Tau Malachi writes:  The following is a traditional invocation of the Holy Shekinah from the Sophian Gnostic tradition:

Invocation to the Holy Shekinah

Kodesh Imma, Kodesh Kallah
Holy Mother, Holy Bride,
We invite you, we welcome you –
Please enter!

Ruach Ha-Elijah (Spirit of the Prophets)
Ruach Ha-Enoch (Spirit of the Initiates)
Ruach Ha-Messiah (Spirit of the Anointed)

Ruach Ha-Kodesh (Holy Spirit)

O Queen of Heaven and Earth
Holy Shekinah:

We open our minds and hearts and lives to you,
And pray you enter and indwell;

Uplift us now into the Bridal Chamber,
Bring us into the embrace of the Beloved,
So that we might put on our Supernal Image,
To shine with Light above and below;

Be the Divine Spirit, inwardly illuminating us with the Living Word
and Wisdom,
And in this way lead us in the path of righteousness,
So that we might be a sign of hope to the people,
In good times and bad;

We pray for the liberation of the people and the land from all darkness;
We pray for the healing of all illness and dis-ease;
We pray for the Divine Illumination of all living spirits and souls!

May all holy sparks be gathered in; May the Divine Light shine forth!

We pray for the resurrection and ascension of this Good Earth;
Amen and amen.

Shekinah: The Presence of Divinityby Rev. Mark Raines

Shekinah - also spelled Shekhina, Shekhinah, Shekina, and Shechina - is known in the Qabalah, an ancient form of Jewish mysticism, as one of the emanations of God and the actual Presence of God. The belief was that one could not see God in Its fullness, but could see the emanation of God, Shekinah. When Moses asked to see God, it was Shekinah that he saw. Shekinah is also the consort, or Bride, of God. As such, she is Mother to us all, just as God is our Father.

In earlier times, God was seen as either dwelling in the clouds or in high places like mountains or very high hills. With the construction of the Ark of the Covenant, and then the construction of the Temple, a part of the Godhead came to dwell in the Ark and then in the Temple. This could not be the male God, the God of the Sky and of High Places. So Shekinah, formerly known as Asherah, a Goddess of Earth and Sea, came to dwell in the Ark of the Covenant and then in the Temple.

Originally it was Asherah who dwelled in the Temple as the Bride of God, His representative there. But after the "reforms" of King Josiah, Asherah worship was forbidden in the Temple. Still, the Jews knew that their Lady was still living there as their Queen and the representative of El, their God. So Asherah evolved. She began to be seen as the presence of God, and less as a separate entity. She became Shekinah, which means something like She who dwells (from the Hebrew shakhan, which means the act of dwelling). However, Asherah did not really change. She was always the representative of Her Husband, just as He was always HER representative. She, an Earth Goddess, was also Queen of Heaven. He, as Sky God, was also Ruler of Earth. This occurred only through Their marriage. So, it was not really that Asherah worship ever changed much within Judaism, or that Asherah Herself changed; only, it was made to look like it had changed to fool the patriarchal priests.

Unfortunately, Shekinah has been all but lost to Christianity. Elements of Her remain in Mother Mary, who was perhaps Shekinah's incarnation. Mary Theotokos, as She is called, actually held the presence of God (Yeshua) within Her. She is known as the Queen of Heaven, but she is the representative of God to us and delivers our prayers to Him, according to Catholic tradition. Her apparitions are much more frequent than the apparitions of Yeshua, and the Father never appears. It seems that She is truly His representative to us, because (as we know) She is His Bride.

The union of Shekinah and El was never more evident than in the Sabbath. She is known as the Sabbath Bride, or the Sabbath Queen. Each week on the Sabbath, God and Goddess, El and Shekinah, act out the Song of Songs. One rabbi called that holy book the "Holy of Holies" of the Bible! Now take a look at this passage from the Zohar (the holy book of the Qabalah), called the Secret of the Sabbath, which tells us all about the Sabbath Queen: