How did Tractio Divina (TD) Develop?

The embodied method of Tractio Divina evolved out of a personal journey of healing over three decades from child sexual abuse - including Church-related sexual abuse.

My turning point came when I hit rock bottom. I was stuck in a pit of darkness and despair. It felt to me like there was no way out. Then, in the most extraordinary way I experienced grace in all its beauty and power. I picked up my Bible, opened it up randomly, and began to read slowly and repeatedly the words from the Prophet Isaiah 43:1

But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and formed you, O Israel. Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name: you are mine. [Is.43:1 NRSV]

I was awestruck by these words, and I sensed something inexplicable shifting within me. Like a “double-edged sword”, the words penetrated beyond my darkness and despair to the core of my true Self. It was as if God’s Word found me and spoke to me personally. Through this single event, I sensed within my whole being that I was profoundly known and loved – without even speaking a single word to God. This single encounter with God was the starting point of what has been and continues to be a life changing journey.

Later, through the grace of God, I was drawn to a community whose specific charism was Prayer and ministry of the Word of God. Within this context of ministry I began my journey of confronting trauma from childhood sexual abuse.

By engaging with the Ignatian method of Lectio Divina, I experienced how God’s Word could speak to my reality and how it bore the power to soothe, calm, and regulate my inner child in a spirit of kindness, gentleness, and compassion. As I continued to practice Lectio Divina, I experienced the enormous power God’s Word bears to transform and heal the trauma from child sexual abuse.

In recent times, I have combined my practice of Lectio Divina with the practice of praying through embodied drawing. Through my master's thesis, I came to name this method Tractio Divina. My first introduction to prayer through embodied drawing occurred in a session of spiritual accompaniment. I arrived at my session in a traumatised state. I was shut down. Blank. Mute. I had no words. As I applied the method of embodied drawing, I experienced how it provided me with a safe space for God’s grace to transform my anxiety. By the session's end, the traumatised child who fronted up to the session had been transformed to a calm and grounded woman.

My first experience of Tractio Divina was so powerful that I combined it with my daily practice of Lectio Divina. I began to experiment with this fresh practice. After completing my drawings, I would sit silently with the image and pray with it – a practice called Visio Divina. I noticed how this not only prolonged prayer but enriched it. Further, I noticed how each of these spiritual disciplines flowed so naturally from one to the other. Now, my practice of Tractio Divina combined with Lectio Divina and Visio Divina is an established part of my daily spiritual practice.