TrueLife - Jenna Longmire - Creativity is an expression of divinity

Episode Date: September 9, 2023

One on One Video Call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_US🚨🚨Curious about the future of psychedelics? Imagine if Alan Watts started a secret society with Ram Dass and Hunter S. Thompson… now open the door. Use Promocode TRUELIFE for Get 25% off monthly or 30% off the annual plan For the first yearhttps://www.district216.com/http://www.jennalongmire.com/I having been serving the Nashville Tennessee area for 17 years and have 25 years experience as a psychotherapist and facilitator of healing. I am passionate about the journey of human growth, healing and evolution as it relates to our Divinity and the greater good of the collective human experience. I have extensive experience in a variety of healing modalities including energy work, breathwork, experiential psychotherapy and EMDR. I am also a singer/songwriter and am interested in creativity as an expression of the Divine. One on One Video call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_USCheck out our YouTube:https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPzfOaFtA1hF8UhnuvOQnTgKcIYPI9Ni9&si=Jgg9ATGwzhzdmjkg

Darkness struck, a gut-punched theft, Sun ripped away, her health bereft. I roar at the void. This ain't just fate, a cosmic scam I spit my hate. The games rigged tight, shadows deal, blood on their hands, I'll never kneel. Yet in the rage, a crack ignites, occulted sparks cut through the nights. The scars my key, hermetic and stark. To see, to rise, I hunt in the dark, fumbling, fear. Hears through ruins maze, lights my war cry, born from the blaze.

The poem is Angels with Rifles. The track, I Am Sorrow, I Am Lust by Codex Seraphini. Check out the entire song at the end of the cast. Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like we made it. It's Friday, it's a beautiful day. You've got the weekend coming up. You're probably going to be in the arms of someone you love. The birds are singing. The sun is shining. Maybe you have a silver lining. I don't know.

But I brought today at least a silver lining, a ray of sunshine, the only, the one and only, Jenna Longmeier. You may have seen her profile. You may have heard her music before. She's a MSLPC priestess guy, divine feminine mentor, singer, songwriter, spiritual person, creative person, guest on the True Life podcast. I'm so thankful you're here today. Jenna, how's it going? It's going really good, George. I am excited to talk about all these juicy things that create life, right? Yeah. Yeah, it's so true. It's having the ability to tap into the world that's speaking to us, through us sometimes.

You know, sometimes the best way just to begin is just to maybe get a background on somebody. Maybe you can tell us a little bit about yourself, how you got to be where you are. And I'll just, I'll leave it there and let you start wherever you are. want to. Okay, sure. I know you like to hear kind of an origin story and there's, of course, several along the way, but I would say one of my first mystical experiences was in kindergarten and I had the opportunity to perform and recite a poem. So I picked owl and the pussycat. And I think I was in a state of ecstasy. Like I remember being so engrossed in that story. And, that I was just kind of obsessed and, you know, in another world.

So I think that was the beginning of it for me. He's like someone, you know, handed me the microphone and I was like, yeah, you know. But then later in life, I think post-college and grad school, like in my 20s, in the 90s, I moved to Tucson, Arizona from Louisville, Kentucky. and I really wanted to learn about healing. Like my whole goal was to naively save the world, right, you know, as a young therapist and healer. And so I really landed in a good spot for me.

At that time, Andrew Weil was there directing the Center for Integrative Medicine at the U.A. and I was a new therapist, you know, really gung-ho. But I discovered very quickly from working with, you know, very fringe types of groups early on in my career, impoverished groups, minority groups, severely mentally ill, children in the system. Like, I kind of did all of that fringy kind of in the field, social work stuff. And discovered really quickly that, you know, this is a system. problem, we are very much lacking a connection with spirit. Like, you know, I really saw how we were just missing the boat kind of, you know, talking about politics and psychology and all of that's really good,

education and all that's really important for uplifting people. But I was like, well, what about the spiritual? Because I feel like, if we don't have that, then what do we have? You know, what are we doing here? So that was just my entry point and beginning of my own search for my own healing. And talk therapy wasn't enough for me. Like very quickly, I was like, yeah, this talking thing isn't doing it. Yeah, it seems on some level it's good to have our voices heard and good to hear other people. But without that spiritual connection, it feels like you're missing something. And what a great way for you to get to be embraced by that spirit or sit with it is just to help out other people.

Sometimes that act of healing and helping other people is something that makes that spirit obvious to you. Maybe you can talk a little bit more about that. What was it like working with these different groups? And what was spiritual about it? Yeah, it was very spiritual. I always saw that work as a spiritual calling. And I think, you know, it goes back to, and I'm not even like a really a Bible study person, but where two or more are gathered, here I am. And so for me, just coming in and helping was a way, you know, we were joining in relationship and calling in the divine.

I mean, I always saw it that way, whether my clients were spiritually oriented or not. I mean, that's the way I saw it. And so I started, when I started doing energy work and breath work and those other modalities, that was when I really felt the bigger openings for people. But that was almost kind of like a luxury, you know, for the people I was serving who were, you know, in the system, let's say that wasn't even really available to them. So I really wanted to try to, you know, my spiritual calling was to try to kind of bridge the worlds. You know, that's kind of always been up for me, like walking between the worlds of, you know, Western psychology and spiritual healing, where there's maybe some judgment of one another in either of those camps.

But really seeing the need for both. Yeah, that's well said. I think it comes down to this bridge. between science and spirit. And you're right, there is sort of this wedge between these two camps. But, you know, and everything we've talked about so far and what I hear in your voice is this unique

understanding of relationship, whether it's your relationship to the world, the relationship to spirit, the relationship to other people, the relationship you feel when you're around other people. And it seems like that is, you know, your relationship to creativity, your relationship to the divine. Like, it's kind of all about relationships, isn't it? Exactly.

Yes. You took the words right out of my mouth. And I think that's where the divine feminine comes in. Okay. You know, because she is, in my mind anyway, in the way I experience the divine feminine, is very much about relationship. So it's about we're all connected all the time.

So you can't get away from it coming back around to relationship, even if it's just you, you know, even if it's just my relationship. to myself. What am I saying to myself right now? How am I treating myself right now? 100% agree. It's all about, it's all about relationship. And then you kind of build, I think, on that, starting with the relationship with yourself and then the relationship to the divine, which we're not really taught that. We're usually taught to take care of everybody else and put ourselves last, but I think if we put ourselves first and then create our relationship with

the divine, then when we connect, wow, like that is true intimacy, true, you know, true connection rather than what I'm kind of seeing a lot of, which is more superficial, which is not what I'm talking about. Yeah. Yeah, no, it makes perfect sense. I, sometimes when I think of the divine feminine, like I think of that sort of, that ability to help us see ourselves as one in some way in which, you know, my mom or much like you have probably come from a family. I come from a family of strong women, probably much like you. And there was some, there was some sort of divine spiritual nature about my mother, where she was able to always know when me and my sister were up to no good. You know, she, she had this ability to know we were about to fight over the middle

cinnamon roll or, you know, she, she always knew. And in some ways, it's that relationship I had with her that I still feel I have with the planet. Or like, I feel like the planet knows kind of what's best for me. And if I just take time to listen and watch nature that the truths are revealed to me, what is, what do you think about that description as divine feminine? Or maybe you can flesh it out a little bit more. Like, what, when you think a divine feminine, in. Is there a feeling you get? Is there an emotion you get? Is there an idea about relationships? Maybe you can talk a little bit more about that. Yeah, I really identify with what you shared about your mother's sense of knowing and intuition, because that is very much to me,

part of, part of divine feminine. And what she brings to the table is this innate wisdom, intuitive gifts that come in all forms and the moms just know, right? The moms know. And then, of course, nature is our teacher. And I think what's a good distinction to make between divine feminine, and when you think about nature, that's very much in the world, right? That is imminent. It is physical. It's physicality. It's material. It's flesh. It's the element. It's, you know, so I feel like divine feminine teachings that the God is in us, eminent in the flesh, is what has gotten kind of written out of or pushed out of religion, organized religion to a big extent.

It's kind of put this barrier between us and God, so to speak, where we have to go to some intermediary when it's us. It's the world. It's everything. To me, that's where divine feminine comes in, is reminding us that it's like here. It's right here with us all the time and we just forget,

you know. Yeah. It's true. It's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day ideas of, okay, I got to provide for my family. I have to make my kids breakfast and dinner, make sure that homework's done.

and get them to bed and brush their teeth. They've got a cavity and it's just like, ah! It's so easy to spiral out of control and lose control of the idea that we are all part of a giant miracle. And if you just take time to sit back for a moment, for me, I'd like to go out and I'll just sit on my back porch or I'll go for a walk. And usually that's enough to ground me to look around and realize, wow, I'm part of this giant organism in the same way that this apple tree grows, the earth is growing people. And it helps me to see other people in a, in a kind of a youngian psychology type of way.

I'm like, that's me trying to, you know, in some ways I think we can learn from everybody. And I think that's the divine nature of it too, is that everybody you see is a way for you to see yourself, because we all have these problems, and we're all working through issues, and we're all celebrating little wins, hopefully, and finding ways to do it.

And another thing I think it inspires is this idea of creativity, which you seem to have an abundance of. Maybe you could talk about your relationship between creativity and femininity and spirituality, or maybe you can give us some tips there. Sure. Yeah. I mean, I think the creative, I think about the creative process as very receptive, which is a feminine trait, let's say, receptivity.

So we sit down to create or we call in the muse, how to do that, and we receive, right? We receive the inspiration, the ideas. And if you've ever read Elizabeth Gilbert's book, Big Magic, I love that because she talks about it as like these creative ideas flying around the universe. And whoever happens to grab it, you know, if you don't grab it, someone else might, you know. So we might even have two people on different sides of the world. world kind of with the same idea sometimes. So if we grab that creative idea and we bring it through us, then it becomes our unique signature on that creation. So I might take the same idea and create something out of it, whereas you would take that idea and do something completely

different with it. So that's that's where we co-create with the divine. So I just feel like that was kind of how I got introduced to the divine was through the creative process and really losing my sense of self, which is kind of what we we like to do, right, is going to forget about our ego for a little while and just be one with the flow of whatever's coming through you. So yeah, I recognize that for me early on as a big part of my spiritual practice is is to create. And that can even be like, you know, making your meal could become a spiritual creation.

So. Do you feel that's like a muscle, like it's a system or a process? Like the more you begin to come familiar with it, the better you get at it? I think so. I think it's really just getting out of our own way because most of us have pretty heavy critical voice, perfectionistic.

So I remember making art just not really caring, you know, really just, this is just fun. And then later it got to be kind of this, well, this has to be something that I am going to, you know, monetize or I'm going to put it out into the world and it has to be a certain way, you know. And so I think that's the part that gets in the way and shuts us down as we think, we get ahead of ourselves thinking of how, how, how. How is this going to appear to others when it's really the process itself? And then with songwriting, I really do feel like once we get the song and we release it into the world, you know, we record it, release it, whatever, perform it. It's the world's song. You know, it's no longer ours.

We were just the vehicle to get it out there. And same with other things like writing and pieces of art. It's like once it's out of us, then it, then it's the gift, right? Yeah, that's so beautiful. I love it. It's in some ways it's like we're the, we're the icing on the cake or we're the oven that bakes it. But I like the, I like the one you use about being a vehicle and how we create this thing

and then put our signature on it and then give it to the world. I speak to a lot of different authors and sometimes they'll tell me things like, oh, you know, George, when I was writing this book, I felt as if something was writing through me. Do you feel that way when you're writing songs or when you're creating things? I do. Yes. It's great when that happens.

Sometimes it's kind of a struggle, you know. Right. I can't quite find this. But yeah, there's times when it's just boom. And I'm like, yeah, that's special when that happens. Is there a way that you ever sit down and sometimes people sit down and like, okay, I'm going to write this? And then they're just like, do-to-do, what's my cat doing? Or you know what I think?

You start thinking about these other things and you get caught up. And some people have tips and tricks. And some people say if you just sit there long enough, it'll come to you. And sometimes it does. Sometimes it does it. But what is your experience with that? Do you have any tips or tricks to help coax the spirit? Or is there like a ritual you do?

Or is there something that helps you get into the creative mood? You know, as much as I love it, I still struggle with getting myself to sit down and do it. So the ritual is really. for me just getting my ass in the seat in my studio and making the time. And, you know, this is sacred time. You know, this is like I'll meditate. I'll do yoga. I'll do all the other things.

But why that, why that's so hard, I think, is because it forces us to really get in touch with what's going on. For me, anyway, it's emotional. And so I have to be prepared to dig. into what's there. And, you know, I'm sure it's different for different people, but I write from an emotional place. That's just, that's just what inspires me is usually, sometimes it's a story or a visual image,

but a lot of times it's just kind of an internal emotional state that will start me out. So we can kind of have resistance to maybe getting that deep sometimes. but yeah especially if you're going to write about something really personal or something's trying to work through you in a way that was painful it's it's sort of this double-edged sort of creativity where you're taking this painful thing and you are coaxing the beauty out of something ugly and that is a painful thing to do but and in some ways like i could understand why that would be difficult to get in that seat because it's now you're back at this idea of like okay i got this i got this thing i want to sit in that seat and i got to relegaping that seat and i got to

live this experience and, you know, try to coax this beauty out of here. But I think that that's something that should be talked about. Like the creative process isn't always something that is full of sparkles and rainbows, right? A lot of the times that creative healing is a manifestation of changing something difficult into something palatable, right? That's exactly right. in fact, what will happen is there'll be kind of a healing transmutation experience around it. Yeah.

And what started out is a painful, maybe emotion that you want to work with, it ends up kind of being the healing. Like, I mean, I know a lot of songwriters that I know it keeps them sane, literally. So, yeah. It's, you know, it blows me a way to think about that, too. As you're saying that, how many of the. songs that we have heard in our life that we all probably have our personal favorites have become therapy for us. And that must mean that the person that wrote it figured out a way to deal with it. And in some way, the siren song is the way in which it's the call to us to heal.

The same way the sirens call to Odysseus from the rock, so too is the singer-songwriter, like yourself singing a song for us to pay attention to and be called to healing in some ways. And it's so beautiful because it just makes me realize how it brings us back to the divine feminine or the idea of spirituality that the act of creating is calling to other people, inviting them to see a way in which you've solved a problem. It's pretty beautiful when you begin thinking about it, how deep it is. It really is. I think it's the medicine for the world right now, honestly, is music, art, you know, all. all of it. I mean, for me in particular, I think sound carries such a frequency. The human voice, just there's something about sound that really does it for me. I know for some people it might be

visual art, but I feel like that is truly what we need. And then there's something about kind of going back to indigenous roots in the divine feminine and in, you know, more indigenous spirituality, where, that's what we did to celebrate. We sang, we danced around the fire, we did ritual together. It was live. It was very present in the moment expression of devotion to the divine.

And so I think that's what I'm really being called back into because people, I think, are craving it, honestly. Yeah, I couldn't agree anymore. I, you know, in a lot of the circles I talk to people who are part of this creator economy, like yourself, you're creating artwork. You're creating something original from a time that is kind of devoid of rituals and everything that you've just spoken about, sound healing, singing, dancing around a fire. We're talking about community and camaraderie and rites of passage.

And those have been absent for so much of our lives that we've kind of forgotten how important they are. You know, sometimes you're like, ah, you know, I don't need to go camping for the weekend. I'm not going to go to that. But in reality, it's probably getting back to nature is one of the most healing things you can do for your soul, just to extract yourself from this world of monotony out there. The things you're doing, I think they're doing that in some ways.

I think you're calling people to rewild themselves. I think that's what singer-songwriters and people who find ways to hear you. heal through the divine feminine and be a mentor doing? Is there how, maybe you could talk about the relationship between being a, like a female mentor and a creator. What is, how is that working? Or is there certain women that you're, that you're moving to a mentor? How are those things going together?

Yeah. I think, I think women and men, well, everyone, women and men are looking for, I think what, what I stumbled on to through a series of events that pushed me there, but like, I want to create my life in a different way. I don't know why I'm feeling this way, because I had a really

wonderful looking life. Like, I mean, anyone would have looked at me and gone like, well, she's got it made. Like, but why was I dissatisfied? You know, what was missing for me? And so I think that's who I'm drawing into to work with are people that are going

yeah, there's something missing here. I'm not sure what it is. And I think we're just so used to following kind of the cultural box of, you know, what the culture kind of tells us we should be doing. So I think those of us really challenging those boxes that we're in, even though they're comfortable and they look good and they seem fine, that's a hard thing. I think that's the hard thing to put our finger on sometimes. And so I think people are drawn to this type of divine feminine work or spiritual work, just this deeper soul work,

I call it, really listening deeply to our souls and what we want to create in our lives. So I work with people that are not necessarily, I mean, a lot of creatives too, but like scientists, you know, mothers who are stay-at-home mom, you know, people that are creating in all kinds of ways. So I don't want to just limit it to arts. Right. Yeah, I think at our soul, we're all creators.

You know, when you think about the, whether whatever divinity people believe in, whether it's Jesus or the Mother Earth, the Gaia, Buddha, Allah, Whatever creation story you believe in, you know, think about the word recreation and think about the word recreate. It's the same word. So recreation is recreating something. And, you know, when you're having recreation time, you're usually doing something that's kind of creative.

Even if it's just spending time thinking about your life, you're recreating your memories. You're remembering things. And when we do that, we're really processing the life we've lived so far. And so many times that's when a spiritual awakening or a creative awakening begins to happen is that you've finally processed something long enough where you can begin to move on. What do you think about awakenings, like spiritual awakenings or a creative journey? What's your take when I say that? Yeah, I think those come from a lot of.

stillness and reflection. And what you were just describing reminds me of kind of when you were asking about tips for creativity. Yeah. We have to have an awakening. I think it's the same. Spiritual awakening and opening to the muse. We have to have downtime.

And this is not accepted in our culture. I mean, I'm talking about sitting around, just, you know, staring at the window, daydreaming. Like, we have to have that time. And I know the artist's way, Julia Cameron did that book a long time ago about the artist's way, talking about taking yourself on artist dates and spiritual dates, like in nature and doing things that are going to inspire you. So I would say for me, the awakening and the real creative bursts come from lots of downtime,

stillness, slowing way, way down, and just really allowing myself to be open in kind of a right brain, on linear. This is all divine feminine, too. No prescribed just being in the flow. And that can actually take a while. Right. And I think that's important to say because people sit down and like, oh, I'm going to go in my studio, I'm going to go sit on and write, and they expect it right then. You might have

hours of staring and nothing coming. And that's probably because you need to just be for a while. I mean, yeah, I like that. I heard a quote one time that was along the lines of inspiration. Inspiration is there for you, but it has to find you working, but not necessarily working at like a, in a factory somewhere like inspiration and maybe it does but it has to find you being passionate about something you know whether you think whether you look at it like a muse or inspiration as a as an idea that's floating in the ether for us to grab i think that all of these spirits or ideas or conditions are looking for hosts but they have certain parameters that they want that person to have like and it's never about money it's always about like oh did you see that did you see that young lady

just pick up that butterfly and put on that flower. Let's go help her out. You know, it's something like that that you can't really describe it, but there's this power bigger that's just waiting to pour into you. In my mind, I see these elves or these entities or these fairies or just this cosmic wind that's surrounding people.

Like, come on, do the right thing, do the right thing, and waiting to pour into you. You know, it's so fun and beautiful to think about. And I see it in you. Like, I see you always smiling. And when I look at the songs that you're right, It looks like you're having so much fun. Like what role?

Like, is that like a natural demeanor for you? Or what is it, what's it like being who you are today and trying to create new songs and help people? Oh, it's, it's awesome. I mean, it's, I feel like I'm, I'm in my true element. It's taking me, I'm a little bit of a late bloomer. It's taken me a while. I mean, and I think I've been finding it all along the way, but I am happy and it is blissful. And I guess I don't want to be, you know, talking about the dark all the time, but also kind of want to be, I want to be real about the fact that that comes from, you know, going into the shadow, deeper work that causes those.

contractions, you know, those periods of maybe, you know, doing some of the work that's not as fun that, that, I mean, because I guess this is the therapist side. I mean, it's like, there's spiritual bypassing here, you know, it's like we still have to do emotional work to get to those blissful places. And yeah, I am, I am happy. I'm probably happiest when I'm doing music. And, you know, there's songs that I've written that come out of pain and struggle, but it's been transformed through that. So I think I'm a transmuter, you know, an alchemist.

And so whether it's healing work I'm doing or creative expression, that sort of feels like just my archetype or, you know, So the, taking the alchemist, right, takes something and turns it into something of a higher vibration, right? Takes the parts and puts them together in a different way that elevates whatever was there before. Yeah, it makes sense. And, you know, when I think of alchemy or transmutation or people that have done a lot of healing, work on themselves and now other people kind of go to, usually those people have spent a lot of time around really painful things, whether it's someone they love dying, or whether it's battling

depression themselves, or, you know, I think in some ways there's some stories that talk about alchemy being the transmutation of the soul from dark to light. And so many people I know that are really happy have had profound bouts of just melancholy, where it's, you know, couldn't get out of bed or, you know, they lived in a family where they were abused. And like, you don't find that out until later. You're like, oh, my, I can't believe it. Like, look at the way this person lives their life. And when you start talking to them, you realized that it was those, that dark night of the soul,

or it was that horrific abuse that gave them this positive outlook. And you're like, you have to just stop for a minute and be like, wait a minute. Wait just a minute. Are you telling me that that horrible life led you to? to this world of abundance and spirit. Like that's the stories that we all look at and like, wow, what a profound outlook on life. And it's so sometimes it's very inspiring and also very difficult to understand how such pain can lead, such heartache can lead to such bliss.

But it's a true story that runs down the heart of each and every one of us, the story of pain and pleasure and inspiration and desperation. It's weird how those are intertwined, right? Yeah, it really is. And I believe this is a divine feeling in teaching, you know, that part of what I learn is just in the charge of the goddess, all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals. It was in the charge of a charge of the goddess. And so in our culture, when we say, oh, pleasure is my birthright, you know, pleasure is my divine inheritance. I truly believe that.

Yet, again, in our culture, it's seen as kind of this superficial thing, pleasure, when we have to go to the depths of the dark to even begin, I think, to even appreciate what we have. Unfortunately, it takes that. I mean, I'd like to, you know, we'll evolve past meeting to do it that way. But for whatever reason,

And I know that was definitely true for me that it was through the pain and through trauma and, you know, different, different obstacles that cracked me open. I mean, I just see that that is the way it works. Yeah. Lonnie brings up a good point here. Maybe it's not the abuse or the actual event that happens, but it's the meaning that we ascribe to. What role? I once heard another great quote that was. in life you can't control what happens to you, but you and you alone get to control the meaning

of that event. And maybe it's ascribing meaning to things that that changes the outlook of it a little bit. What do you think about the idea of creating meaning around events to change your life? Oh, yeah. I think that's really important. And sometimes that doesn't come right away. I know it's like at first it's like, oh, God, why is this happening to me? And there's, you know, gosh, we can't help but have some victim mentality around that sometimes. But I do think the meaning comes in time. It did for me.

And it was like, oh, wow. You know, I didn't realize how unawake I was or unaware or unconscious until this thing came and had to wake me up. so to speak, around what I'm really made of. You know, it made me realize, I think, the value of our lives and the preciousness of our lives and the decision to not just kind of go through the motions, but to be really proactively creating, you know, co-creating with the divine,

the life, the life that we want, the, you know, the life that the divine wants for us. I think it's a two-way street happening there. So I hope I answered your question there. Of course, of course. Yeah, it's when I look back at some of the tragedies in my life and some of the people that I love the most that went way too soon or even, you know, difficult parts of my my life, like we get fired or you lose something or a relationship goes awry. Everybody has different sets of scenarios that happen to them and they seem like the world is

falling down. One thing that I read a while back that really helped me out was this idea that some things can't be learned that can only be developed inside of you. And I think when you find yourself up against the rock and back against the wall, like that is something developing inside of you. And Lonnie says that not everybody gets back up. up like on some level that's true but i think i think what's happening inside people is that there's this thing developing in them and you had mentioned in your language you said this thing broke and then

you saw the light it was broke and then all of a sudden you were able to to create out of that something inside of us needs to break in order for us to be reborn in a way to this world to create things you know and it it's that and i think what's horrible and beautiful is that we don't get to decide what it is that breaks us. We don't know, but you can rest assured that there's stuff out there that's going to break you, that good news and bad news. And the good news is you will be in a position where you can create the bad news is you're going to have to get broken first. And so it's interesting. But if you can look at life like that, and in the midst of the tragedy, maybe a year, two years after you have asked the question,

why me enough, maybe you too can remember this conversation where, ah, this is what's developing in me. And then you can ascribe meaning to this thing that's developing in you. And when you do that, you begin to see the world unfold in front of you and understand that this thing that happened to you, you know, it wasn't something that was trying to hurt you or destroy you. It was something that had to be broken in you so something else could be developed. But it's an interesting thought process, right? Yeah, it really is. It really is. And it is the good and bad news. And it's kind of like, well, this is earth school people. We're here to learn about emotions, I believe, you know, that like to kind of handle it, to kind of handle that. And to learn to get like what we're learning

now, like to get along to actually collaborate, to not be so divisive. And then I can't help but notice one of the comments about somebody says, not every. everybody gets back up. And I kind of want to speak to that. It's like, yeah, you know, I was, I, I, I, I dealt with a lot of my stuff on my own, but like I had a psychotherapist. I had, you know, mentors, healers that I, I went to. So I really think it's, you know, we can, we do, like you said, it has to be done, I think internally on our own. Do it for us. But we can get support because the people that aren't getting back up, I think maybe maybe they don't have that, you know. Maybe they're too alone. I don't know. Yeah, it's, I think that the help is there for people, but you have to seek it out.

On some levels, the world will try to point you in directions, you know, whether you're, you know, I've had incredible situations where I've been really down and out and I smiled at someone. We started talking. It turns out they were like a therapist. You think the world is looking for ways to help you if you're willing to receive that information. Some people check out.

Some people it gets too much for. And I'm sure all of us in here know people who have committed suicide or heard stories about it. And, you know, that's on some level that hurts everyone around you. And it's so unfair and selfish sometimes, you know, to think that you would leave here and leave everybody with the pain. It's a temporary problem. It's a permanent solution to a temporary problem. but it happens. People check out and they find that the world they're living in is too great for me. And on some level, you know, maybe it's their right. Maybe you should have the right to check out

of life is too much for you. You know, there's no rule that says you have to stick around. And sometimes just that obscure thought of like, yeah, go ahead and do it is enough to break people away from wanting to do it. You know, they're like, what do you mean I can do? Yeah, go ahead, man. It's all your life. Do what you want to do. And people are like, yeah, actually, I don't want to do it. You know, sometimes it's just that, It's that weird interaction of giving people permission to do things. And they're like, yeah, I don't want to do it anymore. You know, life is so, it's amazing. But you would touch on something earlier about life as a school.

I would like to explore that idea more because I have some similar ideas about it. But maybe you can talk a little bit more about life being a school. Yeah, I think we're here to learn certain core lessons. And I'll just use mine as a little bit of. an example. It's about power, and I'm sure it's a lot about why I'm on this path, divine and feminine path, but how to stay in my power. So my lessons have been all about relationships, right?

Back to that. So for me, it's been, you know, humbling to, you know, keep repeating a pattern maybe that I've seen and myself over and over. And so it's like, okay, there's the lesson. And, you know, there might be more than one, but usually there's just really one core thing, one or two maybe, when you really get down to it. And it's like, for me, it's like holding onto my power

and learning how to be in relationship without giving that power away. For others, it might be not dominating other people, maybe not trying to control other people. You know, for me, it wasn't. But go ahead. Yeah. I'm just laugh.

I'm like, I agree 100%. Yeah. It makes total sense. Yeah. No. And so the Earth School has been the humbling lesson of just kind of learn it again. Okay, here's a different scenario. This looks different.

But guess what? It's the same lesson. Oh, darn. You know, I thought I got that. But I, I. try to be realistic with my clients and students in that this is going to go on for the rest of your life. We don't really arrive. I mean, we can be, have our moments feeling really enlightened and all that and hopefully more and more of those as we age. But ultimately, I think we're here to learn

these lessons and then we don't need to be here anymore. So to the point of suicide, I think, yes, it's your choice to check out, but I think you're going to have to come back and do it again, honestly. So why not go ahead and get it done in this life? I feel like I've chosen to reincarnate many times in one body. There's others of you like that. It's like they've been through a lot. It's like, yeah, maybe we're just, we're getting a lot of lifetimes done in this one. I like to think. It's a beautiful way to think about it. It's a beautiful way. way to think about growth. And I love the idea that you spoke to the idea of life showing you patterns. And in my life, the same way, too. I feel like this happens at the school of earth is that

life continually throws you the same pitch until you hit it. Like if you can't hit a fastball, it's going to keep throwing fastballs right on the pipe. Fastball, fastball, fastball. When you hit it, it's like, okay, here's another one. Okay, you hit it. Here's another one. Okay, you got the fastball. Here comes a curveball now. You know, and it's like life will, you may be. You may be. You may be, at a different job and a different relationship and a different house in a different state. But that same scenario, that same test will be given

to you over and over again until you pass it. And I think that's the world's way of teaching you and showing you like, look, I love you. You're going to pass this test. You're going to keep taking it until you pass it. And once you pass it, you know, then I got another one for you. And sometimes that next step, that growth,

that reincarnation in our body can look like failure. You may pass the test And then something, oh, you got fired from your job. Well, did you get fired from your job or did you graduate from that place? Because it can be both, right? It can be both and, okay, now that place no longer has anything to teach you. I'm taking you out of there. And you're like, oh, I just lost everything.

But really, the earth is setting you up in something better. You just don't know it because you're not familiar with the lessons. And I think, but I love the way you said that. And I think if people can do that, then maybe they can experience what it's like to be reincarnated over and grow and find this new mindset. that. I really like the idea of the earth is a school and we're here to learn. And do you think that where we're going now, if we look at school, this world of chaos that seems to be, you know, cascading down on us right now? Like there's some real bright spot, it seems to me. It seems like we are beginning to

understand how to grow back together. It seems that we are beginning to reembrace the the feminine ideas of what the earth can be and our relationship to the feminine and our relationship to each other. There's some of the bright spots I see growing together. Do you see some bright spots kind of growing out of this chaos? Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

I feel like I've been waiting for this moment my whole life for the shit to hit the fans so we can get on. You're right. Totally. Yeah. Yeah. I think unfortunately, I hate that it took this, but when you think about humanity's repeating pattern of dissension and war and violence, it's like, wow, this has to stop. And I think this, what you're speaking to is what it's going to be.

That's why I feel like the divine feminine is so important to stabilize, to stabilize kind of this out of control power over dominant. that we've been in for thousands of years now. You know, since recorded history began, since that written history. I mean, but prior to that, I feel there was probably a lot, a lot different type of way of being on the planet. But we don't, you know, we don't know as much about that because it's not written down. Yeah. You know, maybe that problem, maybe that idea of writing. is what has created the problem in some ways.

When you think about the ideas of like exact repeatability, sure makes it easy to say that this person was in charge forever, so we have to respect them. You know what I mean? When you're like, wait, I mean, who wrote this? Who wrote this garbage down? I don't believe. That's not true.

I think we should do it this way, you know? And some people get really mad when you say, like, we can't do that, never work. This is wrong. And in some ways, it's that beautiful human condition of argumentation that leads to the past. out. I heard another quote that was like the best way out is through. And it takes these chaotic events, you know, and I think when you look at a forest being burned down sometimes,

it creates that fertile soil for the new saplings to grow and produce fruit. And I'm hopeful that what we're seeing now is the end of winter and the beginning of spring. And I'm really inspired when I see people beginning to create at a level at which you're creating, because that seems to me to be the green shoots. It seems to me to be the buds on the trees that will soon produce fruit is that look at the creation happening now. And people that are paying attention to this podcast and the world around you, I promise you, if you focus on the growth that's happening, you'll see that winter is behind us and that we're moving into spring. And it's pretty beautiful to not only see it. And I challenge people that are beginning to see it to begin creating it, because

the world needs you more than ever to be part of the creation. It needs you to grab one of these ideas, these low-hanging fruit of ideas and take a bite out of that apple and become part of the creative process that you were here to do. And I think it's beautiful. You know, we've been talking quite a bit about what's going on in the planet and the divine feminine, but I think that you have some personal creation that you're working. You've got a new song coming out or does a new album, a new song, or what's going on there? Yeah, I'm just doing singles these days. I miss the days of full albums. I did one. I did one full album, but I've been doing singles now. And this next one coming out is called Change Me. And I'm really excited

about it because I kind of feel like I'm finally getting my sound down. And that can take a while for an artist, you know, believe it or not, I mean, because I'm not a producer, I can count on other people to help me. but this song really came. I wrote it about this time last year, going into the fall season, thinking about just in the fall, you know, we kind of talk about shedding our skins, you know, kind of dying off.

Like you're talking about the spring of the, I think humanity is what you're referring to. Yeah, yeah. But in terms of just the seasons right now, going into fall, I wrote it as a prayer, kind of like, okay, strip me. down, change me. It's called Change Me. It's like the chorus is show me, show me, bless the dark, shine the light is the chorus. So it's like really saying, please show me the way,

please change what I really need to change that maybe I can't see. And so these new songs coming out of me are definitely, you know, the divines plopping them in here. So, So I'm excited to release. That'll come out in October. Nice. Yeah, I wish I had a clip for you, but I don't have that ready yet. But that's exciting. And then I am recruiting right now for my priestess path group program, which is a cohort for women doing the divine feminine work who want to learn and eventually apprentice.

in the group. So I'm calling in sisters who want, who want a group experience and there's individual work that comes with that too with me. And then I'm always open to anyone, men, women, whoever wants to do one-on-one work. I'm always open to doing that with folks too who, who want to work a little differently, you know, who want the groundedness of the psychology, but also really want that teaching and mentoring about spiritual resourcing. Because I think that's just kind of my gift is to really help people really find their noses, you know, the way that they directly connect with the divine. But it's that we're two or more gathered.

There's something about it's hard to do it by yourself, you know, especially if you you've kind of lost that connection and you want to, you know, you need some help getting it back. I feel like that's something I can really assist people with is sort of like, I know I have this connection, but like I'm having trouble really making that connection. And sometimes that is just, you know, maybe even listening to a podcast like this is enough or maybe you need a one-on-one to really sit down and, okay, let's you and I together access your nois because it's a little easier with someone holding space for you to do it and acting as a conduit, you know, opening up those multidimensional portals so we can access what's really available to us. That's what's

exciting to me right now with the creativity that's coming in and the healing that I'm seeing people experience. It's like it's way different than it was like a few years ago. It's phenomenal. I'm really hopeful seeing people really make those leaps. Yeah, me too. It's incredibly inspiring. And whenever you see someone who has decided to blow on the embers of that spark of creativity in their own heart, you can see them shine. You can see the flame shine through them.

And it's contagious. It's like lights of fire in the minds of other. men and women around you when you see it and you're like yeah i want to be like how do they start talking to that person and then all of a sudden you're like here here's the connection right up here just come to this wellspring just have a little sip out of here you know what i mean it'll totally help you you know and i think that we're all embarking on these new higher states of awareness and whether you achieve them through breathwork whether you achieve them through prayer whether you achieve them through like a giant dose of psychedelic mushrooms however you decide to find

this higher state of consciousness, once you've found it, you begin exploring that environment. And then it becomes a refuge. It can become a place where you can go to be inspired. It can become Buddha point. It can become a meditation room. It can become this place where you're no longer conditioned to see things in a linear fashion. And once you begin to see the world like that, everything opens up to you. And you're like, gosh, the answer was right there the whole time. And for so many people, the answer is it's just right. You just can't see it. It's in that blind spot right over there.

But if you just take time to relax your mind and take some deep breaths and maybe talk to somebody, you know, you can begin to see that stuff happen. And it's, you know, it brings up this idea. What do you think is happening in these heightened states of awareness? Like it seems like when you're working with people, you help them get there or when you're creating you're there. But what is it about these heightened states of awareness? Well, I think we're tapping into, not to get too metaphysical, but yeah, multidimensional possibilities. You know, when we're in the linear, we're just kind of looking at it through this very narrow lens.

And we're not seeing all the many possibilities. So when we have those big psychedelic openings, through many means, like you said, it's like we get, access to all of that and it's a very expanded state and so the trick i think is the real trick is then how do we then bring that into the material world and manifest that into something tangible i think that's the hard part um like how do you take the beautiful expanded state that you're in from one of those experiences and hold on to that, you know. Yeah, it's slippery. I don't think you can.

I think it's one of those things. The more tidy you try to grab it, the more it slips through your fingers. But I think you can access it. You can go there. You can go to the top of the mountain and look down for a little bit. We've got to come back down and start doing the work. Like it gives you a bird's eye view of what is possible.

You may forget so many times I've found. myself in this state of bliss and just like, you know, like a, I call it the terror before the sacred because it's something that is so beautiful. You're just frightened about it. You know, I pee your pants like, ah, ah, and then it's gone. And you're like, what the hell was that? And you're like, okay, let me just, let me just think. I had this beautiful. I had the answer right there. But it's not meant for you to have. It's meant for you to recreate. So you catch a glimpse of it. And then you're off to go do the work and try to recreate it. No matter how you perfect you think you get it. It'll never be perfect in your mind because it's so slippery,

but it's it's supposed to be that way. You get it and you lose it. You get it and you lose it. You get it and you lose it. But that's one step in front of the other. That's the creativity process. That's the word of the divine. It's the inspiration coming to you because the truth is we're not, we're children. We don't know how to use that gift in a way yet, but we can catch glimpses of it. And in doing so, we can help other people catch glimpses of it. Like we become the catalyst for contagion in some ways. And I think that's what you're doing with so many of your songs and helping people and talking about the way in which you help people do that. It's, you know, there's another, as I'm talking, I've noticed another thread in your thoughts that

seems to weave its way, not only through your music's, but also through your teaching. And that is this idea that, you know, the song you wrote is about, you know, change me. And then prior to that part of the conversation, you would talk about being reborn in your body multiple times. And then that ties in with the theme of the world has seasons. Do you think that we as individuals go through seasons and grow the same way that the earth grows and moves through seasons? I do. I do. Aren't we little fractals of the bigger holographic pattern? Yeah, I do. I mean, and when you think about it, I mean, I think all spiritual traditions have a creator, right? That something created all of this world.

So if we're little gods and goddesses, let's say, in the image of God, then we're supposed to create. Like, it's what we were put here to do. Like, that's us doing what I think God goddess put us here to do is to not get in the linear grind of just, But you're right about it being this. I forgot how you put it. But my language is like expanding, contracting.

I think you said, I forget how you said it. But like, yeah, we get all expanded, but we can't stay there. You know, we have to. And that's part of being embodied. It's like our work as embodied humans. I think right now on our planet, is to bring more and more that divine light into our physicality. And so that's kind of the hard thing.

We're saying that's kind of the hard part is how do we execute this into the world and make it contagious and spread it, which we are. I think we're doing a really good job. I do. Yeah. Yeah, I do too. It's fun. And it's, it's, I wish more people can.

I believe the more people will begin doing it. It's, it's, I see it happening everywhere. And it's so beautiful to know that everybody has their own unique gift to give to the world. If they're willing to believe in themselves enough to do it, you know, and when we all start shining our light, things get pretty bright. Yes, yes. Talk about alchemy, right? Yeah, absolutely.

It's what, where, where did your ideas about, wanting to become someone who helps people find a connection to their spirit. Like, where did that come from? Well, I think it came from my own, you know, wounded healer's journey of wanting to heal and be more connected with the divine, more of the time, and, you know, struggling at times of feeling very disconnected and very alone. and knowing that that's a lie. But how do we really, you know, bring that experience of that oneness, that interconnectedness into our body?

So it was just really kind of a calling to figure that out just because I'm such an avid seeker. And I think most of us who are, you know, are really looking to heal ourselves. So then it then it obviously ripples out to others when we're in a healed, healed enough state, I'll say, we're always healing, but a healed enough state that we can then transmit that to other people. And that's a beautiful thing when we can get there. And like you're saying, the more of us that can get there, then the ripples of that will be very exciting.

Yeah, it's interesting to me to talk to people. and get to hear their stories of how they got to be where they are. A lot of that times it comes from profound pain or loss or figuring out how to solve their own problems. And then they finally get to a point where they can share the answers to the test in a way. You know what I mean? By that, like for a lot of people I know, it was losing someone and then they talk about how they deal with their grief.

I think so much of the human condition is about sharing your pain and the answers to the pain. And sometimes the answer is that there is no answer to the pain. She just has to deal with it, you know? But it's what are what are some of the, what are some of the brightest spots that you have noticed in people you've helped? Like have you, is it the fact that they were able to get over things? Was it the lessons that they've taught you? What are some of the most rewarding things that you get out of helping other people? Oh, the rewarding things for me is really watching people come into their power and their

noses, like I said. Just like when we, you know, set it up and, you know, we, you know, I try to, you know, have the right elements there, right, to create the container for divine to come in. because that is the divine feminine way. We don't go get it. We don't have to go anywhere. It's like right here. And so when we set that up, just watching people.

Because I don't even know what's going to happen. You know, it's like, I'm always surprised. It's like, whoa, you see that or you're experiencing that? That is so cool because everyone's so unique that I just, I love what I do because I see people tap into that and kind of watch them light up with their own divinity. And then like I really think the trick is just hanging on to that, you know, because we get that like in a session or, you know, in an experience that we're having. And then it's just, you know, we get back into things and we contract back. But that is joyful to see people really find, find their connection. It's just kind of

like watching someone plug into a into a socket, you know, and then boom. Yeah, it is. It's cool to see them. And also to know that you've given someone the tools where they can help themselves. You know, and it seems for a long time, at least in my lifetime, it seems that we as people, as a community and a society, have, while at times been able to heal. people. It seems like all we've, we've focused on. And maybe it's been limits of our technology and limits of our understanding and limits of our education that has allowed us to just put patches on people. But I really think that this new dimension we're moving into is about no longer patching people,

but giving them the tools to heal themselves. And that sort of authenticity, that sort of self-realization, you know, like there's self-awareness, self-love and self-respect. and self-responsibility. And those four tools of the self can really help you get a bigger picture of what you need to work on, what's missing in your life, how to call into your life,

meaningful relationships. But it all starts with the self and figuring that, or like you said, plugging it into that light socket and having that divine light move through you. It's a really wonderful time to be alive and experience the world around you

and understand that you you all of us listening here we play a giant role in the well-being of others and you can do that by being kind to yourself and saying a kind word to other people what what is your advice for people finding themselves you know we can't diagnose or heal everybody i realize that for people listening it's not really advice of anything but you know maybe there's some tools or tips or tricks that you could give to someone listening who may find themselves doubting themselves or find themselves in some dark spots sometimes. What would you say to those people? I would say to go into, go into relationship with the divine. Because sometimes, you know, I talked about it's got to start

with you. Right. Well, sometimes sometimes what's going on inside of us is not very settling. It's not grounding. We need something external. It's just, we just do. So in those cases, it's a surrendering to the divine through whatever that looks like for you. It might be calling in your guides and you don't even have to know who they are or whatever you think of as divine source, energy. You just ask it to be there and you trust that it is there, even if you are having difficulty believing that it's there or connecting with it in any tangible way. And then you can ask, please make this clear to me. Please help me to know you're there. Give me a sign. Give me some indication that you're with me. And I get very specific. I get very direct with my guides. Like, okay, will you please hold me?

Will you please heal me right now? Like I need some help. So I think just be real direct with your intention and ask for exactly what you need from whatever, you know, you know, you you know, whatever source feels like the highest for you. And I think our higher selves, sometimes that is the best source to go to. Because we, I mean, I believe we are part of God. We are part of the bigger universe. So when we call in our higher self, it's kind of like our self as an ascended master or something. You know, like it's you.

It's your soul. So sometimes that can work really well. If we're not, maybe we're not feeling super connected to like a deity or or a some bigger source. But your higher self, you just say, hey, can I talk to me when I've already made it to the other side? I love that. I like that a lot. I think there's something to be said about being clear, like the way you use the word clarity,

because it's really easy to get distracted when you're in tough times and sometimes calling that higher version of yourself and being very clear on what you need help with is what brings about those answers. Sometimes it's just the fact that we were wallowing in this, in this self-pity sometimes, or this problem that we have is, we've made it so big, we've decided we can't do anything about it. And when you've decided you can't do

anything about it, you find yourself constantly distracted from the answer that could be in front of you because you've already decided you can't do anything about it. But if you get clear about it, look, there's always something you can do. It may not be the answer. It may not be what you want, but no matter what situation in, there's always something you can do. It might be small. It might be taking a break. It might be going for a walk. It might be saying, I'm sorry. It might be using kinder, inner dialogue with yourself, but there's always something you can do. And if I had to give a takeaway to someone that was listening and finding themselves in despair, it's that don't say things like, there's nothing I can do. Change that out with, okay, there's got to be something I can do.

And as soon as you say that, you'll figure out, okay, I just need to drink a water, you know, but there's always something you can do. And usually it comes from conversations with other people when you're ready or finding people like you or sometimes listening to music, you know, like you put out there. I think these are all great answers. And I think people have gotten to get a pretty good snapshot of why you are such a unique creator and why the songs you sing are inspiring and why they should go and check out your page and why they should reach out to you if they find themselves in need of a little bit

of guidance on a path, you know. but what was there before I let you go though Jenna where can people find you what do you have coming up and what are you excited about so people can find me pretty easily at jena longmire dot com is my website and i have social media of my music jena longmar music and then the tree of life priestess temple. And that's where I'm doing my group work and my practice. So I am very excited to be doing more music. I'm calling it Sacred Roots music, gospel for the new earth.

I like it. I like it. And then with the individual healing work, mentoring and group work, you know, you can find me there. and yeah, please reach out. I'm excited, like I said about, I'm going to do an open house Sunday for my group program, and then we'll have another open house later in the month at a later time frame in the day. Later in the month, you can check out the website for when those open houses are. I'm doing an autumn equinox in-person circle here in Nashville.

And I have a monthly online offering called Energy Magic. And so all those are on my website. So there's ways to jump in and experience this work and kind of dip a toe in. So and just, yeah, don't be afraid to just email me either and ask me what's going on. But thank you for asking. And yeah, I am excited to spread. to spread this divine feminine and creative wisdom in the world just because we so need it. And we need what you're doing too.

I appreciate it. Thank you very, very much. Yeah, well, it's mutual. I think that all of us have the ability to create something and share conversations and shine lights on other people's ideas. And in doing so, we amplify it and we make it better for everyone. And that's part of the way in which we're moving in this creator economy. You know what? Before that you go, when we think about the creator economy,

like maybe there's people out there, Jenna, that want to, that have written a song or they want to put it out there, but they're afraid. Maybe you could just give some people some ideas about your path, about how you have decided to create and put music out there. And maybe some tips for someone that, like a younger version of you or me that's thinking about doing that. but quiet hasn't taken that step yet. Like, what advice could you give to them? Well, for me, I needed lots of support and encouragement. That was me. You know, so I sought mentors out.

I really did. And so what I did was I found someone who was a songwriter and a vocal coach. And I went and did some sessions with her. Her name's Kathy Kiabala here in Nashville. and I said, do you think I've got it? Like, can I do this? And she's like, oh, hell yeah. Like, you can do this.

And so it was just that one person believing in me. And then I found other people to encourage me. And to me, it takes a village. Because being a creative brings about a lot of self-doubt. I mean, so I would stop myself a million times if I hadn't had somebody saying, no, you can do this. And then you have to build up a tough skin because not everybody's going to like it, you know, and that's okay. Yeah, that comes with the territory without a doubt. But it's, it's so liberating and beautiful. And to see where you start and where

you end up is a beautiful look at the journey. And so everybody, go check her out. Go, go listen to the music, check out the offer she has online. If you're in Nashville, check out the open house. Check out everything she has to provide. I think she's a beautiful soul who's creating positive change in the world. And I think if you do some investigations, you'll find the very same thing. So, Jenna, thank you so much for your time today. Hang on one second. I'll talk to you briefly afterwards. But to all the people that are out there today on this wonderful Friday, I hope that you realize that there's a small miracle, get ready to happen in your life, if you're willing just to take the time to see it.

try to be the light in other people's lives, try to say something kind, try to do something beautiful, and just know that those ideas of God or the ideas of the feminine or whatever ideas that are out there to inspire, they're looking for people to pour themselves into. So be that person, be that container that can be poured into today. So that's all we got for today. Ladies and gentlemen, Aloha.