virtual beguine

My name is Natalia Corres and I am a writer, artist, poet, retired Techie, and enthusiast for many many things. I have over the years toyed with the idea of a community for women. How it might work, where it might be situated… ultimately I don’t have the funds to make that particular idea become reality.

I do, however, have the skills to create a virtual version of what I had envisioned. And that is the Virtual Beguine.

What is a Beguine, you ask?

A historical Beguine was a member of a voluntary, semi-monastic religious movement of Christian laywomen that flourished in Western Europe, particularly the Low Countries, during the 13th to 16th centuries. Often referred to as the first women’s movement in Christian history, Beguines sought a life of piety, contemplation, and active service to the world without the restrictions of formal religious orders.

Here is a short summary of their key characteristics and role in medieval society:

• Vows and Status: Beguines were laywomen who took personal, informal vows of chastity but did not take permanent, binding religious vows (like obedience or stability). They were free to abandon their religious vocation at any time, which was a unique choice for women with a spiritual calling in the Middle Ages. Their ambiguous status placed them “between” the sanctioned spheres of home and convent, providing them with unusual freedom.
• Community Life: Most Beguines lived together in communities called beguinages, which could range from small groups in houses to walled-in clusters of individual homes (“towns within towns”) that often included gardens, hospitals, and churches. The communities were self-governing, often under the care of a female leader called a Magistra.
• Work and Income: Unlike nuns, Beguines were economically independent and supported themselves by manual labor, often working in textile and wool industries, or performing domestic chores like nursing, house cleaning, and lacemaking in burgeoning European cities.
• Spiritual Focus: They were dedicated to God, prayer, and ministering to the poor and ill, emphasizing the vita apostolica (apostolic life) through voluntary poverty and service. Their spirituality often included intense forms of mysticism and contemplative devotion. They were influential in the spread of literacy, translating spiritual and mystical texts into the vernacular language.
• Decline: The Beguines’ independence and theological leanings often led to suspicion and hostility from the Church, which considered their ill-defined status unsettling. Although initially supported, the movement faced increasing criticism and was eventually ordered dissolved by decrees at the Council of Vienne in 1311. However, some communities, particularly in Belgium and the Netherlands, survived for centuries.

My concept of a Virtual Beguine removes the religious overtones replacing it with a general spirituality. It is, not to put it too bluntly, a safe space for women without regard to religious or political beliefs. A place where women help women with information and emotional support, and sometimes tangible support.

I am hopeful that the interactions and information here will be helpful to women. And that it will feel like a community because you are able to choose to be here rather than being required to (as is the case with so many of the cultural/political/religious situations that women are subjected to).

How would a Virtual Beguine work?

Initially I expect to set up a Facebook Group and also start a newsletter – to share the concepts and also useful information for the welfare of women. We are half of the world and have only relatively recently been privy to the rights that men take for granted, because up until recently we have been viewed mostly as chattel and walking incubators. (Yes, I know that is harsh and I know it has not been that way for EVERY woman, just the vast majority of us – the wealthy have always enjoyed freedoms that the rest of us have had to fight for.)

That all being said, join me or not as you will.

Help or not as you will.

Share or not as you will.

You have the choice. I choose to try to “grass roots” a cultural shift in preparation for the shifts I see coming – economical, political, and environmental.

If we are prepared to help each other it will make a difference. Not necessarily for the world, but for the individuals we can touch, and that might mean the world to them.