babies and rainbows and fire, oh my.

I went to a beautiful mother-blessing/solstice-blessing on the weekend. The rain had just stopped in time for the women to all move outdoors to meet the men and children who were building a big fire, which was when a big beautiful rainbow appeared.

It was a beautiful night, that filled me with inspiration and love from the strength and power of women. I have always loved the idea of mother blessings (inspired by traditional Blessingways of Native American traditions) in which special women in the mother-to-be's life are invited to bring strength and positive energy to the circle, offering positive birth stories, speacial beads, candles and poems/words for the mother to use until/during and after labour. A wrist binding was done to signify all the women as being on a joint journey or experience, with the wool remaining on each wrist until the baby is born remiding us to think about the expectant mother until she births. This is a very powerful way of reminding the woman (particularly if she is anxious about the birth) that we are there for her, and that she has the strength within her to birth her baby and enter into motherhood- which is quite far from a minastream 'baby shower' which is often focused on the baby, gifts, and not the mother. We then took turns putting henna patterns on her glowing baby belly. This was my first mother blessing, for a dear friend who i think will also be my first birth support experience, and i know it will be amazing and peaceful, so her blessing was particularly poignant and special to me, and im very greatful to her for allowing me to be a part of her journey.

At the fire built by the men on some land a few blocks away we lit candles in honour of our families, stories were told, yummy homemade soup made by the women and other delights brought by each guest were consumed; drums, flutes and violins were played as fire twirling and glow poi were displayed. the kids ran around excitedly (or fell asleep when it all got too much), we all chatted, and it was great! One of the expectant mother's sleepy toddlers came and snuggle up to me and fell asleep in my lap, in which my clucky factor grew dramatically, much to ThePartner's unease ;)