Hildegard of Bingen

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[Hildegard's 'O Euchari' remains one of my all-time favourite sounds (some of you will know it as the vocal loop in The Beloved's 'The Sun Rising') - perhaps she would have approved of its often herbal connections] [img]smile.gif[/img]

Signs, symbols and biblical health tips
Herbs From the Bible
Patricia Armstrong
Amberwood Publishing, £9.99
Tablet bookshop price £8.99.

The twelfth-century visionary, adminstrator, composer and poetess St Hildegard of Bingen was also, and not least, an enthusiastic botanist. Her works on natural history are an extraordinary marriage of the mystical and the no-bones-about-it practical, at once a paean to the wonder of creation and the greatest pharmacopoeia of the day. Hildegard’s reputation as a herbalist, no less than her name as a mystic, brought her enquiries from popes, kings and bishops, apparently as concerned with their corporal health as with their spiritual wellbeing.

A faint echo of Hildegard’s fusion of piety and herbalism can be heard in Herbs From the Bible, an idiosyncratic, unclassifiable work by Patricia Armstrong. Part biblical commentary, part herbalist’s health manual, Ms Armstrong weds plant lore to her retelling of biblical episodes, from the budding of Aaron’s staff to the use of almonds in modern herbal medicine.

This might seem a cranky approach to an impossibly arcane topic. But in fact the Bible is overgrown with vegetation, from the cinnamon, pomegranates and saffron of the Song of Solomon, to the oil of nard poured on Jesus’ feet. As Ms Armstrong reminds us, the plants of the Bible were, and are, much more, than background colour. (Despite its title, her book covers such large “herbs” as the oak tree.) Essentially, her method is to recount in her own words biblical episodes of botanical interest, prefaced with a brief description of the relevant plants, served up with some herbal remedies in which they feature.

Ms Armstrong is not, as she freely admits, a scholar of Hebrew or botany, and occasionally her acceptance of dates and figures do not bear analysis. Her main source on the vexed issue of wedding Hebrew or Greek terms to modern plant names is Michael Zohary, erstwhile Professor of Botany at Jerusalem University, and author of Plants of the Bible, a book on which she leans heavily. Much the same terrain was covered by scholars such has Jehudah Feliks and Nogah Hareuveni, author of Nature in Our Biblical Heritage. To the botanical data accumulated by Zohary Ms Armstrong adds her own, practical recommendations to the reader. In this respect she is travelling much the same route as trodden by St Hildegard and a legion of other commentators, who found in the Bible a health manual for both body and soul.

It is a pity, then, that Ms Armstrong has relatively little to say on these traditions. It is a modern commonplace to characterise Christianity as a religion hostile to nature (“Fill the earth and subdue it”, says the God of Genesis), but in their 2000 years, Christian arts and letters have accumulated a rich, green iconography which evoked instant recognition, whether it was myrtles to symbolise conversion or bulrushes for faithfulness. The anemones that feature in so many crucifixion scenes were symbols of sorrow and death; thistles stood for the prickings of sin. But apart from the occasional passing reference, Ms Armstrong is little interested in traditions that emerged between the days of the Old Testament and the present day.

What the reader will find, however, is an updated version of Hildegard’s herbal. Some recommendations will raise the eyebrows (decoction from oak bark for bleeding haemorrhoids), while others seem eminently sensible: dill to sweeten the breath, walnuts for protein, vitamin E and their antioxidant properties. Ms Armstrong adds botanical pointers to some central biblical episodes and imagery. What was the burning bush? (Ms Armstrong, perhaps too literally, thinks it may have been the senna plant with its red leaves.) Here is the botany behind the parable of the mustard seed, and a reminder of the astonishing language of Jeremiah. The wormwood he promises false prophets is, as Ms Armstrong reminds us, an ingredient of absinthe.

One of the pleasures of reading the Bible in this way is that it conveys something of the flavours of the day. Manna was white like coriander seed. In the desert the wandering Israelites pined for the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic of Egypt (Numbers 11: 5-6) – a list that reads like a description of the mezze still served across the Middle East. The strength of Ms Armstrong’s book is that it conveys something of how life in biblical times must have smelt and tasted.

Herbs From the Bible is not, however, an altogether easy read. Ms Armstrong has a habit of interspersing her account with interjections that can verge on the childish. To Lot’s decision to settle among the cities of the plain, she attaches the needless comment “Not a good choice, Lot!” Such intrusions serve merely to distract the reader from the deeper motivation behind this curious, quirky book, a motivation that is in its essentials the same as Hildegard’s: an abiding sense of wonder at the possibilities and mysteries of the greenery around us.

[nanouk]

as always very interesting and enlightening posts, jalien...only yesterday me and my mother discussed the likes of the indian miracle 'chill pill' called "brahmi" and the amazing healing properties of the edelweiss, i think i'm going to buy me a small plot of land,(but not in the uk)and grow ginseng and edelweiss...and brahmi in the pond. i have heard there are grants to be awarded for medicinal growers...even better if organic, of course...(0:

[Thom]

Benny Shanon has speculated that the Israelites had some knowledge of the syrian rue/mimosa hostilis combination, and discussing the episode of the burning bush in his book. He also wonders whether the combo might have been used by the Essesne. The article here: www.imprint.co.uk/pdf/Roberts.pdf

Its clear that no matter what the religious attitudes were to nature, people in the ancient world needed herbs, and would have had extensive knowledge of their various effects. Perhaps god is a mushroom after all...Hildegaard's music is a pretty good accompaniement to the sacrament.

[ February 18, 2005, 11:40 PM: Message edited by: Thom ]

[nanouk]

sorry, gelfer, not jalien...i get confused sometimes [img]smile.gif[/img] i heard about a couple of plants that self combust, anyone know off hand which they are?
i read somewhere ages ago, that the joshua tree is one of them...it makes sense if it were coniferous plants, since they contain quite potent oils...

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I know we in New Zealand all look the same to you Northern folk.