“What are you going to do? Run around naked and chant?”

When my husband had asked me that question years ago, I laughed. When I returned from the Hilde Girls women’s retreat, I laughed more when I said, “Yes, we did!”

What is a “Hilde?”

Hildegard of Bingen, a German Benedictine abbess, was born around 1098. She first began experiencing visions at the age of three.

It wasn’t until she was 42 years old that Hildegard received a vision she believed to be an instruction from God, to “write down that which you see and hear.” And that is when she  became a writer and a healer through her knowledge of tinctures, herbs and precious stones. But that’s not all! She also became a composer, philosopher, polymath, and illustrator.

In this mandela, Cultivating the Cosmic Tree, the elements of fire, air, water and earth are seen in this “quartering of the circle.”

Back to the retreat – Yes, some of us stripped off our clothing but all of us stripped down to our core being. What’s not to like about drumming and singing around a fire under a full moon?

Thank you St. Hildegard!

For “8 Reasons Why Hildegard Matters Now”, read here.

Daily word prompt: Circle