Blessed be

On Saturday we held a Mother Blessing or BlessingWay for our very placid mama to be. I had heard about BlessingWays a few years ago but have never had one for myself or attended one, and after some research, I decided that my Golden Girl would love her own. The best way I can think of to explain it is a Spiritual Mother Shower! Basically it's to give the mama support of the womanly-energy-type as well as some pampering and positive input.

Here is a great explanation I found -

A BlessingWay is one of the traditional sacred healing ceremonies of the Navajo, associated with pregnancy. The BlessingWay has recently returned to become a meaningful celebration in modern times. Unlike the traditional baby shower, the ritual doesn't include playing games and giving gifts for the baby. The idea behind the BlessingWay is to surround the mom-to-be with support and encouragement as she counts her days down to the birth.

BlessingWays are performed late in the pregnancy and give the mother-to-be the strength for the deeply spiritual rite of passage she is about to encounter during her birth. Although society seems to have trivialized birth so that baby showers are often commercially bent without much reference to the sacredness of the birth experience, women can choose to gather instead to honor the work of the mother and recognize birth as the transforming experience it is. The intention is always to create an atmosphere of reverence and love. Since BlessingWays are part of the creative process which is birth-anything can happen. BlessingWays are joyful celebrations.

We started with an introduction to the meaning behind Mother Blessings and lit a candle to signify the light that the new baby will bring to us all. Then we crowned the mama to be with a meadow grass wreath - she is after all, a fertile Mother Earth, her body holding the promise of Life. 

My mischievous friend lightened the occasion a little by producing these vibrant jelly rings denoting a ripe cervix, with baby emerging - head first, of course!  

While laughing, chatting and sharing birth stories, we took turns knitting a few rows for a soft woolly blanket. There was a bit of painting, some creative writing and lots of stitching for a banner to hang in her birthing room. We also gave her a bead each, with our wishes for her birthing and new life as a mother.

  

Thoughts and encouragement were written on yellow card and pasted onto a watercoloured background - all painted by lovely friends! 

Neck and shoulder massage followed by a foot soak and some pampering for those tired feet!

To end, we formed a circle holding a continuous piece of yarn which we then cut and wound around our wrists - this is to symbolically link us all during her birthing.

We gave each woman a candle to take home - these are to light when she goes into labour, to keep her in our thoughts and remind us of the new light soon to emerge and join our world. 

Some of us stitched, painted and created this banner with thoughts and best wishes for the birth - to give her something she could focus on while in labour.

I took these home and later sewed them all together. 

Luckily my trusty film crew were on hand for the photo shoot! 

It was a really special afternoon and My Girl told me later that she felt honoured and loved and very ready to birth her babe with so many good vibes. It was a first for all of us there but some of the women  who have yet to have children thought it was a perfect way to celebrate and encourage a new mama.

I'd never done this before but I think I could get right into the groove with a bit of practice - with four daughters and three prospective daughters-in-love, I might just get all the practise I need!!

I found a few useful sites and the links are below - but I'm sure there are hundreds more that just didn't happen to pop up on the first two pages of Google!!  

Here is another link that I found useful  - yes I copied her lovely pic! 

Another one  

And one more

 Some people choose to call it a Mother Blessing rather than Blessingway because a Bessingway is a sacred Navajo ceremony and most westerners don't strictly adhere to their culture. It is partly for this reason that I choose to call it a Mother Blessing, and partly because it's a bit more explanatory.    

Okay, I'm sure you have all had enough lush mama pics and seeing as it's not long to go till the birth I promise I will stop showing them ....... soon they'll be baby pics instead :)