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 Returning: The Way of the Contemplative
The Contemplative pathway is less about what you do and more about who you are becoming. It is the slow, steady descent from the mind into the heart — the place where God speaks in silence, and where the soul finally remembers the sound of its own name.
For the Contemplative, prayer is less about speech and more about presence. Less about effort and more about surrender. It is the practice of resting in Love, rather than performing for it.
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 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.
The Returning: An Introduction to The Sacred Pathways
This is not a map for finding God. It's an invitation to remember. To return.
Walking in The Way of Jesus: The Desert Mothers and Fathers
The Desert Fathers and Mothers were early Christian mystics and ascetics in the 4th and 5th centuries AD, who lived in the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and Arabia, renouncing the world to follow God's call. “Desert Mother” is a feminist theological neologism that compares these women to the Desert Fathers.
Home in God
Biblical Feasts: Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) - Union
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.