Herbalist and Mystic: Hildegard of Bingen
courtesy of American Botanical Council

Perhaps one of the most inspiring herbalists and visionaries of all time, Abbess Hildegard of Bingen and her writings were all but forgotten for 800 years. Today, the Abbessı works are being rediscovered: her medical books and theological writings have been published, and recordings of her musical compositions can be enjoyed on CD.

At least one physician, Dr. Wighard Strehlow, whose presentation at the Hildegard of Bingen conference held in the UK in 1995 provided much of the inspiration for this article, practices Hildegardıs medicine, and has been doing so for 15 years. Says Dr. Strehlow: "We have to believe that it was all revealed to her by God and she is always 100% correct, scientific study of her ideas has always shown that they are correct."

Born in 1098 in Germany, Hildegard was given to the church as a tithe at the age of eight and became a nun when she was 16. Her two medical books, Liber Simplicus Medicinae (also called Physica) and Liber Compositae Medicinae (also called Causae et Curae), were produced in just two years and contain 2,000 remedies and health suggestions.

Although some of her theories of health and the natural world are clearly based in "the conventional Galenical medicine of the time," her "over-all approach to health care and her use of herbs are, however, rather more original." She drew upon native European plants and imported spices for her remedies: she used the root galangal (Alpinia galanga) as a remedy for heart pain of any kind, from angina to lovesickness, and spelt (Triticum aestivum) for melancholy and depression. Hildegard recognized the need to treat what we would call today the "precancer state" and recommended herbs that we now believe to be useful for detoxification. Her cancer remedy was "an extract of eel gall, ginger, long pepper (Piper longum), basil, powdered ivory and a powder prepared from vulture beaks."

Hildegard claimed her medicine as visionary: "Everywhere in creation (trees, plants, animals and precious stones) there are mysterious healing forces, which no person can know unless they have been revealed by God."



Ody, Penelope. Hildegard of Bingen. Herbs, Autumn/Winter 1995, pp. 17-18.

For more information about "modern-day treatments based on her remedies," contact Dr. Wighard Strehlow, St. Gebhard-Platz 2, D-7750, Konstanz, Germany.

Courtesy of American Botanical Council Herb Clip
www.herbalgram.org
Date: February 6, 1996 HC 2-6-6-3
For: General Distribution

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