Smoke and Shadow: Hildegard of Bingen's Remedies for Spirit Disturbances
Hildegard's Kitchen · Spirit & Protection
Smoke and Shadow: Hildegard of Bingen's Remedies for Spirit Disturbances
How the medieval visionary understood dark influences, the woman no one else could free, and the foods, stones and rituals she trusted to bring back the light.
Shadows at the edge of the light
Every culture has its stories of houses that feel wrong, nights full of dark dreams, and people who seem to be overtaken by something not their own. In the twelfth century, the Rhineland visionary Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179) was the person people turned to when those stories became real.
The woman who saw the world bathed in a Living Light also took darkness seriously. Her healing book, the Physica, is threaded with remedies against “airy spirits,” phantasms and bewitchment, and late in life she was asked to help free a young woman whom no one else could reach.
This post explores how Hildegard understood spirit disturbances, the remarkable story of the noblewoman Sigewize, five gentle kitchen remedies, and the protective plants, stones and rituals she recommended for clearing heavy energy from a home and a mind.
Not possession, but overshadowing
Hildegard had a surprisingly subtle idea of what we now call demonic possession. She wrote that she had asked, in her visions, how a dark spirit could enter a person, and was shown that it cannot. If such a being entered a human body in its own form, she said, the body would scatter like straw in the wind.
Instead, she described the spirit as hovering over a person, wrapping them in the shadow and smoke of its darkness. From outside, it could bring sickness, move the limbs, and cry out through the person as if through a window, while the soul itself lay as if asleep.
She also believed these spirits came in different temperaments. In her entry on the green stone chrysoprase, she distinguishes a “gentle” airy spirit, which leaves a person laughing and looking kindly at others, from a “bitter” one, which makes them silent, rigid and foaming at the mouth. The gentle kind, she thought, could be eased with simple remedies. The bitter kind needed far more.
Most importantly, Hildegard did not separate spiritual and physical healing. Darkness, for her, gathered where the body's balance was already disturbed, especially by melancholy, the heavy “black bile” she linked to sadness and despair. Strengthening the body and lightening the heart were part of driving the shadows away.
The woman no one else could free
Around 1169, Abbot Gedolphus of the monastery of Brauweiler, near Cologne, wrote to Hildegard in desperation. A young noblewoman named Sigewize had been tormented for some seven years. She had been taken from shrine to shrine. For three months the monks and townspeople had tried everything, with no success. Then, the abbot reported, the spirit itself had cried out that only an old woman on the upper Rhine could drive it out. According to her biographer, it mocked her as “Scrumpilgardis” — “Wrinklegard.”
Hildegard was ill and could not travel, so she sent a ritual in writing: a solemn ceremony to be performed by seven chosen priests, each holding a rod in memory of Moses. It ended with words she had heard in her vision, in which she described herself as “a poor, untaught little feminine form” commanding the spirit to leave. The rite worked, but only briefly. The spirit returned and insisted it would go out only in her presence.
So Sigewize came to Rupertsberg. Hildegard and her sisters were frightened by her wild behaviour, but they took her in. Through the long weeks of Lent, the community surrounded her with prayer, fasting and steady care. Shortly before Easter, the spirit finally departed. Sigewize was so grateful that she joined Hildegard's community.
Modern scholars often note how wise this approach was. Rather than isolating Sigewize, Hildegard gave her a safe, structured community where she was seen and supported, day after day, until she was well. In her own letter about the healing, Hildegard gave the credit not to herself but to the prayers and kindness of many people.
Recipe 1: Hildegard's Cross-Cut Blessing Bread
This is the most striking food remedy in the Physica. In her entry on the jacinth stone (Book IV, ch. 2), Hildegard describes what to do for someone “bewitched by delusions or magic words.” Take warm rye bread, cut a cross into the top crust without cutting all the way through, and draw a jacinth stone down through the cut while speaking a blessing. The bread around the cut is then given to the troubled person to eat. She adds that the same cross can be traced through all their food.
Her blessing compares the person's torment to the splendour the fallen angel lost: just as that light was stripped away, may every delusion be stripped from the one who suffers. You can speak her words, your own words, or simply hold an intention of clearing and peace as you cut.
Cross-Cut Blessing Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250 g) rye flour
- 2 cups (250 g) whole spelt flour, plus more for shaping
- 2¼ tsp (7 g, one packet) instant yeast
- 2 tsp (10 g) fine salt
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1½ cups (350 ml) warm water, about 100°F (38°C)
Method
- Mix the rye flour, spelt flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl.
- Stir the honey into the warm water, then pour it into the flour and mix to a shaggy dough.
- Knead on a lightly floured surface for 8–10 minutes. Rye dough stays slightly sticky; resist adding too much flour.
- Return to the bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm spot for 1–1½ hours, until noticeably puffed.
- Shape into a tight round and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover and let rise 45 minutes more.
- Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C).
- With a sharp knife, cut a deep cross into the top of the loaf, about ½ inch (1 cm) deep. Do not cut all the way through, just as Hildegard instructs. This is the moment to speak your blessing.
- Bake 35–40 minutes, until deep brown and hollow-sounding when tapped underneath.
- While the bread is still warm, break off the pieces along the cross and share them first.
A note on the stone: Hildegard drew a jacinth (a golden-orange gem) through the cut. If you want to follow her, use a smooth, polished stone and wash it well first, then draw it lightly along the cut without pressing it into the bread. Never use a stone that is painted, dyed, cracked or crumbly, and keep small stones away from children.
Historical note: Medieval rye bread was leavened with sourdough. Instant yeast is a modern shortcut; if you bake with a starter, use it in place of the yeast.
Recipe 2: Fennel and Lemon Balm Clearing Tea
Hildegard praised lemon balm (Melissa) for restraining harmful humours so they cannot take over a person, and fennel because, however it is eaten, it makes the heart glad. A traditional Hildegard remedy combines one part lemon balm to three parts fennel for a confused, clouded mind. It is a gentle tea for the morning after a night of disturbing dreams, or any day when your thoughts feel crowded and heavy.
Fennel and Lemon Balm Clearing Tea
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp dried lemon balm (or 3 tbsp fresh leaves)
- 3 tbsp chopped fresh fennel fronds (or 1 tsp lightly crushed fennel seeds)
- 2 cups (480 ml) water
- Honey, to taste
Method
- Bring the water to a boil with the fennel and simmer gently for 3 minutes.
- Turn off the heat, add the lemon balm, cover, and steep 5 minutes.
- Strain into cups and sweeten lightly with honey.
- Sip slowly, ideally somewhere quiet with natural light.
Recipe 3: Lavender Honey Draught for a Clear Mind
In the Physica, Hildegard writes that lavender cooked in wine, or for those without wine, in honey and water, and drunk lukewarm, gives a person pure knowledge and clear understanding. Her honey-and-water version makes a beautiful alcohol-free evening drink for settling a restless spirit before sleep.
Lavender Honey Draught
Ingredients
- 1 tsp dried culinary lavender buds
- 2 cups (480 ml) water
- 1–2 tbsp honey
Method
- Bring the water to a simmer, add the lavender, and simmer gently for 5 minutes.
- Strain into a jug and stir in the honey while warm.
- Let it cool until lukewarm, as Hildegard specifies, then drink.
For a more traditional version, simmer the lavender in 2 cups of dry white wine instead of water for 3–4 minutes, then sweeten. Note that brief simmering does not remove all the alcohol.
Recipe 4: Tempered Wine for a Stormy Spirit
In Causes and Cures, Hildegard gives a remedy for the moment anger or sadness rushes in: quickly warm some wine, mix in a little cold water, and drink it. She believed this calmed the bitter vapours that rise from the bile and cloud the mind, the very state in which she thought darkness finds its foothold. It is less a recipe than a small ritual of pausing.
Tempered Wine
Ingredients
- ½ cup (120 ml) red or white wine
- 2 tbsp cold water
Method
- Warm the wine gently in a small pan until it just begins to steam. Do not let it boil.
- Pour into a cup and add the cold water.
- Sit down, breathe slowly, and sip while it is warm.
For an alcohol-free version, use the Lavender Honey Draught above, which Hildegard herself offered as the alternative for those without wine.
Recipe 5: Morning Spelt Porridge to Lift the Shadows
Hildegard taught that dark influences gather where melancholy has already settled, so foods that lighten the heart were part of her protection. Spelt was her favourite: she wrote that it makes a person cheerful and gives a happy mind. This warming spelt porridge, known in modern Hildegard kitchens by its German name Habermus, is a tradition inspired by her teaching rather than a recipe from her own pen. It combines spelt with her other “joy” ingredients: cooked apple, cinnamon and galangal.
Morning Spelt Porridge
Ingredients
- ½ cup (90 g) cracked spelt or spelt flakes
- 1½ cups (360 ml) water
- Pinch of salt
- 1 apple, peeled and grated
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- Pinch of ground galangal
- Pinch of ground fennel seed (optional)
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1–2 tsp honey
Method
- Bring the water and salt to a boil. Stir in the spelt, lower the heat, and simmer 10 minutes, stirring now and then.
- Add the grated apple, cinnamon, galangal and fennel, if using. Simmer 5 minutes more, until thick and creamy. Hildegard preferred apples cooked rather than raw for anyone feeling weak.
- Stir in the butter, sweeten with honey, and serve warm, ideally by a sunny window.
Protective plants, woods and stones
The Physica is full of things Hildegard believed dark spirits avoid. Most were meant to be kept, carried or placed, not eaten.
Plants and woods
- Fern. Hildegard gave fern a power like the sun's, which lights up dark places and chases away apparitions. She wrote that spells and phantasms cannot complete their work in a house where it is kept, and that dark things avoid a person who carries it. A bundle of dried fern above the door or a frond in a coat pocket honours this tradition.
- Fir. Spirits of the air, she wrote, hate and avoid any place where there is fir wood, and magic thrives less there. Winter is the perfect season for this one: bring fir boughs or a fir wreath into the house, or burn a fir-scented beeswax candle.
- Cypress. She saw the cypress as a sign of God's hidden mysteries and advised carrying a piece of wood from the heart of the tree, because the devil avoids it all the more. A small cypress-wood bead, cross or token in your pocket keeps the practice alive.
- Betony. For anyone regularly troubled by false or frightening dreams, she advised keeping betony leaves nearby in bed. A small sachet of dried betony tucked inside a pillowcase works beautifully.
Stones
Hildegard believed precious stones were formed from fire, water and light, and that the devil, having lost his own splendour when he fell, hates their brilliance.
- Diamond. So hard that nothing can overcome it. Because it withstands his power, she wrote, the devil disdains it day and night.
- Jasper. Keep it near when you have dreams of thunder and lightning, and phantasms and threats disperse.
- Agate. Worn against the skin, she said, it makes a person wise and careful in speech. She also describes a lovely night ritual with it (below).
- Sapphire. For someone in the grip of a dark spirit, she advised sewing a sapphire with a little earth into a leather pouch and hanging it around the neck while speaking a blessing.
- Carbuncle and chrysolite. Wherever carbuncle is kept, airy spirits cannot complete their illusions; even chrysolite makes them shrink back a little.
Hildegard's protective rituals
The nine-morning water blessing
For anyone caught in the snares of darkness or magic, Hildegard describes boring a hole through a piece of cypress heartwood and pouring water from a living spring through it into an earthenware vessel, while speaking a blessing. The water was drunk, fasting, for nine mornings.
To adapt it: each morning for nine days, fill an earthenware cup with spring water while holding a piece of cypress wood in your other hand (keep the wood out of the cup). Speak her words or your own. Her blessing asks the water to flow into the troubled person with its strength, wash away every misfortune, and restore them to the clear mind and right path in which they were made. Then drink the water slowly before eating.
Walking the house in the shape of a cross
Each night before bed, Hildegard advised carrying an agate through the length of the house and then across its width, tracing the shape of a cross. She recommended it to keep away thieves, but the ritual is a natural way to close the day and seal a home. Walk slowly, room to room, with the stone or a lit candle, and finish at the front door.
Speaking a blessing
Almost every one of Hildegard's protective remedies comes with spoken words, and they follow a striking pattern. Each recalls how the fallen angel lost his radiance and asks that the darkness troubling a person fall away in the same way. You can write your own blessing in her style, for example:
Just as the light was stripped from the one who turned from it, so may every shadow be stripped from this house, and may it be filled with the Living Light.
Filling the home with music
Hildegard was one of the great composers of the Middle Ages, and she believed sacred song was humanity's echo of the harmony of heaven. In her musical drama Ordo Virtutum, every character sings except the devil, who can only shout. Playing her chants in a house that feels heavy is perhaps the most Hildegardian clearing ritual of all.
Light, greenness and fresh air
Above all, Hildegard believed darkness withdraws from viriditas, the greening life-force. Open the windows, bring in living plants, and let the morning sun in.
Protecting mothers and newborns
Hildegard took special care over the moments she believed a mother and baby were most vulnerable. She advised placing fern around a woman in childbirth and around the infant's cradle, and for a mother to keep a jasper on her hand from the birth through all the days of her baby's infancy, so that harmful spirits of the air could not reach either of them.
Today, a fern frond tucked near (never inside) the crib, a jasper on a bracelet, or a small blessing spoken over the cradle each night can carry this tender tradition into a modern nursery. For safe sleep, keep the crib itself completely clear: no plants, stones, pouches or cords inside it or within a baby's reach.
Do not eat these. Many of these protective plants and stones are not food. Hildegard herself warned that eating betony harms the mind, many ferns (including common bracken) are toxic, and stones are a choking hazard. Some of her remedies called for placing stones in the mouth or in drinks; please don't try these at home. These are for the threshold, the pocket and the pillow, not the plate.
Sources
- Hildegard of Bingen, Physica, trans. Priscilla Throop (Healing Arts Press, 1998): entries on fern, betony, lavender, fennel and lemon balm (Book I), jacinth and chrysoprase (Book IV), and the fish and birds whose smoke and parts she said repel airy spirits.
- Hildegard of Bingen, Physica, trans. Throop: fir and cypress (Book III); diamond, jasper, agate, sapphire, carbuncle and chrysolite (Book IV).
- Hildegard of Bingen, Causes and Cures (Causae et Curae): tempered wine for anger and sadness; melancholy and black bile.
- Hildegard of Bingen, Ordo Virtutum: the devil as the only character who cannot sing.
- Hildegard of Bingen, Hildegard's Healing Plants, trans. Bruce W. Hozeski (Beacon Press, 2001): fern and betony.
- The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen, vols. I and II, trans. Joseph L. Baird and Radd K. Ehrman (Oxford University Press): Letters 68, 68r and 69 between Hildegard and Abbot Gedolphus of Brauweiler (c. 1169); Letter 158r on Sigewize's healing; notes quoting the Vita on how dark spirits overshadow rather than enter a person.
- Hildegard of Bingen, Mystical Writings, ed. Fiona Bowie and Oliver Davies (Crossroad): introduction on the Sigewize case.
- Jany Fournier-Rosset, From Saint Hildegard's Kitchen (Liguori, 2010): lemon balm and fennel remedy; lavender wine.
Explore more from Hildegard's kitchen, including our All Souls Day recipes for honouring the beloved dead, here on the Fire Over Water blog.