Tractio Divina is a body-spirit based method of praying through embodied drawing. It aims to gently draw out on paper what is being sensed or experienced within one’s own body. Tractio Divina is a spiritual discipline and practice that creates a space for God’s grace to pass from within the hidden and unknown depths of our soul to without in the form of visual drawing. Unlike other spiritual practices, the starting point of tractio divina is one’s body. However, like most other spiritual practices, it too depends on rhythms of grace to gently pull up and draw-out on paper what has been covered within – we cannot force it or make it happen. It is a spiritual practice that affirms human agency and consent which is one reason why it may be particularly suitable for survivors of trauma.

The name Tractio Divina is derived from Latin. The word “tractio” in Latin means “a drawing” and it is the noun of action from the past-participle stem trahere which means "to pull, or draw,” usually along a tract. Tractio divina utilises various tracts in the process of drawing: a divine source beyond our Self, our body’s narrative, and the blank piece of paper in front of us.¹ As these tracts interact with one another – our body, God, and the blank piece of paper – we gently pull up and draw out on paper what is within us while simultaneously being drawn to God/self/others. The name “tractio” resonates with the names of other Christian practices such as Lectio Divina and Visio Divina.

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.

Tractio divina may be practiced on its own as a method of embodied drawing or it may be combined with other spiritual practices such as Lectio Divina (LD) and Visio Divina (VD).

The drawing below captures the dynamic process of grace that takes place within our body through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit which transforms us when it is practiced either on its own or combined with the practices of Lectio and Visio Divina.

Drawing out the Relationship between Lectio Divina (LD), “Tractio Divina” (TD), and Visio Divina (VD) – Body-Spirit Based Methods, 28 January 2023, (Coloured pens on paper, 21 x 29.5 cm).

Tractio divina may be practiced on its own as a method of embodied drawing or it may be combined with other spiritual practices such as Lectio Divina (LD) and Visio Divina (VD).

The drawing below captures the dynamic process of grace that takes place within our body through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit which transforms us when it is practiced either on its own or combined with the practices of Lectio and Visio Divina.

Drawing out the Relationship between Lectio Divina (LD), “Tractio Divina” (TD), and Visio Divina (VD) – Body-Spirit Based Methods, 28 January 2023, (Coloured pens on paper, 21 x 29.5 cm).

Tractio Divina may overcome the challenges of trauma and transform it in the following ways.

• Establishes a Safe Connection to Body that Benefits Interoception
• Facilitates Staying in a Traumatised Body
• Aids to Release the Frozen Energy of Trauma
• Assists Regulation of the CNS
• Other ways that trauma may be transformed through tractio divina:
  • Reactiviation of our self-sensing system
  • Empowers us with a language enabling us to communicate our feelings and story, and assists us to communicate our feelings and story, and assists us to understand internal processes
  • Facilitates post-trauma witnessing
  • Facilitates 'Parts' work with trauma
  • Facilitates post-traumatic growth and resilience

• A bible (when it is combined with Lectio Divina)
• Paper or a sketch book
• Whatever you like to draw with – coloured pens or gel pens, pencils, textas, crayons, paints, chalks…
• A table, or a lap table to put your paper or sketch book

Tractio Divina workshops can be provided either online or face to face for:

• Persons who are survivors (including child sexual abuse)
• Persons who are non-trauma survivors
• Christian/Faith-based and Parish-based Groups
• Pastoral Spiritual Care Providers
• Healthcare groups
• Corporate groups