The bird inserts its beak into the flying head’s mouth and gives it three drops of a sweet drink that immediately alleviates its hunger, making it forget the taste of all the food ever consumed before. The head recognises the features of Khalid Islambouli, an Egyptian officer who led the assassination of President Anwar Sadat during the Victory Parade in Cairo on October 6, 1981, and was executed together with the other conspirators by a firing squad the following year. When the bird is close enough, it becomes apparent that the strange creature has a human face. After a while it spots an iridescent green bird slowly approaching it. I’ll certainly seek more work by this author.A severed human head is floating in the sky above the holy city of Kufa. Illuminations is as elegant as it is significant. It takes great skill and greater heart to breathe life into historical figures, and Sharratt has done so in such a way that I’ll not soon forget any of them. From the pain of Jutta to the pining of Volmar, Sharratt’s writing was beautiful. Sharratt brought these historical figures to life with majestic imagery, and wonderful character insight. This novel was written with great affection by author Mary Sharratt. By devoting herself to her calling, she became a source of unparalleled female inspiration. She preached, educated and offered her blessings. She designed and created a new monastery for women on a mountainside in Rupertsberg. During a time when many women became nuns to protect themselves from the atrocities of the world, Hildegard von Bingen became a leader. Not surprisingly, there were those who condemned these writings, and called her a heretic. For more than three decades I had studied the holy texts, but now I understood them. (Albeit the original version appears to have been misplaced.) Scivias took ten years to complete. The creation and illumination of the famous Scivias, a tome which described 26 of her visions, is still regarded as a remarkable work today. With the help of her beloved friend Sister Richardis and her confidante Brother Volmar, Hidegard began to share her gifts with the world. At this time, Hildegard was 38, and she became the new Magistra of the younger nuns. Her passing was marked holy by many in the religious community, and she was revered. Jutta, after years of asceticism and self-flagellation, finally passed away at the age of 45. This is how long Hildegard spent in anchorage. Hildegard watched over both closely, choosing to protect them over any chance of her own liberation.ģ0 years. While loyally serving her Magistra, Hildegard increased her knowledge.Īs time crawled along, two new novices joined them in their anchorage. She became well versed in everything from scripture, to Latin, to the healing properties of nature. She found solace in the books that Brother Volmar brought to her. She dreamed of the forest, of seeing her beloved brother, of being free. She kept her secret from Jutta for many years.Īs Jutta grew in her piety and her mental illness, Hildegard longed for escape. Talking of these visions when she was very young frightened her mother greatly, so Hildegard learned not to speak of them. Some of them would seize her with excruciating pain and terrible illness. What simmered in Hildegard’s soul, even before she was forced to live with Jutta, were vivid and incredibly powerful religious visions. Their interactions with the world were limited to the monks, and those who sought the blessings of Jutta, who became increasingly well-known across the land. Their basic needs were delivered to them by the monks through a small window. Being anchoresses meant that Jutta and her eight-year-old handmaiden were bricked in to a small 2-room dwelling at Disibodenberg in the Palatinate Forest (Germany). For terrible reasons of her own, Jutta chose to devote her life to prayer by anchoring herself to the monastery. While there, Hildegard was to be the handmaiden of a very disturbed creature by the name of Jutta von Sponheim. Being the tenth child in her family (tithe), she was offered by her mother as an oblate to a monastery (much to the child’s horror). She was, in every sense of the word, remarkable.Īt the age of eight, Hildegard was given to the church. Even now, I am haunted and inspired by my memory of her.

When I picked this up, I had no idea how much I was going to be affected by Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179).

Illuminations book