Marguerite Porete: Hearing the Voice of a Beguine Mystic in Today’s World
2:10 PM on Jul 13, 2019
Marguerite Porete (1250-1310) was a beguine mystic from Hainaut, Belgium, who wrote of her experiences and ideas about the spiritual journey in a book titled “The Mirror of Simple Souls”. She wrote it creatively as a dialogue between Love (God), the soul and reason. Scholars believe that her work was a great influence for Meister Eckhart who followed her. Her book was written in the vernacular language and distributed widely. Her text was seen as heretical and copies were burnt. Eventually, Marguerite was burnt at the stake in Paris on the 1st of June 1310.
Marguerite Porete, often overlooked, has much to teach us about the spiritual life and spiritual authority in today’s world, particularly for women. Her life and writing dialogues with Matthew Fox’s principles of Creation Spirituality by presenting us with alternative ways to view God (Principle 3), teaching about the spiritual journey (Principle 5), opening up the mystical life (Principle 6), challenging the status quo of church institution (Principle 7) and challenging us to embrace wisdom from different times and places (Principle 11).
In this presentation Casthie will introduce Marguerite to the audience, tell of the highlights of her work and her life and assist people to see her relevance in today’s world.
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