I go to a really cool church - it's super queer and artsy and not hierarchical. Church members take an active role in designing and creating the worship space, and several times a year help to create the liturgy (what we do in a service). Also, instead of the pastors giving sermons, most of the time, members of the congregation are asked to give what we call a reverb.

For the month of this October, we are learning about Saints and Saintly women. Last week, I gave a reverb on St. Hildegard of Bingen. She was a very cool lady, especially for her times. Here is my reverb:

So, today we are celebrating St. Hildegard of Bingen. I feel like we could spend year of Sundays learning about her and still have extra material. So, I wanted to just focus on what called to me from her story. 

I am drawn to her as an artist and a creator. She was a musician, poet, songwriter, scientist/writer, playwright, composer, cook & gardener. As some of you may or may not know, I identify as an artist. Since I was a kid, I was always drawing and making things and have always had a vivid imagination. My cousins and I would play what we called "adventure games" where we created entire imaginary worlds to play in. I dressed my younger brother and myself up in wild outfits and played out our own versions of historical events. During one winter snowstorm, I dressed us up in long cloaks and had us trudge through the woods with bundled baby dolls, pretending we were fleeing some dictator's military across Siberia. 

Since elementary school I've made collage greeting cards and multi-media art and craft projects. I've painted watercolor, acrylic and worked with clay and ceramics. I love gardening and cooking. In every place I've lived, I've tried to put aside a little corner for making art, what I call my "creation station." I felt like because I never received formal training and didn't go to art school, I couldn't be a real artist.

It was only since moving here to Seattle 6 years ago that I started feeling comfortable identifying as an artist. I grew up, went to college, and worked in the Maryland-Washington, D.C. area. In that part of the east coast, many people have their entire identity as their job and career. I worked in the field of human rights and transitional justice and loved my job and felt like I was doing important work, but I always felt like people only saw on small part of me.  I knew there was so much more to me than my career and I was deeply desiring to be seen and valued for these other parts of me as well. That is one of the main reasons why I decided to come to the west coast. Here, I feel like I can be my true self on many different levels.

The first week I came to COTA, the C-Space for the Artist's Way book had just formed. I went to the first meeting that week and met so many wonderful people and artists. I knew I had found a home. Because of you all I have felt more comfortable identifying as an artist, and found freedom in being myself.

In learning about Hildegard, I have this image in my mind about her --this sense-- that she's full of creative imagination. Like she is voraciously reading and learning and observing and feeling this energy to write and share and make and build. Like, she started two monasteries! She wrote a play and books about science and medicine, and wrote music and, likely with the help of some monks, wrote about her visions and painted pictures of them. She was breaking the norms of her time and following her creative spirit.

In 2012, Pope Benedict proclaimed her a "doctor of the church" recognizing her prowess as a theologian. One of only four women to be named a doctor of the church.

In addition to theology she wrote about science:

Her first science book, Physica, contains nine books that describe the scientific and medicinal properties of various plants, stones, fish, reptiles, and animals.

Her second science book, Causae et Curae, is an exploration of the human body, its connections to the rest of the natural world, and the causes and cures of various diseases.

I wanted to share a few commentaries that people have made about her work:

Of her music, someone said: "Its style has been said to be characterized by soaring melodies that can push the boundaries of traditional Gregorian chant and to stand outside the normal practices of monophonic monastic chant."

Of her philosophy someone said: "The constant interplay of the human person as microcosm both physically and spiritually with the macrocosm of the universe informs all of Hildegard's approach." I love this about her - like we are both made of the universe and co-creator of it.

Hildegard wrote: "Humankind is called to co-create, so that we might cultivate the earthly, and thereby create the heavenly."

I think she calls us to create and do what we love. By doing what we love, we add to the joy and beauty of the world.

And I really want to challenge the standard idea of what an artist is, and who gets to be seen worthy of creating. I really think we are all artists. We are all called to create. 

I believe the creation story of the universe continues in the imagination of human minds - artists, poets, writers, etc. Creativity is a way we can be take an active role in the unfolding of the universe - even if you don't consider yourself an artist in the formal sense - what do you create? Nourishing meals through cooking, cultivating the earth through gardening, raising children, creating friendships, and growing relationships with family and friends, planning trips and adventures, creating a home for yourself & family, (whatever that may look like for you); caring for pets; creating and recreating yourself and your own multitude of identities. Through teaching and creating a learning environment, making lesson plans, creating discussion. Writing, poetry, and in science - new experiments and ideas, learning to tap into our own intuition. Innovation and imagination. We create love, joy, beauty – the heavenly.  

This one friend of mine, we would sit for hours and talk about what we thought was the source of creativity. Boiling it down, we agreed it was something like our intuition, which was a way of connecting with god, or "the source," or the universe - however you might see it. When you're making art, or creating, or following your imagination and really get into the flow, I think you are connecting with the universe and become a conduit for that primeval creative energy. I think Hildegard was totally connected to that and we are so lucky that her work has been preserved so well. I think that Hildegard was connected to this energy when she called us to co-create with her. We are made of the universe—in a physical and spiritual sense—and at the same time we are also making the universe.

I will leave you with a question to ponder: In what ways are you being called to be a co-creator?