Lectio Divina Heathen Style – my latest polytheist.com column is available

My latest column at polytheist.com is now available here.  I am very pleased with this particular article. In it, I discuss how to engage with lore in a devotional context, drawing on my recent academic study of a process called ‘lectio divina.’ It is a way not just of studying or memorizing lore, but of using it as a springboard to open oneself up to direct experience of the Gods.

I often criticize Heathens for being far too dependent on the written word. We are not, after all, religions of the book and I think there is a regrettable tendency to default to a certain reification of what we term “the lore” in place of seeking out the direct experience of our Gods. In fact, i think all too often we use study of the lore to keep the Gods at arms length.  I talk about why this may be so in our community, and provide an alternative that allows for the use of lore but encourages the reader to go more deeply into the devotional experience at the same time, using study of lore as a map for the journey.

I remain deeply suspicious of any experience that is mediated by a text, but at least I’m seeing some good models — albeit it medieval ones!–for how this can be done to augment rather than block the mystical experience. Anyway, check out my article and feel free to comment, either at polytheist.com or directly here.