Did you take The Pagan Health Survey last year? The results of this survey were interesting for many reasons, including the little bit they tell us about how Pagans approach pregnancy and birth. Cultural anthropologist Kimberly Hedrick conducted the research using participant-observation, interviews, and an internet survey with 1,598 respondents. She presented her results at [...]
pregnancy
Responding to Ina May: The sacred is multiple
Editor’s note: I asked some of our regular contributors to each respond to a quote from midwife and natural birth advocate Ina May Gaskin. In her new book Birth Matters Gaskin wrote: Birth… matters because the journey through pregnancy and birth offers an irreplaceable way for women to explore their deepest selves – their minds, [...]
Responding to Ina May: Not a universal experience
Editor’s note: I asked some of our regular contributors to each respond to a quote from midwife and natural birth advocate Ina May Gaskin. In her new book Birth Matters Gaskin wrote: Birth… matters because the journey through pregnancy and birth offers an irreplaceable way for women to explore their deepest selves – their minds, [...]
Responding to Ina May: I was The Goddess at that moment
Editor’s note: This week we’re trying something new. I asked some of our regular contributors to each respond to a quote from midwife and natural birth advocate Ina May Gaskin. In her new book Birth Matters Gaskin wrote: Birth… matters because the journey through pregnancy and birth offers an irreplaceable way for women to explore [...]
It’s a Girl!: Gender and Pagan Birthing
I just got the word that I’ll be making a presentation at the Pagan Alliance’s 1st Annual Conference on Earth-Based, Nature-Centered, Polytheistic & Indigenous Faiths, 2011 Theme: Gender & Earth-Based Spiritualities. The conference will be on Saturday, September 24 in San Francisco (the page linked to above has all the conference details, but the time [...]
A Ritual for Childbirth and Naming
By Sarah Spells for Childbirth and Naming Before my second son was born, I did these spells. At the time, I wanted my husband and son to feel that they were important parts of this journey that I was more obviously taking. When I started the ritual, I repeated the blessing, over and over, and [...]
Review: Bless This Child
“Here, under my heart you’ll keep till it’s time for us to meet…” –Erica Mann Jong (33) Edward Searl is a Unitarian minister and the editor of Bless This Child: A Treasury of Poems, Quotations and Readings to Celebrate Birth. He writes that the collection, “gives voice to the many hopes and wishes that accompany [...]
What color is your pain? Magic for pregnant aches
By C. B. Cabeen Midway through the second trimester, my ribs started hurting around the bra line, like something was cutting into them. It wasn’t my bra’s fault, though, because taking it off didn’t help, and changing bras didn’t help. It messed with my ability to exercise and cook dinner, and after a few weeks [...]
How to make birth art
Note: Were you inspired by Amy Swagman’s birth mandalas yesterday? Read this short essay in which she describes how to start making birth art of your own. The state of mind you’re in when you create artwork is the same state of mind you are in when you labor and birth. It is a fluid, [...]
Birth mandalas
Pagan Families reader Sarah wrote to recommend Amy Swagman’s Birth Art Mandalas. I was stunned by them and immediately wrote Amy to ask if I could share them here. She said yes! Making birth art can be a beautiful spiritual practice. My partner and I made birth art when we took a Birthing From Within [...]