Here's your Daily Poem from the Poetry Chaikhana --
 | Ave generosa / Hymn to the Virgin By Hildegard of Bingen
(1098 - 1179) English version by Barbara Newman In the pupil of chastity's eye
I beheld you
untouched.
Generous maid! Know that it's God
who broods over you.
For heaven flooded you like
unbodied speech
and you gave it a tongue.
Glistening
lily: before all worlds
you lured the supernal one.
How he reveled
in your charms! how your beauty
warmed to his caresses
till you gave your breast to his child.
And your womb held joy when heaven's
harmonies rang from you,
a maiden with child by God,
for in God your chastity blazed.
Yes your flesh held joy like the grass
when the dew falls, when heaven
freshens its green: O mother
of gladness, verdure of spring.
Ecclesia, flush with rapture! Sing
for Mary's sake, sing
for the maiden, sing
for God's mother. Sing! 
/ Photo by Sydigill /
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| ============ Thought for the Day: We become what we love.
Everything else is just movement. ============ | Here's your Daily Music selection -- 
Maggie Sansone
A Traveler's Dream
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Hi Omss -
Something today in honor of springtime and the coming of Easter...
This hymn by the great female mystic Hildegard von Bingen is addressed, of course, to the Virgin Mary, but it is more than a simple work of Christian devotion. It is meant to be more deeply understood as being about the soul's relationship with God.
Within this relationship, the soul is usually described as being a woman, with God understood as the male. In the mystical tradition, the soul must stop attempting to take false 'lovers' in every outer experience and, instead, yearn so deeply for the true Beloved within that she (the soul) becomes restored to her natural "virginal" state (represented by the Virgin Mary). That is, the soul must become purified, inward focused, unattached, "untouched" by the experiences of the outer world. Mary's virginity, in this sense, can be understood, not as a statement about sexuality but purity of awareness that can be compared with the Buddhist concept of original mind.
When this happens deeply enough, the soul becomes radiant, "glistening," and magnetically lures the Divine Beloved, "the supernal one."
When that divine touch comes, within that virginal state of being, a new life is formed within (the Christ child in Christian tradition). In this deepest communion, the mystic is filled with an experience of overwhelming bliss that is felt as a new presence in the body -- "your flesh held joy like the grass / when the dew falls, when heaven / freshens its green." And the heart is "warmed"; it opens with an immense love. The more the heart allows this love to flow, the more we feed that sacred new life, "you give your breast to his child."
Then, truly the mystic's awareness becomes the "mother / of gladness, verdure of spring." We become "Ecclesia," the embodiment of the true and secret church, "flush with rapture!"
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Hildegard was born near Mainz, Germany to a noble family.
Hildegard's health was always fragile, but she had a rich interior life, by her own account receiving visions since early childhood. Hildegard describes one vision she had at the age of three of witnessing "a brightness so great that [her] soul trembled." This was a light that remained a part of her perception throughout her life. Even in her seventies, Hildegard described it as a light that seemed to permeate everything without hindering her ability to see normally, as well.
She is said to have had a natural gift of clairvoyance and the ability predict the future. She was also widely respected as a healer and herbalist, having written works on natural history and the medicinal uses of plants.
Illness was intimately linked with Hildegard's mystical life. Bouts of illness seemed to be brought on by the tensions that existed between her divine promptings and the limitations of the roles allowed to her as a woman and a nun.
Hildegard's early life was relatively quiet. Hildegard took monastic vows in her teens. And in her thirties, she was elected to lead her monastic community.
In her forties Hildegard began to gain notoriety for her visions. She was surprised to receive inner guidance to "tell and write" her visions. She initially resisted and was soon bedridden as the inner conflict played out. Eventually she relented and began to dictate her visions.
Hildegard's fame quickly spread, bringing pilgrims and the curious, eventually overwhelming the capacity of the small community. A new, larger monastery was built near Bingen.
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Have a wonderful Easter weekend, and Passover, and celebration of the renewal of life amidst the Spring buds and blossoms.
Ivan
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Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2011 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.
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