“Give Me A Word:” The Promise of an Ancient Practice

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 “Give Me A Word: The Promise of an Ancient Practice to Guide Your Year.” Christine Valters Paintner. 2025. Broadleaf Books.

 

During the Second and Fourth Centuries, the Desert Fathers and Mothers would be approached by seekers to ask for their advice on life matters. The Desert Fathers and Mothers would often offer a word or a phrase to mediate on. This practice was called “give me a word,” which promoted a deeper listening to God.

 

In her book, Valters Paintner tells how to practice “give me a word.” First, quiet the mind to allow for any whispers to reach below the surface of ordinary awareness. After finally receiving the word, spend the year meditating with it. Valters Paintner writes, “The ‘word’ was often a short phrase to nourish and challenge the receiver. A word was mean to be wrestled with and slowly grown into.” She explains further, “When a seeker went out to the wilderness to approach one of the ammas or abbas and said ‘Give me a word,’ they were not asking for a command or solution. They were opening their hearts to a communication which would slowly transform their lives.”

 

Valters Paintner calls the practice of listening for a word as “looking for what shimmers.” “Shimmering is a way to describe when something in the world is calling to you, beckoning you, sometimes even urging you to pay closer attention, sometimes what shimmers is challenging but we know that wrestling with it will yield something bigger in our lives. Sometimes what shimmers invokes wonder and awe.”

 

How does a person listen for a word? First, they need to cross the Threshold, the liminal spaces. The Threshold could be a place such as an altar, a doorway, or sacred site, where they can be attuned to the presence of the sacred. Or the Threshold can be a liminal time like dawn, dusk, the beginning or ending of a year, or certain holidays (Note 1). A place or time where eternity can be briefly touched.

 

Let the word choose you. Valters Paintner counsels that “give me a word” is a process of receiving and not striving. Reflect what has been life-giving and life-changing in your life. Sometimes the word will come in a dream or with an inner nudge. If the word feels “bristly,” ask yourself why. Explore the resistance and dissonance of this word, and feel it deeply. As you give the word space, feel it unfold. Test the word to see if it rings true to you.

 

Once having received the word, carry it with you. Apply the word in your life. Be creative: write prayers or poetry. Create a word-centered rule of life with an affirmation that includes the word. Let it foster creativity and wholesomeness in your life. Listen deeply to the nuances of the word that you are given.

 

I believe that this practice of “give me a word” could be adopted by Polytheists. It can be a practice that entails meditating on a word or an aspect associated with a God. This method of listening involves allowing for a greater wisdom to come forth within you.

 

For Polytheists, “give me a word” can be a method to use in developing a relationship with a God or discerning Who is calling to you. Listen and feel the God’s presence. When the word is received from Them, it can be felt deep within the body. With time, the word will ripen with deeper wisdom for the Polytheist.

 

An example of “give me a word” for Polytheists could be meditating on “good health.” This could be explored in multiple ways as there are many Gods of Health and Healing. For Romans, two are Salus, who is the Goddess of Public Health or Venus Cloacina, who is Venus, the Purifier. A meditation or deep listening could involve the differences between these two Goddesses or their common points. Also, a person could meditate on how to relate to each of these Goddesses. Or they could focus on one Goddess like Venus Cloacina and ponder purification and miasma. The word “good health” can be explored in multiple ways.

 

“Give me a word” can allow a Polytheist to test what seems to be coming from a God is true. It allows them to feel what is “right.” As Homer in “The Odyssey” wrote, “False dreams come to humans through the Gate of Ivory, true dreams come through the Gates of Horn.” (Note 2) The practice of “give me a word” allows the Gates of Horn to be open for true wisdom.

 

Notes:

Note 1. This could be Samhain (October 31), Walpurgis Night (April 30), the Equinoxes or Solstices.

 

Note 2. “Dreams surely are difficult, confusing, and not everything in them is brought to pass for mankind. For fleeting dreams have two gates: one is fashioned of horn and one of ivory. Those which pass through the one of sawn ivory are deceptive, bringing tidings which come to nought, but those which issue from the one of polished horn bring true results when a mortal sees them.”