Dr Simone Kotva

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.

New book out now with @ColumbiaUP :

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/simonekotv…

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/simonekotv…

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/simonekotv…

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/simonekotv…

Today I am thinking about breathing techniques in Christian cardiocentric meditation practices: open.substack.com/pub/simonekotv…

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/simonekotv…

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.

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/simonekotv…

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/simonekotv…

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/simonekotv…

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/simonekotv…

In today’s post, I discuss the relationship between the Christian prayer of the heart and Jewish mysticism: ENTIRELY LUMINOUS. open.substack.com/pub/simonekotv…

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/simonekotv…

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/entering-the…

My latest Substack is on practice timelines in mysticism. What effort is required in order to experience ecstasy? open.substack.com/pub/simonekotv…

Luce Irigaray at the D SOCIETY

Today, at long last, is publication day for @BloomsburyAcad's Cultural History of Magic. I contributed a chapter to the volume on the Enlightenment, which features a case study on the prosecution and decriminalisation of magical acts in Lithuania 📚 bloomsbury.com/uk/cultural-hi…

@KarindeBruijn Sometime early next year!

@thisnonhumanity Very interested! When will it be published?

The proofs of my book on mysticism and vegetal life have arrived: