Erotic Divine Darkness - The Transgressive Mysticism of Angela of Foligno
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 พ.ย. 2024
- The interiority of mystics is notoriously difficult to access - We will never really know about the inner life of mysticism from the outside. But in the 13th century mystical writings of Angela of Foligno we have one of the best glimpses imaginable. Having experienced a profound conversion in her mid-life, Angela takes us on step by step journey through the redemption from sin, the "game of love" as the souls pursues the divine, the depths of dejection and sorrow and the collapse into the divinely dark nothingness of the Trinity.
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Recommended Readings:
Angela of Foligno : Complete Works - 978-0809133666
McGinn - The Flowering of Mysticism: Men and Women in the New Mysticism - 978-0824517434
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Always a treat when Dr. Sledge talks about medieval women’s mysticism
My exact thoughts.
Agreed
Yeah❤
"Abyssated - Oh Unknown Nothingness"
Man this channel is amazing for death metal song titles
Yep band names are our side hustle around here
I was gonna say, "Erotic Divine Darkness" is a rather good black metal song title as well!
Making out with the corpse of the unrisen Christ in the tomb is some serious Goth girl cred.
Angela could certainly be the patron saint of goths
Or "Our Lady of holy shit you drank leper water"
Ooh that’s one for the quote book
Everyone knocks on religion in the Middle Ages-certainly not without some very good reasons...but man. Their mystics were truly next level.
They just don't mystic like they use too
@@mikaeelmalik1724 We gotta bring back that old school heresy 😂
I was one of those rather sceptical of monastic contributions to human knowledge. To me, it was a way of life that might bring peace and purpose to those who engage in it, but hardly anything that could be helpful or useful to anyone else.
That is until I read Evagrius Ponticus. I was absolutely blown away by the depth of psychological insight of the man and completely changed my mind on monasticism and it's contributions once we decipher the mystical overtones of their language.
@@SC_eternal I just disrobed, flogged myself & lovingly fondled a huge crucifix. It ain't gay if you do it with Jesus.
To me this seemed like the most evil depiction of Christ ive ever seen
Shaming the academic knowledge hoarders was a highlight of a great video.
Wow... this is near disturbingly beautiful. It nearly brought me to tears when you talked about washing leppers... what a human being. I can't believe I'd never heard of this saint... beautiful.
As a Third Order Franciscan myself, I thank you for making this video. Most of us Tertiaries are far from Angela's commitment to Christ. This is comparable to the lives of St Clare of Assisi and St Theresa Lisieux.
St Teresa of Avila too
I don't think she was committed as a Christian but more as a Aghori . Christs body was "prepared" to receive the Christ. What does prepared mean? It means to be fit in body soul and spirit and not to make a train wreck out of ones physical being . Judith von Halle is interesting however Stigmata seems incomplete as a Christian Initiation regardless of devotion.
@@TheSunship777this is what I thought too
I went to Catholic School through high school and I'm learning about Catholic mystics on this channel that I never heard about before. I really appreciate the educational content on here.
Also so many of the videos on this channel fight the idea that the Middle Ages were a time of only dogmatic elites and superstitious peasants. There were brilliant, radical thinkers during this time.
And "Brother A" sounds like a secret agent's assistant.
Angela's descriptions really capture the absolute chokehold intrusive thoughts can have on someone suffering with OCD.
yeah if someone acted this way in modern times they would need to see a doctor lol
My mom just got me your mug for my birthday, I'm so happy!!
Such a cool mom :) Glad to hear from you!
@@TheEsotericaChannel Aww, mom is also happy now
One does not need to engage in extreme self-hating behavior in order to experience the ecstasies of the Mystic Saints.
Be A Lot Cooler If You Did
@@TheEsotericaChannellol
Bet she would disagree with you completely.
Suffering is a gift, but it’s a very difficult gift to understand. It wears away the ego and creates a void through which a penitent feels compelled to bare themselves in that darkness, to become completely yielded to Spirit to beg remedy. When Grace gives the bandages to bind up the wounds of the soul. Emotional pain and loss are effects that take coal and turn it into diamond, with each wound being a part of the revealing from base to brilliance.
I’ve called a similar process pealing a spiritual onion, each layer makes you cry, but in the end, there’s nothing left, whereas the spiritual pearl is created because of the grain of sand that makes the oyster so uncomfortable that it must secrete what becomes that pearl of great price.
I’m personally not masochistic enough to self-inflict pain.. but life has been more than adequate to provide.
Yes, that's the tricky part about suffering. Anything can be used by the untransformed ego to decorate itself and keep from doing the necessary work all while looking pious and saintly. For most human beings, especially in modern culture, self-inflicted suffering is a dangerous hubris for all but the most insightful, rigorously honest human beings. I have a spiritual director to keep me from conning myself this way. The safest way for me to work with suffering is to let life bring it on and be willing to walk through it and learn what I need to learn. I really benefited from your quite beautiful description of how suffering has such a potential for growth. During meditation, I was startled by an inner revelation: "Our task on earth is to turn suffering into love."
@@Ricca_Day oh well if that's all, I have perhaps the most painful infliction on the planet. Small fiber neuropathy and medications have made it worse and now I'm stuck on a synthetic pain medication because they won't give me the natural stuff. Can't get it on the street now either. I am about to undergo a rapid detox because the side effects are worse. Edema is not doable for someone who's small nerve fibers in their skin are disintegrating. Lopsided edema so it's clogging my lymph nodes. My gods. That's why they got rid of all the drugs except fentanyl and xylazine, to bottleneck everyone onto their drugs. The drugs that caused so many side effects, people left the program time and again. So they got rid of their competition. Natural drugs. The ones that work.
Prob one reason I am so damn psychic. Also been dancing w death for a very long time.
So good! I LOVE the idea of the 4 women evangelists. Filing that away for a painting idea down the road.
They're really daring thing for him to suggest but I think it's an extremely powerful and why suggestion - I was very floored by it. Also who doesn't want to see more fantastic art of these amazing women?
Yes! That’s be a great series about this type of Christian mysticism 🙏🏼
I've actually done videos on the beguines generally and another one on Hadewijch
It’s amazing how much light emanates from ‘the dark ages.’
the dark shows the light where to shine
Indeed. I've heard it said that it's the winners that write history, so it's no wonder that the middle ages has been labeled as barbaric and backward. Of course it is in part, like any age. But our post modern oppressve cult of materialism is what fuels the economic beast and so any kind of interior knowing is considered subversive and dangerous in a culture that requires slavish obedience to outer authorities. Isn't this a great TH-cam channel??
Angela of Foligno and Bataille was the greatest crossover episode of all time
Brother you have outdone yourself with this one. I was captivated for 27 minutes, and added her complete works to my library. Well done Dr. !!
In the future people will be doing esoterica videos of Dr. Sledge's Esoterica videos.
metaterica
@@TheEsotericaChannel I'll pitch in for Mesoterica to fit the channel's chosen glyph logo! Metsoterica at the Met in the space colony station orbiting Jupiter!
I'm practically furious I'd never heard of this woman before. This so throughly vibes with the representation of suffering i was taught as a child that pushed me away from the church. Just hiding her fullness to further whitewash what they taught...
You're now aware of her
@@lancejohnson127 I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church, in America, you might be surprised to learn how sanitized the information we had was, and how much we were discouraged to learn about the history of the church.
Great Video!! didn’t know how much people really scarified for the divine
Yeah these mystics went hard
One of my professors is writing about mysticism and intimacy with Christ in the 15th century right now, this was fascinating both as background and in its own right!
Angela of Foligno!! 👀 🕳 🌠 My goodness!! Medieval mysticism is no-holds'barred breathtaking, I'm gobsmacked! The badassness of Esoterica truly lives up to the channel's name! It's practically Esoterica obscura! 🕳 👀 🌠!
Yeah I don't get why she's not more widely known
@@TheEsotericaChannel well after the episode, I kinda get why now she's been obscured, on top of the already patriarchal society then and now...kinda like a "we don't talk about Foligno*?
@@TheEsotericaChannel I am thoroughly shell-shocked even in attempts to kinda have it on in background in ear....
@TheEsotericaChannel in fact, I'm gonna simply like all 👍the community posts, leave a like and kudos on the episodes themselves, but seems like I had an entirely different harrowing version this ep than everybody else in comments! So I'm steering clear of obscure women of Christian mysticism and stick to and dive deep into Jewish mysticism and even the Qlippoth/Klippoth until The Divine Feminine Shekinah features in episodes of Jewish Mysticism, or until The Desert Fathers come along in Esoterica or a followup to Hildegard of Bingen and the many mansions, and the Beguine women! 🎉 Other than that, I'll be dodging dark obscure medieval Christian mystic women like Neo in the Matrix dodging...
Wow. This was amazing. Her account offers a mirror to middle ages and beyond. You have shed a light into something that most of the cushy modern people can never dream of grasping. Not that they would even want to, sadly. I also love how once again the church took a rational position while acknowledging that this woman could be onto something. Thank you.
You are a great storyteller
I mean it's not hard with this kind of material
Dear Dr. Sledge, it always blows my mind all the love and passion you put in your work. I truly love being your patreon, please keep producing these marvellous pieces.
I LOVE learning about the female mystics of the Middle Ages. It’s remarkable how women have been washed from the Christian tradition, when research into the historical Jesus shows women were a prominent part of his ministry. Often taking equal footing with the men. Female evangelists were part of Christianity before “Christianity” existed. Which makes the female mystics of the Middle Ages more closely tied to the origin of the largest religion in the West than the majority of it’s male leadership over the last 2000 years.
Yet, it’s only through academic conversations through channels like yours that Christians are even made aware of their contributions. Which are fascinating in theirselves, but even more so when understanding the status and deference their teachings were given at the time.
It’s also fascinating (and troubling) that the time prior to a male-dominated Renaissance is referred to as the “dark ages.” When it’s clear how many boundary pushing contributions to literature, art, and spiritual cannon existed in the centuries before. Many of which happened to come from women.
Thank you for your dedication to scholarship and sharing these amazing stories on your channel.
Very few medieval (& ancient) women in Europe were allowed to make any contributions at all to literature & the arts in general, let alone "boundary-pushing" ones...
Compelling story-telling. I was captured by this - thank you, Justin! More on women mystics would be great.
Wow it's so refreshing to hear someone giving such honest information like saying "listen she wrote in umbrian dialect and it was translateted in Latin, which she found would at best give her intentions, and then it was translated from there again" etc. - I feel like every ancient text/book should have such a beautiful honest intro.
She didn't write it but dictated it. But yeah, being honest about the source is vital.
@@TheEsotericaChannel Well then you, my friend, are vital ^^🙏❤️
I've had a very similar experience. Well done, Sir.
Very powerful episode - excellent job!
Today is the day I took a look into Esoterica.
I hope to return here with some inspired content.
Hear,hear for Dr. Sledge! Wonderfully executed episode. Thank you good sir.
Thanks to you i recognized and bought Hermetic Mysteries by Mary Anne Atwood at Half priced books on a whim and it has become my guide for the past year. I am so grateful for your education.
It cant be described how profoundly impactful your channel can be
Yes it can.
This is a wonderful channel! Fascinating video, as usual.
Stigmata is such an amazing phenomenon
I remember reading about her in Inner Experience by Bataille and being utterly captivated by her experience. Thank you for this!
I guess we are continuously chasing to grasp that fish like in your logo. Some harder than others. Thanks for another great video. 🙏
Trying to, brother - hope you're well!
@@TheEsotericaChannel Im great. Thank you. I wish you the same. ❤️
It is my hope that someday in the future, someone as brilliant as you will be reading my books and trying to figure out what the hell, I was talking about. You Rock.
THANK YOU excellent as usual.
Many thanks and thank you especially for your generous donation to the channel!
SAINT ANGELA!!! Lets goo I'm legit emotional over this! I want to thank you so much for sharing the deep mystical tradition of the catholics. So over looked so moving and beautiful. As a catholic who also loves exploring the ideas displayed on this channel, I thank you for not having Catholic fever. Love you so much doc.
I LOVE ESOTERICA I LOVE ESOTERICA LETS GO ESOTERICA
Brilliant stuff. Many thanks!
Very passionate delivery Dr. Sledge. TY
The divine darkness does fascinate, abyssate and abacinate me. Thanks Doc.
Yo new drop from our favorite alchemist
Excellent, so well described, fascinating faith bordering on madness.
Happy Rosh Hashanah!!! Dr. Sledge. Your videos on Medieval mysticism, are gems.
Abyssating. I learned a new word from you! Thanks!
Thank you for this channel
Thanks!
Thank you for introducing this fascinating woman !! Brilliant work as usual
Fascinating..thanks for the memory
Very insightful video, as usual, Dr Sledge.
Keep up the exceptional work 👏
Thank you Dr. Sledge! L’shanah tovah!
A new one!!!! Thank you 🙏
I’d love to see a video about Julian of Norwich. No judgement if you have to reuse some pictures of Medieval nuns.
I can’t believe that, since I grew up Catholic, that I’d never hear of Angel of Fellinia until now. But I can clearly understand now, since most, if not all of her accounts are either redacted or mistranslated either on purpose or on accident, since she was a woman, and men were the ones who could translate any religious texts. A lot of her recounts are very poetic: “The earth is pregnant;” which is one of my favorite lines from her.
Well she is a canonized saint so it’s not like Catholicism continues to ignore her
what makes you feel good about this? I don't understand
She was one of favorite mystic ...i was alway intrigued by her.
You are seriously amazing. Thank you so much for your dedication, and allowing us to enjoy your words. You rock Justin.
Thank you for this presentation. It is most important.
Thank you for your input, Sir!
I haven't commented on here and years, but after THAT fascinating picture of someone's spiritual journey...
Damn, I got it so ridiculously good.
Thank you for real sizing my suffering.
I'll pass on the bathwater and decomposing flesh.😅
Thank you for the wonderful presentation and introducing me to a new dark mystic.
Divine darkness! My favorite current esoteric subject obsession; thank you doctor Sledge! Please cover more mysticism of darkness and nothingness, but thank you for this!!!
Thanks so much for this! I had certainly encountered Angela of Foligno in my previous studies, but had never gone into too much depth with her; my focus was more on Marguerite Porete, Meister Eckhart, and a few others. This is an excellent appetizer for studying her further!
McGinn is awesome, and one of the highlights of my time during my M.A. in Religious Studies was when he was an endowed lecturer in my program at Gonzaga (this was in '99, if I am not mistaken), where he gave a presentation on apocalypticism (which he was just beginning to do major work on at the time), but we also had a sort of graduate "ask me anything" session with him one day, and of course I asked him several things about mysticism and particular mystics (like Marguerite!). I have two of the volumes of his work on mysticism (including the one you referenced here!) on my shelves next to the "Marguerite Section" and various other Christian mystics and works on Christian mysticism. An amazing scholar, and a damn nice guy! :)
This was the most accurate account of communication with the divine that iv ever heard, u most definitely have a stronger connection the closer 1 comes to death which is y u can't get lost always looking for messages and focus on what the messages r actually trying to convey otherwise u will be lost for good.
I'm frankly flabbergasted you got through that without using the word "masochism" once.
Didn't get those vibes from her
@@TheEsotericaChannel Now that is a very interesting point! I would love to know why.
@@TheEsotericaChannel There's a pretty explicit glorification of suffering and mortification of the flesh throughout. You pointed out a couple of examples of sublimated eroticism, but a lot of other bits suggested to me a powerful ... sensuality of suffering, if not overt eroticisation. That drinking the gross leper water bit immediately struck me as fetishistic.
But I haven't read the original text.
@@PaulHaesler thank you for pointing these things out. I'm former atheist and I'm still disturbed with the reality of God and becoome more disturbed when I hear these accounts, while catholics in comment sections all celebrate these stuff as poetic and misterious
This is the first I heard of her. You told her story so beautifully. Thank you ❤
One of the most interesting and fascinating episodes!
Thank you for another wonderful presentation Dr Sledge. Religious fanaticism can overwhelm the senses like it did for Angela.
The spooky season is upon us once again and it is our duty to all children to make this year's the best ever. Keep up the good work!
Very intense and shocking.
Yeah Angela is pretty over the top
I really do not mean to sound cynical (I promise I am not cynical about mystical experience), but is anyone else getting the sort of sado-masochistic sexual vibe from this woman's writings and experiences. I know that a part of many mystical practices aims at transforming physical lust into spiritual states, but this takes it to a whole new level--pretty extreme. Thoughts?
Absolutely. See also Teresa of Avila. I believe it’s called ‘bridal mysticism’.
One cannot know GOD or divine light of the soul without the darkness. RISE✨UNITE✨SHINE✨
My mother used to say "the darker it gets, the more you can see"
Chill, Angela. Damn! 😂 Seriously though, thank you so much Justin for the work you do!
Great episode, friend! Nice to hear about a homonymous connational mystic! 🤓
If you all think Angela of Foligno was weird just wait until you read about Angela of Napoli ;) thanks for the kind words, friend - Hope you're well!
Great video. Thank you 😊
I have a strong stomach. I dont get grossed out, but that story with the lepers....ugh that got me. Needed a minute and a sip of water.
But great video! I'd heard of Angela but was not familiar with her story.
I'm guessing leprosy free water, right?
....sure af hope so. Lol
She reminds me of Margery Kempe! Great episode, thanks Dr. Sledge.
An excellent episode.
Talk about finding what you love and let it kill you.
Thank you.
The account of this woman is morbidly, extremely fascinating. This is the first of me hearing it and I don't think I've heard a medieval or religious account quite like it.
If you don't mind the relatively mundane comparisons, I feel some of the imagery and details in her life story are absolutely like something you would see or read about in a Soulsborne game, or hear in black/death metal lyrics.
yeah I find mysticism so disturbing at times. I'm a former atheist and not a very happy one
After watching this. We find this actually very fascinating. She had to lose everything, and experience the peak of suffering, to free herself of the sins of who she used to be, and connect with the devine abyssal darkness.
That is actually weirdly relatable to us in a way.
We lived most of our life as a person who no longer exists, who we consider very much dead. And went through hell to find a piece of heaven through a darkness others fear.
Our craft is heavily influenced by different aspects of monotheistic faiths especially angelogy, demonology, the idea of jinn, and the Christian idea that demons can become angels, and angels can become demons, but we're not monotheistic, very far from Christian, and probably the farthest thing imaginable from holy, since we consider ourselves very heavily possessed.
Still we can relate to the essence of some of what was expressed here.
We needed to go to hell, in order to taste of heaven, there was no other way for us to find God/Gods, but through facing the darkness and losing everything from our former life.
I consider this type of worship and connection the true meaning of "Left Hand" path. I used to think St Theresa in India an example, but this is a good one too.
The rarest of rarities-the elusive feminine jouissance! :0
I really had to hold back going full Lacan in this video.
For a moment Ithought this was a Esoterica style video devoted to Angela's Symposium.... now I want that haha
im catholic and im gonna have my confirmation soon. im looking for some female saints and patrons to choose for myself. shes my number 1 as for now ❤
This is the best Drunk Church episode ever 🙏🏽
(seriously, everyone here will love that podcast 🤩🤩🤩)
Drunk history?
@@JennySimon206 Nope! Drunk Church is a podcast about ecstatic rituals in western religion
Fascinating topic, I always thought if someone was actually touched by God, they would be in hell after the touch had ended, to be separated from God.
Great balance of denotative and narrative knowledge(i had to use big words, sorry:)). Great storytelling and imagery, very captivating.
Have you made a video about Benedetta Carlini? Would love to hear your take on her story.
Ultimately you've been showing your deeply franciscan inclinations, doctor ;) I like that. Is there any chance for a video on the mysticism of Blessed Heinrich Seuse? (not franciscan but equally interesting).
You have no idea how much happiness it brings me to know that I don't have a dog in that fight
Suso and Tauler in the hopper
this wrecked me. it's as if God is allowing me to feel a fraction of what Angela of Foligno went through. I would love to know even more about her
Boy that’s some Warhammer level madness
Thank you as always Dr. Sledge for bringing such fascinating topics and characters to our attention ❤
Wow, what a story! The 'combination of ecstacy and anxiety' is something I immediately recognized and I think there may be a biological basis to why she was this way. That doesn't in any way diminish what she experienced 'through the portal', to me, though some would contend that only a mystical cause may grant mystical experience. My model differs but perhaps one day a real truth on this topic will be understood by Us.
Her writings remind me of the Spanish devotee who reportedly bilocated with the Hopi tribe. I wonder if there's a spiritual lineage between them.
L’shana Tova to you and yours!
I can just see Angela and Aleister Crowley sitting in the Abyss comparing notes with Choronzon dancing the cha-cha around them desperately trying to get their attention.
I feel like this story inspired the French horror movie Martyrs. It has the same enlightenment through physical torment theme, though decidedly not self-imposed. I'll have to rewatch it to see if there are any direct references to Angela.