In this festive wedding season, what if matrimony wasn’t here to affirm the intensity of love between two people but a courageous submission to the unknown?

Jennifer speaks with Stephen Jenkinson—cultural activist, author, ceremonialist—about the necessary burdens of love through the ritual of matrimony. With characteristic poetic edge, Stephen challenges the Western obsession with autonomy, authenticity and safety and gestures toward a redemptive cultural project: one of radical hospitality, memory, and the mystery of matrimony as a village-making act.

Together they dive into:

• How matrimony is distinct from weddings and is rooted in mothering culture, not just romantic love
• The lost valence of patrimony, and what it asks of us
• The role of the stranger in belonging and village making
• Why being “yourself” might not be the gift you think it is

This conversation reveals how ritual and ceremony thins the membrane with other worlds, makes congress with the divine and helps us honor what's come before —so we might find our place, and responsibility, in what’s yet to come.

Links & Resources:

• Order Stephen Jenkinson's newest book Matrimony: Ritual, Culture and the Heart's Work
• Learn more about Orphan Wisdom School
• Get Jennifer’s biweekly newsletter for radical encouragement on the hard mess of being human
• Connect with Jennifer on Instagram or LinkedIn

Gratitude for this show’s theme song Inside the House, composed by the talented Yukon musician, multi-instrumentalist and sound artist Jordy Walker. Artwork by the imaginative writer, filmmaker and artist Jon Marro.

What if feeding what you love—even in the face of despair—could be your most vital climate practice?

In this episode, Jennifer offers a guided practice inspired by a recent conversation with climate educator and author Sarah Jaquette Ray, who invites us to face the monstrous scale of climate change not with more fixing, but with more loving. Together, they explored the emotional toll of activism, the trap of numbness, and the surprising resilience we access when we stay rooted in what brings us joy and meaning.

This practice is designed for anyone who feels overwhelmed, powerless, or stretched thin by the weight of the world—and who longs to feel more alive, connected, and steady in the long game.

In this episode, you’ll take away:

• A fresh perspective on grief and anxiety as signals of what you care most deeply about
• A two-part reflective and experiential practice to help you feed what you love
• A gentle invitation to discover how ordinary joys can become acts of resistance and renewal
  
  

Join Jennifer in this quiet, potent offering—a return to what enlivens, surprises, and sustains us. Because when you feed what you love, you find others there. And together, we remember how to belong.

Links & resources—

• Get an email from Jennifer every couple of weeks to support you in the hard mess of leading and being human.
• Follow Jennifer on Instagram or LinkedIn
• Talk with Jennifer! Share an insight or ask a question here jennifer@sparkcoaching.ca

Gratitude for this show’s theme song Inside the House, composed by the talented Yukon musician, multi-instrumentalist and sound artist Jordy Walker. Artwork by the imaginative writer, filmmaker and artist Jon Marro.

When it comes to climate anxiety, most of us swing between utter despair or self-protective numbness. In our doom-scrolling attention economy, these are natural, but not always helpful, responses.

In this episode, Jennifer speaks with climate scholar, educator, and author of A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety Sarah Jaquette Ray to explore how we might move through the heaviest of climate emotions—without turning away, burning out, or losing touch with what we love.

They explore:

• The toll of burnout and the unexpected clarity grief can bring
• What it takes to face the monster of climate chaos
• The new texture of climate activism—intimate, relational, and imperfect
• Grounding practices to help us stay courageous and awake in ecological unravelling

Together, they reflect on the emotional and relational labor of holding space during collapse, the wisdom exchanged across generations, and the quiet courage it takes not to fix—but to animate activism with love.

Links & resources—

• Learn more about Sarah Jaquette Ray's work
• Get A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety: How to Keep your Cool on a Warming Planet
• Get Jennifer’s Substack Newsletter
• Follow Jennifer on Instagram or LinkedIn

Gratitude for this show’s theme song Inside the House, composed by the talented Yukon musician, multi-instrumentalist and sound artist Jordy Walker. Artwork by the imaginative writer, filmmaker and artist Jon Marro.