Lectio Divina for Chapter 10

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During the HSPT Summer Camp we mostly choose sentences for Lectio Divina randomly (the hosts got volunteers to name a chapter number and then other people choose a page number within that chapter and a paragraph within that page and we would use the first chapter of that paragraph) or the host would choose a short passage and pick a volunteer to nominate a sentence from it. I think it’s probably a good thing to sometimes do these kinds of Practices with sentences you wouldn’t necessarily choose for yourself. Particularly with the randomly chosen sentences they would sometimes lead us to completely unexpected ideas and “juiceness”.

But for now I’m writing on my own so I’m chooseing sentences that particularly leap out at me and for this chapter I have chosen

All traces of the storm were gone

As a quick reminder Lectio Divina is a four step Practice:
Lectio - the literal reading and narrative
Mediatio - the allegory, symbols and metaphors
Oratio - reflection - how is this text connected with my own life?
Contemplatio - the invitation - what action is this text prompting me to take?

I’ll put my thoughts in the comments. Please do join in

Comments

Lectio

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This sentence comes towards the end of the chapter after a Gobbolino has managed to break the Sea Witch’s spell by jumping on her shadow and shouting out the magic phrase ”Fiddlesticks to you, ma’am!“.
Breaking the spell immediately ends the ship threatening storm and the sky and the water become clear. There’s a really nice discriptive sentence before this one:
The sea sparkled like a still lagoon, and far below, Gobbolino could see brown weed moored to rock terraces, pretty fishes, crabs, and eels, as clearly as if they swam in an aquarium. (I did think about choosing that as the sentence to work with but realised I’d prolly get distracted by the image of an aquarium...).
The suddenness of the change surprises Gobbolino (who is still up on the mast after his confrontation with the Sea Witch) and the sailors who “seemed dazed and uncertain - they gathered in little groups, talking uneasily and peeping at Gobbolino”. Gobbolino has probably seen spells broken before and the sailors must have seen storms end but they are all bemused by the suddenness (as well as presumably very grateful that they are no longer in danger)

Mediatio

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(Something that was underlined for me during HPST Camp was how this step differers from the second step of the similar Jewish four step Sacred Reading Practice of PaRDeS In Lectio Divina we look outward and find echos of the phrase or sentence we are focusing on in other texts and situations (and in our own lives) but in PaRDeS the step of Remez is to trace a particular word or image within the text - they are both excellent ways to find interesting patterns and resonances in a text)

This sentence reminds me that the storm has been broken by magic - there’s no way that a naturally dispersing storm would end so abruptly.
Living by the sea I’m used to storms - here they are rarely unexpected (we don’t generally get things like tornados) but the can be surprisingly stronger or longer lasting than forecast.
I am obviously reminded of the biblical story of Jesus stillIng the storm on Lake Galilee and of the Shakespeare play The Tempest which features a wild, magically created storm.
This feeling of an unexpected abrupt change from one state to another, with all traces completely vanished makes me think of other kinds of sudden change - living through a disaster, experiencing a bereavement or getting a diagnosis - or of course the change from pre-COVID life to lockdown. There must be some more positive ones as well - I’ve never experienced the thunderbolt type sudden falling in love but there is the complete reconfiguring of a family when a child is born (or joins in some other way). None of those are quite this abrupt - there are always some traces of the previous reality/understanding left. Maybe there are actually traces of this storm left in the fabric of the Mary Maud? There are certainly emotional traces shaping the Sailors’ thinking.

Oratio

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Inevitably, I’m thinking about the disruption that the “storm” of COVID-19 has brought to my life and to people I am close to. What will our world look like when the storm has finally passed? (And how I wish there was a magic spell that could end it!).
I’m also thinking about a recent health emergency - The A&E doctor was able to restore my normal heart rhythm after a period of arrhythmia and he knew straight away he’d been successful because he was watching my heart monitor. It took me a few seconds (maybe half a minute or a minute) for me to notice the change in my own body because of the stress of the procedure (a very strange but effective mixture of intense breathing and physical positioning). But as I did notice (and became confident that it wasn’t just temporary) the stress and worry seeped out of my body and mind. I was happy and relieved - and exhausted. What had happened started to feel almost unreal as I adapted to being “back to normal”.
Emotionally changed realities are similarly exhausting!

Contemplatio

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I feel called to be more mindful about noticing and marking endings and to look for the traces of the old reality/understanding in the new. I don’t want to get emotionally stuck in the storm after it has ended but I do want to remember that it was my reality and give myself time to process the change.