NCSR 2008 - Urban Diversity and Religious Traditions
13-15 August 2008, Åbo Akademi University

Religion, gender and agency in Lightprayer-activity

Ilona Raunola

In one of the case studies of my doctoral thesis I direct my attention to active spirituals through the activity of Lightprayer (Valorukous). Within the Helena and Michael Blanka’s Lightprayer-thinking, everything is light and love, divine. This they will bring in practice in their own lives and want to help others also to find the relation into sacred in general and in a person. Lightprayer-activity includes individual and shared lightprayers and retreats. The focus in gathering the data is in Lightprayer-activity, mainly in participants. There may be participants who are active in area of some religion, but I don’t know them in advance. Who are the participants? What age, gender and from what position? Why do they take part in Lightprayer-activity; what are they looking for and what do they get?
I’m just about to start the research-process and by August I have participated for one retreat. I will base my presentation on estimating the first impressions from the field. What kind of things I have come up with and do they match for my pre-assumptions. I find that the questions of power, gender and agency occur interestingly also in Lightprayer-research.