf Steiner Bookshop and Library on Museum Street. From that moment on, Steiner's anthroposophy or spiritual science became the esoteric or spiritual context in which he was to work: a path and a guide. Steiner's many works provided the epistemological, cosmological and Christological foundations he sought to continue his work. Through Steiner, he was led to the work of both the astrosophist Willi Sucher (1902-1985) and the Russian sophiologist Valentin Tomberg (1900-1973).
Karen Rivers, PhD and author
Karen Rivers, PhD, and author of Love and the Evolution of Consciousness: a Study of the Transformation of the Human Soul, the Double, and the Spirit, has dedicated her work to the mysteries of the Divine Feminine. Along with Robert Powell, Karen co-founded the Sophia Foundation. She also founded Chrysalis Productions, a transformational theater company for children and adults, and the Rosamira Circle, a spiritual community awakening within children and adults an ever-deepening relationship with the spiritual world. She integrates the interfaith commonalities of the world religions and the esoteric teachings of Rudolf Steiner and Valentin Tomberg in her courses, spiritual counseling, and ministry. With the Sophia Foundation, Karen has co-led pilgrimages to sacred sites around the world including Turkey, Palestine, France, Great Britain, Italy, Greece, Egypt, India, the Grand Canyon, South Africa, Peru, and Bali. She Directed the New Chartres Academy for ten years, while serving on the faculty of The Wisdom School of Graduate Studies.
