Mysticism, Meditation, and Identification in
The Book of Margery Kempe

Carolyn Coulson

In most of Margery Kempe's visionary encounters with Christ, He appears to her not from within a particular historical moment of His life, but in a more universal and post-resurrectional guise in which He visits her world. Her first vision of Him is an example of this non-historical Christ: He appears sitting on the side of her bed, approachable and kindly, outside of the context of the biblical story and inside her personal, domestic world. Mystical visions such as this one are gifts to her from Christ, not the products of her religious or meditational diligence. She has not asked for such a vision, nor does she expect it; Christ gives it to her. However, Margery's visions span a complex range of spiritual experiences, and not all of them are as spontaneous or unexpected as this first one. Karma Lochrie divides Margery's visions into two types:

In the rest of her book we can observe the type of vision in which Kempe converses with Christ or with the Virgin. These visions are quite different from those narrative visions in which Kempe observes and participates in the life of Christ. The latter type are encouraged by such spiritual treatises as The Meditations on the Life of Christ.1

In this paper I am concerned with a select group of Kempe's visions which fall into this second group where Margery participates in the life of Christ. Apart from Lochrie, few scholars have explored the unique quality of these meditations which are so different from Margery's other encounters with the non-historical Christ. In Margery's visions of Christ's Passion and the Death of the Virgin in capitula seventy-two to eighty, her proximity to the historical Christ and Mary is such that she enters into discussions with both of them. These scenes begin not as mystical gifts from God, but as meditations by Margery herself. During the course of the meditations, however, something happens: Margery becomes an active participant in the scenes, using speech to inject herself into the holy narrative. In three scenes, her use of speech has three different outcomes, which may be related to the origins of the scenes in either canon or apocrypha. At its most successful, the meditation becomes mystical, and at its least successful, Margery's linguistic bid to become a character in the biblical narrative is silenced by the canonical Word of God.

I am making an important distinction between mysticism and the practice of meditation, and before moving on I would like to define the terms "mysticism" and "meditation" as I am using them. In his article "Mysticism: Its Meaning and Varieties," Walter Principe formulates a definition of mysticism which takes into account the many different philosophical traditions which feature mystical practices.2 Beyond the basic goal of immediate experience and knowledge of the Divine Being, which Margery's visions certainly fulfill, Principe's definition features three more key elements: 1) A feeling of awesome love between God and the mystic which is often described as a purging fire; 2) The experience is beyond sense or reasoning and is therefore linguistically unrelatable; 3) The mystic is completely passive and receptive, losing all sense of self.3 In general, Margery's visions adhere to the first part of this definition; she describes "the unqwenchabyl fyer of lofe whech brent ful sor in hir sowle,"4 and Christ tells Margery He has set her soul "al on fyr wyth lofe" and makes it "brenn therin and purgyn it ful clene fro alle erdly filth".5 The most important medieval work on the mystical Fire of Love image is, of course, Richard Rolle's Incendium Amoris, which Margery cites as one of the books read to her.6

The second part of Principe's definition addresses the inability of language to relate mystical experience. Yet mystical writings testify to the desire to explain the experience. The only way to relate mystical experience to the non-mystic is through language, and consequently non-mystics can never truly understand mysticism the way mystics do. All mystical texts contend with this aspect of the definition in attempting to relate the unrelatable, as Margery's does. She explains that she cannot accurately describe her spiritual experiences or her feelings about them: "Ne hyr-self cowd neuyr telle the grace that sche felt, it was so heuely, so hy a-bouen hyr reson & hyr bodyly wyttys, and hyr body so febyl in tym of the presens of grace that sche myth neuyr expressyn it wyth her word lych as sche felt it in hyr sowle."7 This inexpressability is not a failure of Margery's wits, but part of the nature of mysticism and the inherent dilemma of mystical texts.

While Margery's spiritual experiences comply with the first two parts of Principe's definition of mysticism, the visions in which I am interested do not adhere to the last element of the definition - that the mystic be passive and receptive, losing her sense of self. To be sure, Margery does not claim to have lost her sense of identity; in fact she actively holds onto her "self" in the text. She explains at the beginning of the Book that it will both treat "the hy & unspecabyl mercy" of Christ and "schewen in party the leuyng" of herself.8 However, as Sarah Beckwith's work on Margery's dual-voiced text indicates, Kempe's retention of her sense of self may be less of a mystical "failing" than it appears.9 In her visions, Margery's self-awareness is central to her use of speech and to her ability to inject herself into the Christian narrative. This active self-awareness brings about a new type of relationship between herself and the holy family in which the normally passive meditator inserts herself into the social circle of Christ. Margery's success in joining the extended biblical family is dependent on her ability to blend the medieval practice of meditation with mysticism.

Unlike mysticism, meditation was and is available to everyone. According to Louis Martz, "Meditation . . . cultivates the basic, the lower levels of the spiritual life; it is not, properly speaking, a mystical activity, but a part of the duties of every man in daily life."10 Although meditation is not a special manifestation of God's grace, writers of medieval meditational texts and instructions directly connect it to more mystical contemplation. Borrowing heavily from St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the Pseudo-Bonaventuran author of The Meditations on the Life of Christ discusses three levels of contemplation, describing the first as corresponding to meditation, while the other two are levels of true contemplation, or "mysticism."11 It is important to note here that the two different states represent different levels on the same ascent to God. "Meditation on humanity," the most basic type of contemplation, is on the Life of Christ, imagining oneself "present at the same things that it is related that Christ did and said."12 Margery's visions of Christ's Passion and the Death of the Virgin begin with just this kind of meditation. Although this spiritual exercise itself does not reach the level of mysticism, ideally it might be the first step on the ladder up to it; meditation may lead to mystical experience. In the exemplary texts for meditation themselves, Bernard and the Meditations author connect the more mechanical type of contemplation with the mystical "true contemplation," paving the way for the blending of the two practices by people such as Margery.

Margery's use of speech in her meditations is particularly assertive and self-possessed, and it prompts a variety of responses from the biblical characters to whom she speaks. Speech within meditation is not contrary to the instructions in Pseudo-Bonaventure's text. For example, in a meditation on the Nativity scene, the reader is advised to "reverently greet the saintly old Joseph. Kiss the beautiful little feet of the infant Jesus who lies in the manger and beg His mother to offer to let you hold Him a while."13 However, usually such recommended speech consists of asking the biblical figure's blessing, rather than taking an active part in and interrupting the narrative. For the Purification scene, the meditator is urged to "go with them and help to carry the Boy and observe attentively everything they say and do."14 During the Flight into Egypt, the reader is told to "Accompany them and help to carry the Child and serve them in every way you can."15 Observation, sympathy, and emotional identification are more important to the Meditations author than speech. Perhaps he is aware that speech holds the power to disrupt. The author of the Meditations ceases to give specific directions before he gets to the Passion section of his narrative, because he does not want to interrupt the heart of his story. Before the Calling of the Disciples, he gives a general direction in which non-intrusive conversation with Christ is sanctioned:

But I do not intend to treat lengthily of meditations from now on, except a few times. It suffices that you place His deeds and words before your mind's eye and converse with Him and become familiar with Him.16

Hence, speaking to Christ during the scenes of the Passion (within one's meditative state) is acceptable. However, the specific recommendations made throughout the Meditations are necessarily passive and non-intrusive in order to avoid interfering with the predetermined narrative of the meditation. Margery does not always restrain her meditational speech, and it consequently threatens to interrupt the Christic narrative of her visions.

The first case of Kempe's intrusive speech occurs in a meditation on an apocryphal scene. Margery's vision of the Death of The Virgin in capitulum seventy-three starts off as a meditation, but her insistent participation carries it into the mystical realm. As she moves from observation to participation to mystical conversation, Margery's role here foreshadows her attempt at active, linguistic participation in the later Crucifixion scene where the outcome is different. When Margery weeps loudly at the sight of the Virgin's death, the apostles reprimand her. According to Lochrie, when they respond "the apostles cease to be objects of Kempe's meditation as they speak across the boundaries of the mystical spectacle."17 Margery pursues the breakdown of the boundaries and the narrative by answering back:

The apostelys comawndyd hir to cesyn & be stille. The creatur answeryd to the apostelys, "Wolde 3e I xulde see the Modyr of God deyin & I xulde not wepyn? It may not be, for I am so ful of sorwe that I may not wythstonde it. I must nedys cryin & wepin."18

The apostles do not respond to Margery's outburst; the break in the meditational narrative is only temporary, but it seems to provide Kempe the chance to turn her meditation into a mystical experience. Margery next speaks to the Virgin, who answers her in a long passage of comfort which takes the narrative out of the meditational Death scene and into a mystical experience. The conversation takes place in what Nanda Hopenwasser cites as the norm for visionary experiences: "a time outside of time, a space outside of space".19 Here, it is not the dead Virgin Mary who speaks to Margery but the Queen of Heaven, a spiritual guide from outside of the meditational narrative -- rather like the Christ who visits Margery throughout most of the Book. According to Lochrie,

It is significant that Kempe's exchange with the apostles is immediately followed by the Virgin's speech in her soul. She creates that place for divine speech through her deconstruction of the boundaries between mystical and worldly experience.20

In this scene, Margery's speech successfully propels her from meditation to mysticism as it prompts the response of the Virgin. This success may be due in part to the fact that the scene is apocryphal, although widely accepted. It is perhaps easier for a new voice to interrupt a non-canonical scene than a canonical one. The author of The Meditations on the Life of Christ suggests that his reader consider both biblical and apocryphal scenes as subjects of meditation:

However, you must not believe that all things said and done by Him on which we may meditate are known to us in writing. . . . It is possible to contemplate, explain, and understand the Holy Scriptures in as many ways as we consider necessary . . . . Thus when you find it said here, "This was said and done by the Lord Jesus," and by others of whom we read, if it cannot be demonstrated by the Scriptures, you must consider it only as a requirement of devout contemplation.21

When Margery meditates on the Death of the Virgin, she is successful in using speech to bridge the gap between meditation and mysticism.

Another possible explanation for Margery's successful mystical communication with the Virgin may be related to the importance of women throughout her Book and Margery's tendency to group herself with or relate herself to other women in general.22 Her visits with Julian of Norwich and the handmaiden of St. Bridget in Rome are at least as important as her visits with male figures;23 the Life of Mary of Oignies and writings of Elizabeth of Hungary figure in her scribe's decision to believe in her and her tears;24 and women figure prominently in Margery's role as healer and helper, as she visits the women who send for her, kisses female lepers, and helps the woman whose madness echoes Kempe's own experience.25 It is perhaps not insignificant that these last examples occur during the capitula which lead up to her assertive meditations where she becomes one of the community of women around Christ. Margery's desire to identify with holy women moves to its climax in the other two scenes I would like to look at. In her meditations on Christ taking Leave of the Virgin and Mary Magdalene and on the Crucifixion, Margery's move from meditation to mysticism is not truly successful, and she must remain on the level of meditation as she identifies with the mourning women around Christ, particularly Mary Magdalene. Lochrie observes that during her visions of the Crucifixion, Margery "achieves a visionary company with the Virgin and Mary Magdalene."26 While Lochrie focuses her discussion on a comparison between the Virgin and Margery, I believe Kempe's identification with Mary Magdalene is stronger and more plausible than an identification with the Virgin. The Magdalene with whom Margery identifies is a figure taken from legend and popular versions of the biblical story in medieval drama and devotional works. In The Meditations, after Christ's body is taken down from the Cross, the author devotes a rather long and moving passage to Mary Magdalene's sorrow and devotion as she bathes Christ's feet:

Her heart could hardly remain in her body for sorrow; and it can well be thought that she would gladly have died, if she could, at the feet of the Lord. There seemed no remedy for her sorrow; nor was she accustomed to serving Him in such a way. This service was new, and the last that she did for Him; and her soul was bitter in performing it, for she was not able to do as she strongly wished and as was fitting. She wished to wash, anoint, and prepare His whole body well; but there was neither time nor place. She could not do more; she could not do otherwise; she did what she could. At least she could wash His feet with tears, and at length devotedly wipe, embrace, kiss, wrap, and faithfully prepare them as best she knew and could.27

Here the Magdalene serves as the perfect model for the reader who cannot achieve the unattainable, singular perfection of the Virgin. At the most fundamental level, Mary Magdalene represents the quintessential forgiven sinner saved by the love and mercy of Christ. Her role as the first person to whom Christ appeared after the Resurrection further emphasizes her special nature.28 Her presence at the Crucifixion is cited in all four Gospels, as is her role in the discovery of the Resurrection at the Sepulchre. Legend combined the scriptural accounts of Christ casting out seven demons from Mary Magdalene and the scene in the Pharisee's house where a sinful woman bathes Christ's feet with her tears and hair and then anoints his feet.29 In the N Town Passion Play, Mary Magdalene takes on the role of disciple and is present at the Last Supper. Further stories added elements to the legend, including the tradition that Mary had a wealthy father and adventures at sea. The play of Mary Magdalene from the Digby manuscript incorporates all of these aspects of the legendary Magdalene. As a wayward woman who particularly enjoys sexual pleasures and is saved from madness by her first vision of Christ, Margery Kempe shares several key features with the Magdalene. Margery's text itself makes a direct link between the two women. In capitulum seventy-four, Christ tells Margery that she must live for fifteen years before she will join Him in Heaven, and He reminds her that His mother, John the Evangelist and Mary Magdalene all had to continue living on earth after He died. The following dialogue between Margery and Christ focuses on the comparison between her and the Magdalene:

"A, blysful Lord," seyd sche, "I wolde I wer as worthy to ben sekyr of thy lofe as Mary Mawdelyn was." Than seyd owr Lord, "Trewly, dowtyr, I loue the as wel, & the same pes that I 3af to hir the same pes I 3eue to the."30

The fact that the rewriting of Margery's Book begins on the day after Saint Mary Magdalene's Day in 1436 is perhaps another connection between the two women.31

In medieval art, drama, and devotional texts Mary Magdalene is frequently portrayed as the faithful companion to the Virgin Mary. This role is perhaps epitomized in The Meditations on the Life of Christ after the Crucifixion when the Magdalene tells John "you know well that I will come with her wherever she goes and never leave her."32 In her visions, Kempe replaces Mary Magdalene and, at Christ's urging, casts herself in the role of faithful handmaiden. Kempe's visions often show her knowledge of The Meditations, which was read to her,33 and her ability to manipulate that text's instructions within her own meditations. In Pseudo-Bonaventure's text, when Christ takes his leave of the Virgin, Mary Magdalene and the Apostles, both Marys individually try to persuade Him to stay to celebrate the Pasch, but He declines. The author describes the different ways the women cope with their sorrow:

Oh, if you could see the Lady weeping between these words, but moderately and softly, and the Magdalen frantic about her Master and crying with deep sobs, perhaps you too would not restrain your tears!34

Although the disciples and other women are apparently present during this scene, they are not mentioned after the initial setting. Margery actually has two visions of this scene. In the first, she observes the scene in an entirely orthodox meditation, responding with an outburst of tears, but no words of her own are addressed to the biblical characters.35 This version features both the Virgin and Mary Magdalene and is similar to the same scene in The Meditations on the Life of Christ. Margery's second vision of this scene, in capitulum seventy-nine, is quite different.36 The only characters in it are Christ, the Virgin, and Margery herself. Mary Magdalene is not present. The Virgin makes an extended plea to Christ, asking Him to stay with them. After Christ explains to His mother why He has to leave, the Virgin swoons. At this point, Margery takes over the role of Mary Magdalene as the only other active participant in the scene. Where The Meditations features a plea from Mary Magdalene, Kempe's vision features a plea from Margery:

. . . than the sayd creatur thowt sche toke owr Lord Ihesu Crist be the clothys & fel down at hys feet, preyng hym to blissyn hir, & therwyth sche cryid ful lowde & wept rith sor, seying in her mende, "A, Lord, wher schal I become? I had wel levar that thu woldist sle me than latyn me abydyn in the worlde wyth-owtyn the, for wyth-owtyn the I may not abydyn her, Lord." Than answeryd owr Lord to hir, "Be stille, dowtyr, & rest wyth my Modyr her & comfort the in hir, for sche that is myn owyn Modyr must suffyr this sorwe. But I xal come a-geyn, dowtyr, to my Modyr & comfortyn hir & the bothyn & turnyn al 3owr sorwe in-to joye."37

Margery's speech asserts her self, focusing on her own pain and sorrow: "what shall become of me?" While she becomes a player in the scene, she does not lose herself in it. This is still Margery talking, and her speech replaces that of the Magdalene. Christ acknowledges and responds to her plea by placing her into the social order of the narrative; He calls her "dowtyr" and groups her with His mother, as if He might be speaking to the Magdalene. Christ redirects Margery's interest from her single self to the Virgin Mary when He commends Margery to His mother and says He will return to both of them. Margery fully accepts His commendation, and her speech embodies this social change; she begins to use "we" in her address to the Virgin. She becomes the faithful companion to Mary, replacing Mary Magdalene as she and the Virgin watch Christ's Passion Sequence:

And than owr Lady & sche hyr unworthy hand-maydyn for the tyme wept & syhyd ful sor for the Iewys ferd so fowle & so venymowslych wyth hir blisful Lord. . . . and hir thowt that owr Lady & sche wer al-wey to-gedyr to see owr Lordys peynys.38

Mary Magdalene is not present in Kempe's vision, because Margery has replaced the Magdalene in her role as handmaiden to the Virgin, just as she will attempt to replace the Magdalene in her vision of the Crucifixion. Kempe has engaged Christ in conversation, but is this mysticism or meditation? The Christ who acknowledges her speech and talks with her is not the "mystical" Christ who sits on Margery's bedside, but Jesus the historical man who is in the middle of His Passion. I believe that it is Margery's role as replacement for the Magdalene that allows this conversation to occur. Importantly, the passage cited earlier in which Christ compares His love for the Magdalene to His love for Margery occurs between these two meditations on the same holy scene, giving Margery a divine authorization for her identification with the biblical character. By substituting her own plea for that of the Magdalene, Margery avoids interrupting the flow of the narrative. Christ's response is in keeping with the scene. Consequently, it is not a truly mystical experience, but a highly active and personal meditation.

In the ensuing scene of the Crucifixion, Margery remains part of the spiritual family of Christ, continuing to use the pronoun "we" instead of "I" as she verbalizes her concern for the Virgin:

The creatur seyd than to owr Lord, as hir semyd, "Alas, Lord, thu leevyst her a careful Modyr. What xal we now don & how xal we beryn this gret sorwe that we xal han for thy love?" And than sche herd the too thevys spekyn to owr Lord, and owr Lord seyd to the on thefe, "This day thu xalt ben wyth me in Paradys." Than was sche glad of that answer & preiyd owr Lord for hys mercy that he wolde ben as gracyows to hir sowle whan sche xulde passyn owt of this worlde as he was to the thef, for sche was wers, hir thowt, than any thef.39

Margery's speech here does not replace anybody's speech from the Bible and is unable to disrupt the flow of the biblical narrative, which does not include Christ speaking at this point to Mary Magdalene or any woman. In Margery's vision, the historical Christ, having commended His mother to John the Evangelist, has finished His dealings with His family and followers and moves on to the passage with the thieves. Margery appears to recognize the futility of her speech, for her plea for mercy is a prayer, not a speech to the man hanging on the cross: she "preiyd owr Lord for hys mercy." As the vision continues, Margery does not attempt to speak to Christ again, although she does continue to observe the scene and participate in a sympathetic "meditational" way. She watches the Virgin weep over her Son's body and, not surprisingly, cries herself. Also, after the failure of Margery's speech, Mary Magdalene suddenly appears for the first time within the description of the scene: "And than the creatur thowt sche herd Mary Mawdelyn syn to owr Lady, 'I pray 3ow, Lady, 3yf me leue to handelyn & kissyn hys feet, for at thes get I grace.'"40 The Magdalene's lamentation is described, and she helps to prepare the body for burial, while Margery is left to watch and cry, denied access to Christ's body: "And the sayd creatur thowt that sche ran euyr to & fro as it had be a woman wyth-owtyn reson, gretly desyryng to an had the precyows body be hir-self a-lone that sche myth a wept a-now in presens of that precyows body".41 Although Margery remains a meditational member of the circle of women within the scene, she is denied any special role within that society.

In this most crucial of canonical scenes, then, Margery's speech is unable to disrupt the scriptural narrative. Her words, which had enough force and power to produce the mystical Mother of God in the apocryphal scene of the Death of the Virgin, are drained of their effectiveness when faced with the canonical Word of God. In the ascent from meditation to mysticism, Margery's speech plays an active and important role, but it is subordinate to the role played by the narrative of the Gospels. Margery's inability to disrupt the Crucifixion scene is a manifestation of her ever-present awareness of orthodoxy; although she threatens to step over the line into heterodox behavior throughout her Book, ultimately her faith is non-heretical. While Margery Kempe's text persistently defies definition and restrictions of genre, her personal blend of meditation and mysticism never goes beyond the guidelines of The Meditations on the Life of Christ, although she does take them to their limit.