Sophia's Children

“We cannot live in a world that is not our own, in a world that is interpreted for us by others.

An interpreted world is not HOME. Part of the terror is to take back our own listening, to use our own voice, to see our own light.”

~ Hildegard von Bingen (1098 – 1179)

In honor of Hildegard of Bingen, who is celebrated with a feast day on September 17th (coming right up), here’s an update of an earlier post on The New Greening. I wrote the first one in 2010 (after receiving the inspiration whilst standing against a mighty grandmother Oak tree!).

I first started sleuthing and writing about The New Greening about 5 years before that … the Greening gathers strength underground before sending its tender green shoots through the soil to the visible surface.

That means before the Greening, we’re  pulled into the Underworld and through bona fide, deconditioning Dark Night of the Soul and grieving passages before re-emergence, freshly Greened, can occur.

A long-time Sophia’s Children reader and client asked about this topic and post this week, so here it is … freshly re-greened and shared anew.

“Viriditas (Latin, literally greenness, formerly translated as viridity) is a word meaning vitality, fecundity, lushness, verdure, or growth. It is particularly associated with abbess Hildegard von Bingen, who used it to refer to or symbolize spiritual and physical health, often as a reflection of the divine word or as an aspect of the divine nature.” ~ Wikipedia

Hildegard’s Viriditas and The New Greening

At the deepest level, The New Greening is very much related to the Feminine and other Ancestral ways of knowing and being — a remembrance, a restoration of a wholeness and skillfulness that we’ve known and yearned for, but that we’ve forgotten. But it calls to us, like a Siren’s Soul-Song.

It’s a way of being our most authentic and vibrant selves, and revitalizing our “Divine Sophian Gifts.”

At another level, for me, ‘The New Greening‘ is the title of an emerging body of writing and work to share through individual and organizational consultation — finding renewal or ‘greening’ of vision, purpose, creativity, communication, and vitality.

The Symbolism of “Greening”

The New Greening goes beyond what we’ve come to know as ‘going green’ or ‘being green’, as it relates to adopting eco-friendly or environmentally friendly practices like recycling, repurposing, and reusing, even as these can be practical expressions of The New Greening.

This New Greening is a much greater reclamation project — one attuned to the great transformation underway, and the renewal of consciousness.

The New Greening is about reclaiming our inherent vibrance, our joy, and our humanity, wholeness, dignity, and connection with Earth, others, and our true Source of real ‘power in’ and ‘power with’.

As our connection with Shakti — the Feminine Creative Power & Life Force — is renewed, we are ‘Greened” and revitalized, re-enspirited anew.

With a New Greening, we also reclaim the gifts of compassion, focused intention, vision, imagination, Earth-and-Body Wisdom, and other Feminine co-creative powers to create that which are Life-affirming, beauty, joy supporting, and deeply rewarding.

From timeless wisdom, applied anew from our times, we remember the ways to ‘green’ ourselves, and we take that ‘greening’ into all that we do.

As Hildegard von Bingen, the 12th century Abbess who wrote and taught about Viriditas — greening — said, “Part of the terror is to take back our own listening, to use our own voice, to see our own light.”

Greening — Viriditas — is a renewal of soul, of spirit, of heart, and thus of mind and action.

This New Greening work is inspired by timeless Wisdom and those who held and carried and shared that Wisdom.

Newly re-greened and standing rooted in our own Center, we’re able to co-create and come into truly conscious relationship, communication, leadership, business, and the use of power that operates with, not against or at the expense of, other people, beings, and the environment.

So much of ‘The New Greening‘ is about remembering, embodying, and expressing too-long-banished or marginalized Ancestral, Earth-and-Soul-Connected, and Feminine values.

You’ll find a whole lot of inspiration and wild-heart-kindling on these themes here at Sophia’s Children — as well as the Feminine Mojo Mystery School and Ivy Sea archive selections (now available only to personal mentor-coaching clients and apprentices).

For more Hildegard inspiration, drink of these Sophia’s Children’s nourishments:

Holy Spirit

Wise Women and Mid-Life Blooming

Hildegard and Veriditas

… and on leaving the interpreted path that Hildegard speaks about:

Separating From the Herd

One of my favorites — related, though via May Sarton:

Home, Exile, and Growing New Roots

Big Love and Graceful Greening,

Jamie

If you’re curious or ready to explore and catalyze your own “greening”  creative power and authentic Mojo, schedule a New Greening Mojo Session or Series. 

Current Featured Mentor-Coaching Special Offerings

Those who feel a strong calling — and know that an experienced mentor-guide is of great value — can immerse in a more personalized, mojo-and-mastery building Wise Wo/man mentorship/apprenticeship.

Send Jamie an email to info ‘at’ sophias-children ‘dot’ com for a personal, private conversation about what might be most ideal for you.

Featured Image Credit:

Green Nature. Photo courtesy of Public Domain Pictures.