Hildegard of Bingen

“…laid low by the scourge of God… I spoke and wrote these things not by the invention of my heart or that of any other person, but as by the secret mysteries of God I heard and received them in the heavenly places. And again I heard a voice from Heaven saying to me, 'Cry out therefore, and write thus!

Holy persons draw to themselves all that is earthly… The earth is at the same time mother, She is mother of all that is natural, mother of all that is human. She is the mother of all, for contained in her are the seeds of all.

Glance at the sun. See the moon and the stars. Gaze at the beauty of earth’s greenings. Now, think. What delight God gives to humankind with all these things… All nature is at the disposal of humankind. We are to work with it. For without we cannot survive.

Trust shows the way.

God hugs you. You are encircled by the arms of the mystery of God.

Good People, most royal greening verdancy, rooted in the sun, you shine with radiant light.

I welcome all the creatures of the world with grace.

Divinity is aimed at humanity.

'With my mouth,' God says, 'I kiss my own chosen creation. I uniquely, lovingly, embrace every image I have made out of the earth’s clay. With a fiery spirit I transform it into a body to serve all the world.'

Humankind, full of all creative possibilities, is God’s work. Humankind alone is called to assist God. Humankind is called to co-create. With nature’s help, humankind can set into creation all that is necessary and life-sustaining.

God has arranged all things in the world in consideration of everything else.”

~ Hildegard of Bingen, (1098 –1179), was a German Benedictine abbess, writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, visionary, and polymath. At the age of 42, Hildegard’s quiet life changed forever when she received a divine command to share her visions with the world. ‘I am merely a too-sensitive, frail rib with mystical lungs, who saw a living, blazing fire that couldn’t be put out, This Light said to me, ‘Shame-filled, earth-shod woman—untaught and unlettered—remember you’ve been illuminated by My light. It ignites in you an inner sun, burning with divine mysteries and secrets. Don’t be timid. Tell these. Although you’re hesitant to speak out, don’t be. Speak of the Fire this vision has shown you.’’

 “When a woman is making love with a man, a sense of heat in her brain, which brings forth with it sensual delight, communicates the taste of that delight during the act and summons forth the emission of the man’s seed. And when the seed has fallen into its place, that vehement heat descending from her brain draws the seed to itself and holds it, and soon the woman’s sexual organs contract and all parts that are ready to open up during the time of menstruation now close, in the same way as a strong man can hold something enclosed in his fist.” — Hildegard von Bingen, Causae et Curae. Her scientific writings address every single aspect of human life, including sexuality, which she discusses frankly and without moral judgment. For her, there was no contradiction between science and religion, and not a trace of prudishness or anti-intellectualism in her work.

 "After a power struggle in 1150 with the abbot who wanted her to stay at St. Disibod, she moved to Rupertsberg (near Bingen) and brought 50 nuns with her, to found a new abbey. The abbey became so popular she had to found a second abbey in Eibingen, less than 8 miles away.

She was the architect for both abbeys, which included running water and large workshops for the nuns to develop their artistic and intellectual skills. She promoted reading, theology, warm baths, regular exercise, singing, and musical instruments. She did not trust the local water, and thus promoted beer drinking.

Her abilities as a doctor made her respected as a miracle woman. According to legends, the crowds that gathered for miracle healing were so bad that her fellow nuns tried to convince the bishop to order her to stop performing miracles.

She wrote two books on medicine, Scivias and Causae et Curae (Cause and Cure), as well as numerous other writings about herbalism, botany, geology, biographies of Saints. She wrote plays, poetry and wrote/directed the first operas. She went on four preaching tours, each lasting several years. Preaching for women was illegal, but she did it anyway.

She refused to allow the church to treat women as subservient to men, she rejected negative stereotypes of evil seductresses, and taught that woman was indeed created in the image and likeness of god.

She taught the following:
•#1. In the inner being of God there exists an almost erotic relationship of feminine and masculine. That is mirrored in the complementary relationship of men and women.
•#2. Since Jesus took his body from a woman, it is woman rather than man who best represents the humanity of the Son of God.
•#3. Contrary to the clear position of St. Paul, man was made for woman just as equally as woman was made for man.
•#4. In opposition to St. Augustine's doctrine, sexual pleasure is not a result of sin, should not be equated with guilt, and would have been present in Paradise before the Fall.
•#5. Eve was far more the victim of Satan's cunning than the cause of Adam's sin and the fall from grace.
•#6. Menstruation in no way renders a woman unclean, but the shedding of blood in warfare most certainly renders a soldier unclean."