Ever scrolled through Instagram and hit a quote that felt like a warm hug mixed with a jolt of caffeine? Something about "greening power" or "living light"?
There’s a good chance it was from Hildegard of Bingen. Honestly, she’s everywhere right now. People are obsessing over her in 2026. She wasn't just some quiet nun hiding in a stone cell. She was a total powerhouse—a composer, a scientist, a visionary, and basically the OG influencer of the Middle Ages.
But here's the thing. A lot of what you see online isn't actually her. People love to slap her name on "vibe-y" poetry that she never wrote. If you want the real, raw quotes from Hildegard of Bingen, you have to look at her actual manuscripts like Scivias or Physica. Her real voice is much weirder, bolder, and more beautiful than the Pinterest versions.
The Greening Power: What is Viriditas?
If you want to understand her, you have to understand Viriditas. It’s her signature word. It literally means "greenness," but for her, it was the "greening power" of God. She saw it as the life force in everything.
"O most honored Greening Force, You who roots in the Sun; You who lights up, in shining serenity, within a wheel that earthly excellence fails to comprehend."
She didn't just see green in the grass. She saw it in our blood. In our souls. She believed that when we are healthy and holy, we are "juicy." When we’re disconnected or depressed, we "shrivel." It’s a very tactile way to think about spirituality. You’re either growing or you're drying up.
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Quotes from Hildegard of Bingen on Our Connection to Nature
Hildegard was talking about the environment long before it was "the thing" to do. She didn't see humans as separate from the world. We are part of the ecosystem.
- "Humanity, take a good look at yourself. Inside, you've got heaven and earth, and all of creation. You're a world—everything is hidden in you."
- "All of creation is a song of praise to God."
- "The earth which sustains humanity must not be injured. It must not be destroyed!"
She was pretty intense about that last one. She warned that if we mistreat the elements, the elements will basically revolt against us. She saw the "filthy uncleanliness" of people affecting the air and the storms. Sound familiar? It’s kind of spooky how much her 800-year-old warnings sound like a modern climate report.
Music and the Soul's Harmony
Hildegard didn't just write; she composed some of the most hauntingly beautiful music of her time. To her, the soul was a musical instrument.
She famously said, "The soul is not in the body; the body is in the soul." That’s a massive perspective shift. Usually, we think of the soul as a little ghost trapped inside our ribs. She flipped it. She thought the body was nestled inside the soul like a seed in the earth. She also believed that singing was a way to "summon the Holy Spirit" and soften hard hearts.
"The song of rejoicing softens hard hearts," she wrote in Scivias. "It makes tears of godly sorrow flow from them. Singing summons the Holy Spirit."
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For her, music wasn't just entertainment. It was a bridge. It was how we remembered the "heavenly harmony" we lost.
Dealing with the "Dryness" of Life
We all have those days where we feel like a dead plant. Hildegard had a remedy for that: moderation.
She wrote to a younger nun, Elisabeth of Schöngau, about not overworking yourself. "Learn moderation!" she urged. She compared a person who takes on too much to a field that is flooded or a garden that hasn't been plowed. You can't grow anything if you're drowning or exhausted.
She was also a big fan of the "reflection of the living Light." She had these massive, vivid visions while she was wide awake. She didn't call them dreams. She saw them with her "inner eye."
One of her most famous descriptions of this is: "The light which I see thus is not spatial, but it is far, far brighter than a cloud which carries the sun."
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The Fake Quotes: Don't Get Fooled
This is where it gets tricky. There’s a quote you’ve probably seen a thousand times: "We cannot live in a world that is not our own, in a world that is interpreted for us by others." It’s beautiful. It’s inspiring. It’s also not by Hildegard. It actually comes from an article written about her by Elaine Bellezza in 1991. Because it sounds like something a medieval rebel would say, it got vacuumed up by the internet and attributed to her.
Another one is the "feather on the breath of God" line. While she did use feather imagery—specifically saying "my new song must float like a feather on the breath of God"—it’s often rearranged into modern poems that lose her original theological bite.
How to use Hildegard's Wisdom Today
So, how do you actually apply quotes from Hildegard of Bingen to a life that involves Zoom calls and air fryers?
- Look for the "Green": When you’re feeling burnt out, find something alive. A plant. A park. Hildegard believed that nature physically heals the soul's "dryness."
- Watch Your Inputs: She was big on what we "taste and smell." If your environment is toxic, your viriditas will fade.
- Find Your Song: Whether it’s actual singing or just finding your flow, do the things that make your soul feel "juicy" and vibrant.
- Practice Discretion: Don't plow your field so hard that the soil dies. Moderation isn't about being boring; it's about staying sustainable.
Hildegard lived until she was 81 in an era where most people didn't see 40. She was doing something right. She stayed "green" until the very end because she saw the divine in the dirt, the music in the wind, and the light inside her own mind.
To dive deeper into her actual work, look for a reputable translation of Scivias or The Book of Divine Works. Start with the shorter "Letters" if you want to see her bossy, brilliant side. Keep an eye out for the word viriditas—it's the key that unlocks her entire world. Stay juicy.