Dearest God of Play, what are the other Gods in your pantheon? Listening is one. Listening is not you, but perhaps is your best friend. Or maybe it’s your cousin, or your sister, or your arm or leg. But it’s not your heart. Listening aids you. It builds upon that which you are. It assists in your primary function. But listening is not your essence. For what is listening? Listening is primal receptivity...

Oh God of Play!

 Creator of worlds.

 Heightener of depths.

 Joy-bringer into the unknowns.

 Dancer, smirker, smiler, scofferer, uplifter, buoyer, lightener.

Welcome to my book. A book about play in its most serious form – play as devotional practice, as worship. I worship the God of Play, and this book is a guidebook for worshipping this de- ity. It explains the God, details its powers, its qualities, its manifold forms, and describes the weighty resistances we face which prevent us from manifesting divine play. This book is a prayer book. It con- tains manuals of worship, pedagogies, and creative displays of this God’s powers. This book was able to be written only because I have had this God in my heart, or very near to my heart, or perhaps at ear’s distance able to be called upon by my heart and beckoned to come nearer.

We all spend our lives honoring the Gods in whose heavenly chorus we have danced, and we emulate those Gods in every way that we can. And as we live our lives in this emulation, so we choose a him, a her, a one to love and we fashion and treat our love like our very own god, building our love up and adorning our love as an image to honor and worship. (Phaedrus)