Guest Post by Mary Sharratt + Giveaway of Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen

Please welcome the wonderful Mary Sharratt to Passages to the Past today!  Mary is here with a fascinating guest post in honor of the release of her latest (and fabulous) novel Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen.  I also have one copy of Illuminations to give away to one of you lucky readers! 

Were Hildegard von Bingen’s Visions Caused by Migraines?
By Mary Sharratt

When I was forty-two years and seven months old, Heaven was opened and a fiery light of exceeding brilliance came and permeated my whole brain, and inflamed my whole heart and my whole breast, not like a burning but like a warming flame, as the sun warms anything its rays touch.   


--Hildegard von Bingen, Scivias, translated by Mother Columba Hart, O.S.B., and Jane Bishop   

Neurologist Oliver Sacks believes that the dazzling visions of Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), the great Benedictine abbess and polymath, were caused by migraines. Hildegard struggled with chronic health problems. In Scivias, her first book of visionary theology, she describes being bedridden when she received the divine command to write and speak about her visions that she had kept secret since earliest childhood. Sacks maintains that the symptoms she describes are identical to those of migraine sufferers. He also states that the concentric rings of circles in the illuminations of her visions are reminiscent of a migraine aura.   

Saint Hildegard of Bingen
Critics of this theory will point out that Hildegard, in her medical treatise Causae et Curae, described the migraine in detail but never connected this diagnosis to herself. Moreover she herself did not paint the illuminations that illustrated her visions. So the rings of light could be the illuminator’s stylistic interpretation and unrelated to any alleged visual hallucinations on Hildegard’s part. The migraine sufferers I know in my own life regrettably report that they’ve never beheld wondrous visions.

Thus, the migraine theory remains speculative. In our hyper-rationalistic age, I think we are too hasty to “diagnose” historical figures with readily identifiable conditions—i.e., “Mozart was autistic.” One thing we do know is that Hildegard lived in an age of faith. She and those around her sincerely believed her visions were real. Hildegard’s epic trilogy of visionary theology relates her revelations of the human struggle for redemption and imparts how the fallen world can be reconciled with the created world. Therein lies her genius, not in any catalogue of physical symptoms.   


In Scivias, Hildegard describes her visions in her own words:   

The visions I saw I did not perceive in dreams, or sleep, or delirium, or by the eyes of the body, or by the ears of the outer self, or in hidden places; but I received them while awake and seeing with a pure mind and the eyes and the ears of the inner self, in open places, as God willed it. How this might be is hard for mortal flesh to understand.

Long celebrated as a saint in her native Germany, Hildegard was finally canonized in May 2012. In October 2012 the Vatican will elevate Hildegard to Doctor of the Church, a rare and solemn title reserved for theologians who have significantly impacted Church doctrine.   


Mary Sharratt’s Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen is published in October by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and is a Book of the Month and One Spirit Book Club pick. Visit Mary’s website at www.marysharratt.com.

About the Book


Publication Date:  October 9, 2012
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
288p


{SYNOPSIS}

A triumphant portrait of a resilient and courageous woman and the life she might have lived...

Skillfully interweaving historical fact with psychological insight and vivid imagination, Sharratt’s redemptive novel, Illuminations, brings to life one of the most extraordinary women of the Middle Ages: Hildegard von Bingen, Benedictine abbess, visionary, and polymath.

Offered to the Church at the age of eight, Hildegard was entombed in a small room where she was expected to live out her days in silent submission as the handmaiden of a renowned but disturbed young nun, Jutta von Sponheim. Instead, Hildegard rejected Jutta’s masochistic piety and found comfort and grace in studying books, growing herbs, and rejoicing in her own secret visions of the divine. When Jutta died some thirty years later, Hildegard broke out of her prison with the heavenly calling to speak and write about her visions and to liberate her sisters and herself from the soul-destroying anchorage. Riveting and utterly unforgettable, Illuminations is a deeply moving portrayal of a woman willing to risk everything for what she believed.

 
Giveaway (US & Canada)

- To enter, please leave a comment below and include your email address (only comments with email addresses will be entered in the giveaway). 
- +5 additional entries become a follower of Passages to the Past. If you are already a follower you will automatically receive the bonus entries. 
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- +1 additional entry each, please help spread the word by blogging, posting on sidebar, tweeting or posting this giveaway on Facebook or Google+. You can use the SHARE buttons below. 
- Giveaway ends on October 26th.

Good luck to all!
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44 comments:

  1. Please GIMME GIMME GIMME!!!!!! So exciting!!! I have been waiting for this!!

    Thank you!!

    +5+3+3

    sidhekist at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for giveaway and review.fb follower twitter follower rhondareads will tweet.Lomazowr@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ever since learning of Julian of Norwich, through historical fiction, I have been fascinated by anchoresses, and nuns with visions, etc. Would love to win this book. Thanks for the giveaway.
    lcbrower40(at)gmail(dot)com
    +5 - GFC follower

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  4. This sounds great and a story that I had never run in to before ! I would love to win it ; ) Lynda

    Lynda 716@roadrunner.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm so happy to find this giveaway. Yesterday this book was reviewed in THE NEW YORK TIMES. I decided I have to get this book.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This book sounds SO GOOD, and I have read nothing but raving reviews for it! It is very interesting to contemplate whether Hildegard was actually experiencing migraines instead of visisions, but in the end I don't believe it really matters. What she experienced by her visions and the message she shared is what is important in my opinion. Thanks for the chance to win the book!
    +5. GFC follower.
    +3. Facebook page follower.
    +3. Twitter follower.
    +1. Shared on Twitter.
    +1. Shared on Facebook.
    +1. Shared on Google+.

    Thanks Amy!
    candc320@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. I read a review of this book yesterday in THE NEW YORK TIMES.

    bethvollbach(at)sbcglobal(dot)net

    ReplyDelete
  8. I subscribed to this blog by email.

    bethvollbach(at)sbcglobal(dot)net

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm reading some really great reviews about ILLUMINATIONS, so I'd love to win a copy!

    Laura Kay
    anovelreview(@)yahoo(.)com

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm a follower: A Novel Review :D

    Laura Kay
    anovelreview(@)yahoo(.)com

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  11. I'm already a member of your facebook page!

    Laura Kay
    anovelreview(@)yahoo(.)com

    ReplyDelete
  12. and I follow on twitter

    @anovelreview1

    Laura Kay
    anovelreview(@)yahoo(.)com

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  13. Please enter me in the giveaway.
    I would love to win this book.
    ecol904046
    Sue
    I follow on email, facebook and the web.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I've been hearing a lot about this book, very interested in reading about Hildegarde.

    deniseincoralsprings@gmail.com

    Follower on twitter, FB and email

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks so much for the informative guest post and the synopsis of Illuminations. I'd very much like to win a copy of this book.
    carlscott(at)prodigy(dot)net(dot)mx

    - +5 additional entries: I follow PTTP at the above email address.
    - +3 additional entries I am a member of the Passages to the Past FB Page: Carl Scott
    - +3 additional entries I follow PTTP on Twitter: @carlrscott
    - +1 additional entry: I tweeted about the giveaway: https://twitter.com/carlrscott/status/257925123447869440

    Thanks very much!

    ReplyDelete
  16. LOVE the plot of this book!

    Google follower
    Facebook follower
    Shared on Google+

    lafra86 at gmail dot com

    Thanks for the giveaway!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Follower on google reader
    Follow on twitter

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  18. Thanks for the giveaway. interested in everything Medieval, so really excited about this book.
    - +5 additional entries follower of Passages to the Past.
    - +3 additional entries joined the Passages to the Past FB Page.
    - +3 additional entries follow PTTP on Twitter.
    - +1 additional entry: https://twitter.com/wordsandpeace/status/257994786613645313

    Emma @ Words And Peace
    ehc16e at yahoo dot com

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  19. I love the sound of this book- thanks for the chance to win it. I'm an old GFC follower and a new Facebook follower.
    susan (at) susancoventry (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  20. I'd love to win! Thanks. I'm a Facebook fan.

    ReplyDelete
  21. This sounds like a really interesting read and I'd love to win a copy.

    Shoshanahinla(at)gmail(dot)com

    And I'm a follower!

    ReplyDelete
  22. I'm a follower on FB, GFC and Twitter. Patti Smith, Peppermint PhD.
    epkwrsmith@comcast.net

    ReplyDelete
  23. Very interesting post and great giveaway-thank you! I follow you on google.
    Carolyn rexmoy (at) gmail (dot) com.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I'd love a chance at this one - as soon as I first heard about it, it went on my wishlist!

    SleepyAE [at] gmail [dot] com

    Follower on Google Reader and Facebook.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Very interesting theory regarding her visions. Thank you for the giveaway!

    E-mail: bookofsecrets(at)yahoo(dot)com
    +5: GFC follower
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  26. I would so love this book.
    I follow on:
    facebook
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    gfc

    I shared on:
    google
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    thanks!
    kaiminani at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  27. Sounds like an intriguing book.

    bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  28. Okay, the third time is the charm...two comments down, one to go.

    I WANT TO WIN!!!


    +5
    +3
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    cyeates AT nycap DOT rr DOT com

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  29. Would love to win! vera@luxuryreading.com

    +5 I'm a follower
    +3 I am a fan on FB page
    +3 I follow on Twitter

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  30. Sounds good!

    -blog follower
    -twitter follower
    -tweeted

    Margaret
    singitm(at)hotmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  31. This sounds like a wonderful book. I would love to win it!

    Kendal
    Kinx's Book Nook
    I follow:
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    I share via
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  32. Really looking forward to this one!

    I'm a GFC follower +5
    I've joined the FB page +3
    I follow on Twitter (bbulow12) +3
    I shared on my FB wall +1
    I tweeted +1

    Thank you for the chance to win!
    Beth
    bharbin07[at]gmail[dot]com

    ReplyDelete
  33. I WOULD LOVE TO READ IT!
    +5 GFC MAMABUNNY13
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    MAMABUNNY13 AT GMAIL DOT COM

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  34. Thanks for the post and giveaway!

    GFC follower
    Facebook follower

    bookwormsusanna AT gmail DOT com

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  35. book should be fascinating.
    annefitza (at) yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  36. Hi, nice to meet you. I am one of your newest members to your blog and I noticed that we share a love of historical fiction. I will be keeping up with your blog and hope you will join me at mine:

    girllostinabook.blogspot.com

    Hope to see you there. Happy reading.
    Kimberlee

    ReplyDelete
  37. Please enter me in the giveaway. Thank you Amy!
    momkelly2003 at yahoo dot com.
    I am time follower.

    ReplyDelete
  38. This sounds like an amazing book. Love the cover! Another historical figure I would like to read more about. Thanks for the giveaway!

    +5 Follower
    +3 Facebook fan: Michelle Stockard Miller
    +3 Twitter: @truebookaddict
    +1 tweeted https://twitter.com/truebookaddict/status/261854308889407488
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    +1 Google+: https://plus.google.com/111561983861136979061/posts/dyu2yTUUS9G

    truebookaddictATgmailDOTcom

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  39. This books looks soooo interesting ! I would love to win it ; ) Lynda
    Lynda716@roadrunner.com
    +5

    ReplyDelete
  40. I've been wanting to read this book! I follow your blog, Facebook, and twitter accounts. Teralyn Pilgrim@Yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  41. Thanks for the opportunity to win a copy, Amy!

    Muse_in_the_fog@hotmail.com

    I am a follower via:
    -Blog
    -Facebook
    -Twitter

    ReplyDelete
  42. I think my comment didn't post. Sorry if this is a duplicate.

    Already a follower on fb, blog and twitter.

    Aprilannbloom@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  43. I agree that trying to reduce Hildegard to a fairly common medical problem demeans her--even if she had an illness, she was more than an illness!
    Lisa
    lorr@utica.edu

    ReplyDelete

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