mechthild is kinda cool

so for my history requirement at seminary i'm taking medieval female mystics at a seminary in evanston (about 20 minutes away) and these mystics are something else -- they were being subsersive within a pretty constricting system, mostly by using accepted doctrine and theology and adding their own flavor to it. hildegard, the first mystic we studied, talked about virtue all the time (they're all big on chastity), which was done, but envisioned the virtues as women, which was NEVER done. the women would also talk themselves down, call themselves lowly, because if they were too confident, men wouldn't read their stuff. so we've been wondering in class how much of their self-depreciation is real and how much is just to get a wider audience for their work.

anyway, mechthild (and, really, is there a cooler name possible?) is big on relating to God as a lover -- indeed a lot of her stuff reads somewhat like a romance novel -- which she did on purpose. she was also a poet, and a lot of her work is in poetic form, which is exciting for me. here's one i like:

Book I, 8
The Most Lowly Praises God in 8 Things
O you burning Mountain.
O you chosen Sun.
O you full Moon.
O you bottomless Well.
O you unscalable Height.
O you brightness without measure.
O Wisdom without ground.
O Mercy without restraint.
O Might without opposition.
O Crown of all honors!
The most lowly person you ever created praises you.