ILLUMINATIONS Amazon Reader Review Contest
Dear Hildegard fans,Writers love to hear feedback on their work.Post a Reader Review for Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen on Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk and send me an email saying you’ve done so. The writer of the most insightful review will win a free CD of Anonymous 4’s The Origin of Fire: Music and Visions of Hildegard von Bingen AND a free bottle of the Hildegard-themed Veriditas Perfume by Arabesque Aromas, made from all natural ingredients: Contest ends November 20. The winner will be announced shortly thereafter.If you’ve already written a review...
Read MoreBlessed All Hallows
Last weekend in England, the clocks fell back. Now the long northern darkness is closing in. People who live in more southerly climes might have a hard time imagining just how DARK it is in the North in this waning end of the year. Imagine the English gothic novel brought to life as a living reality, everything pitch black at 4:30 on an overcast day. Today is one of the biggest turning points of the year–All Hallows Eve. Its secular and commercial manifestation with the mass-produced trick or treat paraphenalia cannot hold a candle to the true signficance and gravitas of this...
Read MoreHildegard von Bingen: Doctor of the Church
Hildegard von Bingen: Doctor of the Church and Timeless Visionary Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179) was a visionary abbess and polymath. She composed an entire corpus of sacred music and wrote nine books on subjects as diverse as theology, cosmology, botany, medicine, linguistics, and human sexuality, a prodigious intellectual outpouring that was unprecedented for a 12th-century woman. Her prophecies earned her the title Sybil of the Rhine.Pope Benedict XVI canonized Hildegard on May 10, 2012—873 years after her death. Today, October 7, 2012, she will be elevated to Doctor of the...
Read MoreBlog Tour!
ILLUMINATIONS: The Blog TourFor those of you who live outside Minnesota and can’t attend my Book Tour Events, I shall also be on Blog Tour throughout most of October. Visit my blog tour stops, read articles and interviews about Hildegard, leave a comment, and you could win a free copy of my brand new ILLUMINATIONS: A NOVEL OF HILDEGARD VON BINGEN!October 9th: Jenn’s BookshelvesOctober 10th: The Burton Review October 12th: Kris Waldherr Blog October 15 and 16th: Passages to the Past October 17 and 18: Beyond the Fields We Know October 19: Gaian Soul Blog October...
Read MoreThe Feast of Saint Hildegard
September 17 marks the feast day of Saint Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179), the great visionary abbess and polymath. Long regarded as a saint in her native Germany, she was only canonized in May this year—873 years after her death. In October 2012, she will be elevated to Doctor of the Church, a rare and solemn title reserved for theologians who have significantly impacted Church doctrine. But what does Hildegard mean for a wider secular audience today?I believe her legacy remains hugely important for contemporary women.While writing Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen, I kept...
Read MoreHildegard and the Feminine Divine
Don’t miss the Fall 2012 issue of Namaste Insights, dedicated to Hildegard von Bingen and the Feminine Divine.In this issue, I interview radical theologian and Hildegard scholar Matthew Fox, whose 1985 nonfiction book, The Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen made Hildegard’s life and work accessible to a wide, popular English-speaking audience for the first time. A former Dominican monk, Fox was expelled from his order by Cardinal Ratzinger. Read the interview to hear what Matthew has to say about the irony of Joseph Ratzinger aka Pope Benedict XVI being the one to finally...
Read MoreAbout Mary Sharratt
An American author living on the Silver Coast of Portugal, Mary Sharratt is on a mission to write women back into history. She is the author of Revelations and seven previous critically acclaimed novels, including Daughters of the Witching Hill, the Nautilus Award–winning Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen, The Dark Lady’s Mask: A Novel of Shakespeare’s Muse, and Ecstasy, about the life, loves, and music of Alma Mahler. When she is not writing, you can find her riding her beautiful Welsh mare.
Mary’s Newsletter
