Born ca. 1207/10

Died 1282 or 1294

Mechthild’s book, which, following divine inspiration, she named “Das fließende Licht der Gottheit” (“The Flowing Light of the Godhead”), renders in highly individual, vivid language the mystical encounters of the Magdeburg Beguine. The work is composed of seven “books” and contains Mechthild’s conversations with God. The forcefulness and originality of her language and the intimacy of the dialogues with the divine lover make this a text of high literary quality. “We find forms and images which reflect her experience of the world and spirituality with an immediacy unique in the Middle Ages.” (Kurt Ruh)

Beginning at the age of twelve she received each day a divine “greeting,” as she called her mystical encounters with God.

In her mysticism of divine love Mechthild reflects the tradition of courtly love poetry as well as the biblical Song of Solomon; the mutuality of God’s and the soul’s longing for each other is, however, unique to her