Jane Lead (née Ward; March 1624 – 19 August 1704) was a Christian mystic born in Norfolk, England, whose spiritual visions, recorded in a series of publications, were central in the founding and philosophy of the Philadelphian Society in London at the time.
At the age of fifteen, during a family Christmas party she was gripped by a "sudden grievous sorrow" claimed to have heard an angelic whisper urging her "Cease from this, I have another Dance to lead thee in; for this is Vanity".
Like other female Christian mystics, for example Julian of Norwich, Margery Kemp and Hildegard von Bingen, Lead's spirituality has a strong feminine element, the Sophia, or Wisdom of God, being a recurring subject in her writing.
[citation needed] Her writings cover many of the Christian mysteries: the nature of Christ, the redemption of Man through a return to the Godhead, the existence of the Sophia, the Apocalypse and the possibility of Ascension.
The scope of her work has drawn comparisons with Cabala, Gnosticism, Alchemy and Rosicrucianism in her belief in the presence of God in all things (Panentheism) and the existence of the Holy Spirit in each soul (Nondualism).
[citation needed] Around 1694, she became a Christian Universalist, rejecting the "Doctrine that hath been preached of an endless Misery and Torment" which had "wrought little effect in frightening or terrifying 'em from their evil Courses."