Thanks to Healthy Hildegard for the photo and the idea to feature Viriditas.
Viriditas
After the rains
Hildegard tends the garden
knee deep
in wet grass,
up to her elbows in soil,
worms, snails
and ruff of leaf compost.
Marvels at the ramble
of a young squash vine,
a stray seed gone free.
Lingers in the fragrance
of chives and basil,
coriander, lavender and mint,
and the smell of parsley.
Savours their bouquet.
Being jubilant
with the flirt of white moths,
and the canticle of bird song
from an oak branch above.
Dwells on her knees
as if in prayer.
Hildegard stands
her hands on her lower back
stretches and arches
skywards.Wisping clouds
ruffle. Light whispers,
I am the breeze that nurtures all things green.
I encourage blossoms to flourish with ripening fruits
I am the rain coming from the dew
that causes the grasses to laugh
with the joy of life.
Fearful of her own mystery
she clams shut this Light
into the tight knot of her gut.
*Viriditas means “greenness” – vitality, lushness, verdure, fecundity, growth. It has its earliest connection to Hildegard von Bingen.
It seems a perfect expression of the living green captured by the soul as the light dances over grass and leaf life.
With the term Viriditas, Hildegard of Bingen meant to describe a fundamental force in nature and the cosmos that binds people with animals, minerals, and plants.
Viriditas, the power of nature
A greening power, as Hildegard described it, exists in all things and is the basis for all healing in people and of the earth.
This greening powere exists as a symbol of prosperity and vitality, with plants blooming, growing, germinating and bearing fruit.
We lose our greening power through apathy, monotony and stress in everyday life.
We lose our greening power when
However, we quickly restore and preserve it through prolonged time and movement in nature.
Spring explodes
like a paint box come to life
spilling across
the browned winter-wearylandscape.
In Australia we wait for regeneration after the unprecedented fires we have experienced . We observe the tiny moments of viriditas return.
I give thanks to all the wonderful people who are being proactive to save species that are threatened. eg the rare life of the green Corroboree Frog from the Snowy Mountains. My daughters who send hopeful photos of new life and promise me the trees will recover.
New life bursting into our lives.
