Born: 1624, United Kingdom
Died: 19 August 1704
Country most active: United Kingdom
Also known as: Jane Ward
The following bio was written by Emma Rosen, author of On This Day She Made History: 366 Days With Women Who Shaped the World and This Day In Human Ingenuity & Discovery: 366 Days of Scientific Milestones with Women in the Spotlight, and has been republished with permission.
Jane Lead (née Ward) was a Christian mystic whose spiritual visions, recorded in a series of publications, were central to the founding and philosophy of the Philadelphian Society in London at the time. After her husband died in 1671, she had her first vision of the “Virgin Sophia,” the Feminine Aspect of God, which is described in the Book of Proverbs in the Bible, who promised to unfold the secrets of the universe to her. Lead declared herself a ‘Bride of Christ’ and proceeded to transcribe her subsequent visions in much the same way as her predecessor, Hildegard of Bingen. Her final output amounted to many volumes of visionary mysticism.