Hildegard von Bingen's Physica: The Complete English Translation of Her Classic Work on Health and Healing

(Hardback)

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At a time when few women could write and most were denied a formal education, Hildegard von Bingen became a legendary healer, visionary, musician, artist, poet and saint. Her works include twenty-seven symphonic compositions; Scivias, a compilation of her visions; and her two major medical works, Causae et Curae, a medical compendium, and Physica, published here in English in its entirety for the first time. Physica has a strong affinity with the Eastern medical approaches gaining great respect today. The modern reader interested in natural healing will recognize the enormous truth in the theories of this 12th-century physician, which remind us that our cures for illness depend on our natural world and our place in it. . A seminal text in the development of Western herbal medicine . Presents nine categories of healing systems - Plants, Elements, Trees, Stones, Fish, Birds, Animals, Reptiles and Metals - and elaborates on their medicinal use . Closely related to Eastern medical approaches that are gaining respect today

Reviews

"A work filled with astonishments and delights for present-day readers." * Lee Pennock Huntington, Montpelier Times Argus *
"Saint, mystic, healer, visionary, fighter, Hildegard von Bingen stands as one of the great figures in the history of women in medicine. She was renowned for her healing work and her original theories of medicine." * Elisbeth Brooke, in Women Healers *
"Gives a good sense of 12th century herbalism based on humors, common superstition, and sprinkled with a dose of Bingen's mystical insights." * American Herb Association, Vol 16:2 *

Author Bio

A Latin and Greek scholar, Priscilla Throop holds a master's degree from the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto, as well as a Certificate of Advanced Theological Studies from the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge. She is a member of the Vermont Classical Language Association and is currently translating Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae. She lives in Charlotte, Vermont.