Who is Chochmah?

In Search of Feminine Wisdom Through Darkness & Chant

So there’s this Kabbalistic character named Chochmah (wisdom), who I’ve recently been learning more about. Most of the time she’s feminine, but in true Kabbalistic fashion, not all of the time. Putting that aside for now…

Chochmah shows up a lot in the Book of Mishlei (Proverbs), which I’ve been working with to create chants from and learn from in a deeper way. Lines such as:

בְּשׂ֘וּמ֤וֹ לַיָּ֨ם ׀ חֻקּ֗וֹ וּ֭מַיִם לֹ֣א יַֽעַבְרוּ־פִ֑יו בְּ֝חוּק֗וֹ מ֣וֹסְדֵי אָֽרֶץ׃

וָאֶהְיֶ֥ה אֶצְל֗וֹ אָ֫מ֥וֹן וָאֶהְיֶ֣ה שַׁ֭עֲשׁוּעִים י֤וֹם ׃

When He assigned the sea its limits,

So that its waters never transgress His command;

When He fixed the foundations of the earth,

I was with Him as a confidant,

A source of delight every day. (Mishlei 8:31)

This feminine wisdom was with the (in this paradigm) male creator at the beginning of creation — a partner!

I’ve heard of Shechinah (the Divine Feminine indwelling presence, said to have been exiled after the second Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed) and Malchut (the lowest of the 10 sefirot, or Divine emanations, meaning “sovereignty”). Those two are also often synonymous in Kabbalistic systems. But no one ever taught me about Chochmah in this way!

Maybe they’re all different aspects of the same Divine Feminine, different prismatic reflections of the same moonlight, if you will. But I’m interested and called to learn more about Chochmah.

This exploration has also found me learning more about the darkness, the ultimate womb space. My teacher Rabbi Tirzah Firestone recommended an amazing book to me called Waking Up to the Dark by Clark Strand. Now I highly recommend it to you, dear readers. It’s not a long read, but it beautifully connects the darkness and the Divine Feminine in deep and surprising ways. I found it to be revelatory.