Observations placeholder
Bingen, Hildegard of - Wild Lettuce
Identifier
022679
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
She may or may not mean the lettuce we have under 'lettuce opium'.
A description of the experience
Hildegard von Bingen’s Physica – translated by Priscilla Throop from the Latin
Wild lettuce (wilde latich) is cold, and it extinguishes lust in a human. A man who has an overabundance in his loins should cook wild lettuce in water and pour that water over himself in a sauna bath.
He should also place the warm, cooked lettuce around his loins, while still in the sauna. If he does this often, it will extinguish his lust while not harming the health of his body.
If a woman's womb is swelling with uncontrollable lust, she should make a sauna bath with the wild lettuce. Sitting in the sauna, she should pour the water in which wild lettuce was cooked over the hot stones. She should place the warm, cooked lettuce over her belly. She should do this often.
It will chase the lust from her without diminishing the health of her body.
Indeed, anyone with uncontrollable lust should dry wild lettuce in the sun and reduce it to a powder in his hand. They should often drink this powder in warm wine. It will extinguish the lust, with no damage to the body.