Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen

"I am the breeze that nurtures all things green. I encourage blossoms to flourish with ripening fruits. I am the rain coming from the dew that causes the grasses to laugh with the joy of life." "All of creation is a symphony of the Holy Spirit which is joy and Jubilation. ...The prophetic spirit orders that God be praised with Cymbals of jubilation and with the rest of the musical instruments..." Hildegard of Bingen Apocalyptic Visions: Mythical prophecies for world-ending dreams come out of a collective anxiety about the future of our planet or frailty of the human race. These dreams may be triggered in times of global upheavals and unpredictability. A millennial click may generates such kind of dreaming for some people. Y2K was associated with expected software crashes, which could have caused banking systems chaos, or air flight accidents, which did not materialize anyway. But the damaging news about the earth droughts, water pollution, global warming, and other potential fears for flooding or cosmic collision will continue to be nightmares for others. Whenever instability or insecurity become themes of cultural awareness, apocalyptic dreams for some people become frequent. Interpreting this type of dream may be calling the dreamer to protect their domains against risks that are beyond your secured zone. Religious or spiritual revelation that heralds the end of the world is a powerful image. Usually, the dreamer will see some significant icons of their faith initiating or withstanding the destruction. Another scenario is that adherents to the mysticism are identified in a particular way and survive the destruction because of their association. In these dreams, the world is often reordered. Many times, these dreams will accompany a time in the dreamer's life when he or she feels that the entire world is against them and only their association with something larger than themselves can provide a resolution. Feminist 'End Time Kingdom': With Hildegard the contribution to apocalyptic expectations ceased to be an exclusive male visionary activity on the fringe of Christian belief. Bernard McGinn summarizes her unique view of the end times as, "the picture that she has of the Antichrist, for example, as part of this play or scenario, is one of the most inventive of the entire medieval period. Well, Hildegard of course gives us several pictures of the end times. But the one that was most .. powerful, I think, is the picture in her book Scivias, the visionary book that she wrote in the 1140's. ... a series of visions, many of the connected with the heavenly world, ... the picture of the kingdoms of the end time and the birth of Antichrist from the Church. This is a powerful image of a vast female figure representing the Church, with this horrible monstrous head being born from the woman." Holistic View of God and humanity: "It is both fitting and just that such an impressive array of feminine medieval scholars should present this "faithf

Both the quality illustrations and the text deeply affected me, introducing me to both the Cosmic Christ and to Hildegard's cosmology of the Universe.It's a wonderful book to savor and to meditate upon.

This book provides the best source for large color reproductions of Hildegard's visionary illuminations. Matthew Fox writes from a lifelong theological experience in and out of the Church; he is reponsible for some of the most beautiful and profound insights into Hildegard's earth-based, Celtic, creation spirituality. His texts incorporate excellent biblical scholarship, a knowledge of world religions, remarkable feminism for a male writer, and a multi-faceted and comprehensive approach, combining images and quotations from Hildegard's, art, music, writing, and scientific studies. Highly recommended.

I have used this book to introduce mystical theology to lay people. It has a feminist hook, so is very timely. The drawings (with commentaries) are also on slides. Hildegard's own commentaries on the drawings are clear and simple, so may be repeated in a running commentary with the presenter's own elaboration. The illuminations are colorful and very engaging to the eye. Creation (a sphere in the illumination) is described by H. as an egg, with feminist commentary. Creation is pictured also as a kite (the four compass points), with a tail connecting to an individual person. Very whimsical. Really great discussion starters!