J is for Jaguar

Last Updated on March 12, 2026

On Sunday, a friend hosted a gathering about creativity—how we express it, and how inspiration is finding us in this season of life. I loved being in community, talking about creativity while sitting inside a beautiful day with nature sounds all around us. Something about that combination—conversation, beauty, attention, and the permission to just explore—opened something in me.

When I reflected on what creativity is for me right now, I realized it moves through so many forms. Writing, interacting with nature, movement, decorating, praying, cooking, friendships, painting, playing. Self-care and care for others. Plants and gardening. Installation art and photography. It isn’t one channel. It’s a way of being in relationship with life.

The colors connecting me most to my creativity at this time are the green of new growth in spring, sky blue, turquoise, and sage. The shapes I’m most drawn to are spirals, curves, rounded shapes, lines and dots, concentric circles, and waves. The animals I call on to inspire my creativity are jaguars, owls, hummingbirds, spiders, dolphins, and bears. The plants, scents, and foods connected to my creativity are weeping willow trees, San Pedro cactus, sage, jasmine flowers, iris, orange, palo santo, cinnamon, chocolate, and water. I feel most creative in the late afternoon and early evening, especially in spring and fall, and some of my tools are my glasses, being comfortable, and music.

This piece began simply. I was looking through National Geographic magazines and cutting out images that interested me. I noticed the feeling I had while cutting shapes with scissors—the part of my brain that likes having a task, and the way creativity starts searching for new connections and ideas when my hands are occupied. After that, I started using watercolors to make a base wash, exploring greens and blues that felt like spring earth, sky, and water.

Then I used the circular bottom of my water dish to trace circles on the paper. I just kept going—more and more and more circles—becoming fascinated by all the overlap points, the very complex Venn diagram of the design. I started coloring some of those connection points with pens, oil pastels, and colored pencils, finding little variations. Then I took a fine-point black Sharpie and traced the circles. After that I began making little dots with a ruler across many of the circles, but eventually I got tired of the ruler and let the dots simply follow the lines. At the very end, I added some of the magazine cutouts.

The whole process of creating this piece felt like letting go of everything and seeing what would happen. I had the very literal experience of getting out of the way while I made it. I wasn’t trying to create a specific outcome. I was just doing simple things that felt good in the moment, letting my brain have a task, and allowing the next step to appear. I let go of the big picture and followed the process of connection—one shape, one line, one small decision at a time. I ended up surprised and amazed by what came through.

And then the title came: J is for Jaguar.

Jaguar medicine, as I understand it, is about power and sovereignty. The embodiment of personal power and spiritual authority. Standing firm in your own power. Leadership without needing approval. Confidence rooted in instinct rather than ego. Jaguar also carries medicine of the shadow—night, darkness, unseen realms, moving into the unknown, facing fears directly, integrating shadow aspects of the psyche.

In many traditions, jaguar is associated with transformation, spiritual protection during inner journeys, and the ability to move between states of consciousness. Jaguar medicine often appears during times of major personal change or initiation. Its energy is fierce but quiet. It doesn’t waste energy proving anything. It represents strong energetic boundaries, protection of sacred space, knowing when to be silent and when to act, deep connection with the earth, grounded instinct, and trusting the body. Jaguars hunt alone and silently, and so this medicine can also symbolize private transformation rather than public heroism. Solitary, patient, precise, and quiet. Inner authority rather than dominance.

I think it’s interesting that in this piece there is the J, the heart, and the image of the jaguar—and that the jaguar’s body is facing forward while its head is looking back. That feels meaningful to me. Forward motion with awareness. Movement with reflection. Instinct without rushing.

The jaguar medicine feels aspirational. I love medicine and feel like a custodian or employee of the medicine. The title J is for Jaguar feels grounding because it has the innocence of a child learning to read. Nursery school. Kindergarten. A starting point. An introduction. Always listening and learning.

The jaguar is an ally on my spiritual journey. I’m doing my best to embody integration at the intersection of humanity and spirituality, a thinking and feeling human, and a body alive in the world at this time. Walking forward and making sense of reality as best I can. Forming secure attachments to my surroundings, to what’s possible, to where I want to go, and to who is going with me. Asking questions of my future self. Considering what support I am willing to believe in and receive from the spirit world, the physical world, and the world in general.

What am I willing to receive? Where can I place my focus and attention? How can I be of service without destroying myself trying to save anyone or anything? How can I be in the world in a way that allows me peace and lightness, and that helps other people allow themselves that same peace and that same freedom to follow their own path and discover who they are and why they are here?

This piece feels connected to those questions.

And also, I want to let it stay simple. To let it be a moment in time. A surprise. A process. A gift. Something that came together not by force, but by unconscious and conscious meeting each other while I got out of the way and let myself make something.