Sophia Circles Sample Session Guide

A discussion with Barbara Marx Hubbard, Joan Borysenko, Suzanne Hubbard and Carolyn Rivers

(See WOW/Sophia Institute website for bios.)

SC Session Summary:

The idea of women as geniuses* is a relatively new one.  When “googling” for the word “genius” men’s names and achievements appear.  But women carry within them the wisdom and the biology for an innate sense of knowing and understanding.  In this lively conversation, Joan, Barbara, Suzanne and Carolyn weave together their experiences.  Joan, a Harvard-trained medical scientist discusses her period in research.  She said the highly competitive, male-dominated environment created a draining atmosphere where some of her colleagues even kept guards by their doors to prevent anyone getting their information.  But, she says, good ideas come out of collaboration, not isolation.  Women know this and explore it intuitively.  Joan says that businesses are beginning to understand that it’s easy to gain the left brain knowledge.  Just Google it for the answers.  But they’re really wanting to learn about how the intuitive side works.  Intuition is an important way to open up to and explore the genius of women.

Giving birth is a key in women’s lifecycles.  It’s part of our biology and many of us have done it.  When the period that Barbara Marx Hubbard calls, “regenopause” occurs – that is the period when women stop producing eggs for reproduction – we move into a whole new level of giving birth and our creativity expands.  We have the opportunity to discover our “passionate vocation,” our life calling that our mates may sometimes find to be more threatening than a lover.  Barbara and Joan speak to the life cycles that women go through.  Joan puts them into stages based on seven year cycles. The first is 0 to 21 years old which she equates with a stage of childhood.  The second is 21 to 42 years old – the motherhood years.  The third period is from 42 to 63, which she refers to as “facing West.” “This is a great place to be,” she says. “It’s a place of healing.” From 63 to the end of life is the place she calls, “facing North.”  As a scientist, Joan addresses the phases of development in each stage.

In terms of brain development and nervous system development, there are ways of knowing that are not logical.  We use logic, but this other way of knowing thrives on symbols and metaphors and uses dreams.  She says that a woman’s right brain or intuitive capacity develops more and more as we grow older.  We may lose details – abilities to recall names, for example – but we begin to see the bigger picture or “the whole forest” as she says.  We pass on this wisdom through storytelling and our ideas grow out of collaboration and discussions with other women and men.

Suzanne Hubbard speaks to what it means to be a “second generation conscious evolutionary.”  She talks of raising her children with respect for their intuitive gifts and allowing them to grow with it in a fertile environment.  Suzanne says that one of the challenges of working with this kind of intuitive wisdom is to stand up to criticism that it’s “flaky” and to follow that wisdom anyway.

Some Study Circle Questions:

What is the essence of the genius of women?

How are women Self-empowered?

How are we Self-guided?

What is the meaning of our new power that is good?

How do you experience your intuition?

How would you like to develop it and follow it more?

What “passionate vocation” is calling you now?

What do you feel an urge to give birth to?

How can you foster an environment of cooperation rather than competition?

*The topic and concept of 'The Genius of Women' was created by Sue Monk Kidd and presented at the inaugural Women of Wisdom Convocation in 2010.