Open your heart to the words of prayer of Saint Hildegard of Bingen, twelfth–century mystic, healer and abbess, natural scientist, prophetess and spiritual guide—one of the greatest female spiritual figures of the last millennium. From the saint’s great visionary works dealing with God, humans and the cosmos, one of her modern followers has compiled a simple, unpretentious, consoling book of prayer. The mystical writings of Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), the self-described “trumpet of God” and “zither of the Holy Spirit,” invite you to enter into prayer that is dialogue on all levels: a dialogue between the Creator and the created, one person and another, the individual and nature, the body and the soul, virtue and vice.

The first translation into English of the complete correspondence of the remarkable twelfth-century Benedictine abbess Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), this study consists of nearly four hundred letters, in four projected volumes. Addressed to some of the most notable people of the day, as well as to some of humble status, the correspondence reveals the saint in ways her more famous works leave obscure: as determined reformer, as castigating seer, as theoretical musician, as patient adviser, as exorcist. Sometimes diffident and restrained, sometimes thunderously imperious, her letters are indispensable to understanding fully this luminary of medieval philosophy, poetry, and music. In addition, they provide a fascinating glimpse at life in tumultuous twelfth-century Germany, beset with schism and political unrest. This first volume includes ninety letters to the highest ranking prelates in Hildegard's world--popes, archbishops, and bishops. Three following volumes will be divided according to the rank of the addressees.

Hildegard was an abbess, a counselor to kings and popes, a homeopathic healer, a composer, a renowned preacher, the author of nine major books, and the founder of an abbey at Bingen, Germany. More importantly, she was a prophet, challenging the people of her age to conform their lives to that of Jesus, who loved not only humankind but all of God's creation.

Saint Hildegard: Ancient Insights for Modern Seekers is a treasure trove of St. Hildegard’s bracing, rich, and transforming insights. Written for today’s seekers and spiritual directors, it takes us deeper into our own experiences in the company of the mystic visionary St. Hildegard, whose twelfth-century wisdom, still strikingly relevant to our contemporary struggles, enriches our journeys. Spiritual director and retreat guide Susan Garthwaite knows this journey well—she’s traveled it for years. St. Hildegard has influenced Garthwaite’s spiritual life, as well as her work as a spiritual director, and here she gives concrete examples of spiritual experiences and practices in which St. Hildegard’s insights can draw out our own wisdom. She also gently touches our worst experiences and offers St. Hildegard’s light for our liberation and fullness of life. Like all of us today, St. Hildegard dealt with a world in turmoil. She believed spiritual development was the key to peace in troubled times. With her guidance, read, reflect, pray, discern, journal, heal, befriend your soul, and discover your mystic self. A richer life awaits.

An introduction to the life and work of Hildegard. • Reveals the life and teachings of one of the greatest female artists and intellectuals of the Western Mystical Tradition. • Contains 24 full-color illustrations by Hildegard of Bingen. • Includes commentary by Matthew Fox, author of Original Blessing (250,000 sold). Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was an extraordinary woman living in the Rhineland valley during most of the twelfth century. Besides being the abbess of a large and influential Benedictine abbey, she was a prominent preacher, healer, scientist, and artist. She also was a composer and theologian, writing nine books on theology, medicine, science, and physiology, as well as 70 poems and an opera. At the age of 42, she began to have visions; these were captured as 36 illuminations--24 of which are recorded in this book along with her commentaries on them. She also wrote a text describing these visions entitled Scivias (Know the Ways), now published as Hildegard of Bingen's Mystical Visions. Author Matthew Fox has stated, "If Hildegard had been a man, she would be well known as one of the greatest artists and intellectuals the world has ever seen." It is a credit to the power of the women's movement and our times that this towering genius of Western thought is being rediscovered in her full grandeur and autonomy. Virtually unknown for more than 800 years in Western history, Hildegard was featured as one of the women in Judy Chicago's Dinner Party in the early 1980s and published for the first time in English by Bear & Company in 1982. In addition to her mystical teachings, Hildegard's music has been performed and recorded for a new and growing audience.

Completed in 1173, The Book of Divine Works (Liber Divinorum Operum) is the culmination of the Visionary’s Doctor’s theological project, offered here for the first time in a complete and scholarly English translation. The first part explores the intricate physical and spiritual relationships between the cosmos and the human person, with the famous image of the universal Man standing astride the cosmic spheres. The second part examines the rewards for virtue and the punishments for vice, mapped onto a geography of purgatory, hellmouth, and the road to the heavenly city. At the end of each Hildegard writes extensive commentaries on the Prologue to John’s Gospel (Part 1) and the first chapter of Genesis (Part 2)—the only premodern woman to have done so. Finally, the third part tells the history of salvation, imagined as the City of God standing next to the mountain of God’s foreknowledge, with Divine Love reigning over all.