Hildegard von Bingen - The Healing Power of her Symbols

Traude Bollig

Hildegard von Bingen

Traude Bollig

The Healing Power

of her Symbols

LIMARUTTI VERLAG

Autor: Traude Bollig

Hildegard von Bingeb | The Healing Power of her Symbols

© LIMARUTTI VERLAG

office@limarutti-verlag.at

www.limarutti-verlag.at

Revised new edition: ISBN 978-3-902280-98-5

All rights of dissemination, also through radio, television and other means of communication, photomechanical or accoustic reproduction as well as copying of excerpts thereof reserved.

Thou leadest our spirit

into the wide world,

blowest wisdom into our life

and with this wisdom joy.

Hildegard von Bingen

Symphonia, Poems and Songs

Important note

The symbols introduced in this book can be used by individuals at their own responsibility and can also be integrated into the work of people in counselling and therapeutic professions.

They are not intended to be used as diagnostic or therapeutic methods, and should not be used in the place of diagnosis or medical treatment in the event of illness.

Contents

Introduction

Foreword by Professor Eike Hensch

Acknowledgements

How it all began

Life and work of Hildegard von Bingen

The meaning of health and illness for Hildegard von Bingen

The Symbols

The symbols

Decoding the symbols

Core topics

Symbols from a to est

Special characteristics and possibilities of combination

Working with the symbols

Name symbols

The cosmic personality triangle

Using the symbols in the event of illness

Experiencing the effect of the symbols

Outlook

Annex

Annex

Muscle tests, the “bio-feedback instrument”

Table to allocate symbol letters

Examples of radiesthetically measured symbols

Questions to the medium Gisela Keul

Sources

Adresses

About the author

Keyword index

Preface

Man can capture cosmic laws through symbols. Carl Gustav Jung said, “When the soul explores symbols it is led to ideas that lie beyond the grasp of reason.” In most cultures figures and letters are allocated special symbolic meaning. They are understood to contain informational content that is accessible to the knowledgeable which they can process for themselves. If a mystical energy lies behind the creator of a symbol, this energy will irrevocably flow into the symbol, regardless of how often it is copied. The spiritual content will remain, even if the symbol consists of but a little printing ink.

Hildegard von Bingen possessed this spiritual energy which today, on the basis of insights gained through quantum physics, may be referred to as capacitive energy. She was the capacity of medieval times.

Traude Bollig and Ingrid Richter have found and opened a treasure box, the content of which may be of importance for many people on their path to better health and greater knowledge and that can penetrate into the very depths of the soul.

Nienburg, 2002

Eike Hensch,

Specialist of Geomancy and Radiaesthesia

Professor of Architecture

Acknowledgements

My deep appreciation extends primarily to Hildegard von Bingen, this great abbess that has left us her inexhaustible treasure of knowledge.

Thank you to all helpers from the spiritual realm. They guided and inspired us in this task. Thank you for your patience with us terrestrial human beings!

On the earthly plane I particularly wish to thank Ingrid Richter who, as a kinesiologist, contributed greatly to the decoding of the symbols. Cooperating with her was an invaluable experience, both professionally and personally. Without her this book could not have been developed in its current form. Unfortunately she was unable to see the completed and published work. Through an accident she passed on. To me, she is inextricably linked to the result of decoding.

A great word of thanks also to Gisela Keul who, as mediumistic counsellor, always pointed out new aspects when our work stagnated and who continuously encouraged us not to give up.

I wish to thank all friends and clients who were prepared to participate in the work with symbols and who, through their feedback, contributed to the decoding.

May the symbols be a blessing to all those who come into contact with them!

How it all began

In 1998, on the occasion of the nine-hundredth birthday of Hildegard von Bingen, many documents of her times were exhibited in the cathedral of Mainz. These also included the famous Major Code from the Hessian State Library in Wiesbaden, a manuscript of close to twelve kilogrammes that was written shortly after Hildegard’s death in order to capture the entire treasure of her knowledge. This manuscript also contains the so-called litterae ignotae, symbols that have thus far not been decoded and that appear in the middle of a chapter without any obvious link to the remaining text. The old manuscript lay in a cabinet and was opened on this page. One of the many visitors to the exhibition showed particular interest in these “unknown letters”. As an artist she had an unmistakable instinct for symbols – and these had a very special radiation. She also began to sketch the symbols, one by one. Later she gave a copy of these sketches to Heidemarie, a friend of hers that dealt with alternative healing methods.

On one afternoon in December 1999 four women got together to exchange experiences and to inform each other of the latest developments in the field of spiritual healing methods: Heidemarie, a healer and Reiki teacher, a sound therapist, a yoga instructor and a kinesiologist. And, indeed, there was something entirely new: Heidemarie had brought a copy of the “secret letters”; twenty-five symbols on a simple white sheet of paper with the only addition:

“Secret code / litterae ignotae (literally “unknown letters”)

Major Code Hildegard von Bingen 1180/90

Wiesbaden, Hessian State Library, Hs 2”

She had added a meaning to each symbol, which she had intuitively received in meditation. For example, next to the symbol for t the word “kidney”was written. Ingrid, who as a kinesiologist was aware of the connection between muscles, meridians and organs, suggested testing the psoas, a large muscle in the pelvis, in order to verify this interpretation. This is done by exercising light pressure on one leg in an outward and downward direction, while holding the straightened leg up. Heidemarie, who suspected a weakness of her kidneys, spontaneously agreed to act as a test person.

Indeed, the leg could not withstand the pressure, the muscle was too weak. Then the same test was repeated while Heidemarie was looking at the symbol that was to be verified. Now the muscle could fulfil its function, the leg could be held in the straightened position. It was unbelievable!

The women verified this result repeatedly in order to be absolutely certain of its correctness. Eventually Heidemarie looked at the symbol for about one minute. In the next test the muscle, and thus also the leg, could withstand the pressure without Heidemarie continuing to look at the symbol. Everyone was very impressed. They foresaw that they had received a great treasure and for Ingrid there were no doubts at all as to the effectiveness of the symbols. She would go out of her way to find out more about the secret behind these symbols.

And this is how the symbols came to me. Ingrid and I had maintained an intensive and regular exchange of experience for quite some time already. This had always been very fruitful and important because we had both had our own practices with clients for some time. We both had experience in working with symbols. I had also looked into the work of Hildegard and in particular into her knowledge of the healing properties of gemstones, had held talks and had offered seminars on this topic. We had both felt the special power of the mountain Disibodenberg where Hildegard had spent forty-one years of her life. So it was obvious that we had a keen interest in the effect of these symbols. And thus we commenced our journey into the discovery of these symbols in January 2000 and jointly continued this work for two years. During our meeting in January 2000 the symbols of Hildegard von Bingen were our main topic. On the basis of the kinesiological muscle test, our wonderful “tool”, it was possible to verify the effect easily and reliably. The results of our first experiments were so impressive that we both had the desire to continue this work. We decided to meet regularly at shorter intervals and to work intensively on decoding the symbols.

We soon made contact with the Hessian State Library in Wies-baden in order to find out more about the origin of the symbols. The deputy director of the library sent us a copy of the original1 (see image) together with the following information: “These ‘symbols’ are the so-called litterae ignotae (literally: unknown letters) from the Major Code of Hildegard von Bingen (Manuscript 2). This manuscript was developed between approximately 1180 and 1190, that is after Hildegard had died in the abbey of Rupertsberg. It is a vita that was written with the intention of augmenting her fame and of preserving her knowledge. The Major Code contains all three theologian main manuscripts (no scientific manuscripts), her correspondence and her musical work. The symbols simply appear in the middle of a chapter without any connection to the surrounding text. There is also a lingua ignota (literally: unknown language), also symbol text, which could not yet be decoded.”

Whether this secret code comes from Hildegard cannot be answered in the affirmative with any degree of certainty. But there are also no arguments against this and after all that I have learnt about and through the symbols thus far, I assume that Hildegard von Bingen is indeed the author of these symbols. During our work with the litterae ignotae we encountered numerous parallels with Hildegard’s description of unhealthy ways of living and the further we progressed with the decoding, the more obvious these parallels became. In the meantime we have no doubts whatsoever that with these symbols Hildegard has passed on to us an effective means of achieving psychological and probably also physical health and that the decoding of these secret symbols will succeed at the right point in time. In our times the so-called “vibrational medicine” is gaining in importance and finds its expression in numerous practices, such as homeopathy, Bach flower therapy, bio-resonance, colour therapy, radionics, Sanjeevini healing vibrations and many more. Hildegard was familiar with healing through “vibrations”, as her gemstone medicine proves or as can be seen from her comment on the “green power” of a plant that unfolds healing powers if you merely touch it or look at it.

But what led her to record the litterae ignotae? Were these her visions or were there other sources? What did Hildegard want to achieve, how did she use the “symbols”? Thus far, I was not able to find an answer to these questions. Speculations and assumptions exist, but in the end this still remains a mystery.

We were by all means convinced that there was more to the letter symbols than just the inventive spirit of Hildegard von Bingen that “may seem extraordinary, playful and perhaps a bit insignificant … and that manifested itself in rather strange forms”.2 Of course we were also faced with questions and doubts: How should we proceed with the decoding? Were we able to do this and did we have the calling to do this? But the project just would not let us go. In our uncertainty, but also out of curiosity, we decided to turn to a medium – Gisela Keul with her unquestionable integrity. The fact that Hildegard was also a visionary, confirmed this decision of ours. The text that we then received surprised us with its depth and intensity. Passages from this text will be quoted in the next chapters, other parts, that may contribute to a deeper understanding, are contained in the annex. For our project we received the following messages:

“Traude, you are now challenged to assume this responsibility without being given the opportunity to take a single step backward and to hide behind a barrier.”

“This also applies to you, Ingrid. We have tried for a long time already to get the two of you on this journey. If you take on this task of decoding, you will become the peak of the iceberg. Much more information will follow.”

And in response to the question, “May we do this, is it a task?”, we received the following answer:

“Yes, the time in the past served the purpose of moving your bodies into a state of vibration that will now allow you to open yourselves without reservation for this information, so that you can make this information available for the transformation of these times and for the development of humankind. Is this not what you have been desiring for quite some time? Now you have received a task in addition to your daily tasks.”

Indeed, for quite some time we had been hoping for effective and simple aids for our work. During the following months we often had our doubts whether it can and may really be this simple and whether people are actually willing to accept such simple aids. Over and again we were reminded of the words of a wise person, “All real truth is simple.”

Almost a year after our joint work had started we received the following message in addition to the request to cease all superfluous activities:

“Regarding the work with symbols we advise you not to give up but to continue striving for cooperation. It is urgently and essentially necessary that considerateness be practised by both sides. We have brought you together so that you may complement one another where either of you is lacking. We once again ask for your goodwill and request you to carry out this task. This project must be started. The preconditions are good to very good.

Motivation, however, is tedious and difficult. Pressure must be exercised so that the necessity becomes clear. The two of you must agree yet again to commence with the typesetting. With typesetting we mean in this case that the entire text of this book must be type-set and must be made reproducable. Thus, this is the calm before the storm, it is the beginning of knowledge being transferred to the public, knowledge on the interrelatedness and opportunities that humankind has in this part of the world.”

1 Due to the age of these manuscripts they may not be copied, since this would destroy them. By reproducing them by way of the microfiche procedure, the symbols and the surrounding text appear white on dark background. In the original they are of course black on white.

2 Règine Pernoud, Hildegard von Bingen, Page 105

Life and work of Hildegard von Bingen

Hildegard von Bingen is one of the most significant and important personalities of the medieval times in Europe. It is thus not astonishing that the work of this great mystic, natural researcher and medical practitioner is today again gaining in importance, since we are living in a time where holistic thinking has become more necessary than ever before.

Childhood and youth

Hildegard was born in 1098 in the town of Bermersheim in Rhine-Hesse. She was the tenth child of the nobleman Hildebert and his wife Mechthild. Those were moving times during which the crusades kept the world on tenterhooks, and state and church fought fierce battles of power. But the surroundings of Hildegard remained largely untouched by this. As a daughter of noble parents she grew up well protected. Before her birth already, the parents had decided that this child would be dedicated to God as a tithe and would thus be sent to an abbey, as was usually done during her times. At the tender age of eight years Hildegard thus moved to the sixteen-year-old Jutta von Sponheim into a women’s hermitage that was linked to the Benedictine monastery on the mountain Disibodenberg near Bingen. The hermitage had but one small window towards the monastery’s church and a barred window to the outside world. It was surrounded by a small garden that was to contribute to maintaining the good health of the women. Here Hildegard learnt reading and writing. And here the foundation of her knowledge of nature and its healing powers was laid. With the acquisition of this knowledge she followed the customary path of her times, because knowledge of medicinal plants, as well as the preparation of ointments and medicines were the “tasks of a woman” in medieval times. In 1114 Hildegard took the veil and started her life as Benedictine sun.

Visions and writings

Hildegard’s special gift became evident from an early age onward: a visionary ability that she herself referred to as “seeing”. Retrospectively she describes how she as a child saw a great light that let her “soul shiver”, but because she was still so young, she could not put this experience into words. As a child she generally still spoke very openly about her ability of “seeing”. For example, at the age of five she predicted the exact appearance and patterning of the skin of a still unborn calf. However, as Hildegard grew older she increasingly kept such statements to herself. Only at the age of twenty-four, when the visions became stronger and more pressing and after she had been severely ill, she interpreted this “seeing” as God-given and, with the support of Monk Volmar and Abbot Kuno, she commenced her first work.

In Scivias (Know the paths) the background and dimensions of creation are portrayed in a spectacular manner. In 1151 she completed this work. Even during its creation Scivias found great recognition by spiritual dignitaries, including the pope of the times, Pope Eugene III., and the holy Bernhard de Clairvaux. As prophetissa teutonica Hildegard was honoured and respected throughout Europe.

In the years 1150 to 1160 she wrote no new visionary works. But Hildegard recorded her entire knowledge of plants, animals and medicinal remedies. She wrote books on natural science (Physica) and medicine (Causae et curae). These contain descriptions of plants, animals, stones and metals, but Hildegard also pointed out what natural healing powers they contain for man. At all times she maintained a clearly holistic perspective of creation. Books such as these led to Hildegard being referred to as “doctor” and to date she is still often chosen as patron saint of hospitals.

In 1158 Hildegard began working on her second visionary writing Liber vita meritorum (Book of Merits of Life). This is a book on ethics, covering various topics: marriage, family, living together as human beings, nature and science. Here we encounter the topics of “virtues and vices” that we mentioned before. Since freedom is part of the very being of humankind, God has given us an order of virtues to keep creation and to give us guidance in the world. This order has as its basis “the deeply physiological insight that the very same fundamental powers and needs continue to exist and are able to uphold or destroy the inner fundamental needs.”3 By defining these needs as “unhealthy or healing patterns of life” we emphasise their relevance in our times. The fundamental needs have not changed since then.

After Hildegard had completed this work, she wrote De operatione Dei (Book of God’s Works) between 1163 and 1173 on the basis of yet another vision. It describes the history of salvation from genesis to apocalypse. At the centre is man, whom God has given the responsibility for nature. Cosmos and nature serve man and man in turn serves God, together with the cosmos and nature. By seeing God’s work in everything and in every one of his creations, man can work towards the final order and can thus become co-creator.

Music

When we talk about Hildegard and her work, we may not forget music. Music played an important role in the Christian liturgy of medieval times. It is through music that the biblical text, that always was in the centre, gained even greater importance. Here too, Hildegard followed her very own ways.

She did not only set biblical texts to music, but also composed music on scenes of her visions. These compositions exceeded all that was known in her times in terms of lyrics and music. They formed an important part of the unusual celebrations of mass at Rupertsberg, served to worship God and were understood as a preemption of the jubilations of the “heavenly Jerusalem”.

Establishment of monasteries and nunneries

In 1150 Hildegard established an own nunnery on the mountain Rupertsberg near Bingen on the basis of a vision she had received. This was done against immense resistance from the side of the monks of Disibodenberg who, understandably, feared that the importance of their abbey would decrease if Hildegard moved away. In spite of this resistance, Hildegard succeeded in finding influential people to help her with her endeavours and thus the legal foundation and the financing of the nunnery were ensured after many disputes with Abbot Kuno. These disputes still continued after she had moved to the new nunnery. At times the financial situation of the nuns was so dire that they had to rely on alms from the population of Bingen. The economic situation of the new nunnery, however, changed fundamentally when the visionary writing Scivias was completed and was met with great recognition. Believers flocked to Rupertsberg on their pilgrimages and the economic existence of the nunnery was ensured through generous donations. In 1165 an affiliated nunnery was established in Eibingen near Rüdesheim that was also to open its doors for non-aristocratic nuns.

Journeys and sermons

At the age of sixty Hildegard did her first preaching tour to Mainz, Würzburg and Bamberg. A second journey led her via Trier to Metz, a third journey to Cologne and Werden on the river Ruhr, the fourth and last tour led her to Maulbronn, Hirsau, Kirchheim/Teck and Zwiefalten. At the time of this last journey Hildegard was already seventy-two years old. Travelling during medieval times was extremely strenuous and unsafe and Hildegard often had to travel rough roads on horseback. She preached on marketplaces and in front of churches and could thus reach many people. The spoken word was of much greater importance in her times than it is today, because only very few privileged medieval people could read and write. It was, however, very unusual for a woman to speak publicly, because according to the writings of Paul women were not supposed to speak in church. She was not allowed to preach in her own name, because the right to preach was reserved for male theologians. But the fact that as a prophetess she spoke only in the name of God, gave her the necessary authority. She was also supported by priests and bishops who repeatedly asked her for her advice. This is quite astonishing in view of the fact that in her sermons she explicitly criticised the secularisation of the clergy, pomposity, stinginess and conceitedness of the priests and the corruption that was widely practised in the circles of the church.

An episode from her last year of life is an impressive testimony for the steadfastness and sincerity of this extraordinary woman: in 1178 an excommunicated nobleman was buried in the cemetry of the monastery after he had found reconciliation with the church shortly before his death and had received the holy sacraments. Since no official revocation of the excommunication had been effected, church authorities in Mainz gave instructions that the body of the deceased should be exhumed and reburied in non-consecrated soil. Hildegard refused to carry out these instructions because she considered the protection through sacraments to be of more significance than the law of the church. As a form of punishment, an interdict was imposed against her nunnery: the bells were not allowed to ring, the nuns were no longer allowed to celebrate mass, no singing was allowed.