Extraordinary Women: Hildegard of Bingen

This week we meet Hildegard of Bingen, whose feast day is September 16.  In the past, I've explored other aspects of her life and work. In 2015, I did a series of posts about Hildegard that you can find by entering 'Hildegard' in the search box of the blog. This time, I’ve made a video of some of her writings and mandalas.

The video has ideas for using mandalas as prayer aids, and even making your own mandala. Mandalas of many forms can be found online. A mandala is simply a round or oval form with things that are spiritually meaningful or symbolic to you.

Hildegard based her mandalas on visions she had. In the video you’ll see one I made several years ago as a lectio divino activity based on a grain of seed falling to the ground. There is also one made of pictures cut from magazines that a group created at a retreat on being co-creators with God.

There is no one way to ‘properly’ do a Mandala. The hints in the video, which are downloadable here, are starting points for your own use of mandalas as prayer aids. 
And watch for the Advent Mandala series in December! We'll explore ways to use the Advent wreath as a mandala for our Advent meditations and Christmas preparations.