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Also, maybe you already planned to mention this on Tuesday, but I can't help being excited by this connection: "This angel, in fact, almost seems to be participating in the acts of Creation" -- Tolkien knew this! Readers of the Silmarillion will remember that that was exactly how Tolkien laid out his creation myth, with angelic powers (God's first creatures) being vital participants in bringing the world into being. I've always felt that this was too beautiful a story to not contain some truth, though I didn't know where Tolkien got it. (What WAS Fr. Francis teaching him during those hidden formative years?) I can't wait to read more.

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Yes, we'll be looking at that on Tuesday, and though I wasn't planning to mention Tolkien, I do want to consider the topic (which is deeply meaningful to me) in relation to the sentiment that you expressed: "I've always felt that this was too beautiful a story to not contain some truth."

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The Kolbe Center has started producing a wonderful series of videos on the six days of Creation. They posit that the light of the first day was just that - light. They consider how that light could have functioned, and how it could account for light actually found in the peripheries of the universe. Fascinating stuff, and it doesn’t necessarily contradict the idea that angels were created then too.

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That sounds excellent! I am endlessly fascinated by the Creation narratives in Genesis.

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Forgive me if I already mentioned this elsewhere, but the most magnificent treatment I've ever seen of the question of sub-creation involving angels is found in this book by Jonathan S. McIntosh

"The Flame Imperishable: Tolkien, St. Thomas, and the Metaphysics of Faerie."

https://www.amazon.com/Flame-Imperishable-Tolkien-Thomas-Metaphysics/dp/1621383156/

I read the page proofs for the publisher, and my goodness, what a punch this book packs! It is a deep investigation into the points of contact and difference between Tolkien and Thomas, and the chapter on the angels is very insightful.

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Thank you for this recommendation—my mind is feasting on the title alone!

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Interesting!

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Who/what are those upside down humanoid creatures??

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Do you mean the ones in the image that has angels on left and right with their hands extended? The upside-down figures at the bottom are the fallen angels, who have been separated from the good angels and now look like fantastical beasts.

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Yes. Thank you!

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Can you please recommend an edition of Scivias? Is there one in print, in English, that includes her illustrations?

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The Classics of Western Spirituality edition (https://archive.org/details/scivias0000hild) is a good choice. It has illustrations, but they're in black and white.

There's another edition translated by Bruce Hozeski (https://a.co/d/ioS0hbo), a notable scholar in this field, but it's less available, and one Amazon reviewer wasn't impressed (it's at my university's library, but I haven't read any part of it).

If you want to learn about and meditate on the images, try to find a library with a copy of Hildegard von Bingen: A Journey into the Images (https://a.co/d/4dLq9FD): "At the core of the book are the manuscript’s 35 miniatures, reproduced at their original size alongside an accompanying key. Each element of the images—colors, frames, forms, numbers—was precisely chosen and leads deeper into the meaning of the work; the key decodes these symbols in each image and concisely describes each vision. A text by musician and scholar Sara Salvadori crosses the entire work, highlighting these interlinking details and revealing Hildegard’s dense, unified design. This volume presents Hildegard von Bingen’s endlessly compelling prophetic text in all its inspired beauty."

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