Wing Power | Fly Like an Angel with Hildegard’s Wisdom | Marlies Dekkers FW23 Blog

Marlies Dekkers,July 2023

Marlies Says

Spread your wings and dare to fly!

Inspired by Hildegard von Bingen’s divine philosophy, discover the power of embracing both light and shadow. You don’t need wings to fly—just the courage to fulfill your true potential.

Are you dreaming of flying like an angel? No need to die and go to heaven first!

Are you dreaming of flying like an angel? No need to die and go to heaven first!

Emphasizing the divine in each one of us, Hildegard von Bingen believed we could all 'fly' like angels - read: fulfill our potential as human beings - as long as we recognize both the good and evil in ourselves and then actively choose the light, again and again. "We have two wings - one wing is the knowledge of evil, the other the knowledge of good. To fly, we need both," she wrote. Such a beautiful interpretation of the term 'wing power'!

Hildegard's favorite 'shortcut to paradise' was through the magic of music. One of her most beloved compositions is called 'Oh, living light, oh angels, glorious!'. (A fragment: "Angels, living light! What glorious pleasures take shape within you!"). Singing with her nuns, joining heaven and earth in ecstatic celestial harmony, the women became a 'choir of angels'.

Hildegard's message still rings true today: “Everything that is in the heavens, on earth, and under the earth is penetrated with connectedness, penetrated with relatedness.” In other words: you - yes you! - are a heavenly creature. Spread your wings and dare to fly!