Hildegard of Bingen Archives - Mindful Happiness

October 19, 2015 By Admin

Hildegard of Bingen: A Radical Feminist in her Time

A Radical Feminist in her Time

Over 800 years ago Hildegard of Bingen presented radical viewpoints on women-power and male-dominance in the Christian Church, stone/gem healing, meditation, insight and intellect, the web of life or planetary oneness, being in nature, environmentalism, and personal stories of suffering, etc. Despite her outspoken manner and her popularity among people wanting religious change, she was one of only four “Doctors of The Church.” They were all women! She believed there was a need to balance the sacred masculine with the divine feminine. She called for “spiritual warriors” to stand up to abuses of power, hypocrisy, bigotry, injustice, and corruption in the Church of her times. Her leadership eventually led to the rise of the Rhineland Mystics (Eckhart, Aquinas, etc.). Through intellect, emotion, deep spirituality, and devotion to Cosmic Christ Hildegard of Bingen pursued a courageous wisdom path. She meditated on mandalas and illuminations. She was seen as a giant slayer, like Judith who slew Holofernes ( the unknown female pair other than the popular David and Goliath). She published many books. Some refer to her as a Christian Bodhisattva. At the age of 80 she was interdicted (like excommunication) for refusal to remove the buried body of a radical young man from her monastery. Her belief in social justice prevented her from doing what the Church ordered. Hildegard called for people to be as strong as trees in their social justice activities.

She moved into the “cave” of her heart to find her deepest soul wisdom. She invited followers to find a stone or feather that attracted them then hold it in their hand in meditation. She created many spiritual remedies, including healing uses of quartz, amethyst, emerald and others. One of her most revealing views was that our thoughts could be disharmonious and our spirituality darkened; these conditions caused hopelessness and suffering. She warned against “poor me” and “it is so awful” attitudes. She was one of the earliest herbalists, and used aroma therapy in her healing work. As a cure to heal physical and emotional suffering, she recommended that you read (bible, psalms, other holy books), pray, contemplate, etc. Lucky for us that her Benedictine sisters copied all of her writings; the originals were burned in the fire bombing of Dresden in 1944.

One of her more popular stories/meditations dealt with the human path of suffering and struggling. Hildegard noted one’s life story is like climbing a high mountain on a treacherous pathway. The pathway includes huge thorns, rocks, rivers, poisons, scorpions, bad dragons, and devils. While the strong-willed continue at all costs, eventually they grow wings (think angels) and fly above all the dangerous obstructions in their way. This metaphor may be helpful to our suffering today.

Another short meditation includes holding a spiritual stone in your hand, then placing it over your heart. While closing your eyes, meditate on the stone-over-the-heart and say to yourself “in your blessing sustain, strengthen and become one with me.” Repeat as many times as you need to. Notice the difference.

In another meditation she aims at adoration, atonement, self-healing, and self-rehabilitation. In my own version (more secular), I have noted the following. May I recognize the healing center in my soul. May I have peace in my soul. May I allow my soul to forgive me, redeem me, and hold me. May my soul allow me to experience love and compassion – as well as self-compassion. May I be renewed as the eagle is.

In another healing meditation, Hildegard noted that we need liberation from addictions, obsessions, sensual poisons, greed, abuse of power, and disharmony of souls. She asks us to imagine how we would “let go” of these unhelpful patterns in our lives. Hildegard sounds like The Buddha here. We must let go so we can heal the inner emotional emptiness. Craving kills spiritual hunger and motivation, so we need to be in our soul’s spirit to end the craving and self-medications. Note Jung’s “Spiritus contra spiritum.” She recommends prayer, contemplation, meditation, fasting, rigorous physical activity/hard work to fill the emptiness of our soul.

One last meditation worth noting includes being in nature to discover your deeper soul. Go to a favorite place in nature, or imagine one. Change or remove your clothing to become like a flying eagle. Light a candle. Sit, lie or stand in silence. Continue until you sense contact with your spiritual center. Take a few deep, slow breaths to calm the body and mind. LET GO of anything that disturbs your emotional balance right now, right here. LET GO!

Go even deeper inside yourself to connect with the deepest sources of your soul.

Feel the happiness and rejoice in divine connection. Just be with it.

For more information refer to Fox. M. (2012). Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint for Our Times. Vancouver, Canada: Namaste. See also Strehlow, W (2002). Hildegard of Bingen’s Spiritual Remedies. Rochester, VT: Healing Arms Press.

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont

Author of Mindful Happiness

CLICK HERE or any image blow to Order

Mindful Walking Meditation: How to Walk by Thich Nhat Hanh – A Powerful Short Book of Wisdom In my opinion, Thich Nhat Hanh and The 14th Dalai Lama are the two most important and wise teachers of mindfulness, meditation, compassion, and Buddhism in the 21st century. Below I will offer my interpretation of Thich Nhat Hanh’s […]

Basics of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction is, perhaps, one of the major contributions to evidence-based mindfulness therapies. Jon Kabat-Zinn’s development of this model of intervention was both timely and exquisite. In clinical care of psychological and physical problems, these skills and practices are of utmost importance for improving (according to the most recent […]

Self-Help Journaling – Two Methods Generally there are two forms of self-help journaling: writing about worries and concerns OR writing about joy and happiness. In my more than 35 years of clinical experience I have not found the former to be very helpful. Most people stuck in negative mood states are not easily able to […]

Stress in America – On the Rise – The American Psychological Association recently completed its national survey on stress in America. Stress in America for adults is on the rise! I will review below a selection of reported percentages from the 2015 survey (published in 2016). 1) Younger people are more stressed; Xers and Millennials […]

Beyond MBSR – Quick Start Skills Self-calming for counselors and other helpers is one of the most important survival practices to master. Self-calming consists a set of basic mindfulness skills, all of which must be practiced regularly to achieve desired emotion-regulation effects. The utility of these skills is well established in clinical research, and not […]

Using Lectio Divina to Enhance Your Happiness Lectio Divina is an ancient Christian (Benedictine) meditation; it is a form of meditative prayer called “sacred seeing.” We will use a modified version of the process here. Follow the steps noted below. Sit quietly in meditative form, calmly abiding yourself here now. After a […]

The Lotus Sutra and Meditatin Practice The Lotus Sutra is one of the most important and sacred of Buddhist sutras. It is often considered a summary of The Buddha’s teaching, presented many years after he began to teach and share his experiences. The version considered here is the Kumarajiva translation, as translated by B. Watson; it […]

Mindful Happiness Explores – The Miracle of Mirror Neurons Between 1996 and 2000 researchers (Gallese and Rizzolatti) at the University of Parme in Italy discovered what are now called mirror neurons. Neuroscientists speculate that mirror neurons (reportedly in the Broca’s area of the prefrontal cortex) activate perceptual responses for internal motor-emotional responses. Thus mirror neurons […]

Vipassana Meditation: Impermanence Although standard vipassana meditation practice leading to insight about the true nature of reality does not recommend what I am about to do, I plan to do it anyway. This meditation center is all about innovation in practice and generalization regarding the benefits of meditation for both regular meditators and novices. Below […]

Psychodynamics of Alliance – Therapeutic Relationship Enhancement This post includes basic considerations, processes, and clinical skills necessary for developing a strongly positive clinical alliance and therapeutic relationship in therapy. Here the alliance is required for any substantial change in psychotherapy, and the therapeutic relationship rides the quality of the initial alliance to expand and inter-penetrate […]

Mindful Leadership Skills: How to Lead in Wise Mind Ways Researchers dealing with leadership skills have noted several acquired characteristics of effective leaders. These same skills may be used in spreading “the word” about how mindfulness and wise mind practices reduce stress reactivity, enhance compassion, and expand the possibilities for human happiness, inner peace and […]

Anahata – Heart Chakra Meditation Practice Rumi noted that to reach the sky we must use our hearts. The Heart Chakra is a very popular focus of meditation practice. Here we will simply review some characteristics and then move on to a meditation practice. Specific characteristics: Green color, YAM sound (say at least three times […]

Mindfulness and Concentration – Experience Differences In this post I will explain some basic differences between mindfulness and concentration, both of which are required for effective meditation practice. This will be the first of three posts dealing with what mindfulness and concentration are, how to experience them briefly in a body-based activity, and how to […]

Core Elements in Clinical Supervision In addition to what supervisors bring into group supervision and clinical training, the list below will be used for discussion about YOUR supervisory role. The order of content below is generally random. The content noted applies to clinical supervision; it could also apply to doing effective therapy. The skills and […]

Essential Knowledge for Clinical Supervisors This post will include information and skills dealing with research on role induction practices, quality of clinical supervision, psychodynamics of alliance, and progress measurement. Since the information and skills for all these topics is complex, I will do my best to keep it as clear as possible. This information aims […]

Practice Approaches to for Mindful and Enhanced Emotion Regulation Brought to us by way of The Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont Mindful Approaches for Enhanced Emotion Regulation; here are some approaches to practice. 1)In some ways you could understand the progression from auto-pilot mind to greater stability and equanimity of […]

Overcoming the Hindrances of Ill-Will and Aversion Although regular daily practice and sincerely following of The Eight-Fold Path in one’s life may be the best ways to overcome various hindrances, there may be some additional practical suggestions to consider on the path. We will begin our discussion with common human pain and suffering; we will […]

Many Benefits of Mindfulness and Vipassana Meditation The Dalai Lama (Gyatso, Tenzin), the world leader of Tibetan Buddhism, and Paul Ekman, the world famous Psychologist of human emotions, have teamed up to discuss how to use mindful emotional awareness skills to become more emotionally balanced and compassionate. These two highly skilled practitioners have listed 21 […]

How Suicide impacts Psychotherapists One of the greatest fears of psychotherapists is that one of their clients will commit suicide. Here are some common reactions of psychotherapists when one of their clients commits suicide. In some ways these reactions are sequential, but no exact concrete sequence is well documented. Here is a list to consider. […]

Alternative to Buddhism as Religion – Simply put and Clearly Stated In case you become too serious about yourself in this life, note that there are reportedly 400 trillion subatomic vibrations every second. So be humble! And being humble is something I have had to do regarding my experience with Zen Buddhism as my […]