The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
Alex
Grey and Hildegard of Bingen on the Divine Eye(s) 01/08/2024 |
We are meditating, this first week of a New Year, on the team of Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th century Christian mystic, and Alex Grey, a 21st century Buddhist/Jewish artist. |
Grey’s recent and delicious painting honors “Greening Power” and prominently displays hands with eyes in them, all contributing, he hopes, to a re-greening of the Earth and human work that honors the Earth. Other places where Hildegard paints the divine eye includes her painting on “The Six days of
Creation.” |
“The Green Hand,” a painting by Alex Grey in homage to Hildegard’s concept of Viriditas. Published with permission. |
Symbolist specialist Cirlot tells us that the ‘divine eye’ in the Egyptian tradition denotes “he who feeds the sacred fire or the intelligence of humans,” namely Osiris. Hildegard talks about “the living eye” while calling the Holy Spirit “a fire that penetrates everything” and God the Creator “a brightness that shines” and
Christ, the “flashing forth that radiates” divine fire. |
“The Six Days of Creation Renewed” Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias. | Creatures too “shine in their wonderful origin [and] glitter in the beauty of their fullness” thus that “heaven and earth are resplendent in their abundant making.” Notice her invoking of all creatures’ “wonderful origin,” surely another term for “original blessing.” She also celebrates the “original wisdom” with which humans are born. The tent we are called to set up in our life’s journey is the
“tent of |
wisdom” and parallels the tent that Christ, or Wisdom incarnate, came to set up on earth (John 1). Indeed, humans came to be by “the same flame...burning to a little clod of muddy earth lying on the ground [that] poured heat in it by way of greening power and because
the earth is the fleshy material of humans” which nourished the first person "with its sap, like a mother who nurses her sons. And the flame breathed on it so that a living person arose.” |
In her marvelous painting I call “All beings Celebrate Creation,” Hildegard painted two armies of angels that constitute the inner mandala of nine mandalas. The first were “full of eyes and wings and in each eye a mirror appeared and in the mirror the face of a person.” Burning like a fire, “all these |
"All Beings Celebrate Creation," from Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias. |
armies were resounding with every kind of music.” |
Adapted from Matthew Fox, Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen, pp. 76-82, 95-99, 108-111. And Fox, "Living Words and the Cosmic Christ" and "The God of Life and Light or the God of Religion?" in Fox, Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint For Our Times, pp.11-32. Banner image: Helix Nebula, NGC 7293 or "The Eye of God." Photo credit: NASA, ESA, and C.R. O'Dell (Vanderbilt University). Wikimedia
Commons. |
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Queries for Contemplation What does God as a “Living Eye” mean to you? How do Hildegard and/or Alex Grey awaken that eye in you?
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Responses are welcomed. To add
your comment, or read other comments and enter into dialog, please click HERE to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen
An introduction to the life and work of Hildegard of Bingen, Illuminations reveals the life and teachings of one of the greatest female artists and intellectuals of the Western Mystical
Tradition. At the age of 42, she began to have visions; these were captured as 36 illuminations–24 of which are recorded in this book along with her commentaries on them.
“If one person deserves credit for the great Hildegard renaissance in our time, it is Matthew Fox.” – Dr Mary Ford-Grabowsky, author of Sacred Voices. |
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Hildegard of Bingen, A Saint for Our Times: Unleashing Her Power in the 21st Century Matthew
Fox writes in Hildegard of Bingen about this amazing woman and what we can learn from her. In an era when women were marginalized, Hildegard was an outspoken, controversial figure. Yet so visionary was her insight that she was sought out by kings, popes, abbots, and bishops for advice. "This book gives strong, sterling, and unvarnished evidence that everything - everything - we ourselves become will affect what women after us may also become....This is a truly marvelous, useful, profound, and creative book.” ~~ Andrew Harvey, author of The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism. |
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In the Beginning There Was Joy: A Cosmic Celebration for Kids of All Ages
The first book in the Father Fox’s Fantastical Fables series tells the story of the big bang and how humans fit into the awesome, fantastical, cosmic picture! With artwork curated from illustrators around the world, this book expresses the joy and wonder of all peoples and cultures, planting seeds of respect, cooperation and hope to work together for the healing of our planet. "This delicious book for children of all ages celebrates joy as the essential truth of reality." - Andrew Harvey, Author of The Hope and Radical Regeneration
"I absolutely LOVED reading this beautiful, creative, stirring story—a charming, whimsical, powerful, parable." - Robert Holden, Author of Happiness NOW! and Higher Purpose
Receive a 20% discount when you buy this and one other book from Matthew Fox’s store!
Use Promo Code 20% at checkout. |
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UPCOMING EVENTS See Matthew Fox's full calendar
HERE |
SPECIAL EVENT: 5-DAY WORKSHOP IN AQUINAS’ HOMETOWN OF ORVIETO, ITALY
WITH MATTHEW FOX, MESHI CHAVEZ, AND CLAUDIA PICARDI
JUNE 9-14, 2024
LEARN MORE HERE. Creation Spirituality Communities instructor Penny Andrews leads a virtual course on “Cosmogenesis: Our Common Story” with Matthew Fox and Brian Thomas Swimme scheduled as guest speakers. Course runs Tuesdays, January 9 – February 20, 2024, 4 pm; Matthew Fox speaks on
January 16. Register HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox and Alessandra Belloni for an online Lecture, Concert, and Q&A on “Gifts of the Black Madonna for the New Year,” Thursday, January 11, 4:00-5:30 pm PT. Register HERE. Join Matthew Fox as he discusses his book “Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest ” in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat.Thursday, January 18, 4:00-6:00 pm PT. Register HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox as he lectures on “What the Mystics Tell Us About Dying “ at the Conference on Death, Grief and Belief, “Emerging Spiritualities: Death and Bereavement Across the Spiritual Spectrum,” Saturday, January 20, 9:00am – 5:00pm PT. Register HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox as he discusses his book “The Lotus & The Rose” in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat. Thursday, February 15, 4:00-6:00 pm PT. Register HERE. |
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Creation Spirituality Conversations |
In the midst of increased violence between Israel and Palestine, Ilia Delio and theologian Matthew Fox discuss the state of the world today and how to have courage in Part 1 of their conversation. Ilia and Matt discuss his mentor, Marie Dominique Chenu, the influence of liberation theology on social justice in
the church today, and what can still be learned.
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Inspired by this post? Share your insights on Universeodon, Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #RevDrMatthewFox and tag Matt with @RevDrMatthewFox FOLLOW MATTHEW FOX: |
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