In Saturday’s DM, I shared —not for the first time—the powerful painting by Hildegard of Bingen on the Anti-Christ. I first shared it in my book on Hildegard’s Illuminations (her word for her paintings) and more recently in my book on Trump & MAGA as Antichrist.
It is important to employ art in our efforts to name evil as Hildegard did in her painting and as Luca Signorelli did in his fresco on the antichrist painted in 1501.
Picasso’s Guernica did the same, as have many movies over the years. I have never gotten into vampire movies myself, but surely their naming of evil at work appeals to many, and especially the young these days.
Hildegard’s painting is so amazingly prescient to the daily horror show we are living through at this chaotic time in human history. She very much emphasizes cosmic chaos in her depiction of evil.
The gospels do the same of course. At Jesus’ death on the cross, Matthew says that “the veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” Since we now know on the veil of the Temple was a painting of creation, we are being told that creation was broken asunder and chaos descended. Sure enough, Matthew goes on to say “the earth quaked; the rocks were split; the tombs opened and the bodies of many holy men rose from the dead….”
And human hearts were changed. “Meanwhile the centurion, together with the others guarding Jesus, had seen the earthquake and all that was taking place, and they were terrified and said, ‘In truth this was a son of God.’” (27.51-54) In the Jewish tradition, anyone living a life of wisdom is called “a son of God.”
Mark also reports that “the veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom” and also cites the centurion who “had seen how he had died,” and said, “In truth this was a son of God.” (15.38f)
Luke reports that “with the sun eclipsed, a darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. The veil of the Temple was torn right down the middle” and the centurion “gave praise to God and said, ‘This was a great and good man.’” (23, 44, 45, 47.) Evil is a cosmic event therefore, a rupture in the cosmos which is built on order.
That is how Hildegard sees it also. Evil human deeds unravel the cosmic order. She paints them in the upper left-hand corner as “a fiery dog that was not burning; a lion that was reddish-brown; a pale horse; a black pig; and a grisly wolf.” Each was pulling hard on a piece of rope that symbolizes the binding that holds together an interdependent and compassionate universe. Each beast was bringing about chaos, the unraveling of cosmic order. How so?
The fiery dog stands for humans who “bite at their own condition” and do not burn with justice. The reddish lion stands for “warlike men” who wage wars without considering God’s judgment. The pale horse represents those who put luxury living and their own selfish pleasure before performing worthwhile acts. The black pig stands for rulers who create sadness in themselves and their subjects. The wolf stands for those who rob others. The black rope represents “the darkness that stretches out many injustices.”
How much in the current MAGA administration is tearing apart the political order of our democracy to replace it with something else? Rule by the powerful who are indifferent to justice; waging war (Iran?); living luxurious lives; creating sadness among citizens; robbing the poor and middle class through their corruption; and creating darkness of many injustices?
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video meditation, click HERE.
Banner Image: San Francisco torn asunder by the great earthquake of 1906. Photo from the National Archives. Wikimedia Commons.
Due to copyright restrictions, we are not able to directly reproduce Picasso’s “Guernica” painting that Matthew references in this DM — but if you want to see the original, go HERE.
Queries for Contemplation
Do you see prescience in Hildegard’s painting that names the beasts of greed, indifference to injustice, war-making and the like, that turn creation into chaos and that dominate our news today? How can this motivate us to assist self and others to do better?
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen, pp. 122-126.
Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ, pp. 81-84.
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society.
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice.
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality.
Christian Mystics: 365 Readings and Meditations.
The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine.
Charles Burack, ed., Matthew Fox: Essential Writings in Creation Spirituality.
Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson and Jen Listug: Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action.
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7 thoughts on “The Prescient Painting of Hildegard of Bingen on the Antichrist”
Today’s DM, with its underlying theme of “prescience” and its banner image showing “San Francisco torn asunder by the great earthquake of 1906” sent shivers through my spine. When I lived in the San Francisco Bay area (in the ’70s), earthquake preparedness was a fact of life and the specter of “the big one” was everywhere: inserts came through the mail with the phone and utility bills, explaining what to do if an earth tremor was felt, and that information was widely relayed through the media. On a few occasions, during a shared meal, someone (or several people at the same time) shouted, “earthquake!” and we did all rush to the nearest safer place, under a door-frame, a table or a desk, until the tremor was over.
Even if I now live on the eastern side of the continent, the current political landscape combined with the recent surge of major seismic events across the Pacific Ring of Fire has physically reactivated in me the specter of “the big one.” Beyond the regional tragedy it would trigger, such a catastrophic event would surely be seized by an amoral and unscrupulous administration as an excuse to declare a national state of emergency and suspend democratic activities like elections. Heaven forbid that such thoughts should be prescient. To the beast of fear unexpectedly awaken by today’s reading, I say: Vade retro, satana.
Yes! A very sobering DM that evil still exists and even grown more powerfully destructive in modern society and Sacred Mother Earth with the many wars and continued social injustices since the twentieth century. We’re spiritually reminded by past and present prophets (including Matthew Fox) of being aware and responsible for our own inner and collective shadows on our spiritual journeys, and also for potential healing and transformation of incarnating many forms of Creative and Compassionate Divine Love with Our Sacred Mother Earth/Cosmos and physical/non-physical spiritual dimensions/Beings in Our Human/Cosmic Evolution of Loving Diverse Oneness in the Sacred Process of the Eternal Present Moment….
I, too become despondent at what our beloved country has become, our Mother Earth desecrated, and people suffering everywhere. I also see acts of kindness, little gestures that bring smiles and hope.
We must not give up the fight.
The last paragraph where you compare Hildegard’s painting and the Trump regime is perfect. Amen.
I don’t want to be “that guy” but seriously American has never been great. From genocide to slavery to malignant capitalism we have never lived up to our promises. I’m no history scholar but I’d wager that things were pretty dire politically in Hildegard’s time as well. I’m not sure how prescient she was, she might have simply been documenting what she saw around her.
This struggle between “good” and “evil” seems to be essential to our existence as humans, and provides us the perpetual choice: which do we choose? I’m feeling lately like that choice is the core part of our experience and purpose for being. This crescendo we’re experiencing now may be intended to awaken more people to get them to make a different choice. That feels like urgent and important work.
I don’t think we are living in unprecedented times of evil. We’ve been here before. We are also surrounded by people choosing good and bringing light into the world. And love and light seem to be so much more powerful than darkness, that it only takes a few of us to make a big difference.
There is way more “bad news” on my news feed than “good news” but I don’t think that reflects reality. I believe the media and pundits get more engagement from the bad news, which is why we see more of it. We need to focus on the GOOD NEWS to balance things out. We live on a beautiful planet full of abundance and love!!!
Thank you for this meditation and for reminding us of the work that needs to be done at this precarious time in history(though one could argue it has been this way for a long time). Seems that the institutional church has been a failure in bringing the message of Christ to the people. Time to take up the slack!!
Thank you, Matthew, for making so clear what happens when injustice runs rampant—for the metaphor of the veil being ripped in two and the earth acting erratically because justice, which is the way of the world as God means it to be, was itself torn apart. As Yeats says in his poem, “the falcon cannot hear the falconer.” Things are out of whack. There is chaos in the universe.
To quote his poem:
“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
“Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.”
And a little child shall lead them. Years ago when my daughter was three, we went to a Picasso exhibit in Los Angeles. The museum was packed. As we wandered through halls, we crept through the crowds. Nonetheless, Molly made me walk back through the lines twice to see Guernica again. Each time we stood looking at it and asked, “Why did the baby die.” Somehow we must have introduced her to war and death, to chaos. In her world, adults might die, but not babies. In her world, things were truly out of whack.