Viriditas

The Greening Power in All

If you take even a small dive into the world of St. Hildegard of Bingen, you will quickly come across viriditas. This week, in the peak of growth and sunshine in the Northern Hemisphere, having just passed the Summer Solstice, I introduce the greening life-force energy found in all of life on the planet, coined as viriditas by Hildegard. As you take a walk through the garden, a forest, or even alongside trees planted in the sidewalks of city streets, take a pause — notice this greening power all around us… and within yourself.

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Close your eyes and think of a thriving, deeply alive forest. The interplay of the trees and flowers and fungi, all nourishing the animals and insects of the forest. The eternal cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. Soil and life (the soil of life) being transformed out of a rotting log. The nourishment of a flower to a passing bee, the food for winter a nut provides for a squirrel. This underlying connection of nature and life is termed by Hildegard as viriditas.

VIRIDITAS — A Hildegard term, literally translated as “greening power,” which forms a cornerstone for Hildegard’s philosophy. She used it to refer to the life-force inherent in all of creation, the spirit by which all things grow, become fruitful, and celebrate the rich source of their life’s power.¹

This idea of the greening power of viriditas is woven throughout all of Hildegard’s work on medicine, music, art, and philosophy. In this single term, she illustrates the underlying fabric to all of life. Regardless of religious standing, we know this to be true in the modern age, as well. The choices we make as humans inevitably impact the environment around us; we are a part of this viriditas, of nature, and it of us. Nature is a never-ending feedback loop of creation, sustaining its own life-force. In this way, it makes sense that Hildegard would have made herbal medicine a part of her life’s work. Even if the human spirit is something else or more, the human body remains of this green earthly realm. And what better way to tend to the human body than with nourishment from the green earth?