JenWReeve

Last night, my daughter and I were watching the movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them when I heard this line: “When the No-Maj (people without magical powers) are afraid, they fight.” So incredibly true. They also flee, and sometimes they become paralyzed. We may have had any or all of these reactions last week when we witnessed the unimaginable, despicable, criminal actions at our nation’s capital. We most certainly should never, ever tolerate such behavior. But whatever response we had at the moment doesn’t have to be the place we live.  After my initial shock and horror, I started thinking […]

Dear 2020, As you draw to a close, allow me to express to you my deepest gratitude. You have offered me the opportunity to grow in ways I had never imagined. You have revealed the mystery of stillness, how the chrysalis appears to be dormant, yet all the while it is busily becoming a butterfly.  You have tuned me to the rhythm of the seasons, the grace of the moon phases, and the ebb and flow of weather patterns so that now I better understand the complete wisdom of cycles. You have taught me, not easily, but taught me nonetheless, […]

We were about six and eight, my brother and I, when we snuck into the cabinet of the built-in bookshelf to look for my parents’ sex manual. As we were pawing around in there, I became captivated by something equally mysterious–the Age of Aquarius album by The 5th Dimension. Tucked in with Sergio Mendes and Engelbert Humperdinck was the smartly dressed group of five inside a mystifying wheel, the middle guy’s hands doing some sort of hocus pocus. I was awestruck! And today, I can’t get the lyrics out of my head. Sing along with me if you know them: When […]

Last summer when my daughter had Covid, I was afraid, so I drew this picture. Many years ago, when I was grieving the death of my husband, I was lonely, so I wrote poetry. And on the countless days when I feel insecure, unmoored, exhausted, unloved or even hopeless, I dance. Creative expression is a tool to guide us through the darkness. It connects us with the Divine light within. I practiced this idea Monday on the New Moon and Solar Eclipse one week before Winter Solstice, quite literally a dark day. In a virtual circle with a group of […]

The end of this month marks my 10th anniversary of living in my house in the forest. I’m tremendously grateful to be able to step out my back door and into an evergreen paradise, but I have a confession to make. When I first moved here, and even for a few years after, I was terrified of getting lost in the woods.  Whether I was hiking or riding my horse (at the time I had the only horse I’ve ever known with no sense of direction) I lived with an irrational fear that I would not be able to find my way home. […]

I found this curious relic when cleaning out my shed over the weekend. I believe it was my grandmother’s. I have no idea why I saved it.  Wondering about its story and whether I should keep it, I decided to text my grandmother’s only two living relatives other than myself–my mother and my brother. My mom said: “Are you sure it was hers? I don’t remember it.” My brother: “Yes, it was hers, but I have no idea what it is. Some sort of bad dream fruit bowl?”  We each have our own story about the bowl. To me, the […]