What is Lectio Divina?
During the 12th century, a monk known as Guigo II wrote an influential reflection on prayer called The Ladder of Monks. He outlined a four-step process for approaching a piece of sacred text: this "ladder" stretches from reading, through prayer, and eventually to blissful contemplation, a state in which the mind is "held somewhat above itself, so that it tastes the joys of everlasting sweetness."
How does Lectio Divina relate to honoring the Wheel of the Year?
So...does this mean we'll be spending our Solstices and Equinoxes huddled around our Jane Austen novels, engaging with Austen's words as we climb Guigo II's four steps to prayer (reading, meditation, prayer, and contemplation)? Nope, not exactly.
During Wheel of the Year Lectio discussions, we will instead approach novels using the more secular interpretation of Lectio Divina made popular by Vanessa Zoltan and Casper ter Kuile. In this approach, Guigo II's four steps of reading, meditation, prayer, and contemplation have evolved into four steps that I call context, connection, reflection, and inspiration. The Wheel of the Year provides a framework for exploring the many ways that our energy and focus can (and should) change in step with the changing seasons. Combining that framework with our sacred reading practice, we can truly use each selected novel as fodder for self-reflection in community with others.
Context
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Connection
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Reflection
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Inspiration
" So often, in school English classes, we're told to leave our emotions and personal reactions to a novel at the classroom door. Lectio Divina is a way to return our own emotional reactions to front and center, and to learn from them. "
~ Margaret H. Willison
No wonder so many school kids grow up hating to read books, especially classics with their long and twisty sentences! But when we examine those sentences and bring our own feelings and reactions to table, we find a wealth of texture and worth to explore, in ways that can be startlingly profound. We read in community, considering:
Context: This first step of our Lectio Divina practice finds context for our text selection within the novel itself. What is actually happening in this passage? What has happened before, or after? In which ways does this passage influence and inform the rest of the book?
Connection: With a strong understanding firmly rooted in the novel, we can now move to the second step of this practice by connecting the selected passage to our culture at large. Does this passage remind you of other stories or myths? Are there popular archetypes or allegories at work? There are no wrong answers here: the more free-wheeling this step becomes, the better!
Reflection: The third step of our Lectio Divina practice asks us to turn inward, reflecting on the passage's connection to our own lives. Does anything in the words, or the characters, resonate with either your past self or present self?
Inspiration: We've explored our text on both a grand and a personal scale, and now it's time for the fourth and final step. How does this passage, and our discussion about it, inspire you to move through this next phase of the Wheel of the Year? How does this passage speak to the upcoming season, and to your place in that season? Do you feel called to action during this next stage of change?
