Hildegard

Coincidences and synchronicities abound when it comes to Hildegard. Pulling from the shelf my old books by Hildegard von Bingen (1098 – 1179) recently, I open the most beloved German editions, which I inherited from my wondrous friend and mentor Hildegard Elsberg (1906 – 1997), who is German Jewish and 48 years my senior. She is a mind-body teacher and a mystic poet, who as a young woman escaped Nazi Germany to teach movement and piano at a convent in India, where she meets her guru Ramana Maharshi. When she arrives in Los Angeles in 1947, she works for a time with Alan Watts. By pure chance I get introduced to her in 1988 – miraculously. Gushing to a German friend about Hildegard von Bingen (I was working on a theater piece about her), she tells me about this special older lady “Hildegard” she knows, and that I absolutely have to meet her! With excited premonition I exclaim: ”Is her last name Elsberg?”

A few months earlier I was eating lunch at a tiny Thai restaurant in the Sunset district in San Francisco, and my eyes are on two beautiful older ladies sitting in the corner. The taller of them, a white haired, regal looking woman, is wearing a long dress down to the floor. I am so attracted to her that when they leave, I almost jump up to follow and ask for her name. But I am too awe struck, and instead glance into the guest book at the door. The name Hildegard Elsberg jumps out, its old-fashioned handwriting. I think to myself: someday I will meet her, without knowing how. And to my surprise, that’s exactly what will be happening a few months later.

O edelstes Grün,

das wurzelt in der Sonne

und leuchtet in klarer Heiterkeit,

im Rund eines kreisenden Rades

das die Herrlichkeit des Irdischen nicht faßt:

umarmt von der Herzkraft himmlischer Geheimnisse

rötest du das Morgenlicht

und flammst wie der Sone Glut.

Du Grün

bist umschlossen von Liebe.

 

This poem's version I find in the last page of Hildegard von Bingen’s “Welt und Mensch.”

Translated from Latin by Heinrich Schipperges, 1957

 

O most royal Green

rooted in the sun

radiating with clear serenity,

in the roundness of a circling wheel

surpassing the magnificence of earthly existence:

embraced by the heart-force of celestial mysteries

you redden the morning light

you glow like ember in the flaming sun.

Green Verdancy

you are enveloped by love.

 

Translated from German by Karina Epperlein, 2024

 

We take to each other. Weekly I am visiting Hildegard in her light filled spacious attic apartment, conversing in German about her long adventurous life, poetry, philosophy, art, old and new mind-body modalities, the famous Folkwangschule in Essen, Hildegard von Bingen, German culture, India, history, gods, gurus and the world. Then we descend the steep spiraling stairs to the realm of Ruth who has prepared a magnificent table with dark rye bread, Butter, Leberwurst, Käse, Obst, other Delikatessen, and homemade German baked goods, like Streuselkuchen, Tea and Kaffee – all with her finest China and silver ware on the crisp linen table cloth. Ruth Fischer, another German Jewish refugee and survivor, is an amazing baker, a trained chocolatier. Down here, I am speaking a different, more earthy or earthly German, helping with last details, and lighting the candles for our feast. Together we concoct old times. Our German Jewish friendship feels “pre-war” – and it is healing for the two elders, as well as for me, the youngster. Hildegard and Ruth are acutely interested in me, my art, work, and views, so much that my own mystical side is daring to show itself.

Ruth is a quite affluent widow, and has taken in Hildegard who is only a few years her senior. They are friends with a certain hierarchy, and I end up defending Ruth to Hildegard’s sometimes superior remarks. At the time 35 years old, I feel like a bridge between these two octogenarians, both with so much astounding life and world experience. We laugh a lot, and at times cry. Lost family in the Holocaust, loss of language and culture. The hours fly by, after tea time we sit in the plush living room, looking at books and old photos, or listening to music on old LPs. Ruth was born in Wroclaw – my mother’s birth place, and briefly I studied and taught there at the Grotowski Studio. She was an upcoming actress, deep sadness still in her dark eyes which dominate her stunningly beautiful face. Always I arrive with flowers, which Ruth, the beautifier, appreciates deeply. She is a very good pianist, but these days her arthritis keeps her from playing much. Oh, how I love it all, love them – feel so loved and bonded, at home. Here the world is whole, despite its ongoing wars, genocides, and Holocaust. We make the world whole. Hildegard time. These were years of mythical visits, and each time I leave flooded with gratitude and more gifts of food and wisdom.

May 20^th century Hildegard & Ruth rest in peace – their spirits live on…

Just as 10^th century Hildegard is living on… They are my ancestors.

 

 

PS: The above Illustrations (from the book “Welt und Mensch”) are by Hildegard von Bingen who painted her “visions,” besides writing down an elaborate world philosophy and cosmic order (all dictated to her by God). Her music is also widely available in beautiful recordings. She was a Renaissance woman centuries ahead of her times: an abbess, mystic, writer, scientist, medicinal healer, composer and poet.

In last week's entry is a slightly different version of Hildegard von Bingen's poem above