Apprenticeship

But for most of my life, I did not have the language to explain what I felt or a community that confirmed my reality.

I needed help bridging the gap between the reality I was taught in mainstream culture, and the reality I felt was more intrinsic to being a spiritual being living in a world that is so alive.  I needed other people to share and grow with.

Upon meeting Jen for the first time, I knew I wanted to learn from her and be her student. Long before I even fully understood the breadth of the work that she did, I could feel it resonating within me. I am so happy I took that leap of faith.

Jen's work is gentle, subtle, but profoundly transformative. I felt safe and understood, and it lead me toward pathways of having more space in my life to grow into myself.   

Each of the Apprenticeship weekends unfolded in unique ways. It was a beautiful practice and the way the time unfolded felt like magic. We learned to form relationship with plants, and to have those relationships be the basis of guiding our work. We learned how to listen and contribute with the Earth in what Jen would call "co-creative relationships".  We built fellowship and community with one another as students. We explored parts of ourselves that where challenging for me at times, but ultimately led to much needed growth.

* I feel more grounded.

* I trust my intuition more and I trust more in the information I receive from Plants, Nature, Spirit beings, and Guides.

* I've enhanced my capacity to let my own will aside and be a channel for receiving and giving energy.

*I learned that I love rituals! The intention and beauty in practicing ritual has just enhanced my life so much.

*I learned many helpful techniques in understanding the metaphysical origins to the struggles people have in their lives. I learned how to help clear energy fields.

The experiences with Jen are actually really hard to quantify, but like the healing work she does I have found them to be a series of subtle , but profound shifts to becoming my best self.

And through this process I quit my day job! I left the job that was a toxic work environment, and landed in a beautifully well suited workplace for the things I value most and my goals as a professional. But I also have the insight that I am more than just my job and I need to prioritize and balance all these other areas of my life. I am now working on cutting back the hours I work in order to be able to focus more on developing other career and life paths with the plant world.

The week before the internship began, I freaked out, called Jen and told her I did not think I would be able to do it. I had wanted to do the internship for over a year before it began. But at the time I recently entered into a really intense new relationship with compelling but also very trying circumstances. I was also enrolled in an herbalism studies program elsewhere, and in addition to that I was working full time. I was overwhelmed and I could not conceive adding one more thing on to my plate. Jen simply said that this is my commitment to the Plants and the Earth, and that I made it and had a responsibility to follow through.  So I did. I entered an internship that I did not feel emotionally or mentally prepared to take on. But it was one of the best decisions I could have made for myself. I do not think I would have done it any other way looking back on it.  

Lastly, I want to say that social justice is very important to me. Sometimes "new age" type work can be very off putting in for me because it can undermine or negate our need for awareness of how to work for a more compassionate and just society.  I feel like my work with PSH gives me a new way to engage in social justice, and a new way to sustain myself as I engage in work that involves bringing people attention to these issues.

I feel like I received so much love and support from Jen in all areas of my life and that it is so profoundly helpful to feel so loved by a mentor and teacher."

 ~ Dawn, Midwife