My Bio
A Girl who loved Star Wars
I remember when the movie Star Wars first came out (1977). I must have been 14. I remember longing for something like the force. Even then it seemed I had been looking for something like the Force for years. I had been, and still am an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy.
I loved the intuitiveness of it. I loved the idea of an energy that both guides you and does what you ask. When Luke needed his light saber, he did not have to remember rules and techniques, he simply reached.
My Search
I continued to explore and search. But always it seemed too complicated, or just somehow not quite right. I instinctively seemed to know what I was looking for, because nothing I found seemed quite right.
I tried Tarot. I tried various forms of religion. I tried Yoga. I tried Astrology. I learned many interesting things. Nothing quite fit. So still I quested.
Living My Life
lived my life. I helped out my folks at my parents greenhouse business on Cape Cod. I went to Wheaton College and graduated with a degree in Biology. I made many great friends. I even married one of them. I had a series of jobs, most of them related to computers. I lived in Massachusetts, and southern New Hampshire. It was a good life.
But still I felt incomplete.
I discovered Reiki
Did I find Reiki, or did Reiki find me? I was at Free Spirit Festival in Maryland in 1992. I had been to similar events before. They are a great way to learn a little bit about a lot of topics. They have 1.5 hour classes on many holistic/spiritual topics. Some are given by professionals, some are given by people who know just enough to want to share it with others.
I was bored, but felt like going to something. So I decided to go this Reiki thing. I already know about energy healing. I knew that we all had energy flowing through us, and this energy affected health, vitality and mood. I had several friends who were far more psychic and perceptive than I was. I thought I knew what to expect.
An hour and a half later I sat and looking at my hands. What did they do? Because the class was so short, I knew it wasn't in my imagination. Something had made a powerful change in the energy of my hands. I couldn't resist putting them on trees, people, grass. It was amazing. The teacher suggested that while it was not recommended, if any of us felt strongly about it we could take Reiki 2 the same afternoon. Of course I did. I learned Reiki master from the same teacher the following year, Liz Tarr.
More about Jess's background and the Castle
I have been interested in spirituality and holistic arts for many years. I learned Reiki 1&2 in 1992, Reiki Master in 1993, and became a Licensed Teacher for the center in 1995.
I am interested in Reiki as a tool for personal growth and enlightenment, as well as healing. I also teaches classes in related arts that help people realize their wholeness; transformative breath, dancing through the emotions, and sound healing.
I lived in New England for most of her life, spent 6 months in Flagstaff/Sedona, Arizona. Then I lived for 8 years in a modern day castle. Then I lived in Sierra Madre, CA, right next to Pasadena. Now I teach in La Crescenta, just north of Glendale, and in various other locations in both northern and southern california.
Teaching Reiki is high on my list of favorite things to do in this life. I enjoy sharing of myself, my life journey, and of my knowledge of Reiki, and of course the Reiki energy.
Reiki means different things to different people, for many it is primarily a healing modality, for others, it is a demonstration that there is more to the world that meets the eye.
For me, Reiki has been about connecting to Spirit. I remember when "Star Wars" came out, I longed for something like "The Force", something that would allow me an intuitive way of beneficially impacting the universe, and feeling connected to it. I felt spiritually hungry for many years, and tried many things, but nothing clicked until I learned Reiki. I continue to explore new things, but the emphasis is different, I am no longer starving, I had found my way of connecting more deeply to God. It has given me the courage to live an extraordinary life.
My students come from many places in life. Some have been studying and teaching holistic arts all their lives, others who are encountering it for the first time. Many of my students are Christian. Many others are Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Wiccan, or not quite sure. For some Reiki will become part of their spiritual path, for others Reiki will be a stepping stone on their path. All are welcome.
How did I hear about Reiki? How did I get connected to the Center?
Once upon a time, I was at a metaphysical retreat called "Free Spirit Festival" in Maryland. I was bored and felt like going to a session, but nothing looked interesting in the program book, so I decided to attend a session on something I had never heard of before. That is how I received my Reiki 1 and 2 attunement from Liz Tarr, a senior student of Diane Stein. It seems like many of the most important things in my life started from such small chance beginnings. A year later Liz gave me my Master attunement.
The book Liz most recommended was William Rand's "Reiki: The Healing Touch", so I got the book and on a whim signed up for the newsletter, and found out William was going to be teaching a master class near where I lived in New Hampshire. So Liz flew up from Maryland and we both went.
William impressed me with the openness of his attitude, and his willingness to do historical and other research. I majored in Biology in College, and minored in Computer Studies, and had spent my professional life in either materials research or computer programming. It is important to me to be both intuitive and logical, magical and practical, to have vision, and be able to get things done.
One April morning I found myself calling the center, and asking to become a Center teacher. I still don't recall ever making such a decision to become a teacher. It just felt right, so I followed Spirit and did it, and have never regretted it.
My Work History: Greenhouse, Software, Computer Games, Reiki
When I was a junior in high school, my folks moved to Cape Cod and went into the greenhouse business. My maiden name was Bush, so they call the place "Bush Gardens" So I worked there summers and whenever I could through high school and college. A couple of summers I worked as a Library page as well.
I majored in Biology at Wheaton College in Southeastern Mass, and minored in computer studies. I liked the idea of healing, but couldn't face the mice, frogs, and worse that faced a pre-med student, so I mostly focused on ecology and plants.
After College I got a job as a research technician on construction water-proofing materials. Then I went into computers, and became very good at a 4GL called PowerHouse. I worked for an IRS subcontractor, and then for a defense sub-contractor. What next I wondered? The CIA? But instead I worked at a company that wrote import/export software for customs brokers. After 10 years, I was ready to leave the conventional career path behind.
Then I got do something amazing. I became a Computer Game Designer. I worked professionally on two games (neither of which completed for business reasons - not unusual in that business), and attended several computer game development conferences.
How did I get into Computer Game Design?
Well, two of my friends, Barbara Lanza and Walt Frietag (www.Castlemoose.com) who had designed and run many Live Action Role Playing Games, which I thoroughly enjoy, had transitioned from that into designing Computer Games, and had helped me get a job in the business.
I am still fascinated by the idea of taking guided meditations and Reiki symbols, and incorporating that into some time of computer-based product, and if life guides me back that way, I have some ideas on how to go about it.
I have been teaching Reiki part time since about 1993. I have done most of my Reiki training with William Rand, though I have done some with Laura Ellen Gifford, and Ken Gray. I met Melinda DeBoer at the first Reiki Retreat in 1996, and when I saw her in Sedona that October and told her I was contemplating a divorce, she invited me to move into a spare room at her house in Flagstaff.
While in Flagstaff, I had an idea. Here we are as holistic practitioners, constantly chasing the same pool of holistically oriented people, and wondering why we don't have enough students/clients. So I gathered up as many holistic practitioners as I could find, and we opened Holistic Outreach, as a push cart in the mall. In the three weeks we were there we introduced many people to Reiki and other holistic arts who might not otherwise never have heard of it. In the time since we have worked at summer festivals, and I am considering using the same format at some of the farmers markets in Southern California, on weekends I am not teaching.
Since I have moved to California, I am teaching Reiki full time. It has been a real joy to go from part-time to full time teaching; it has been a test of being open to Spirit, and a great adventure. May Reiki help light your life's journey as brightly.
I really did live in a castle
A few years ago at the computer game developers conference, I met my friend Dennis. He said "I live in a castle." Of course I didn't believe him, until I had a chance to see it for myself. Through visiting Dennis, I got to know Mike Rubel, the owner/visionary/janitor of the castle, and he invited me to move into the corner house as of July 1, 1997, so I did. That's how I became a princess!
I suspect you are skeptical. A castle? You mean a house with a few turrets? No, I mean a castle. Not the castle of the wealthy, but the castle built by a man with a dream. Once upon a time, a man wanted to live in a castle, so he decided to build one. He didn't’t have much money, but he had many friends, and if you have a dream and it is amazing enough, people will help. It took 26 years and hundreds of volunteers, and it is definitely a castle. A castle built with river rocks, cement, junk’ and inspiration. A dream, made manifest. To see pictures of the castle, click here.
I lived in the house in the corner. Living in a castle, or even just knowing someone who does, is an extraordinary affirmation that one's life does not need to be ordinary, that the world can indeed be an amazing place.
Life After the Castle
Life after the castle. I loved the castle. I had long had a sense that my time would be ending there, but I didn't know how, and as I was very happy there I couldn't imagine leaving. But in Dec 2004, Mike Rubel who owned the castle had a heart attack, and while he was fine, he decided to quit the castle business. Mike had been an honorary grandfather for me. And with him gone from the castle, the magic wasn't there for me anymore and the castle was just a place. There were several months of uncertainty as to the fate of the castle, but it was finally given to the Glendora Historical Society. Once the fate of the castle was settled, I chose to leave. I moved into an apartment in a friend's house in South Pasadena, and tried to figure out what life might have next in store for me.