Loto Journal
Through personal storytelling and letter writing, follow our Founder, Jennifer Axcell, as she travels the 🌎 globe as a digital nomad and Desert Mother, exploring cultural expressions of rest and Self-care.
Including thoughtfully created blog content about somatic healing practices, nervous system self-regulation techniques, and faith-based spiritual practices, Loto Wellness Collective’s blog focuses on the art and science of rest and renewal, drawing inspiration from the life of Jesus, monastic wisdom, and modern science.
Reader’s Note: In the Loto Wellness Collective blog content, except for direct quotes, the pronouns often used for God are They/Them in reference to the genderless personhood of I AM. When referencing Jesus specifically, the pronouns He/Him are used.
The Slow Path Back to God: Why Contemplation Still Matters
Contemplative prayer flips that whole dynamic. It’s less “Lord, do something” and more “Lord, show me what is already true.” It’s less striving, more surrender. Less performance, more Presence. Less noise, more spaciousness.
The Returning: The Way of the Ascetic
The Ascetic pathway is for those who encounter the Divine not through abundance, but through simplicity. Not through stimulation, but through stillness. Not through addition, but through the sacred work of subtraction.
The Returning: The Way of the Sensate
The Sensate meets God through the senses — through color and fragrance, through texture, taste, and sound. For them, beauty is not ornamentation; it is revelation.
The Returning: The Way of the Naturalist
For the Naturalist, creation itself is the sanctuary. The forest becomes the temple, the tide becomes the hymn, and the rustling leaves become the voice of God. It’s not that nature points to God — it’s that nature reveals God. Every living thing becomes a verse in an unending psalm.
The Returning: The Way of the Traditionalist
For the Traditionalist, ritual is not an empty formality — it is the rhythm of divine remembrance. Within sacred structure, the Traditionalist finds a steady heartbeat, an embodied language of devotion that anchors the soul when the world feels unmoored.
Returning to Oneness: Christian Nondualism
Nondualism is the remembrance that God is not somewhere far beyond us, but within us and around us, breathing through every cell of creation. We are not apart from God—we are expressions of God. Each of us, a reflection of YHWH in flesh, just as Jesus revealed.
The Returning: An Introduction to The Sacred Pathways
This is not a map for finding God. It's an invitation to remember. To return.
Julian of Norwich: The Mystic Who Saw Love at the Center of It All
Julian of Norwich—a voice of profound hope, sacred vision, and tender intimacy with God.
Hildegard of Bingen: The Mystic Who Sang the Cosmos Awake
Hildegard of Bingen—the fierce visionary and endlessly creative.
Mary Magdalene: Apostle to The Apostles
Clare of Assisi: The Mystic of Radical Simplicity and Fierce Love
Clare of Assisi—the quiet strength and holy devotion of a woman who renounced the world to fall completely into the arms of God.
Margery Kempe: The Mystic Who Refused to Stay Silent
Margery Kempe’s story echoes through the centuries, especially for modern women who feel the pull to more. More intimacy with God. More honesty in their spiritual walk. More embodiment of their faith—unapologetically emotional, deeply sensory, and uncontainably alive.
Teresa of Ávila: The Mystic Who Made Prayer a Palace
Teresa of Ávila—Carmelite reformer, contemplative firebrand, and one of Christianity’s most beloved mystics.
Marguerite Porete: The Mystic Who Loved Beyond the Bounds
Marguerite Porete—Challenges us to trust Love with everything.
Hadewijch of Brabant: The Mystic Who Loved Without Measure
Hadewijch of Brabant—a mystic whose words still echo for the spiritually curious and creatively awakened women of Loto today.
Mechthild of Magdeburg: The Mystic Who Dared to Burn with Love
Mechthild of Magdeburg—a luminous, poetic voice of divine longing and holy boldness.
The Beguines: The Forgotten Women Who Lived a Life Set Apart
An invitation into the sacred lives of the Beguines, medieval and early Christian mystics—women who encountered the Living God through visions, ecstasies, suffering, and writing. Honoring their courage as women—often lay, often silenced—who listened to God and lived mysticism as a radical act of faith.
Finding My True Self
From a depth psychology standpoint, these perspective shifts have helped me to die to my false self, my egocentric way of living, sleepwalking through my life on auto-pilot. My experiences with these medicines have helped me spiritually awaken to my True Self and engage with the indwelling Holy Spirit in new life-giving ways.
Inner Sanctuary
From a modern mystical and psychological perspective, to be born again means to die to our flesh (our egocentric selves) and to be reborn of the Spirit of Truth (our True Self). As Paul says, our flesh becomes a sacred temple of the Spirit of Holiness, who lives inside our inner sanctuary.
Christ Consciousness: A Psychological Perspective on the Death and Resurrection of Jesus
So, let us ask ourselves not only “What do I believe about the cross?” but “What must die in me so Christ might rise?” The journey of faith is not merely about affirming a creed—it is about embodying a consciousness. Christ’s consciousness.
And that changes everything.
Contributors & Collaborators
Loto Living and Loto Journal, would not be possible without the ongoing support and generous contributions from an incredible team of writers, artists, healers, editors, creatives, and pastors.