Early Birth Support
Ceremonies & Ritual
Are rituals and ceremonies just for hippies, religious folk, and cults? Just a bunch of woo hoo what for? What if I told you that practices that involve symbology and intention, like ceremony and ritual, have been proven through extensive reputable study to benefit our capacity to integrate intense emotional and mental experiences.
Becoming a parent is a rite of passage, in cultures all around the world, people were honoured in their journey of creating a family. I offer a range of ceremonies for you to be seen and recognised within the intimacy of your family alone, or with your extended community of family and friends.
Birth Blessing
The Birth Blessing is a ceremony to mark the occasion in which the birthing person is near the threshold of birth and parenthood. Their closest friends and family come to support & nourish them with love, food, encouragement, and wisdom to prepare the expectant parent for the life-changing passage of birth. When a baby is born so is a newborn parent.
You will have a choice of a range of symbolic activities to personalise the ceremony to your taste.
Choices include,
Red Thread
Thousand Blessings Salt
Beaded Birth Thread
Prenatal doting- foot bath and/or massage
Birth Affirmation Card Creation
Generally a 3 hourly event
1-1.5 hour ceremonial circle
Family Blessing
Family Blessing is much like a Birth Blessing but is for both partners to be honoured individually in their role through birth. Family Blessings can be with friends and family, or simple and intimate with just a few loved ones, or just the couple themselves.
I offer sliding scale and payment plan options, reach out for more info
Closing Ceremony
A Closing Ceremony-
performed- postpartum, after a loss, for grief, or at the end of your breast/chestfeeding journey.
Birth workers all over the world are sharing, learning, and relearning the traditions of many cultures in their postpartum and birthing-persons-centered work. Ceremonies have been performed to hold, guide, and heal birthing people (individuals with a womb) during times of transformation/rites of passage and grief. Giving birth (early or full-term) is a journey that often requires everything the birthing person has, mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. A vast expansion of self, an expansion that allows another human to grow and be birthed into our world with sustaining life or without. Birthing people give so much, and these ceremonies are a way to honour and give back. Closing and binding ceremonies are found in cultures across the globe, most recognised today is the Mexican/Latin American Closing the Bones. The receiver is wrapped in woven fabric (Rebozo) from head to toe, in 6-8 points, paying attention to the hips/pelvis. The ceremony nourishes the participant on many levels; spiritually, emotionally, and physically. The ceremony calls the birthing person back to their center, to reclaim their physical, grounded self. Being wrapped tightly by the woven cloth most often gives the participant the sensation of being held, soothed, and comforted. A significant moment to reflect on their life and death journey, ritualistically honouring an experience/phase of life powerfully holds space for integration and release of anything that feels 'stuck' inside.
Each person/doula who performs a Closing Ceremony will uniquely bring a version that will be their own.
My ceremonies incorporate healing modalities I have learned over the years from varied medicinal cultural practices.
~Herbal remedies and teas
~Pelvic/Reproductive steam infused with medicinal herbs
~Anthroposophical foot bath
~Warming ginger oil abdominal massage
~Moxibustion
~Pelvic/hip sifting
~Shifting and sealing woven cloth massage.
I encourage the guided participation of your partner, family member, or friend.
- 3 hours
- Choice of either in-home or in my Forrest studio (Bend of Islands)
Additional information
Pelvic/reproductive Herbal Steam
This practice cannot be traced to any one place, it has been discovered to have been a tradition of countless cultures, in countries all over the world for millennia. The healing treatment works by increasing blood flow and circulation to the reproductive system. The herbs are steeped in boiling water to make available the bioactive plant oils, transferable through steam. You sit over the bowl of steaming herbs at a comfortable distance, either squatting or in a comfortable steaming chair/stool. The herbal steam is absorbed into the porous and delicate tissues of the vulva, the heat draws blood to the area and the herbal oils can be absorbed into the bloodstream. The benefits are numerous, overall, it will help; cleanse, heal, tone, and revitalize the reproductive system. This treatment can be done to increase fertility, promote a healthy cycle, and for increased healing after birth.