It's based on gnostic ideas, largely Christian but also derived from Greek mystery cults. Basically, the mystery cult relies on gnosis (direct, personal knowing of divinity, similar to enlightenment) for its practitioners, who receive important secret wisdom from the gnosis experience. The Greeks had a mystery cult devoted to Orpheus, and later on early Christians picked up the idea.
Gnostic Christianity holds that the true God (from which Christ comes) has a female aspect, a divinity known as Sophia, whose name means "wisdom" -- to know her through gnosis is literally to be enlightened about the true, dual nature of divinity and the true nature of the universe. One of her titles is "Revealer of Perfect Mysteries," meaning she's the ideal figure for a mystery cult to revolve around.
"Shekinah" is repeated several times because it refers to the idea of the "in-dwelling" of the divine Spirit in the believer. Gnosticism holds that there is a dual nature to reality, the crude world of matter, and the luminous world of spirit. Our souls, the divine spark of the Spirit within us, are trapped within our flesh and the deceptive material world, which blinds us to the true nature of the universe. By achieving gnosis, we can escape from the material world and become one with the spiritual when we die. The failure of "normal" Christianity is to acknowledge only the masculine half of the divine; knowledge of Sophia is required for gnosis as well.
It's based on gnostic ideas, largely Christian but also derived from Greek mystery cults. Basically, the mystery cult relies on gnosis (direct, personal knowing of divinity, similar to enlightenment) for its practitioners, who receive important secret wisdom from the gnosis experience. The Greeks had a mystery cult devoted to Orpheus, and later on early Christians picked up the idea.
Gnostic Christianity holds that the true God (from which Christ comes) has a female aspect, a divinity known as Sophia, whose name means "wisdom" -- to know her through gnosis is literally to be enlightened about the true, dual nature of divinity and the true nature of the universe. One of her titles is "Revealer of Perfect Mysteries," meaning she's the ideal figure for a mystery cult to revolve around.
"Shekinah" is repeated several times because it refers to the idea of the "in-dwelling" of the divine Spirit in the believer. Gnosticism holds that there is a dual nature to reality, the crude world of matter, and the luminous world of spirit. Our souls, the divine spark of the Spirit within us, are trapped within our flesh and the deceptive material world, which blinds us to the true nature of the universe. By achieving gnosis, we can escape from the material world and become one with the spiritual when we die. The failure of "normal" Christianity is to acknowledge only the masculine half of the divine; knowledge of Sophia is required for gnosis as well.