12 Comments
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Cassandra Root's avatar

Hi Jan, saw your intro on WITD, I just read your nettle piece and this one and just LOVED it. At a time when I'm feeling more myself than ever and yet more alone, leaving bits of my past life behind, but so content with the solace of nature and my garden, it means a lot to resonate with someone. I had planned to harvest some nettle today! Along with verbena and blackberries. Looking forward to connecting over herbs and words.

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Jan Elisabeth's avatar

Thank you so much Cassandra

Hope the harvesting goes really well. That sense of solace is so important -- to feel connected beyond the human world.

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Night Muse's avatar

What a thought provoking, magical essay Jan. So happy to learn more about you and your life and work.

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Jan Elisabeth's avatar

Thank you Nancy -- lovely to have you here x

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Kerri ní Dochartaigh's avatar

Oh this is so beautiful, so deeply inspiring too. x

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Almut | The Weary Pilgrim's avatar

Jen, I read this during a night wake beside my sick child. Beautiful words, vulnerable, honest, true. Thank you. Looking forward journeying with you.

PS: the Elijah story and your translation into our very own existence, yours and mine is a very proper one. 🙏

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Jan Elisabeth's avatar

Thank you so much Almut

Hope your little one is healing xx

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Diana van Eyk's avatar

Take good care, and thanks for sharing, Jan.

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Jan Elisabeth's avatar

Thank you, Roselle -- I've always juggled - it becomes engrained after a while but cycles of reivew definitely help.

The assualts didn't really have motives beyond 2 guys looking for money for drugs and another who had absconded from a mental health facility so all of them hurt and let down people who hadn't been served by the way society molds and damages women and men.

Sometimes our bodies defnitely do the slowing down for us -- perhaps telling us to switch to a different kind of strenght instead of our previous notions of full strength.

Jan xx

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Roselle Angwin's avatar

A brave and important post, Jan. (I imagine the church assaults were the dying gasps of patriarchy about your ordination as a female priest?).

When I arrived here permanently, I was seriously burnt out from far too many decades of juggling far too many passions. I'm not back at anything like full strength. I have felt slightly concerned for you about what you too are juggling. Brilliant that you are questioning.

Rx

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Sue H's avatar

Thank you, Jan. This is timely for me too, relooking at the threads in my life and seeing a different weave starting to emerge. 🌿

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Jan Elisabeth's avatar

thank you Sue -- so glad it resonated :)

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