© Sharon Brown Christopher

Anyone who has been with me over a sustained period of time knows that I am a lover of the color green. The color of my clothes gives my attraction away. But it’s not just clothes. My favorite season is summer with spring running a close second.

© Sharon Brown Christopher

For me it’s more than a whim or even a quirk. It has something to do with vitality and fullness and ripeness and what Hildegard of Bingen, a mystic of the church who lived in the lush Rhine valley of Germany during the early 1100’s, called “viriditas,” or “greening power.”

© Sharon Brown Christopher

For Hildegard, greening power had to do with creativity and the ability to bear fruit that lasts. Greening power is connected to moistness, freshness, germination,  growth, expansion, and the force of life itself.

© SharonBrown Christopher

You can imagine my delight when a recent photographic adventure took me to the southeastern corner of the state of Washington and the southwestern corner of Idaho. Named “The Palouse” for the Indian tribe that inhabited the land, The Palouse is known for its rolling hills of wheat, lentil beans, peas, and canola.

© Sharon Brown Christopher

In the summer time, The Palouse is primarily green.

© Sharon Brown Christopher

However, other colors also dot the countryside. The gold of ripened wheat, the brown of fields lying fallow, and the yellow of blooming canola as well as the varied topology of the area and the play of light and shadow add accenting  tones and colors.

© Sharon Brown Christopher

The Palouse filled me to overflowing with “viriditas, or greening power. As a result, my heart sings. I trust these images from The Palouse will invite you into the greening power within you.

© Sharon Brown Christopher

Contributed by Sharon Brown Christopher