Samizdat

“Boehme extended his theosophy with the figure of the Noble Virgin of Sophia, a figure based on the allegeory in the Book of Wisdom and Proverbs. She animates the second world of “eternal nature” as a serene and reflective aspect of God. Both the terms “abyss” and “Sophia” recall mythic aspects in the Gnostic aeonology of Valentinus (second century), a remarkable example of Protestant esotericism naively invoking Hellenistic heterodoxy.”

 –Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, The Western Esoteric Traditions: A Historical Introduction, 2008. Pg. 96.