² HILDEGARD'S MEDICINE

 HILDEGARD'S MEDICINE : THE HEALING ART OF THE FUTURE 

Is there a need for a new sort of medical practice? That was the theme of a recent international doctor's conference, and the title of a book. 

There is a great gap between the tremendous accomplishments in the treatment of accident victims and intensive care of the critically ill on the one hand, and on the other hand the helplessness with which we face the new chronic illnesses of our civilization, which are the cause of death for 80 percent of the population. In spite of great investments of money and effort in medical research, we still do not have a cure for heart attack, rheumatism, or cancer. And none will be found in the future, because the causes of these diseases cannotbe discovered by the medicine of today with its natural science orientation, but rather by examining the incorrect way of life of the patient. 

The best protection against these diseases can be found in proper diet (Hildegard diet), and in the elimination of spiritual risk-factors by means of a proper attitude towards life based on the strength and fullness of Christian faith, as it was revealed to Hildegard 800 years ago and recorded by her for our age. 

This book is meant to be an important contribution towards bringing Hildegard medicine to the world. It is the result of decades of medical experience, and of scientific research and development in the field of Hildegard medicine. Over 500 reme-dies and methods of treatment have been tested by Dr. Hertzka and myself over the past forty years, and have proved to be a suc-cess for thousands of patients. 

Hildegard is not just another collector of herbal remedies, which were so plentiful in the monastic medicine of her time. Rather, she obtained her knowledge through spiritual visions, which she herself experienced. In the last of her theology books, Liber Divinorum Operum*, Hildegard of Bingen reveals the true author of the medical books which she wrote so many years ago on the Rupertsberg. (Liber Divinorum Operum, or "Book of Divine Works," is a significant theological work by Hildegard von Bingen, completed between 1163 and 1173. It consists of ten visions that explore the relationship between God and creation, emphasizing the importance of understanding divine works for human salvation.)

In all creation, trees, plants, animals, and gem stones, there are hidden secret powers which no person can know of unless they are revealed by God. (PL 893 C) 

Hildegard was aware of her visionary gift and retained it until the end of her life. Thus, at age 70 she could say, "Everything I ever wrote came wholly from the source of my heavenly vision."(Pitra, 333; see page xxvi) 

NOTES:- 

* Overview of Liber Divinorum Operum

Liber Divinorum Operum, also known as The Book of Divine Works, is the final major work of Hildegard von Bingen, a prominent medieval mystic and theologian. Composed between 1163 and 1174, it is a culmination of her visionary theology.

Structure and Content

The book consists of ten visions, each exploring different aspects of God's work and creation. Here’s a breakdown of the visions:

ViISION NUMBER. TITLE ~ DESCRIPTION 

1. Theophany of Divine Love ~ Explores the manifestation of divine love in creation.

2. The Cosmic Spheres and Human Being ~ Discusses the relationship between the cosmos and humanity.

3. Macrocosm of Winds, Microcosm of Humors ~ Examines the interplay of natural elements and human health.

4. Cosmos, Body, and Soul: The Word Made Flesh ~ Reflects on the incarnation of Christ and its significance.

5. The Earth: Life's Merits, Purgatory, and Creation ~ Addresses themes of morality and the afterlife.

6. The City of God and the Mirror of the Angels ~ Describes the heavenly realm and its connection to humanity.

7. The City in Salvation History ~ Chronicles salvation history from creation to the incarnation.

8. The Fountain of God's Work ~ Discusses divine love and its manifestations in the world.

9. Wisdom and the Ancient Counsel ~ Explores divine wisdom and its role in creation.

10. Divine Love upon the Wheel ~ Reflects on the eternal nature of divine love and its historical implications.

Significance

This work is significant for its intricate theological insights and its role in Hildegard's broader theological project. It emphasizes the connection between God, humanity, and the cosmos, showcasing her unique perspective on divine revelation.

CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 

The textbook of Hildegard's medicine has five chapters which correspond to the five senses. For the most part, the descriptions and themes of the textbook are identical with those of Hildegard's cosmic medicine as expounded in Liber Divinorum Operum, where they are presented again, but in an elaborated form. This is another proof of the visionary origin of her medicine. 

In both books, Hildegard describes God as the source of all life. She speaks of the creation of angels, of the cosmos as the home for humanity, and of the sun, moon, and stars. 

God was and is without beginning before the creation of the world. God was and is light and radiance and life. And God said, "Let there be light," and so were the light and the radiant angels created. (CC1, 1) 

The origin, sense, and goal of life are aptly expressed in the symbol of the radiant fiery angel. With his feet he treads upon Lucifer, the source of all evil, a monster of horrible features, venomous and black like a snake. (PL 743 B) 

Lucifer is described as the origin of evil and sickness, which can be seen in the principle of atheism — the isolation and separation from God, the dissolution of the bond with life. "Health" and "healing' are related to the word "whole," which is the restoration of "one-ness' with God — the "at-one-ment' which brings health; and this is possible only with God's help. God is the whole life (vita integra): 

All things burn through me... everything lives in my being and there is no death in it, since I am life itself. I am also the understanding... through which all creation is made. I breathe life into all things, so that nothing is mortal in its true nature. (PL 743 D) 

Hildegard sees the cosmos as a world wheel, as a symbol for the infinite love which God shows humanity. The giant wheel is kept in motion by the power of the wind. In the center stands humanity with the four elements. Thus humankind is exposed to cosmic and atmospheric influences. 

God created the world out of its elements to the glory of the divine name. God strengthened it with the wind, connected it to the stars and enlightened it by them, and filled it with all manner of creatures.God then surrounded and fulfilled humankind in the world with all things and gave them a tremendous power, so that all creation would support them in all things. The whole nature should serve them, so that they can live with it, because humankind cannot live or survive without nature. (PL755 B) 

In their original condition, people were placed by God in an upright position in the center of the cosmos, and they were wonderfully conceived and made. 

Humans stand at the center of the cosmos, since they are of greater meaning than all other creatures which remain dependent on the world. Although they are small in stature, they are great in the power of their souls. Their heads are directed upwards and their feet stand on solid ground. Thus they are able to put the loftiest as well as the lowest things in motion. (PL 761 B) 

The original world was in order. Humanity lived a kingly life with the support of all creation and without being oppressed by vices, sickness, or death. 

O humankind, just look carefully at this [original] human! Heaven and earthand all created things were united in this original form and everything hidden within. (CC2, 17 ff) 

The world and all creation were made up of the four world-elements, the cosmic building blocks, which fill the world and all its creatures. 

God also created the elements of the world. They are in humankind, who lives with them. They are called fire, air, water, and earth. These four basic elements are so closely connected and bound together that none can be separated from the others. Thus they hold so closely together that one can call them the basic building blocks of the cosmos. (CC2,37 ff) 

The four world-elements have been well known in the field of medicine for many centuries. They are mentioned by physicians from Hippocrates to Paracelsus, and in even older sources. For Hildegard, the elements are the key to understanding the whole art of healing. The number four is not only significant in the construction of the cosmos, but also in the makeup and function of human beings, for example in the theory of the four humors, the four blood types, and the four temperaments and their characteristic variations in man and woman. 

As has already been shown a number of times, just as the four elements hold the world together, they also form the structure for the human body. Their distribution and function in the whole human being are such that they constantly sustain the person, just as they are spread throughout all the rest of the world and have their effects. Fire, air, water, and earth are in humankind, and humans consist of them. From fire they have the warmth of their bodies, from air they have their breath, from water they have their blood and from earth their bodies [the materials of muscles and bones]. They can thank fire for their sight, air for their hearing, water for movement, and earth for their ability to walk. (CC 49, 29) 

The four elements determine the constitution of the humors in a human being and thus the state of health. No one exists outside of this cosmic principle. Everything works together in this order, in balance and harmony, and thus a person remains healthy and alive. 

When the elements fulfill their purpose correctly and orderly, so that warmth, dew, and rain come separately and in good measure and at the proper time, and maintain the earth and its fruits in health, and thus bring bountiful harvests and good health, then the world will prosper. 

If they all come suddenly and at the same time, and not in their season, they would tear the earth apart and make it sick. Likewise, the elements maintain the health of person when they function in an orderly manner. As soonas they stray from this order, they make the person sick and cause death. As long as the flow of the humors in a person functions properly, and maintains warmth, moisture, blood, and flesh, then the person enjoys good health. But as soon as they flow all at once in excess and without caution, they create sickness and cause death. Warmth and moisture, as well as blood and flesh, were namely changed into the opposing phlegmata by Adam's fall into sin (CC 49,40) 

Thus the original complete harmony in humankind was destroyed by the fall into sin. The various combinations of the fluids of the four world-elements resulted in a total of 24 basic illnesses. 

However, a person who is saved (that is, healed) can achieve a still better state of health by means of proper Hildegard diag-nosis and therapy. 

WHAT IS A PROPER DIAGNOSIS? 

According to Hildegard, there are not 6000 illnesses, as the modern medicine of today would have us believe. This diagnostic chaos is resolved in a clearly understandable basic principle in the medicine of Hildegard. In the process, one can look for guidance to the developmental history of a human being, just as modern science does. The three germinal layers from which the human body develops (ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm) form the basis for three large categories of illness: 

Ectodermal Illnesses 

The illnesses of the outer germinal layer have to do with the segmental structure of the body and the nervous system, that is, roughly within the skin. After all, the skin is a sense organ with many receptors which transmit a multitude of messages to the nervous system: sensations of temperature, pain, touch, and pressure. These illnesses affect the organs and are listed by Hildegard from head to toe: head, eyes, ears, teeth, heart, lungs, liver, spleen, stomach, kidneys, abdomen, sexual organs, gout of the big toe. These localized illnesses are inherited illnesses, with the typical weak points (Achilles heel) which a person brings into the world. They range from the scalp to the big toe. There is a specific treatment for each of these organs enumerated. 

Mesodermal Illnesses 

The mesomorphic illnesses of the middle germinal layer have to do with the connective tissue and the vessels. They are principally rheumatic and degenerative illnesses, colds, and the illnesses connected with elimination. 

Endodermal Illnesses 

The so-called serious internal illnesses, such as cancer, jaundice, dropsy, and intestinal illnesses, can be traced to the inner germinal layer, with a systematic listing of about forty types of illness. These internal ailments are largely connected with distur-bances of the stomach and intestines, and can in part appear as eruptions of the skin. Likewise, skin ailments can be projected onto the intestines. 

Nearly all illnesses can be classified according to this scheme of eighty general illnesses. Hildegard describes a thorough and reasonable therapy for each of them. A diagnosis according to the stature of a person, unique with Hildegard, is extremely important for a successful treatment. No complicated technical medical apparatus is necessary for the diagnosis, even though the Hildegard therapist is certainly free to use such an appara-tus when it is felt that it may be of help. 

Methods are even simpler in the more than 2000 remedies of Physica, in which ailing persons with good powers of observation can easily seek out the cure according to their own symptoms. If we had not had years of experience with Hildegard's healing art, we would not venture to make this book available to the public. Everything in it has been tested and proven in our practice. We must make one point clear: one can find relief from pain in many ways, including modern medicine. The spiritual equivalent of the illness must be addressed for a true healing. Every affliction has a meaning: What does God want to tell us with this illness? 

A person who has been healed according to Hildegard's methods is thus healthier than before, something which cannot be said of most modern healing methods. Hildegard's healing art is preventative medicine. It is easier to prevent the illnesses of our modern civilization, such as heart and circulatory disease, than to treat them. The Hildegard diet and a proper way of life are more important than any cures or surgical treatments. So it is that there is hardly any place in our medicine for surgery. It is not unthinkable that a time will soon come when people will be amazed by the present effort to heal everything with surgery or wonder drugs such as cortisone and antibiotics. 

The most important principle of treatment is the Hildegard diet. If we assume Hildegard to be right, then we must assume that diet is more important than any drug. The divine secrets of nourishment lie in a certain subtility, the name that Hildegard herself gave to her medical book. For Hildegard, subtility means those qualities which were hidden by God in the things of nature for the use of humanity, and which are known only to God, and by divine revelation. Only very few foods are 100-percent good for humans. Among them are spelt**, chestnuts, and fennel. 

For Hildegard, a healthy way of life is characterized by the general Christian attitude of moderation in all things —eating, sexuality, sleeping, and movement. Hildegard refers to this often in her textbook. She also tells of the influence wind, sun, the seasons, and places of cultivation can have upon diet and thus also upon human beings. She tells how the four elements (fire, air, water, and earth), and the quality of water and soil influence harvest and food. 

With Hildegard, we are free of exaggeration. She prescribes neither extreme vegetarianism, nor a totally raw diet, nor is she a teetotaler. Wine and beer have a very meaningful dietetic function, both as medicine and as a beverage. What is important for Hildegard is the effect which a food or drink can have upon the disposition: whether it makes you happy or sad or has a negative psychic influence. 

What cleanses our system of toxic substances? Humanity causes itself much affliction during the course of life through foolish habits such as overeating, from environmental contamination, or from the human violation of the harmony of creation, all of which lead to the production of bodily fluids which cause illnesses. For just such conditions, Hildegard has a great number of treatments which aid in the elimination of toxins and in cleansing the system through the skin by means of baths, saunas, packs, or rubbing in various preparations. 

In addition, an "operation without a scalpel," in the form of a fasting cure, can play an important role as a universal means for finding a new attitude toward oneself. To achieve this purpose, a two-week Hildegard group cure is most often recommended. At the moment, there are so many books concerning fasting that we have included a chapter in this volume especially devoted to this theme. 

Bloodletting is another age-old European therapy, which was already prescribed for all monasteries by Charlemagne. Every monastery was required to build a special house for the purpose of bloodletting. Today there are numerous scientifi studies which show that this 1000-year-old technique of blood-letting, when properly applied, is capable of preventing heart attacks and strokes, since the patients prone to these afflictions have an extremely high blood viscosity and red corpuscle count. 

The Hildegard practice of bloodletting "thins" the blood, makes it more fluid (lowers the hemostatic levels), and thus les-sens the danger of thrombosis and stroke. This excellent treatment also eliminates toxins (black bile) in the blood which hinder healing, especially in patients with long histories of chronic illness. In addition, it stimulates the production of the body's own healing substances, such as cortisone. This treatment procedure so highly praised by Hildegard will be more widely followed in the future, for the prevention of illness and the healing of ailments already present. 

Hildegard tells us how we can even predict the cause of an illness, and draw important conclusions, from the examination of the blood with is let. Hippocrates said, "One is to know the past (anamnesis), recognize the present (diagnosis) and predict the future (prognosis)" Hildegard even dedicated the fifth and last chapter of her textbook to the art of prognosis, an area much neglected in modern medicine. 

In a similar manner, the cupping procedure is used in the treatment of many ailments, confirming the wonderful success which this treatment has enjoyed in China and Japan for thousands of years. But in this instance as well, Hildegard describes her own original procedure, which does not fit into the conventional Asiatic scheme.

Even the characteristic heat radiated by specific types of burning wood is used to therapeutic ends in the practice of Hildegard medicine. The use of elmwood fire, followed by kidney massage, in the treatment of kidney ailments and high blood pressure, has proved to be especially effective. 

One can find many characteristic hints as to the further course of a person's health in the state of the eyes as windows to the soul, from the color of the skin, the sound of the voice, and the mood of the person. These phenomena have important consequences for the course of a treatment. 

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NOTES:-

** SPELT. A type of wheat (Triticum spelta syn. Triticum aestivum subsp. spelta) having a tough hull. It was widely cultivated in southwest Asia, the Near East, and Europe during the Bronze Age and is now grown chiefly in Europe.

A species of grain (Triticum Spelta) much cultivated for food in Germany and Switzerland; -- called also German wheat.