Dr Annette Esser

In Search of Hildegard goes from strength to strength by Colleen Keating

colleen Hildegard of Bingen, Poetry, Poetry Awards , , , , ,

I am thrilled to learn my original poem  In Search of Hildegard goes on  from strength to strength. Originally short listed and commended by the Society of Women Writers  Giving Women a Voice National Poetry Competition in 2019, then included in  the amazing new book Hildegard Speaks by Dr. Annette Esser for the Hildegard Pilgrimage in Germany, translated into German by the talented Dr. Annette Esser, the founder of the Scivias Institute  for Art and Spirituality See below  . . (love to hear it spoken in Hildegard’s mother tongue) and now short listed as a short film in the Bogota,  Columbia Short Film Festival “I Am Peace.”

All exciting as the Pilgrimage is on at the moment through the Pilgrims Way to arrive at the Benedictan Abbey overlooking the Rhine River and Bingen . on Hildegard’s Feast Day 17th September.

 

 

in search of Hildegard of Bingen

I take a train out of Bingen
through the Rhine Valley
on this sweaty summers day
trek up a steep hill
relieved to find an old sign klosterruine
which points to a verdant track
into a cool shady grove

here remnants of the twelfth century monastery
moss-mottled stone walls
mostly buried by vines
and embedded tree roots
is Hildegard’s world

standing in this moment
with the outlines of another world
time is shapeless
the divide of centuries a blur

only my mind’s eye can see
a spirited young woman
flourishing herb gardens

she prepares salves and tonics
attends the sick
listens to the breeze
and finds God in the hills above her

kairos time
for her visions writings mandalas and music
later a powerful feminist voice
against corruption patriarchy and senseless war

the earth is our mother she would sing
revere and care for her
if we exploit and savage her
she will be out off balance
and the price will be high

then silence for nine hundred years
in our time
the scales are tipped loudly out of balance
the all ords and the dow are the measure
a daily intake of massacres crowds our entertainment
soul mutilation makes soldiers unable to cry

I lean against the wall marked Hildegard’s cloister
in the lush shade of an almond tree
hanging fruit voluptuous now
is falling to emptiness
the void
the nothingness
how human to fear the waiting
for fullness to return

scattered around me
are rotting almond fruits
flies enjoying their feast
the decay fodder for the soil

my eyes scan for her presence

a maiden hair fern
grooved into a crumbling niche
catches my eye
delicate and tenacious
I feel a quickening
like a first flutter of new life

too often the fragile the intimate whisper
the lightness of touch
the flicker of a sanctuary lamp
like the breath are portals and easily missed

I ponder the rise and fall of my breathing
listen to the rhythmic heart beat
hear veriditas chants in the crumbling walls

veriditas murmurs hildegard

hildegard is here
I do not flinch i expect her

nothing like the grey statue at the abbey
holding the orb and feather

her presence is intimate
light glows luminous
her arms full of herbs from the garden
and her muddy hand-made sandals
make me laugh

 

Congratulations, Michael Conti!

Your talent and enthusiasm for our initiative are heartwarming and changemaking.  We have reviewed your film submission and appreciate announcing to you and our world that your film, In Search of Hildegard of Bingen, is part of the Official Screening Selection of the I AM PEACE GAMIP Global Short Film Forum 2022.
 
 
Michael Conti, Colleen Keating
In Search of Hildegard of Bingen
OFFICIAL SELECTION - I AM PEACE - GAMIP GLOBAL SHORT FILM FORUM 2022-2.png
 

 

 

Colleen Keating translated by Annette Esser

in search of Hildegard of Bingen

… auf der Suche nach Hildegard von Bingen

… ich nehme einen Zug aus Bingen

durchs Rheintal

an diesem Sommertag

steige auf einen steilen Hügel

erleichtert ein altes Schild zu finden Klosterruine

das auf einen grünen Pfad führt

in einen kühlen schattigen Hain

Überreste des Klosters aus dem zwölften Jahrhundert

moos-gefleckte Steinwände,

die meist von Rebstöcken bedeckt sind,

und eingebettete Baumwurzeln

das hier ist Hildegards Welt

in diesem Moment 

in den Umrissen einer anderen Zeit zu stehen,

Zeit ist formlos,

die Einteilung in Jahrhunderte unscharf.

nur das Auge meiner Seele sieht

eine lebendige junge Frau 

und blühende Kräutergärten

sie bereitet Salben und Säfte

steht den Kranken bei

hört auf den Wind

und findet Gott in den Hügeln über ihr

Kairos Zeit

für ihre Visionen, Schriften, Mandalas und Musik

später eine mächtige feministische Stimme

gegen Korruption Patriarchat und sinnlosen Krieg

die Erde ist unsere Mutter sie würde singen

ehre sie und sorge für sie

wenn wir sie ausbeuten und über sie herfallen

gerät sie aus dem Gleichgewicht

und der Preis wird hoch sein

dann gab es neunhundert Jahre Stille

zu unserer Zeit

ist das Maß lautstark aus der Balance geraten

das wer bietet mehr und der Dow sind die Maßstäbe

ein tägliches Reinziehen von Massakern trägt zu unserer Unterhaltung bei

Seelenverstümmelung belässt Soldaten unfähig zum Weinen

Ich lehne mich gegen die Mauer, die als Hildegards Frauenklause bezeichnet wird

im üppigen Schatten eines Mandelbaums

hängende Früchte nun lustvoll

die Leere

das Nichts

wie menschlich das Warten zu fürchten.

dass die Fülle zurück kehrt

meine Augen skandieren nach ihrer Gegenwart 

das ferne Haar eines Mädchens

eingefercht in eine zerbröckelnde Nische

zieht meinen Blick an

fein und zäh

Ich fühle eine Erregung

Wie ein erstes Flattern neuen Lebens

Allzu oft sind das zerbrechliche intime Flüstern

die Helligkeit der Berührung

das Flackern einer heiligen Lampe

Tore, die wie das Atmen leicht übersehen  werden

Ich sinniere über den Anstieg und Abfall meines Atems

Höre auf das Murmel n des Herzschlags

viriditas murmelt Hildegard

Hildegard ist hier

Ich zucke nicht zusammen ich habe sie erwartet

nichts wie die graue Statue an der Abtei

die Globus und Feder hält  

ihre Gegenwart ist intim

Licht glüht leuchtend

ihre Arme voll Kräuter aus dem Garten

und ihre matschigen handgefertigten Sandalen

lassen mich lachen 

 

 

 

 

 

A 12 day pilgrimage trek without blisters by Colleen Keating

colleen General, Hildegard of Bingen , , , , , , , ,

 

 

 

A 12 day pilgrimage trek without blisters

Covering 85 miles ( 137 kms.) in the Rhineland Germany, over 12 days
with stops along the way to listen to scholars on Medieval life, writing and  Latin translations, on music and healing and creativity and cosmology is no mean feat . This has been part of my past 12 days as I shared with 150 pilgrims walking in the footsteps of Hildegard of Bingen.. And without blisters for in this pandemic time unable to be in Bingen, Germany,  it was a Virtual Pilgrimage through modern day technology of Zoom. What would Hildegard think?

Thank you to all the players who had the dreams the visions and did the hard work to bring this experience to us  that especially is Michael Conti (film director and producer) famous for The Unruly Mystic: Hildegard of Bingen and more recently The Unruly Mystic: John Muir  and Dr Annette Esser,  foundress and director of the Scivias Institute.

Just a poem of one day :

Day 4  

It is a virtual pilgrimage . . . maybe
but today ice and wind, fire and snow
brings us into real time
with no power for some connections.
Yet our view is not hindered.

With senses alert
it is even more tangible.
Our pilgrimage – an Emmaus Story.

Pressing forward
with the resilience Hildegard taught us.

We walk together on zoom
sharing about everything Hildegard.

Shanon gathered us,
Lauren shared enthusiastically
of Hildegard’s morality play
Ordo Virtutum
Shanon gives a treatise on Wisdom
Beverley captures us in her learned way
where one just wants to sit and listen
as she reflects on the gift of preaching
many others tell of activities
retreats and events that honour
Hildegard at this time of her feast.

Our virtual walk
through the Land of Hildegard<
from Kiln to St.Johannisberg
where Annette speaks Hildegard’s words
on the Living Light
and into the village of Weiler.

And as we reflect
Hildegard seems ever present
Do we not recognise
in each of us her many gifts?
The miracle is we each walk alone
but together with a oneness and intimacy
of being in each others presence
across time zones, weathers and seasons.

Hildegard our focus.
Our eyes are opened
our hearts burning within us
while we accepted again the gifts she gives us
to share with our broken world.

 

 

 

On our 12 day Virtual Pilgrimage called Saint Hildegard Speaks
we joined each day via Zoom at one of the stations along the way.

Our pilgrimage took us through the fields, forests, hills and vineyards of the Nahr Valley (Nahr is a Celtic word for ‘Wild River’) a beautiful and rather undiscovered landscapein the heart of the Rhine . Dr Annette Esser after she  completed the Camino  a few years before was inspired to create The Hildegard Way 

And today the 17th September is our final day.  This is Hildegard’s Day. We give special memory to her this day the anniversary of her death on the 17th of September 1179. Here at the Hildegard House with  parish priest Rev. Shannon Sterringer, Fairport Harbour, Ohio
celebrating

 

Many call this her Feast Day.  It  is a Catholic tradition to make people saints. Hildegard holds the record for the longest time between a death and canonisation.. Part of me steers away from this after all the enormous effort that went into making Mary MacKillop a saint . The miracles that have to be proved  to be a saint is very confusing.

As far as I am concerned Hildegard was a saint at the time she died because the people made her a saint. Later I will quote from my book how the people loved her and how she gave herself to them. When papers were sent to have this declared in the next years  after her death it was refused. And a few hundred years later when the Benedictan sisters tried again the papers were ‘lost.’ 

Hildegard has returned at this time in our world to help restore us with her cosmic and feminine  theology, her creativity, music and healing knowledge and  to help us find balance in our lives and on our planet

  The Vatican has  jumped onto the cause now  (2012). and has given Hildegard the status of Sainthood and Doctor of the Church.

For me the most beautiful portrait of Hildegard is this one below.  I feel such compasssion in it.Compassion is what we need today in this broken world.
Compassion for our planet
Compassion for humanity
Compassion for ourselves.

 

The idea was planted like a seed is planted, like a whisper heard , like a dream dreamt, Dr Annette Esser  is inspired to create the Hildegard Way. I am so proud that a poem of mine set in Disenbodenberg the place where Hildegard lived for 40 years of her life  is translated into German and included in her book  on the pilgrimage trail

Pilgerbuch: Hildegard von Bingen Pilgerwanderweg

 

And this is how my poem slowly came back into English and became part of the Saint Hildegard Speaks Virtual Pilgrimage  and I became part of this whole amazing experience

 

Hildegard of Bingen: Poetic Journey available now

colleen Hildegard of Bingen, Poetry , , , ,

Ginninderra  Press

www.ginninderrapress.com.au

Internationally on AMAZON BOOKS

Colleen Keating / Hildegard of Bingen: 

A poetic journey

Poetry

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‘Hildegard of Bingen was a woman of extraordinary creative expression and this book approaches her wisdom through the gift of poetry which allows us to move into a more intuitive space. It is a book to slow us down, that invites us to ponder, and calls us to follow Hildegard towards a growing greenness in our lives.’ – Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, REACE, Abbey of the Arts

‘Hildegard’s life sings and dances across the pages of this engaging harmony of her works, set out in this poetic journey that commences at the twilight of her life and rewinds back through the lens of time. Hildegard’s many gifts – including her charm – are expertly embedded. A very enjoyable and fascinating read.’ – Dr Christine Cameron 

‘Colleen Keating brings to this impressive collection some very fine, positively Hildegardian qualities – a robust earthiness, an inner strength, a passion for justice and a fiery light.’ –
Dr Mary O’Connell

‘What an oeuvre! What a superb and elaborate work! These nine books of poems by Australian poet Colleen Keating tell Hildegard’s story in a stunning way. The reader feels put into the landscape and ambience of Hildegard’s medieval cloistered world. Thus I highly recommend reading, tasting and meditating on this poetic journey with Hildegard of Bingen.’ –
Dr Annette Esser, Founder and President of the Scivias Institute for Art and Spirituality, Germany.

978 1 76041 766 6, 248pp

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