Mechthild of Magdeburg (ca. 1207 – ca. 1282/1294 CE) was a Christian mystic who had her first deep vision of unity when she was twelve. In her early twenties she joined the lay order of the Beguines, and remained in a semi-monastic or monastic community all her life. At the urging of her confessor, she wrote down her poems, visions and mystical experiences in a series of volumes called ‘The Flowing Light of Divinity.’ She wrote in German, not Latin, a first for her time, and her criticism of church authorities and religious laxity, as well as her apparent claim to theological insights, provoked enough opposition that her works were sometimes burned. Her sophisticated and exuberant writing was largely forgotten by the 15th c., but fortunately was rediscovered in the late 19th c.

Wouldst thou know my meaning?
Lie down in the Fire
See and taste the Flowing
Godhead through thy being;
Feel the Holy Spirit
Moving and compelling
Thee within the Flowing
Fire and Light of God.

Translation Lucy Menzies