Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Search the Poetry Chaikhana site:

Poetry Chaikhana Home
New | Books | Music | Teahouse | About | Contact
Poets by: Name| Tradition | Timeline Poetry by: Theme | Commentary
Blog | Forum | Video Channel
www.Poetry-Chaikhana.com

Mechthild of Magdeburg

Timeline (1207 - 1297)

Poems by Mechthild of Magdeburg
Books - Links

Mechthild of Magdeburg was born around the year 1207, probably into a noble family in northern Germany.

She had a defining ecstatic experience at the age of twelve, where she saw "all things in God and God in all things."

In 1235, when Mechthild was in her twenties, she joined the Beguine sisterhood, as many women mystics of the time did in Germany and the Low Countries. As a Beguine she led a life of simplicity, service, and spiritual practice.

Her confessor, Heinrich of Halle, convinced her to write down her ongoing mystical visions. This project took many years as it was interrupted by periods of sickness and having to deal with the attacks of religious critics. She only completed this work in about 1282, a few years before her death, and just after she joined an order of Cistercian nuns at Helfta.

This book, The Flowing Light of the Godhead, describes the experience of unio mystica (mystical union) in terms of the sacred marriage between the soul as the Bride and Christ as the Bridegroom. Her poetry stands out as among the most elevated mystical love poetry in the German language, drawing comparisons to the Sufi poets of the Middle East and the Bhakti poets of India.

The great Italian poet Dante is said to have been greatly inspired by Mechthild's writing, and it is likely that he based his character Matilda in the Purgatorio on her.

Poems by Mechthild of Magdeburg

Christian Mystics: Their Lives and Legacies throughout the Ages, by Ursula King

Amazon.com

Ecstatic Transformation: Transpersonal Psychology in the Work of Mechthild of Magdeburg, by Ulrike Wiethaus

Amazon.com

The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, by Stephen Mitchell

Amazon.com

German Mystical Writings: Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Jacob Boehme, and others, Edited by Karen J. Campbell

Amazon.com

Mechthild of Magdeburg: The Flowing Light of the Godhead (Classics of Western Spirituality), by Mechthild of Magdeburg / Translated by Frank J. Tobin

Amazon.com

Meditations from Mechthild of Magdeburg, by Henry L. Carrigan, Jr.

Amazon.com

Meister Eckhart and the Beguine Mystics: Hadewijch of Brabant, Mechthild of Magdeburg, and Marguerite Porete, by Bernard Mcginn

Amazon.com

Poetry for the Spirit: Poems of Universal Wisdom and Beauty, Edited by Alan Jacobs

Amazon.com

Sacred Voices: Essential Women's Voices Through the Ages, Edited by Mary Ford-Grabowsky

Amazon.com

The Soul as Virgin Wife: Mechthild of Magdeburg, Marguerite Porete, and Meister Eckhart, by Amy M. Hollywood

Amazon.com

Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women, Edited by Jane Hirshfield

Amazon.com

Poetry Chaikhana Home
New | Books | Music | Teahouse | About | Contact
Poets by: Name| Tradition | Timeline Poetry by: Theme | Commentary
Blog | Forum | Twitter
www.Poetry-Chaikhana.com