Lady Venus Eaglewoman
With deep gratitude to all I have learned with the Wisdom School of Sophia, I humbly offer this refection and testament to the power of these teachings and to Tiana Mirapae as a priestess and teacher.
When I first arrived at Goddus Mountain for winter solstice ritual 2011, I felt the Call. I had no idea what was happening there, no clue at all. I had never attended a neo-pagan ritual, didn’t know what the School of Sophia was, and did NOT feel connected to my feminine power. I saw many women wearing a silver necklace with a tree, and was curious. What does this mean? I asked. They told me they were a part of a school called Sophia and I knew in that moment that I would join knowing literally nothing about it. I didn’t even ask. I just said yes to my intuition.
After 6 years with Sophia I can say that this was a powerful turning point in my life. It is hard to capture all I have learned but I will try.
I felt the freedom of exploring ideas and practices in community, that in the dominant culture would be considered “woo woo” or crazy.
In Sophia, there is a baseline of belief that freed me:
yes! The fairies are real.
Yes! We are all psychic and connected.
Yes! There are spiritual allies everywhere who are ready and willing to support us.
Yes! We can be feminine and beautiful and powerful in total safety.
Yes! The sacred feminine principle is re-emerging from her slumber and we are each the embodiment of the goddess. And being a witch is FUN!
Yes! Every woman/man is celebrated as uniquely powerful and beautiful, regardless of culturally approved body form.
Yes! We can learn in an embodied, feminine way, that spirals in deeper and deeper with each turn of the wheel.
Yes! We can gather in community and celebrate the sun tides and moon tides and the seasons of mother earth.
Yes! We can heal ourselves and others in a multidimensional way.
Yes! We can step into our power and inner authority as priestesses and mages and support our beloved communities with rites of passage and rituals both personal and communal.
Yes! We can make peace with each other when the inevitable triggers arise.
Yes! We can each express and celebrate our unique powerful selves.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
As a therapist and community leader, I use what I have learned at the Wisdom School of Sophia every day.
I learned how to be in loving relationship with the plant spirits, and opened my access to the infinite ways I can be supported by them and offer deep love and gratitude in return. This way of being in relationship is easily applied to all the spiritual allies- crystals, angels, faery and nature spirits, ancestors, star beings, ascended masters. I now know that I am supported by spirit and all I have to do is ask.
I learned what it feels like to celebrate the 8 turns of the solar wheel, designing rituals that help the community to tune into and celebrate the unique energy of the high and low solar tides of summer and winter solstice, the balanced energy of the equinoxes and the glorious juice of the cross-quarters of Imbolc, Beltaine, Lammas, and Samhain. When I first began attending and participating in these community rituals, I could not connect very deeply. It felt un-real to me somehow- like I was “faking” it. It felt like a show or pageant. And with each passing year of rituals, I deepened in my understanding and connection. Now I mourn any rituals that I cannot attend for whatever reason. I feel the power of turning the wheel with my community. I feel the connection to my ancestors that did this same thing, long, long ago.
I learned about feminine leadership from my beloved teacher Lady Tiana. This was a glorious surprise, having been weaned on masculine mind-centered education from early childhood. Everything that is taught at Sophia is done in an embodied, heart-centered way. Once a weekend there is a mind-centered download on whatever we are learning, but everything else is embodied learning. The design of the curriculum is a spiral that brings the students down deeper and deeper into the teachings and healing with each year.
Sophia is also a survey class- many ideas, tools, and practices are introduced and offered; each student then has the opportunity to feel where s/he feels called to dive deeper on an individual path of learning and discovery.
The curriculum is designed as a personal healing process. Every shamanic practice we learn is first experienced and directed at our own personal healing. And while Lady Tiana sets clear boundaries about Sophia not being group therapy, it IS a place for learning how to apply healing tools and practices firstly on ourselves and our sisters/brothers in our group. As each turning year brings us more deeply into the teachings, it also brings us more deeply into our own healing and healing our ancestral and past-life lineages.
Lady Tiana in a unique teacher. As self-proclaimed Brooklyn Sagittarius pagan tribal Jew, Tiana is hilarious and full of fire. She is both irreverent (she drops the F bomb in class and in community rituals with glee) and is deeply loving and present. She comes from an eclectic lineage of teachings and offers not one path, but the place where many paths converge. As one who is curious about leadership and community development, I have watched her closely for 6 years; I have found her to be courageous, loving, transparent, always learning and willing to own her mistakes and shadow. And she somehow taps into the energy of the earth, as she DOES more than anyone I know by working full time as a therapist and healer, while also running 2-3 Sophia groups every other weekend and hosting 8 (or more) community rituals at her home. I honestly don’t know how she does it.
I will always be grateful to Tiana and the teachings of Sophia. I feel my own power as a magical priestess/healer/queen and believe that these embodied teachings are an essential element for the return of the sacred feminine and the re-balancing and healing of the planet.
Blessed be.
Lady Venus Eaglewoman
With deep gratitude to all I have learned with the Wisdom School of Sophia, I humbly offer this refection and testament to the power of these teachings and to Tiana Mirapae as a priestess and teacher.
When I first arrived at Goddus Mountain for winter solstice ritual 2011, I felt the Call. I had no idea what was happening there, no clue at all. I had never attended a neo-pagan ritual, didn’t know what the School of Sophia was, and did NOT feel connected to my feminine power. I saw many women wearing a silver necklace with a tree, and was curious. What does this mean? I asked. They told me they were a part of a school called Sophia and I knew in that moment that I would join knowing literally nothing about it. I didn’t even ask. I just said yes to my intuition.
After 6 years with Sophia I can say that this was a powerful turning point in my life. It is hard to capture all I have learned but I will try.
I felt the freedom of exploring ideas and practices in community, that in the dominant culture would be considered “woo woo” or crazy.
In Sophia, there is a baseline of belief that freed me:
yes! The fairies are real.
Yes! We are all psychic and connected.
Yes! There are spiritual allies everywhere who are ready and willing to support us.
Yes! We can be feminine and beautiful and powerful in total safety.
Yes! The sacred feminine principle is re-emerging from her slumber and we are each the embodiment of the goddess. And being a witch is FUN!
Yes! Every woman/man is celebrated as uniquely powerful and beautiful, regardless of culturally approved body form.
Yes! We can learn in an embodied, feminine way, that spirals in deeper and deeper with each turn of the wheel.
Yes! We can gather in community and celebrate the sun tides and moon tides and the seasons of mother earth.
Yes! We can heal ourselves and others in a multidimensional way.
Yes! We can step into our power and inner authority as priestesses and mages and support our beloved communities with rites of passage and rituals both personal and communal.
Yes! We can make peace with each other when the inevitable triggers arise.
Yes! We can each express and celebrate our unique powerful selves.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
As a therapist and community leader, I use what I have learned at the Wisdom School of Sophia every day.
I learned how to be in loving relationship with the plant spirits, and opened my access to the infinite ways I can be supported by them and offer deep love and gratitude in return. This way of being in relationship is easily applied to all the spiritual allies- crystals, angels, faery and nature spirits, ancestors, star beings, ascended masters. I now know that I am supported by spirit and all I have to do is ask.
I learned what it feels like to celebrate the 8 turns of the solar wheel, designing rituals that help the community to tune into and celebrate the unique energy of the high and low solar tides of summer and winter solstice, the balanced energy of the equinoxes and the glorious juice of the cross-quarters of Imbolc, Beltaine, Lammas, and Samhain. When I first began attending and participating in these community rituals, I could not connect very deeply. It felt un-real to me somehow- like I was “faking” it. It felt like a show or pageant. And with each passing year of rituals, I deepened in my understanding and connection. Now I mourn any rituals that I cannot attend for whatever reason. I feel the power of turning the wheel with my community. I feel the connection to my ancestors that did this same thing, long, long ago.
I learned about feminine leadership from my beloved teacher Lady Tiana. This was a glorious surprise, having been weaned on masculine mind-centered education from early childhood. Everything that is taught at Sophia is done in an embodied, heart-centered way. Once a weekend there is a mind-centered download on whatever we are learning, but everything else is embodied learning. The design of the curriculum is a spiral that brings the students down deeper and deeper into the teachings and healing with each year.
Sophia is also a survey class- many ideas, tools, and practices are introduced and offered; each student then has the opportunity to feel where s/he feels called to dive deeper on an individual path of learning and discovery.
The curriculum is designed as a personal healing process. Every shamanic practice we learn is first experienced and directed at our own personal healing. And while Lady Tiana sets clear boundaries about Sophia not being group therapy, it IS a place for learning how to apply healing tools and practices firstly on ourselves and our sisters/brothers in our group. As each turning year brings us more deeply into the teachings, it also brings us more deeply into our own healing and healing our ancestral and past-life lineages.
Lady Tiana in a unique teacher. As self-proclaimed Brooklyn Sagittarius pagan tribal Jew, Tiana is hilarious and full of fire. She is both irreverent (she drops the F bomb in class and in community rituals with glee) and is deeply loving and present. She comes from an eclectic lineage of teachings and offers not one path, but the place where many paths converge. As one who is curious about leadership and community development, I have watched her closely for 6 years; I have found her to be courageous, loving, transparent, always learning and willing to own her mistakes and shadow. And she somehow taps into the energy of the earth, as she DOES more than anyone I know by working full time as a therapist and healer, while also running 2-3 Sophia groups every other weekend and hosting 8 (or more) community rituals at her home. I honestly don’t know how she does it.
I will always be grateful to Tiana and the teachings of Sophia. I feel my own power as a magical priestess/healer/queen and believe that these embodied teachings are an essential element for the return of the sacred feminine and the re-balancing and healing of the planet.
Blessed be.
Lady Venus Eaglewoman
Dr. Stephania Sciamano, ND
The Wisdom School of Sophia was a major awakening in my life. I not only learned to have a deeper connection with the world around me, I deepened my connection to Spirit and with my inner wisdom. My self-confidence grew and so did my sense of self-love.
I chose to follow the path to become a Certified Shamanic Healer and in doing so, I tapped into the healer I was always meant to be. My private practice as a Naturopathic Physician has blossomed as my intuitive abilities have skyrocketed. I am better able to serve my patients and to be the mother and woman that Spirit would have me be. I am eternally grateful to Tiana for her guidance, knowledge, and unconditional loving kindness.
The Wisdom School of Sophia was a major awakening in my life. I not only learned to have a deeper connection with the world around me, I deepened my connection to Spirit and with my inner wisdom. My self-confidence grew and so did my sense of self-love.
I chose to follow the path to become a Certified Shamanic Healer and in doing so, I tapped into the healer I was always meant to be. My private practice as a Naturopathic Physician has blossomed as my intuitive abilities have skyrocketed. I am better able to serve my patients and to be the mother and woman that Spirit would have me be. I am eternally grateful to Tiana for her guidance, knowledge, and unconditional loving kindness.
Grant Pike - Mage Gwennic Duir
When I think about SOPHIA, what comes to mind is hope. Life can bring you to many places, and bring about many lessons. Along my own journey through life what comes across are the fundamental values and teachings of the wisdom tradition of SOPHIA. It truly is a perennial wisdom tradition, which follows the flow of deep rooted and enduring wisdom of the Goddess. SOPHIA is home. Home is not something that is a structure, it is where I feel safe. SOPHIA has allowed me to find the courage to truly say that I not only am enough but that I am so much more. It is a massive part that shapes my social work practice and anchors my way along my ever winding life journey.
When I think about SOPHIA, what comes to mind is hope. Life can bring you to many places, and bring about many lessons. Along my own journey through life what comes across are the fundamental values and teachings of the wisdom tradition of SOPHIA. It truly is a perennial wisdom tradition, which follows the flow of deep rooted and enduring wisdom of the Goddess. SOPHIA is home. Home is not something that is a structure, it is where I feel safe. SOPHIA has allowed me to find the courage to truly say that I not only am enough but that I am so much more. It is a massive part that shapes my social work practice and anchors my way along my ever winding life journey.
Kohenet Maryam Phoenix Rhys
When I first met Tiana 3 years ago, I had many years of experience as a spiritual seeker in Alexandrian Wicca for the last 22 years, and Jewish Renewal for nearly 20 of those years. Most recently, I went through training in the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute to deepen my knowledge. I did not check out each of these diverse traditions, discard, and then move on to the next. They are all contained in my being and practice.
Meeting Tiana and joining her Sophia community has been a significant new step in my spiritual development and, unlike my other practices, has built my skills as a healer. In my therapeutic bodywork practice, over the past 13 years, I utilized a number of modalities, integrating manual and energetic therapies. Many of my clients had chronic pain due to physical and/or emotional trauma, either in this life or previous lives. The energetic aspects of doing this work would sometimes leave me exhausted or injured. Tiana’s first class effectively taught me protection and grounding so that I have not been hurt again.
From there, I learned diverse skills expanding my knowledge of energy work and adding herbalism, plant and animal spirit healing, shamanic journeying, crystal work, ritual, Native American wisdom and ritual. Tiana is always there to help in classes and support us individually out of them. I was in the process of incorporating these techniques during my hands-on bodywork sessions. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Tiana has guided and inspired me to develop long distance healing techniques. Based on my experience and conversation with clients after treatment, these procedures are extremely effective and enable me to help others when I cannot be physically present with them. I never would have been able to do this on my own!
Tiana is a skilled and well-grounded spiritual leader and teacher. Join Sophia for the beautiful rituals and community to enrich your life. Join Sophia to learn from Tiana’s vast body of knowledge to develop your healing skills. Whether you’re a seeker or long-term practitioner of Wicca, you’ll find Sophia to be a comfortable and welcoming place.
When I first met Tiana 3 years ago, I had many years of experience as a spiritual seeker in Alexandrian Wicca for the last 22 years, and Jewish Renewal for nearly 20 of those years. Most recently, I went through training in the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute to deepen my knowledge. I did not check out each of these diverse traditions, discard, and then move on to the next. They are all contained in my being and practice.
Meeting Tiana and joining her Sophia community has been a significant new step in my spiritual development and, unlike my other practices, has built my skills as a healer. In my therapeutic bodywork practice, over the past 13 years, I utilized a number of modalities, integrating manual and energetic therapies. Many of my clients had chronic pain due to physical and/or emotional trauma, either in this life or previous lives. The energetic aspects of doing this work would sometimes leave me exhausted or injured. Tiana’s first class effectively taught me protection and grounding so that I have not been hurt again.
From there, I learned diverse skills expanding my knowledge of energy work and adding herbalism, plant and animal spirit healing, shamanic journeying, crystal work, ritual, Native American wisdom and ritual. Tiana is always there to help in classes and support us individually out of them. I was in the process of incorporating these techniques during my hands-on bodywork sessions. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Tiana has guided and inspired me to develop long distance healing techniques. Based on my experience and conversation with clients after treatment, these procedures are extremely effective and enable me to help others when I cannot be physically present with them. I never would have been able to do this on my own!
Tiana is a skilled and well-grounded spiritual leader and teacher. Join Sophia for the beautiful rituals and community to enrich your life. Join Sophia to learn from Tiana’s vast body of knowledge to develop your healing skills. Whether you’re a seeker or long-term practitioner of Wicca, you’ll find Sophia to be a comfortable and welcoming place.