Hildegard's Ordo Virtutum: Virtue and the Devil

Hildegard von Bingen Miniatur aus dem Rupertsberger Codex des Liber Scivias. Wikimedia Commons

I dreamed that I danced inside a spirit's white light...and it was sublime.  It was a girl who had just passed away, there were two witnesses who couldn't believe what I was doing.  We were dancing together and I wasn't afraid, just having an ecstatic experience!  I trusted the moment...

I woke up knowing I wanted to spend today in contemplation -- in the garden, dillydallying, being with my animals and listening to music.

Saint Hildegard von Bingen has crossed my path (again, by way of the awesome Jamie Walters of Ivy Sea).  And I wrote about ancient sound healing as a remedy for overwhelm on About.com.

About's guide to German Food Jennifer McGavin writes about health and nutrition tips from Hildegard.
In short: Eat healthy, use natural healing methods and live by sensical rules.

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Hildegard's work Ordo Virtutum is a mystic morality play.  It's Latin for Order of the Virtues.  And it's a dialogue between shadow and light.  From Wiki: "Ordo Virtutum is about the struggle for a human soul, or Anima, between the Virtues and the Devil."

Could the Devil be another word for the archons?  Wiki again:  "The Devil does not sing, he only yells or grunts because according to Hildegard, he cannot produce divine harmony."  Like Wetiko (in yesterday's post), there is an attraction to the song of the Devil, because it is supernatural and has a dark power.  This decision to choose the better angels of our nature, as Abe Lincoln called them, is a challenge of every age.  But perhaps the extremes of our time fill them out in bold, for dramatic effect.