She Was Always There

A PUBLIC WORKSHOP WITH SIGNE EKLUND SCHAFER

Living with a Question: Signe Schaefer will speak from her new book She Was Always There – Sophia as a Story for our Time.

“Who, or perhaps what, is she?” Signe Eklund Schaefer poses this question as she leads us into a heartfelt exploration of the great mystery that is Sophia. Her book does not take an academic or theological path but one that is personal and full of warmth and genuine interest in discovery that goes toward living reality, well beyond mere names and fixed ideas. As Schaefer says, she decided to “forego the idea of a straightforward narrative and instead interweave musings, poems, saved quotations, and other assorted notes from my many years of living with questions about and to her.”

Questions of inner growth, of spiritual striving, of how to bear the suffering in the world without going under, and perhaps most of all, of how to love, often present themselves surrounded by veils. In acknowledging a question, the veil may begin to shift. Our questions matter; bringing them to consciousness, exploring them with others, waiting with an open heart for the spirit to speak—this is the ongoing work of unveiling.

Sophia is rightly seen as the living, moving being of universal wisdom and the archetypal feminine, but Schaefer helps us to see her as more—as an expression of what humanity must rightfully become.

Please be prepared with blank paper, colored pencils or crayons, a pen and an open heart.
A quiet room is ideal.
In order to respect the privacy of our participants, we do not record any of our sessions on zoom.

Signe Schaefer has been a long-time adult educator and was for many years the Director of Foundation Studies at Sunbridge College. She was the founding Director of a professional development training in Biography and Social Art. Since retiring, she has published three books: Why on Earth? Biography and the Practice of Human Becoming, I Give You My Word: Women’s Letters as Life Support, and most recently, She Was Always There – Sophia as a Story for our Time. She also co-authored Ariadne’s Awakening: Taking up the Threads of Consciousness and co-edited More Lifeways. A mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, she now lives in Great Barrington, MA, with her husband Christopher.