Jess DeVries (she/her)
share your spiritual biography in 10 words, or less:
devout christian girl transformed into erotic grief witch
where are you turning for soul nourishment / joy / aliveness?
The cedars and firs in my backyard, being silly with my beloved wife, blackberries, and my grief practice.
what is a text you hold sacred?
Audre Lorde’s essay: Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power … I come back to it again and again and again.
what is a spiritual practice currently sustaining you?
Remembering my breath. I am someone who holds my breath on the best of days and given everything that is happening in the world right now I have noticed that I am holding it more. I’m still here and I get to breathe. It’s not something I take lightly.
how would you describe the work you feel called to do in this world (even if it is not the work you get paid for)?
I feel called to bring people (most especially queer and trans folks from Christian backgrounds) back to their bodies, their pleasure, their grief. I get to remind folks that they have deep wells of knowledge inside of them and that it is ok to trust their inner knowing and their desires. Empowering voice. Creating rituals. It’s deeply political and revolutionary.
We have been purposefully separated from the erotic and pleasure and joy; just as much as we have been systematically and violently separated from our grief rituals so that those in power are able to maintain control. Being more present in our bodies, our pleasure, our grief means that we are shifting where the power lies.
knowing that none of us “has it all together,” what is one question you are wrestling with, or bit of wisdom you are struggling to enflesh in your daily life?
How do I balance my deep need for quiet and connection to myself with my love for people and desire for connection?
who is one elder / ancestor / mentor whose guidance you draw from? what is one piece of wisdom they have offered?
My mentor captain snowdon always gently reminds me to consider what I need to be able to show up fully in the world. As someone who took having a servants heart very seriously, this is a nearly daily question that I pose to myself.
what’s one oppressive untruth you are practicing unlearning / divesting from?
That I need to do anything to be deserving of love.
what is one thing you wish were required listening / viewing? (please link to the song, poem, art piece, podcast, etc.)
How to Survive the End of the World Podcast Episode: Is This The Rapture? with Roan Boucher … This is necessary for understanding what is actually happening in this political moment.
any of your website and/or social media handles you’d like us to include / highlight?