I'm going to make a controversial statement: When women can birth freely, without fear and in the way that they choose, birth can be peaceful, providing the framework for peace and joy in the family and in the larger world. It really is that important and that far-reaching. It doesn't matter how she chooses to birth. What does matter is that she is the one who has made the educated decision.
For centuries men have been dictating how women use their bodies, mostly in the service of men. We have been told both that we are lustful sinners and that we are delicate, pure, sexless angels. Both are myths created to deny women their true Feminine nature which is strong, compassionate and instinctual. We are wild and mysterious. And of course we are sexual.
There is a cosmological view (to use the words of Jeanne Achterberg, author of Women as Healer) in the Western world today that supports a hierarchy of man superior to woman, but that woman is more connected to the earth (as in Mother Earth or Earth Goddess). She says, "for this and other complex reasons, women, and what is typically regarded as the feminine perspective, bear the brunt of ecological stresses. The fate of woman and the fate of the earth are inseparable, perpetually linked by the metaphors of woman as nature and nature as female." Therefore it is our imperative as women to reclaim our Divine Feminine power.
One of the best ways that I know to empower ourselves is through the one act only a woman is capable of: our power to conceive, grow a human and to birth. Using birth as an act of self-empowerment, we are powerfully bringing about the shift toward peace and the survival of our planet. If you want to draw out your power to conceive and to birth, surround yourself with powerful women. If you are having trouble conceiving, I offer private sessions that incorporate yoga, reiki, drumming and meditation to facilitate self-healing. And while you are pregnant, Mother Blessing ceremonies can be a beautiful experience of surrounding yourself with love and power.
