Matthew Fox
Monday, November 28, 2022
Embody St. Hildegard of Bingen’s teachings, wisdom, art, and music — as her compassion, courage, and resilience inspire you to become a trailblazer in your inner life and community.
— St. Hildegard of Bingen
In an era when women were marginalized, 12th-century mystic St. Hildegard of Bingen stood out as an outspoken, controversial figure. At the same time, kings, popes, abbots, and bishops sought her advice.
As a writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, Benedictine abbess, healer, artist, feminist, and student of science — St. Hildegard, known as the Grandmother of Creation Mystics, was a pioneer in many fields.
Hildegard rebelled against the patriarchy of church and society, asserting that God was both female and male — and that God existed in all of the cosmos and everything within it.
She oversaw a Benedictine monastery overlooking the Rhine River in Germany.
For many centuries after her death, Hildegard was ignored and even ridiculed. Today, she’s finally being recognized for her substantial contributions to developing both the healthy masculine and the healthy feminine, to understanding our spiritual relationship with the Earth, and more.
Join us for a new 16-week, 2-course journey with renowned spiritual pioneer Matthew Fox. You’ll explore the many ways Hildegard was radical in her day — and how this wisdom speaks to the issues we’re facing in the 21st century.
Hildegard maintained that the outer defiling of the natural world is mirrored by an inner drying up of our souls. It’s time for us to follow in Hildegard’s footsteps and acknowledge and honor our interdependence with all things.
As Matthew will share, Hildegard’s wisdom can help us break the cycle of greed and destruction that’s destroying Mother Earth — and step up to fiercely protect and help her heal.
Where did Hildegard derive her courage from? Her wisdom? As you’ll discover, much of her prophetic work was based on art as meditation.
With each new week and module, Matthew will encourage you to consider the artistic dimensions of Hildegard’s teachings — her music, painting, gardening, poetry — as well as her work in the healing arts and her connection to the universe, which we would refer to today as shamanism.
As you’ll discover, Hildegard practiced prayer and meditation in her music, painting, gardening, music, poetry, and more. She deeply understood that art expands the heart and inspires courage. Join us and experience how the bold, radical life of faith she lived in the 12th century can transform your own spiritual journey.
During this 16-module immersion, you’ll:
- Explore Hildegard of Bingen’s timely radical wisdom for how we can heal ourselves, our fractured societies, and our ravaged Earth
- Experience guided meditations on Hildegard’s art and music — and imagination practices with Hildegard’s paintings
- Honor the archetypes of Father Sky and Mother Earth to harmonize yourself with Mother Earth
- Recognize toxic masculinity (patriarchy) and develop the healthy masculine — regardless of your gender
- Discover the 4 Paths of Creation Spirituality as highlighted in Hildegard’s teachings
- Use insight, intuition, and prayer to call on angels for assistance in your work
- Experience mystic scholar Mirabai Starr’s guided group prayer to Hildegard — and learn how to compose your own prayers to wisdom teachers who inspire you — accessing them as living allies on your path
- Explore art as meditation, also known as the way of the prophets
- Develop your capacity for co-creating with Spirit and your inner self
- Become a spiritual warrior to help forge a new story for humanity — and to foster harmony within yourself and our world
- Get to know the Green Man, an essential archetype for recovering the Sacred Masculine — and creating a sustainable future for Mother Earth
- Learn the concept of Via Creativa, or co-creating with God
- Explore Creation Spirituality and how it can connect you to nature’s sacred elements
- Learn how to create your own “I am” poem as an echo of Hildegard’s, to connect with your own divinity
- Explore how Hildegard’s shamanic work can help you access your own inner shaman
During your time with Matthew, you’ll develop your capacity for co-creating with Spirit as Hildegard did through her paintings, theology, and healing practices...
... which still hold the alchemies of the higher realms and the inspiration we need to remember and honor the sacredness of life, create a sustainable future for Mother Earth, and reimagine the world we truly wish to live in.
You’ll journey deep into Hildegard’s unique perspectives on complex and timely topics — ecojustice, women’s rights, patriarchal consciousness, the shadow side, and more to gain sage insights on how to heal yourself, the divisiveness of the collective psyche, and our ravaged Earth.
You’ll be guided into meditations and practices to harmonize yourself with Mother Earth and your own dualistic energies, and you’ll learn to embody the way of the prophets — Hildegard’s practice of art as meditation.
Matthew will share how to call in angels for assistance as you forge your path of service to our world.
Ultimately, you’ll experience yourself opening again to the beauty, magic, and sacredness of life as you get reacquainted with who you really are through the teachings, art, music, and paintings of Hildegard — and discover new ways to bring your sacred self into service for others and our world.
— Bestselling Author Mirabai Starr: “Matthew Fox Will Go Down in History as One of the True Spiritual Geniuses of Our Age”
— Bestselling Author Andrew Harvey: “Matthew Will Illumine Your Life as He Has Illumined Mine”
What You’ll Discover in These 16 Modules
In this transformational intensive, Matthew will guide you through the fundamental skills you’ll need to answer the call for an uncommon life through the mystical teachings of St. Hildegard.
Watch Now or Stream Later at Your Convenience
Modules Posted Weekly
This program will feature pre-recorded teachings, experiential practices, and two live Q&As with Matthew. Each session will build harmoniously upon the previous ones, so you’ll develop a complete holistic understanding of the practices, tools, and principles you’ll need to put radical spirituality into action through the mystical teachings of 12th-century luminary St. Hildegard of Bingen.
Module 1: Reconnect to Self & Nature Through Creation Spirituality to Recover the Wisdom of the Divine Feminine (November 28)
Hildegard’s life (1098-1183) spanned most of the 12th century, a period that historian M.D. Chenu called “the only renaissance that worked in the West.”
She was an integral part of that renaissance, which was characterized by the return of the Divine Feminine — and was herself a “renaissance woman” in every sense of the term.
In this opening session, Matthew will share Hildegard’s basic life story and the most foundational influences on her work as she taught a creation-centered view of the world.
These influences include the Celtic tradition (she was raised in a Celtic monastery in Germany), and the wisdom literature of the Hebrew Bible, including cosmology in Genesis 1.
Hildegard came from the Benedictine tradition — and, as you’ll discover, stories of Native American traditions seem to have influenced her too.
In every session, Matthew will guide you to meditate on Hildegard’s paintings, mandalas, or music (both instrumental and vocal compositions) — depending on what best fits the theme of the class.
In this module, you’ll:
- Learn how acknowledging the Divine Feminine impacted Hildegard’s culture, and impacts our culture as we move beyond patriarchy as a philosophy
- Learn about the Green Man, an essential archetype for recovering the Sacred Masculine and for defending Mother Earth
- Place our modern-day relations with Indigenous people in the context of Hildegard’s paintings of “the red man” and “the red-headed divinity” — and the paintings’ messages of replacing anthropocentrism with cosmology
- Discover Creation Spirituality and how it can connect you to nature’s sacred elements
- Move through a guided meditation on Hildegard’s self-portrait and her paintings of Indigenous peoples — together, they tell the story of her awakening experience at the age of 42
Module 2: Discover Original Wisdom to Overcome Obstacles & Empower Your Spiritual Evolution (December 5)
Inspired by many different Indigenous philosophies, Hildegard’s worldview does not begin and end with the human. Even her psychology is set within the context of cosmology — microcosm (human) and macrocosm (universe).
Matthew will guide you to explore Hildegard’s worldview and how she believed humanity fit into the universe. The concept of humanity’s role in the universe is common to both Indigenous and premodern consciousness, and it grounds a society’s ethics. Hildegard’s paintings expressed her views on these issues, and Matthew will guide you to meditate on them.
Hildegard declares that “all science comes from God.” Matthew will share about Hildegard’s many books featuring scientific topics.
Hildegard also talks about the “original wisdom” all humans are born with — and how life’s journey is to set up the “tent of wisdom” that comes folded into us as babies.
In this module, you’ll explore:
- How Hildegard’s teachings on holistic health and healing are relevant for us today
- What Hildegard and Einstein have in common, how Hildegard’s science is, in certain ways, a harbinger of our postmodern science — and how it urges us to integrate today’s science into our religious consciousness
- How Hildegard’s eagerness to evolve and grow intellectually and spiritually — and her take on individuation — can help you overcome obstacles as you embrace your work in the world
- How Hildegard was inspired by the archetype of the Cosmic Christ (also known as “Buddha Nature” or “Image of God”), and how this can help you understand yourself
- How Mary Oliver and Hildegard see eye-to-eye on the sacredness of the world all around us
- An experiential exercise where you’ll consider some of Hildegard’s praise poems to the Earth and the universe, and her paintings that depicted the universe as an egg, and later the universe as a circle
- How to create your own “I am” poem as an echo of Hildegard’s, exploring the divinity within yourself
Module 3: Learn the Art of Interfering to Receive Higher Guidance & Empower Yourself to Challenge Outdated Knowledge Systems in Society (December 12)
Hildegard was both a mystic and a prophet. Philosopher William Hocking called the prophet “the mystic in action.” Jewish theologian Rabbi Heschel said the primary work of the prophet is “to interfere.”
In this session, Matthew will share how Hildegard interfered with patriarchy and other elements of her culture. She wrote letters to popes, emperors, bishops, abbots, and others — all telling them what to do.
When she was 81 years old, Hildegard and her sisters were all interdicted (in effect, excommunicated as a group) for disobeying the bishop. They didn’t back down and were reinstated one year later.
Art expands the heart and teaches trust, which lies at the heart of courage and spiritual warriorhood. Matthew will encourage you to consider the artistic dimensions of Hildegard’s teachings — her music, painting, gardening, and poetry.
Matthew will also share about Hildegard’s work in the healing arts and her experiences with what we call shamanism today.
In this module, you’ll explore:
- Joy and ecstasy, and how to expand your courage
- Strength and the Sacred Masculine, and how you can stay grounded in your own prophetic and mystical vocations
- The virtues’ powerful positive impact on education and society
- Art as meditation (“the way of the prophets”) and how you can shake up and reform education by bringing wisdom into our knowledge factories — including intuitive ways of knowing alongside analytical ways of knowing
- Shaking up education — and by extension — transforming every profession
- The 3 rings of humans’ relationship with nature and divinity — experienced through a guided meditation on Hildegard’s painting of the 3 rings
Module 4: Explore the Feminine Side of God to Enhance Your Spiritual Journey Through the Creative Arts — With Guest Faculty Mirabai Starr (December 19)
This week Matthew will be joined by Mirabai Starr, a mother, grandmother, translator, and lover and student of the mystics. She’ll share what Hildegard means to her and how Hildegard has impacted her life.
Mirabai will also share short passages from Hildegard of Bingen: Devotions, Prayers & Living Wisdom, a book she compiled featuring Hildegard’s writings and her own poetic reflections.
Matthew and Mirabai will also discuss Hildegard’s relationship to the spiritual sisters that came after her — such as Julian of Norwich and Mechtild of Magdeburg.
In this module, you’ll discover:
- How Hildegard’s amazing development of the feminine side of God serves as a model for women — and men — in the 21st century by inspiring gender balance
- Mirabai’s guided group prayer to Hildegard, and how you can compose your own prayers to wisdom beings who inspire you — accessing them as living allies on your path
- The importance of the creative arts in Hildegard’s life, and concrete examples for enhancing your own spiritual journey through the creative arts
- A dialogue between Matthew and Mirabai to illuminate Hildegard’s important role in developing a 21st-century spirituality
Module 5: Cultivate Nontoxic Masculinity to Dismantle Patriarchal Consciousness Within Yourself & the World (December 26)
An essential part of recovering the Goddess and the Divine Feminine, as Hildegard did, is cultivating a healthy, nontoxic masculinity.
Matthew will explain how this is important for both men and women. After all, women have many men in their lives! And whatever our gender, we each carry both masculine and feminine energies.
As Matthew will share, the feminine soul has a masculine and feminine side, just as men have a goddess within them.
Hildegard led the way by acknowledging the Sacred Masculine within herself — as well as by critiquing unhealthy patriarchal versions of masculinity.
In our current cultural climate — where gender identity and gender relationships are in flux and we need to move from a patriarchal consciousness to an inclusive one if our species is to survive — Hildegard’s teachings hold powerful wisdom for both men and women.
In this module, you’ll discover:
- How to find inner strength from Hildegard’s paintings
- The Blue Man, an archetype of compassion and creativity that we all carry within ourselves
- How to develop the imagination and strength to defend Mother Earth as the Green Man does — and birth a new version of humanity
- How Hildegard’s call that “the Earth should not be injured, the Earth must not be destroyed” can wake us up to our vocation — combatting our current eco and climate crises
- A guided meditation on Hildegard’s images of the healthy masculine — found in women and men
Module 6: Conjure Warrior Energy to Face & Combat Evil and Reinstate True Justice in Our World (January 2)
When Matthew first shared some of Hildegard’s paintings with a Jungian therapist on his faculty 43 years ago, the therapist called Hildegard “the most mature person he’d ever seen” — because she deals so explicitly with the shadow in many of her paintings.
Matthew will guide you to meditate on several of Hildegard’s paintings of the shadow, observing what they have to say about evil.
You’ll explore Hildegard’s teachings about facing evil and not running from it, and preparing the warrior energy to combat evil. Matthew will share Hildegard’s prophetic teachings and the prophetic letters she wrote to emperors, popes, abbots, bishops, and more.
For Hildegard, strong feminine energy comes from the lower chakras and from the Earth. Matthew will guide you to meditate on Hildegard’s paintings that share these powerful truths. You’ll also consider lessons from her poetry, which celebrates the ecstasy we find in nature.
In this module, you’ll explore:
- Hildegard’s teaching that failures in eros and in justice-making are the primary faults of humans — and how you can advance both in yourself and your culture
- What Hildegard teaches about the shadow, helping us address our shadows by facing the violence in our culture instead of repressing it
- Hildegard’s paintings of the Christ who comes from below to combat evil forces, and how redemption comes from the Earth and from below
- A guided meditation on Hildegard’s paintings of the shadow and demons — including violence and war images
Module 7: Call in Spirits & Angels to Assist You in Developing Your Mode of Service (January 9)
In this module, you’ll explore Hildegard’s deep understanding of angels.
For example, angels delight in ritual, good human work, and helping humans in art, creativity, music, and more.
Matthew will explain the angels’ presence and how they help humans transition to the next phase after death. As you’ll discover, angels move at the pace at which human thoughts travel.
Matthew will also share how a shaman is (among many things) one who’s undergone deep initiation and emerges to serve and heal the community — as Matthew will explain, this description fits Hildegard perfectly.
In this module, you’ll discover:
- How to follow Hildegard’s example and teachings to integrate the Divine Feminine and the Sacred Masculine into your life and community
- Matthew’s (and co-author Rupert Sheldrake’s) discussion of Hildegard’s perspectives on angels, as laid out in their book The Physics of Angels
- How to call in spirits and angels who are eager to assist you
- How Hildegard’s shamanic work can inspire you to access your own inner shaman
- A guided meditation on Hildegard’s paintings that depict community and the Divine Feminine
Live Q&A Session #1 (January 17 at Noon Pacific)
This session offers you an opportunity to participate in an hour-long live Q&A with Matthew.
Module 8: Integrate Your Feminine & Masculine Dimensions to Become a Balanced Human Being (January 23)
Is there anything more pressing than the continued emergence of the Divine Feminine? It offers a counterbalance to an out-of-control toxic masculinity in our culture today.
Would we be so involved in matricide, the killing of Mother Earth, if we were less hostile to Earth, matter, mother (mater)?
Matthew will explain how we’re all called to redefine masculinity. To move from masculinity as patriarchy, control, and power over to a more partnership relationship with self, body, others (male and female), and Earth herself.
In many ways, Hildegard leads the way in incorporating both feminine and healthy masculine dimensions into her ways of seeing and working in the world.
In this module, you’ll discover:
- How honoring both Father Sky and Mother Earth is part of Hilegard’s journey — and yours
- Why we’re called to develop the Sacred Masculine with us — and in our institutions and professions — whatever our gender
- How to develop your feminine and masculine sides to be a more balanced and energized person
- Ways to recognize the toxic masculine (patriarchy) and develop the healthy masculine — whatever your gender
- How honoring the archetypes of Father Sky and Mother Earth assist our process of cultivating a deeper commitment to saving Mother Earth
- A Divine Feminine and Sacred Masculine guided practice
Module 9: Explore Celtic Consciousness to Shift Out of Unhealthy Anthropocentric Patterns (January 30)
You may already know that Hildegard was raised in a Celtic monastery named after a seventh-century Celtic monk, St. Disibod, whom she greatly admired.
The Celts settled all along the Rhine, and the spirituality of the Rhineland mystics is deeply Celtic.
This class will include a presentation by Celtic scholar and practitioner John Philip Newell, whose new book, Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul: Celtic Wisdom for Reawakening What Our Souls Know and Healing the World, offers a profound and workable summary of Celtic consciousness. Newell was “warden,” or abbot, of the Iona community for many years.
Newell’s study puts meat on the bones of the Celtic tradition. He’ll focus on Pelagius (whom history has wrongly berated), John Scotus Eriugena — and St. Brigid of Kildare, an archetype of the strong feminine.
As you’ll discover, Hildegard carries in her work many of the characteristics and teachings of these great Celtic figures.
In this module, you’ll:
- Listen in on Matthew’s fascinating dialogue with John via video
- Learn about the often-forgotten, often-maligned tradition of Celtic spirituality that grounded Hildegard
- Discover an alternative to St. Augustine’s human-centered and original sin-centered religious worldview in favor of a more cosmic consciousness
- Recognize the many dimensions of Hildegard’s life and work — and teachings that are grounded in Celtic consciousness and practice
- Move through a guided spiritual practice in the Celtic tradition
Module 10: Explore the Paths of Creation to Cultivate Gratitude, Wonder & Awe in Your Life — Part 1 (February 6)
The 4 Paths of Creation Spirituality name the deep inner and outer journey that’s both mystical and prophetic.
Starting in this module, Matthew will lead you to explore these four paths of creation in light of Hildegard’s teachings in back-to-back classes.
As Matthew will explain, the first two paths of creation, Via Positiva and Via Negativa, refer to the in-depth inner journey of mysticism.
You’ll discover how Mary Oliver’s poem “At the River Clarion,” one of many poems on the Via Positiva, truly captures the experience of the Cosmic Christ and what it teaches us.
Mary Oliver was a praise poet and a keen observer of nature who wrote about the disciplines “prayer” and “devotion” — and continues to invite us into them. She and Hildegard express similar perspectives in their many praise poems to nature and the Earth.
Hildegard is regularly calling for “joy,” “celebration,” and “passion” and is a keen observer of the beauty in nature.
Matthew will encourage you to analyze Hildegard’s teachings about emptying and silence-making, letting go, and how to handle suffering and grief.
In this module, Matthew will guide you to:
- Explore the similar ideas Mary Oliver and Hildegard expressed in their poetry
- Develop your own capacity forsavoring and appreciating beauty
- Cultivate deeper awe, wonder, and gratitude
- Reflect on concepts like emptying, silence, letting go, suffering, and grief through the lens of Via Negativa and Hildegard
- Develop your aptitude for letting go, letting it be, and grieving
- Participate in a guided practice based on the Via Positiva to help heal grief
Module 11: Explore the Paths of Creation to Bring Your Wisdom Into the World & Develop Your Capacity to Co-Create — Part 2 (February 13)
You’ll learn about the two remaining paths of creation — the Via Creativa and the Via Transformativa, which describe the path of creativity and of taking your wisdom into the world — your outer journey of prophetic work and service.
Hildegard explains this as “working God’s work with God” or “co-creating.” You’ll also explore in greater depth Hildegard’s teachings about evil.
As you’ll discover, the seven main chakras represent your own inner doors of strength or, if they remain underdeveloped, of weakness — whereby evil or shadow energy enters your being if you allow it. Matthew will also explain how the entrance of the shadow or misdirected chakra corresponds to the seven capital sins.
You’ll also discover how focusing on the seven main chakras on the one hand and the corresponding seven capital sins on the other helps you name your inner powers — and employ them in your struggle with evil.
In this module, you’ll discover:
- The concept of Via Creativa, or co-creating with God
- How the competing concepts of virtues (energies, habits) and vices (wrestling with evil) reveal the meaning of true strength
- The importance of art as meditation, also known as the way of the prophets
- A deeper dive into the concepts of Via Transformativa, eco-justice, eco-spirituality, and the battle with patriarchy
- Ways to develop your capacity for co-creating with Spirit and your inner self
- How to bring the 7 chakras alive in us — to stand up to the 7 capital sins, or shadow energies, that come at us from all sides as well as from within
- Practices for developing the co-creator within
Module 12: Gain a Deeper Understanding of Hildegard & How to Apply Her Work Through the Insights of Sister Joan (February 20)
In this session, Matthew will welcome Sister Joan, a Benedictine prioress of Hildegard’s tradition whose community is alive and well in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Sister Joan lectures and writes extensively and authored the forward to Matthew’s most recent book on Hildegard, Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint for Our Times.
Her most recent book isThe Monastic Heart, which brings forth her and Hildegard’s Benedictine lineage with over 50 meditations on dimensions their lineage addresses, such as Silence and Beauty, Community and Solitude, Bells (on remembering), Manual Labor and the Purpose of Work, and Perseverance and Peacemaking.
Sister Joan will lead the class and address such questions as: What does Hildegard bring to today’s spiritual crises? And how does Hildegard speak to us today?
In this module, you’ll be prompted to explore questions including:
- What elements are there in the 1500+ years of the Benedictine tradition that speak deeply to us today — and that we can use in our everyday lives?
- How did these practices play out in Hildegard’s life and teachings — and how can they play out in our own?
- In what ways did Hildegard resist patriarchy in her day?
- Which lessons from Hildegard’s ahead-of-her-time philosophies can you apply to your own life?
Module 13: Harness Your Intuition & Creative Work to Summon the Angels and Their Profound Insights & Abilities (February 27)
When Matthew and British scientist Rupert Sheldrake sat down together to dialogue on angels and their role in the cosmos for the book The Physics of Angels, the two chose to interact around three major teachers of angels — Denis the Areopagite, Thomas Aquinas, and Hildegard of Bingen.
Much of what Hildegard teaches resonates with the teachings of Lorna Byrne of Ireland, present-day teacher and encounterer of angels. For instance, Hildegard believed that angels don’t have wings like birds, but are more “like flames hovering in the power of God... their nature is a glowing burning.”
Here are a few examples of Hildegard’s angel teachings:
- Angels admire human work and workers
- Angels are eager to help humans at this time, but because humans are not asking them for help, there are many unemployed angels in the world today
- You can make contact with angels through intuition and creative work
Matthew will also guide you to explore more of the shamanism of Hildegard’s Wild Woman teachings that emanate from her and from Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés.
In this module, you’ll also discover:
- How modern-day angels are alive and well — and how a live cosmology is displacing a mechanical view of the Universe
- The ways angels play an important role in evolutionary history and in our own creativity as our muses
- How you can use creative work, insight, and intuition to call on angels for assistance
- The ways Hildegard’s shamanic roots contributed to her work, and how they can contribute to your work today
- What you can learn from Thomas Berry’s observation that if the human species is to survive in this time of climate change and more, we need fewer priests and professors — and more shamans
- A guided practice to invoke the angels
Module 14: Give Birth to New Beginnings Through the Poetry of Hildegard (March 6)
There are many practices that allow you to ingest Hildegard’s teachings more fully in mind, soul, and body. Matthew will guide you to explore and implement some of them in class. For example, you’ll meditate and journal on succinct images from Hildegard’s writings.
Hildegard’s writings are full of these fresh and profound namings — and Matthew will guide you to explore them in the intuitive manner in which Hildegard shares them.
You’ll also chant or create a mantra from Hildegard’s words, allowing her music to roll over you. Perhaps you’ll write a poem to her, or simply be inspired by her to work through a current life issue.
In this module, you’ll:
- Journey deeper into the poetic teachings Hildegard shares with us to give birth to what she awakens in us
- Awaken to your own capacity to create new images and namings of your journeys
- Explore practices to use and develop future soul-making, including creating your own “I am” poem based on Hildegard and the Celtic tradition
Module 15: Heal Your Spirit to Heal Your Body — Addressing Trauma, Distress & Other Maladies of the Soul (March 13)
Hildegard was once again ahead of her time in believing that healing the body begins with self-healing of spirit.
This week, Matthew will share the work of Dr. Wighard Strehlow, author of Hildegard of Bingen’s Spiritual Remedies, which presents many of Hildegard’s teachings on healings. He also co-authored Hildegard of Bingen’s Medicine with Dr. Gottfried Hertzka.
Together, Dr. Hertzka and Dr. Strehlow worked at the Hildegard Center in Allensbach on Lake Constance in southern Germany, a clinic of holistic healing based on Hildegard’s remedies that successfully treated thousands of patients for over 40 years.
Dr. Strehlow gathered 35 spiritual forces of the human soul from Hildegard’s writings meant to cure the soul within. He believes that recovering Hildegard’s insights into cultivating the health of body and spirit may provide solutions to many challenges that currently frustrate Western medical science.
In this class, you’ll explore some of these teachings from both Hildegard and Dr. Strehlow.
Matthew will also address the charge that Hildegard was anti-Semitic, largely based on some anti-Semitism sentiments in her first book, Scivias. Did her anti-Semitism persist or did she outgrow it as she matured? Matthew will guide you to discuss this question and the healing Hildegard herself underwent.
As Matthew often says, we should not put our ancestors on pedestals by ignoring their clay feet, but name them so we do not go down the same path.
In this module, you’ll explore:
- How Hildegard instructs us to address psychological trauma, emotional distress, and other maladies of the soul that often lead to illness and chronic diseases
- Maladies — such as pre-cancer — through the lens of Hildegard’s medicines
- The fact that the gospels themselves have some anti-Semitism in them (especially John’s gospel, the last gospel written)
- Why a critical eye for anti-Semitism is required of all Christians at all times
- An appropriate practice that will be shared
Module 16: Keeping Hildegard’s Legacy Alive to Heal the Burdens of the Modern Era (March 20)
Matthew calls Hildegard the “grandmother of the Rhineland mystics.”
In this final module, you’ll discover why Hildegard told her sisters near her death, “please don’t forget me.”
Unfortunately, Hildegard’s work was not liberally disseminated after she died. It seems her sisters put more emphasis on preserving her letters and talks, books and healing remedies, than on spreading them abroad. Of course, there was no printing press then.
Nevertheless, Hildegard represents a high point of Creation Spirituality’s return to the West after the dualism of Platonists like St. Augustine and others. Such spiritual ancestors as Francis of Assisi, Thomas Aquinas, Mechthild of Magdeburg, Meister Eckhart, Julian of Norwich, and Nicholas of Cusa all developed the Creation Spirituality tradition of Hildegard, whether or not they were conscious of her writings and teachings.
Matthew will guide you to explore these nondualistic and creation-centered mystics who came after Hildegard. This lineage thrived until the bubonic plague of the 14th century — when Julian of Norwich fought tooth and nail to keep it alive, but was ignored for hundreds of years.
You’ll discover wisdom passed on to us through the Creation Spirituality lineage, all in the spirit of Hildegard of Bingen, by luminaries including:
- Francis of Assisi, Thomas Aquinas, Mechthild of Magdeburg
- Meister Eckhart and Julian of Norwich
- Nicholas of Cusa
- Plus, you’ll meditate while contemplating contemporary Creation Spirituality mystics, including Thomas Merton and Mary Oliver
Live Q&A Session #2 (March 28 at Noon Pacific)
This session offers you an opportunity to participate in a final hour-long live Q&A with Matthew.
The Mystical Teachings of St. Hildegard Bonus Collection
In addition to the transformative two-course journey with Matthew, you’ll receive these special bonuses with leading visionaries and teachers to take your understanding and practice to an even deeper level.
The Music of Hildegard of Bingen
Audio Teaching With Music & Commentary From Matthew Fox
Travel back to 1985 as Matthew provides commentary on the lyrics and theological teachings of Hildegard’s songs — and as they’re performed by a choir during a live event at Berkeley’s Graduate Theological Union. The choir features students from an Art as Meditationclass at ICCS in Holy Names University, and took place shortly after Matthew’s first book on Hildegard, Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen, was published.
Unleashing the Power of Hildegard of Bingen
2-Part Video Dialogue With Matthew Fox & Andrew Harvey
Enjoy Matthew’s lively chat with fellow mystic scholar Andrew Harvey, as they discuss Matthew’s most recent book on Hildegard, Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint for Our Times. You’ll discover more about Hildegard’s prophetic teachings and actions — and how she took on abbots, popes, emperors, and kings. Matthew and Andrew reflect on the ways Hildegard lived out her visions of the “living light” and Cosmic Christ. As they share, she offered a spirituality that was not creation-denying or women-denying or body-denying — and she invites us into that same lineage.
Who Is Hildegard?
PDF Excerpt of Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint for Our Times by Matthew Fox
This fascinating excerpt of Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint for Our Times includes all of Chapter 1, “Who Is Hildegard?” It features a running summary of Hildegard’s life, work, and impact. Matthew introduces the woman who sang that all of creation is a symphony of joy and jubilation. You’ll discover how Hildegard got herself and her entire abbey interdicted — a kind of group excommunication — by the archbishop for a full year when she was 81 years old, and much more.
Commentary, Letters & Music of Hildegard of Bingen
PDF Excerpt of Hildegard of Bingen’s Book of Divine Works by Matthew Fox
Matthew’s second book on Hildegard includes 50 of her most important letters, 12 of her poems put to songs, excerpts from her first book, Gregorian chants, and much more. This excerpt offers a sample from the Book of Divine Works, part of her commentary on the first chapter of John’s Gospel, her letters to the archbishop of Cologne and King Conrad III, and two songs in Gregorian chant modality.
What Graduates of Matthew’s Courses Are Saying...
— Carol Vaccariello: “Thank you, Matt, for Being the Great Soul That You Are”
— Amy Van Linge: “Matthew Is an Amazing Scholar, a Mystic, a Prophet, and a True Visionary”
— Steve Mortimer: “Matthew Fox Is a Spiritual Obi-Wan Kenobi”
— Dominic Flamiano: “Matt Has Walked His Talk. He Has Preached and Paid the Price.”
“It’s an honor and privilege to study with Matthew Fox.”
It’s an honor and privilege to study with Matthew Fox. This program is rich with teachings from mystics who seem to be speaking directly to those of us living during this unchartered time. The teachings, woven together expertly by Matthew, provide us with guidance on how to connect to inner strength and courage, and point the way to the tangible action Mother Earth is asking each and every one of us to contribute so we can chart a positive future for humanity and the rest of the planet.
— Annika Ek, Ottawa, Canada
“Listening to Matthew Fox (I’ve participated in three of his courses) has affirmed my thoughts on many topics and has been a godsend through these times.”
Listening to Matthew Fox (I’ve participated in three of his courses) has affirmed my thoughts on many topics and has been a godsend through these times. I’ve learned so much about the mystics from historical, cultural, and personal standpoints.
— Jackie, West Bend, Wisconsin
“Matthew Fox has helped me approach my old faith with new eyes and a sense of wonder...”
Matthew Fox has helped me approach my old faith with new eyes and a sense of wonder at how much I still have to discover and understand better.
— Marla Martin Hanley, Portland, Oregon
“Delightful.”
I love the insights and transformative sparks during and following Matthew’s classes. Delightful. They tie and fit terrifically with my skills developed with the Healing Touch Programme and during my teacher education and meditation studies.
— Marguerite, Toronto, Canada
Join the Global Community
Answer the Call for an Uncommon Life Through the Mystical Teachings of St. Hildegard offers some of the most transformational online teachings available, within a thriving global community of learning and practice.
Join fellow students and practitioners to support and inspire each other as you integrate the teachings and practices Matthew Fox will share in this powerful training.
You’ll join an international community on the leading edge of manifesting a world grounded in the principles of cooperation, harmony, and reverence for all of life.
Here’s What You’ll Receive
Sixteen 90-Minute Class Sessions With Matthew Fox
Experience a unique opportunity to be mentored by and learn from a renowned spiritual pioneer and author of more than 35 books from the comfort of your own home. Each class will guide you to put radical spirituality into action as you help heal an increasingly polarized world through the mystical teachings of 12th-century luminary St. Hildegard of Bingen. Modules are released on Mondays at Noon Pacific.
Sixteen Video Recordings of Class Sessions
After each class, the digital video will be available for you to stream in a high-quality format. You’ll never have to worry about missing a session, and you can watch anytime and anywhere at your convenience.
Seven Audio Recordings of Class Sessions
After each class, the audio will be available for you to stream. You’ll never have to worry about missing a session, and you can listen anytime and anywhere at your convenience.
Sixteen Transcripts of Class Sessions
You’ll also receive the entire class transcription after each session is completed. You can then review, print, and highlight the most important insights and practices you were given.
Two Live Q&A Sessions
You’ll also have the opportunity to participate in two hour-long live Q&As with Matthew. Q&As take place on two Tuesdays at Noon Pacific.
Interactive Exercises and Questions for Each Lesson
Between class sessions, you’ll have the option of completing related exercises, practicing new tools, and answering questions to accelerate your learning and integrate each week’s lesson.
Online Community
Our exclusive Facebook online community is the perfect place to continue your discovery process after each class. Here, you can continue the discussion about your course materials and interact with your fellow students to take your exploration to an even deeper level.
The Mystical Teachings of St. Hildegard Bonus Collection
- The Music of Hildegard of Bingen
Audio Teaching With Music & Commentary From Matthew Fox - Unleashing the Power of Hildegard of Bingen
2-Part Video Dialogue With Matthew Fox & Andrew Harvey - Who Is Hildegard?
PDF Excerpt of Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint for Our Times by Matthew Fox - Commentary, Letters & Music of Hildegard of Bingen
PDF Excerpt of Hildegard of Bingen’s Book of Divine Works by Matthew Fox
An Unprecedented Opportunity to Join the Answer the Call for an Uncommon Life Through the Mystical Teachings of St. Hildegard Online Training
We feel honored that renowned spiritual pioneer Matthew Fox has chosen to partner with The Shift Network to offer this exclusive online training. If you’re serious about putting radical spirituality into action by diving deep into the mystical teachings of 12th-century luminary St. Hildegard of Bingen, then you owe it to yourself, your loved ones, and our world to take this one-of-a-kind training.
If you’re ready to take the next step in your own evolution, click the register button below to reserve your space now.
Your Satisfaction Is 100% Guaranteed!
Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed! If you don’t absolutely LOVE Answer the Call for an Uncommon Life Through the Mystical Teachings of St. Hildegard — or don’t feel that it meets your needs — please submit your refund request form on or before December 12, 2022 and we’ll happily issue qualifying customers a refund.
More Praise for Matthew Fox...
“I cannot recommend reading Matthew’s books and taking his courses enough.”
Hildegard of Bingen is one of the great prophetic rebels of all time. Matt has written what I consider to be an absolutely thrilling, brilliant, passionate, and extremely radical book about the woman he studied for 30 years in Hildegard of Bingen. I cannot recommend reading Matthew’s books and taking his courses enough.
— Andrew Harvey, author of The Hope and Turn Me to Gold: 108 Poems of Kabir
“I am grateful to the wise and joyous voice of Matthew Fox...”
“I am grateful to the wise and joyous voice of Matthew Fox, who helps mystics like Julian of Norwich — and her sister mystic, Hildegard of Bingen — sing across the centuries and transfigure our hearts now, when we need them most.
— Mirabai Starr, author of Wild Mercy: Living the Fierce & Tender Wisdom of the Women Mystics and God of Love: A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
“[Matthew is] a major teacher and guide.”
I think of Matthew Fox as “God’s talent scout” for all the pivotal figures and ideas he reclaimed for Christianity’s reform. He knows the sources and translates them into modern idioms for the rest of us! What he has done with Hildegard, Eckhart, and Aquinas makes him a major teacher and guide.
— Richard Rohr, OFM, Center for Action and Contemplation, Albuquerque, New Mexico
“Matthew Fox is the Obi-Wan Kenobi of spirituality.”
Matthew Fox is the Obi-Wan Kenobi of spirituality. He has redefined what healthy spirituality is, and what it is not. We should place him at the same level of cultural importance as Thomas Berry, Gandhi, and Dr. King.
— Steve Mortimer, Black Chapel Collective
“If one person deserves credit for the great Hildegard renaissance in our time, it is Matthew Fox.”
If one person deserves credit for the great Hildegard renaissance in our time, it is Matthew Fox. Here in the long-lost legacy of Hildegard of Bingen, Fox found blindingly beautiful paintings, radiant writings overflowing with fresh insights of the deepest kind, prophetic wisdom, and engaged political spirituality. Here was a mystical genius who could help to illuminate the human soul spirituality, ecologically, politically — in every dimension of life.
— Mary Ford-Grabowsky, author of Sacred Voices
“History will name Fox one of the great Christian spirits of our age.”
— John Shelby Spong, author of A New Christianity for a New World
About Matthew Fox
Matthew Fox is a prolific author of books dedicated to renewing the ancient tradition of Creation Spirituality, including Original Blessing, A Spirituality Named Compassion, and Christian Mystics. This earth-based mystical tradition is feminist, welcoming of the arts and artists, honors Indigenous wisdom, works with science, and is committed to interfaith approaches and eco, social, and gender justice.
Matthew’s effort to reawaken the West to its own mystical tradition has sparked awareness of Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Julian of Norwich, and the mysticism of Thomas Aquinas, as well as the wisdom tradition that nurtured Jesus. His work helps reconnect science and spirituality by honoring the sacredness of the Cosmos and interacting with contemporary scientists who are also mystics. He believes that “by reinventing work, education, and worship, we can bring about a nonviolent revolution on our planet.”
Matthew received his doctorate summa cum laude in the History and Theology of Spiritualities from the Institut Catholique de Paris. A member of the Dominican Order for 34 years, he established an Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality that operated for seven years at Mundelein College in Chicago, and for 12 years at Holy Names University in Oakland.
He founded the University of Creation Spirituality in Oakland in 1996 and was president and professor until 2005, when he left to create a pilot project to reinvent the educational experience for inner-city teenagers.
Matthew is a recipient of many awards, including the Gandhi King Ikeda Award from Morehouse College, which is awarded for dedication to peace, unity, nonviolence, and justice. He also received the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award; other recipients have included the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, and Rosa Parks. He is currently a visiting scholar at the Academy for the Love of Learning in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What’s a virtual course?
A: It’s a great way to engage live and pre-recorded teachings and each other from the comfort of your home! All you need is a computer, mobile device, or telephone. If there’s more than one person in your household taking the course, you’ll each need your own connection. We use Zoom video conferencing to make it just like an in-person event, where you can ask questions and deepen your exploration of the course themes.
There’s no additional charge for connecting to Zoom with your computer or mobile device. Please note that dialing Zoom from your telephone is a toll call; your telephone service provider will charge you according to your existing long-distance calling plan. International access numbers are available.
“I’ve never seen a course so well put together ever...”
I had never participated before in an online course. The packaging, presentation, inclusion, and Facebook postings created a wonderful, safe cocoon within which to participate. I’ve never seen a course so well put together ever — not in all the years of taking college classes — and I had my doubts about doing an online course. The wealth of organization and ease of learning materials and support made this fun as well.
— Claudia F., Medford, Massachusetts
Can I still benefit from the course if I miss the scheduled classes?
A: Absolutely! You can stream the recordings and download the transcripts of all course sessions, so you never need to worry about missing scheduled classes. You can also engage with the full community and leaders in our private online community group.
Q: Can you tell me about the private online community group?
A: We’ll have a private online community group for all course participants on Facebook that will support you in making connections with others, sharing insights, engaging in discussions, and completing homework assignments that can supplement your transformational journey. You’ll have the ability to share your experiences, projects, and growth throughout the course.
Q: Are there scholarships available for this training?
A: Yes, we always make a certain percentage of spaces available for partial scholarships, for those who otherwise would not be able to enroll at the regular rate. If you’d like to apply for a scholarship, please review our guidelines, which include a link to our online application form.
Q: What’s your refund policy?
A: Your satisfaction with The Shift Network and this course is our highest priority! We offer a satisfaction guarantee so that you can sample the course risk-free. The deadline to receive a full refund is December 12, 2022. To request a refund, please click on this refund request form and submit your request. Qualifying refunds will be processed within five business days and an email confirming the refund will be sent. However, we’d love to have a chance to address and resolve your concerns first. If there’s something we can assist you with, please email us at support@theshiftnetwork.com and we’ll be happy to help! (No refund requests accepted after the above date or with scholarship awards.)
Q: How can I reach Customer Support?
A: Please visit our Customer Support Center, where you should be able to find the answer to your question or the solution to your problem. And if you can’t, you can submit an online request form and we’ll get right back to you.