Interlude A: The Mystics' Rebellion
The rules were clear: women could not preach, interpret, or instruct in sacred doctrine. But mystics heard other voices.
When the gates of official theology were closed, a different current opened underground. In whispered visions and ecstatic poems, in dreams, dictations, and divine encounters, women across traditions claimed access not just to the sacred—but to the authority to speak it.
In a convent cell in 12th-century Germany, Hildegard of Bingen rose from her bed with feverish urgency. The vision she had received must be written, even though she—an untrained woman—had no formal permission to record theology. But the voice had been clear: "Write what you see and hear." Over the next decades, she composed more than one hundred visions, complete with commentary, musical notation, and invented languages. She claimed no authorship. The visions, she said, came from the Living Light (her term for divine illumination).¹
In the deserts of Basra in the 8th century, Rābiʿa al-ʿAdawiyya walked barefoot in defiance of worldly vanity, singing of God with the language of radical love. "I do not worship You out of fear of hell or love of paradise. I worship You because You are worthy of worship." Her sayings circulated widely—quoted by men, studied in Sufi circles (mystical Islamic communities), whispered in hagiographies. She held no formal position. But her poetry became sacred transmission.²
In 16th-century northern India, Mirabai sang to her beloved Krishna in tones of longing and liberation. Though married into royal wealth, she rejected societal expectations, calling herself a servant only to God. "The darkness of night is coming. Who will lead me home?" Her bhajans (devotional songs) were preserved by generations of lower-caste women who understood that her longing was their own.³
In England, during a time of plague and political uncertainty, Julian of Norwich recorded a series of revelations that came to her during a near-death illness. "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well." Her Showings became the first known book in English authored by a woman. Like Hildegard, she attributed her words to divine instruction, not personal initiative.⁴
These patterns extended beyond the major traditions. In medieval German Christianity, Mechthild of Magdeburg composed visionary poetry that influenced later mystics like Meister Eckhart. In Korea, Buddhist nun Chŏnghye Gak (1597-1674) wrote enlightenment poetry that challenged conventional monastic authority. Such voices emerged wherever institutional religion created barriers to women's spiritual expression.⁵
What unites these women is not doctrine or geography but defiance. Their mysticism was not withdrawal—it was rebellion. Not one of violence, but of vision. They refused to let theology be the exclusive language of men in robes and councils. They wrote without permission, spoke without ordination, and taught without credentials.
Mystical experience became a mode of sacred authorship.
It also became a strategy. Across traditions, institutional religion has tended to regulate who can speak on behalf of the divine. But mystical experience—by its very nature—cannot be confined by hierarchical gatekeeping. It does not rely on training, lineage, or gender. It descends. And when it descends upon a woman, she becomes more than a believer. She becomes a witness.
This is why mysticism became one of the few domains where women's spiritual voices could survive with authority. They were often written off as eccentric or apolitical. But in truth, their writings shaped theology, inspired reforms, and gave voice to those excluded from formal commentary.
However, we must read these women's sayings with critical sympathy. Many quotations attributed to female mystics come from hagiographic sources written decades or centuries after their deaths, often by male disciples or admirers. While the core of their teachings likely reflects their authentic voices, specific sayings may have been embellished, romanticized, or filtered through later theological concerns. This does not diminish their importance, but it reminds us to approach their words as both historical witnesses and literary constructions.⁶
Consider these recurring patterns:
Divine legitimation: Most female mystics begin their writings by disclaiming authorship and citing divine command. This bypasses institutional gatekeeping and grants rhetorical authority.
Experiential epistemology: Rather than citing scripture or doctrine, mystics assert truth through experience: visions, revelations, and emotional knowledge.
Gender inversion: Many mystics describe their relationship with the divine in intimate, even erotic terms. These metaphors allowed them to reframe power and piety outside traditional roles.
Community resonance: Though dismissed by elite theologians, female mystics often became touchstones for popular devotion—quoted in homes, sung in rituals, carried forward in oral tradition.
And their words endure.
"I saw a great mountain of iron, and upon it One sitting with such glory that it blinded my sight." —Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias⁷
"I carry a torch in one hand, and a bucket of water in the other: to set fire to heaven and drown hell, so that people might worship God purely for love." —Attributed to Rābiʿa al-ʿAdawiyya⁸
"Mira's Lord is the mountain lifter [Krishna]. I will not be afraid." —Mirabai⁹
"God is our Mother as truly as He is our Father." —Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love¹⁰
In these voices, we glimpse theology not of abstraction but of fire and feeling. These were not scholars in the traditional sense. But they shaped the sacred anyway.
The rebellion of the mystics was quiet, but it was not tame. It dared to say: if the sacred speaks to us, we will answer. If it gives us words, we will write them. And if it calls us to lead, we will lead—even without permission.
Their visions gave birth to living texts. Their songs became scripture to the people. Their defiance gave theology a new tongue.
And in doing so, they wrote themselves back into a sacred history that had tried to forget them.
Notes
- Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias, trans. Columba Hart and Jane Bishop (Paulist Press, 1990); Barbara Newman, Sister of Wisdom: St. Hildegard's Theology of the Feminine (University of California Press, 1987), 45–67.
- Margaret Smith, Rābiʿa the Mystic and Her Fellow-Saints in Islam (Cambridge University Press, 1928), 78–95; Annemarie Schimmel, My Soul Is a Woman: The Feminine in Islam (Continuum, 1997), 56–73.
- Nancy Martin, Mirabai (Oxford University Press, 2007); John Stratton Hawley, Three Bhakti Voices: Mirabai, Surdas, and Kabir in Their Time and Ours (Oxford University Press, 2005), 67–89.
- Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, trans. Edmund Colledge and James Walsh (Paulist Press, 1978); Grace Jantzen, Julian of Norwich: Mystic and Theologian (SPCK, 2000), 89–112.
- On global patterns, see Peter Dinzelbacher, ed., Mystik und Natur (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1994); June McDaniel, Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls: Popular Goddess Worship in West Bengal (Oxford University Press, 2004).
- For methodological cautions, see Caroline Walker Bynum, Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages (University of California Press, 1982), 15–35.
- Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias I.1, trans. Hart and Bishop.
- This saying, while widely attributed to Rābiʿa, appears in various forms across Islamic mystical literature. See Smith, Rābiʿa the Mystic, 102–105.
- Traditional bhajan attributed to Mirabai, various manuscript sources. See Martin, Mirabai, 145–167.
- Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, Long Text, Chapter 59, trans. Colledge and Walsh.
Further Reading
Barbara Newman, Sister of Wisdom: St. Hildegard's Theology of the Feminine (University of California Press, 1987). Comprehensive study of Hildegard's visionary theology and influence.
Margaret Smith, Rābiʿa the Mystic and Her Fellow-Saints in Islam (Cambridge University Press, 1928). Classic biographical study of Islamic women mystics.
John Stratton Hawley, Three Bhakti Voices: Mirabai, Surdas, and Kabir in Their Time and Ours (Oxford University Press, 2005). Contextual analysis of devotional poetry including Mirabai's social impact.
Grace Jantzen, Julian of Norwich: Mystic and Theologian (SPCK, 2000). Modern theological interpretation of Julian's writings and their continuing relevance.
Caroline Walker Bynum, Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages (University of California Press, 1982). Foundational analysis of medieval women's mystical writings and their theological innovations.