HOLISTIC COUNSELING & TRANSFORMATIONAL ASTROLOGY
About Jen
I'm Jen— writer, holistic counselor and self-directed learning (unschooling) guide.
My early years were marked by a fascination with mystery and a deep curiosity about cultures, which led to degrees in Cultural Anthropology and Education. I obtained my license and national certification in Massage Therapy and Healing Arts from the Scherer Institute of Natural Healing in Taos, New Mexico, with an focus on intuitive presence and energy healing. There, I lived, worked, and learned alongside the Taos Pueblo community — experiences that shaped my respect for the people, nature, and the land as teachers. Later, I taught Elementary and Middle School English for many years. After, I obtained my Board Certification in Holistic Health Counseling from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in New York City and became a Registered Yoga Teacher.
For three decades my focus has been in holistic health, shamanism, astrology, ancestral medicine and body-centered therapies. And most recently unschooling and the deep process of unraveling from a culture of systemic based harm. This work brings together all I've learned — as a woman, teacher, mother and guide. I listen to people's stories while they connect back with the ancient parts of themselves and align with their inner truth — through story, embodiment and the wisdom of nature.
If you're seeking transformation —a career change or relationship shift, a health challenge or seeking a more profound connection to your own rhythm or life purpose this work meets you where you are.
I live in Vermont on unceded Abenaki/Wabanaki land with my husband, our son, and two cats. I offer my services locally and online, and work with people internationally, so no matter where you are, we can connect.
The Regeneration Manifesto
(An Invitation):
This is my compass--the truth I've gathered from decades of healing, mothering, remembering and rising. If you're walking your own return path, this is for you.
I remember sitting around ceremonial fires, surrounded by sisters, mothers, grandmothers, all the women, with you.
I remember ancient wisdom passed down from generation to generation.
It's in my bones.
It's real.
I was there.
You were there.
I remember the ways our bodies moved slowly, with ease.
Delightfully bumping into each other with laughter as we danced.
Gently.
Rhythmically.
Hips swaying to the sounds of breezes in the treetops.
The music.
The howling wind.
The sky twinkled with promises upon us as the fires burned into the night.
Embers flickered through the twilight,
bringing our passion, our dreams, toward the cosmos.
The night was peaceful.
Its darkness covered us in possibilities where we dreamed.
Together.
We were wholly ourselves.
Free.
Love.
Wild.
We moved with the cycles of nature, and of the seasons.
We nourished each other with our hearts, our art, our gifts.
We were one then.
Remember?
There was no them and us.
It was all Us.
Together.
We celebrated our differences.
That's what made it all so real.
Interconnected.
It's time we share the knowledge we have inside our hearts.
To claim it and support ourselves by coming together and
being witnessed.
Seen.
Heard in all our glory and in all our ragged, bone tiredness.
Because, damn, we're tired of doing all the things.
Alone.
The land of the free and the home of the brave taught us
that we would be "successful" by
Muscling through.
Ignoring feelings.
Because we were taught independence is the way.
That doing it all ourselves somehow makes us
Stronger.
More powerful.
Mind over heart.
But we know better.
We are better together.
Fitting our unique pieces together, woven into a collective mosaic that brings out our ultimate brilliance.
All the colors. Shades. Gifts.
Our shimmering wishes.
We live softly, gently.
Now.
We have been through so much.
We are in a process of healing.
With tears to shed.
Wounds to heal.
Soul wounds: as we were under a collective spell saying we needed
taming, shaming, blaming.
Because we are too powerful.
Our power was feared.
Our power was suppressed, repressed, oppressed because it was too big.
Too much.
Too real.
Our power is immense.
Our power is in our body.
Our stories.
Our connection to source.
Our power is together.
The wild body.
The dreaming body.
It is our sensor.
Our connection to intuition.
To knowing
that
That information that comes to us and through us
is True or not.
We cannot be tamed.
We breathe with the Mother, for it is where we derive our sustenance, our nurture.
Our nature.
We come from wildish places and wildish dreams.
Our dreams cannot be tamed, for they come to us and through us.
We are the dreams of our ancestors.
To be the light in the world.
Peace in the community.
At home in our hearts and our minds.
I have made mistakes, yet I believe in innocence.
Purity.
Regeneration.
Transmutation.
I remember.
Sometimes it takes a while to remember but the memory always floods back.
Forgiveness.
Compassion.
Of the ways I have gone against my inner knowing.
Of the ways I accepted others ways that aren't mine.
I believe women will heal the world.
It's time we listen to what our hearts want.
Community. Support. Healing. Truth. Process.
It's time we love ourselves, our dreams.
The dream we came to create together.
The revolution is gentle and soft.
It is calling us back to our center.
The revolution is in our hearts.
It is love.
It is positive.
I am for-
love
community
health
growth
diversity
human
nature
women-men-children working together cooperatively
choice
forgiveness
sovereignty
Can you hear it?
The heartbeat of mother earth
echoing softly,
calling your name.
Calling you in.
You have been waiting for this.
We have been waiting for this because we have been dreaming together.
You may have lost your way
or your faith,
or your dream because you were tired
or afraid.
Afraid of being called out.
Afraid of sharing your song.
It's time to come out and play.
This is your time.
To be celebrated.
To be danced.
To be your wild self in the moonlight.
© Jen Rivers, 2015