Hadewijch of Brabant: The Mystic Who Loved Without Measure

Jun 30

Hadewijch of Brabant

Before Rumi ever wrote of ecstatic longing, before the language of divine romance became poetic cliché, Hadewijch of Brabant was already there—writing love letters to God that make your soul ache in the best way.

A 13th-century Beguine from what is now Belgium, Hadewijch was a mystic, poet, theologian, and spiritual guide. Her writings include visionary experiences, lyrical poetry, and passionate correspondence with women seeking a deeper life in God.

She never held official religious authority. But her voice has carried through the centuries—fearless, brilliant, and overflowing with the Minne (divine love) that consumed her.

What Is Minne?

To Hadewijch, Minne was not a soft, sentimental love. It was a burning, a divine force that both wounded and awakened the soul. Her God was not distant or detached, but a fierce Lover—wooing, stretching, breaking, and remaking the soul in the fire of holy desire.

She wrote of mystical union not as escape, but as deep engagement with the world. Her love for God made her more human, not less.

Hadewijch believed that true love of God always leads to greater love for others. She taught that spiritual maturity means learning to live in tension—between longing and fulfillment, absence and presence, joy and suffering.

Why She Still Speaks

Hadewijch’s work is radically relevant for today’s seeker. She wrote for women navigating spiritual growth outside traditional religious systems. She counseled those who felt both too much and not enough. And she offered a fierce, tender wisdom to those longing to love God with all their being—mind, body, heart, and soul.

At Loto Wellness Collective, we speak often of wholeness, embodiment, sacred longing, and divine union. Hadewijch lived that life. She understood that love transforms everything. That healing and mysticism are inseparable. That to walk in divine love is to walk a path of beauty, surrender, mystery—and sometimes, holy ache.

Hadewijch & The Loto Woman

The Loto woman is no stranger to longing.

She’s felt the tension between her spiritual hunger and the constraints of culture, religion, or her own fears. She knows what it means to ache for God in the silence, to long for a love that feels both intimate and infinite.

Like Hadewijch, she isn’t waiting for permission.
She’s living the questions.
Loving God fiercely.
Learning to see the sacred in all things—even heartbreak.

She may write poetry. Or sing in the shower. Or dance in the forest. Or cry during worship.
Whatever form her love takes, she is living mysticism—in the raw and radiant reality of everyday life.

A Sacred Invitation

Hadewijch’s life reminds us: divine love is not just to be believed in—it’s to be experienced.

How does your body respond when you sense the presence of God?
Are you willing to love God beyond your comfort zone?
What if your deepest longings are not problems to fix, but sacred invitations to follow?

You are not too much. You are not too late. You are not disqualified.

Like Hadewijch, you are beloved.
You are becoming.
And your longing is leading you home.

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