Exploring the Sacred Medieval Psyche: The Flowering of Feminine Mysticism, 1200–1350

Abstract

Within the writings and teachings of three 13th-century female mystics, Hadewijch of Flanders, Mechthild of Magdeberg, and Marguerite Porete of Hainault, we discover a new beginning in Christian mysticism, where the unio mystico is brought up to a new level of relationship. While simultaneously redeeming and strengthening the feminine, both within the God-image and within medieval Christian society, this new relationship is now characterized as reciprocal, in that the mystic can influence God as much as God can influence the mystic. Jung suggested that instead of imitating the spiritual techniques of the East, it would be better to find out whether an introverted tendency exists in the unconscious that is similar to this guiding principle so that “we would be in a position to build on our own ground with our own methods” (1958, par. 773). Jungian dream analysis and active imagination are methods of achieving this, and the roots of these methods in the West link back to Christian mysticism. The similarities between Christian mysticism and depth psychology are numerous, but in particular it is the practice of sacrificing and withdrawing projections from the outer world that allows the internalized libidinal energy to activate the inner God-image. This leads us to the critical understanding that just as the mystics knew that God was within them, so we too in the modern age, thanks to Jung's work, understand that the Self exists within the individual psyche.