Loto Journal
An evolving exploration of consciousness, spirituality, relationship, and what it means to flourish together.
Through personal storytelling and curious inquiry, we explore consciousness and the Self, contemplative spirituality and mysticism, psychology and somatic healing, creativity and relationship, and our connection with nature and the living world. Along the way, our Founder, Jennifer, shares letters from her travels as a digital nomad, exploring the people, places, traditions, and sacred landscapes that continue to shape her journey.
Reader’s Note: In an attempt to bring a conscious sense of responsibility to our language (where inclusivity and equality matter), in our Loto Wellness Collective blog content, except for direct quotes, the pronouns often used for God are They/Them in reference to Great Spirit, the I AM, the Universe. Also, we have taken the liberty of capitalizing the term “True Self” or “Self” so you will know that we are not referring to the “false self” (psychological egoic self), but the foundational Self that we are in God, Imago Dei.
Mothering
As the tears came, so did the truth: even grown women need mothering.
Surrender in Suffering
Wisdom of the Forest Dweller
North Americans spend over 93 percent of their waking hours indoors or in cars (and the other 7 percent is spent walking between buildings and cars). And while there is an extraordinary exuberance and diversity of wild plant and animal life dwelling in our midst, still the urban environment is inhospitable to the majority of species on our shared planet. Regular—or any—experience of deep wilderness is missing from most of our modern lives. Without such contact, our radiant mental and physical intelligences are being diminished.
The Returning: The Way of the Activist
For the Activist, compassion is not a concept — it is a calling. Justice is not ideology — it is worship. Action is not distraction — it is prayer embodied. This pathway is where the heart of God touches the wounds of the world. Where faith becomes flesh and love becomes action.
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.
Honoring Indigenous Voices This Thanksgiving
When we listen to Indigenous voices, we're not being "political.” We’re being Christian. Not the empire-shaped version — the Jesus-shaped one.
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.
Mirror Twins
So let me leave you with a question, one that's been weighing on me lately: Who in your life reflects you back to yourself — not the version you wish you were, but who you truly are right now?
And maybe the harder question: Are you willing to look?
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.
Fear of Being Seen
I know this residual fear of being fully seen—in my truth, in my body, in my voice—has kept me playing small. But next year is calling me into expansion, into more trust, into a bolder embodiment of what I've been cultivating all along on my healing journey. These mirrors I face are preparing me for what's to come.
Morning Altars: Beauty as Creation Care
Nothing stirs my heart like stepping into nature, with open hands and heart, to gather what the earth offers in each season—fallen leaves, pinecones, stones, seeds, petals, feathers. Out of these humble materials, beauty is born. This is the practice of Morning Altars, nature mandalas created as impermanent works of art, meant to honor both the earth and the Spirit that animates it.
The practice, founded by artist and teacher Day Schildkret (morningaltars.com), invites us into a conversation with creation itself. It is part ritual, part meditation, part play. We collect what has already fallen, arrange it with intention, and witness the patterns of symmetry, surprise, and story that emerge. Each altar is temporary—eventually scattered by wind, rain, or passing animals. This impermanence reminds us of the fleeting nature of life and the call to treasure the present moment.
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.
View from the Precipice of Change
Erosion. Hmmm, that word feels like the best way to describe what life has felt like for the last two years—So many layers of my identity are being stripped down, false narratives revealed and healed, and comfort zones surrendered away.
My life mirrors this canyon landscape: each season has been carving away what no longer serves, slowly revealing what's essential.
Into the Eremos
For the mystics, the Eremos was never about isolation; it was about encounter. Even Jesus withdrew to the Eremos again and again. It was where He fasted for forty days, where He wrestled with temptation, and where angels came to minister to Him. The Eremos was both exile and embrace—the wild, quiet space where everything unnecessary fell away, leaving only God.
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.
One Who Wrestles With God
Perhaps that is what the mystics knew all along: that sometimes the only way to find YHWH is through the body that breaks, the fever that humbles, and the desert that strips us down to the soul.
Rescued from the Desert
With a single bar of spotty cell service, plenty of water, food, shelter, and fuel, I decided to hunker down for the day and figure out my options. After getting a call though to my dad, who researched the problem, I welcomed my parents' invitation to drive out to my GPS location with the necessary part to fix The Beast (the name I call my Dad’s Chevrolet Suburban).
The Returning: An Introduction to Sacred Pathways
This is not a map for finding God. It's an invitation to remember. To return.
Contributors & Collaborators
Loto Living and Loto Journal, would not be possible without the ongoing support and generous contributions from an incredible team of contributors, collaborators, and our Desert Mothers.