Lunapads

When I was pregnant with Aiden 4 years ago, I read about blessingway ceremonies and immediately realized this is what I wanted for me and the baby. Last week, surrounded by a dozen special women in my life, we had another blessingway ceremony for me and baby #2, and it was a special night indeed.

A blessingway ceremony originates from a navajo tradition to celebrate, support and honour many of life’s changes. With the help of a little research on google, I worked with a dear friend, Signy Wilson, to develop a blessingway ceremony to honour the upcoming birth and create some special energy so that the baby would feel safe and welcome coming into the world. Signy, our spiritual leader for the evening, not only set the stage and led us through an amazing ceremony, but knows how to bring out the goddess out in all of us. We sat in a cirlce, cleansed the space, honoured our matrilineal line and adorned an altar with symbollic treasures and reminders for me to use during the birth.

There is something very special about women gathering in a circle and sharing space together. We find ourselves busy and consumed by our daily lives, and so taking a few hours to gather and honour ourselves as women is very special and important. I feel it is a gift to ourselves. During the evening, we shared stories about our mothers, our children, our birth experiences and our siblings. All of us could relate in some manner to these intimate stories and it became an evening to celebrate, heal and shed tears. And, best of all, I was showered with words of love and praise. Everyone presented the altar with a special stone or item from nature, with an inspirational word insribed on it as a wish for the baby. At the closing, we gathered close to hold a special chain of red and pink thread, woven by myself and one of Aiden’s best friends, a 12 year old neighbour named Ashley. We each cut lengths of the chain to make ourselves braclets to be worn until the birth. We then all held candles and one by one lit each other’s candle. News of the impending birth means that we will light our candle and pray for a safe birth and journey for the baby.

For those of you who like ritual, consider using a blessingway ceremony to mark the passage of an important journey for yourself or for a woman in your life (like the beginning of menstruation, marriage, birth, life transitions.) It is a wonderful experience for all who participate. I am so fortunate to have a strong and beautiful support system behind me. Thank you to all the women who were part of the evening and who continue to hold this energy. As I write this post, it looks candles need to be lit soon. I woke up this morning with a few tell tale signs of labour and am very excited. I welcome your blessings and thank you for your prayers and good wishes!

Blessings,
Suzanne

This entry was posted on Monday, August 28th, 2006 at 9:21 am by Suzanne and is filed under Birthing, Babies and Parenting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.