Author of Effort and Grace: tinyurl.com/yc86gzlf Ecologies of Ecstasy tinyurl.com/yjv23sj2 Find me on SubStack simonekotva.substack.com/
Joined December 2019
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20 Jan 2023
What got me onto writing about plant-thinking and mysticism? The fact that biologists' descriptions of plant intelligence and behaviour are eerily similar to mystics' descriptions of "pure prayer," contemplation, etc. Also, the vegetal metaphors used by mystics.
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New post over at Techniques of Ecstasy on the vegetal mysticism of Thérèse of Lisieux, one of my favourite saints: open.substack.com/pub/simone…
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My new book is released this week: dedicated to the community at the Abbey of Our Lady of the Redwoods and to Sr. Veronique Geeroms. A significant portion of the work for the book came together as I was hanging out with the trees at Redwoods Abbey.open.substack.com/pub/simone…
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I’d like to end this twelve-part reflection on cardiocentric meditation techniques in Christian mysticism by considering a triad central to its Catholic expression: the Three Hearts of the Holy Family: open.substack.com/pub/simone…
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Today in my Twelve Days of Mysticism it’s time to review some apotropaic uses of Sacred Heart imagery. Let me know in the comments if you’ve had experiences with the Sacred Heart badge/scapular: open.substack.com/pub/simone…
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Today I touch grass and talk about what it might be like to enter the place of the heart on an average day of practice. I’ve written about a number of historical techniques but today I thought it was time for a bit of phenomenology: open.substack.com/pub/simone…
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Today I am thinking about breathing techniques in Christian cardiocentric meditation practices: open.substack.com/pub/simone…
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In John Croiset’s spiritual manual, the Sacred Heart takes the practitioner straight to the divine engine of the universe, where human prayers become fuel for the cosmic energy that turns Creation: open.substack.com/pub/simone…
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I am the sort of person who cannot read a mystic's autobiography without testing at lest one of the methods they used to experience ecstasy.
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Today I’m thinking about Margaret Mary Alacoque and her visions of the heart of God but also of her own heart, “like a tiny atom” consumed and transformed by the fire of God: open.substack.com/pub/simone…
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31 Dec 2025
We are halfway through the Twelve Days of Mysticism and it’s time to get blood-drunk: an ancient and (judging by its popularity in medieval and early modern Europe) effective technique that appears to have brought many mystics swiftly to ecstasy. open.substack.com/pub/simone…
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30 Dec 2025
In the Twelve Days of Mysticism, part 5, I read a fifteenth-century manual that describes how to enter God’s heart. This is an intense deity practice that requires dedicated immersion during which the practitioner prepares to be consumed by divine fire: open.substack.com/pub/simone…
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29 Dec 2025
In the Twelve Days of Mysticism, Part 4, I get graphic and discuss the bleeding heart of Christ, “sucking” his vital fluid and taking refuge in the light radiating from blood-soaked paradise: open.substack.com/pub/simone…
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28 Dec 2025
In today’s post, I discuss the relationship between the Christian prayer of the heart and Jewish mysticism: ENTIRELY LUMINOUS.
open.substack.com/pub/simone…
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27 Dec 2025
It’s day 2 of the Twelve Days of Mysticism, and today we are lingering a bit longer on the Stoics than we did yesterday: open.substack.com/pub/simone…
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26 Dec 2025
This Christmas season I'm doing Twelve Days of Mysticism, a series focusing on cardiocentric meditation practices in Christian mysticism. Starting with Nicephorus the Solitary's technique, "entering the place of the heart":
simonekotva.substack.com/p/e…
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14 Oct 2025
My latest Substack is on practice timelines in mysticism. What effort is required in order to experience ecstasy? open.substack.com/pub/simone…
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Dr Simone Kotva retweeted
3 Oct 2025
Luce Irigaray at the D SOCIETY
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