What is Mother Blessing Ceremony and for whom is it?
A Mother Blessing is a ceremony that was inspired by an ancient Navajo ritual called Blessingway; created to spiritually support and empower the new mother for her journey of birthing and motherhood, dedicated to nurturing the mother, and filling her cup so it overflows with love and confidence as she awaits the impending birth of her baby, because a woman who is given lots of love has more love to give in return. Traditionally it was a woman-only gathering including her mother, sisters, aunts, daughters, best of friends and mentors — anyone she respects, values or looks up to. In the power of circle they honored mother-to-be, spending time with her, sharing stories, debriefing fears, instilling confidence and strength, warming her heart, and helping a woman to prepare herself for the birth and her role of a new mother mentally, physically and emotionally.
The goal of modern Mother Blessing ceremony is to give moms-to-be a similar sense of support and honor as Navajo mothers-to-be have received, while being more flexible and meeting needs of a bigger circle of women. A Mother Blessing ceremony is for you if you are about to become a mother by
The elements of this ceremony can be built according to the belief system or individual preferences of the woman. It doesn’t matter whether the future mother is a member of a specific religion, someone who follows her own spiritual path, or someone who claims no faith or spiritual practice at all. It is a ceremony that can be designed to provide a deeply meaningful and transformational experience for a woman with any belief system.
When is a good time to do the Mother Blessing ceremony?
A Mother Blessing is typically held at the very end of pregnancy: around 36 to 38 weeks. However, in case the departure of the future mother for birth in another country or city, it could be done a bit earlier. For adoptive or foster parents it can be done just before they take their child home.
Ideas for your Mother Blessing ceremony and a bit about its personalization.
There are many things that we can do for your ceremony. There is no set agenda and there are many options to choose from. The most important is that you feel comfortable and the most yourself in everything you do during ceremony. One way to personalize the ceremony it is to choose a theme that will reflect your situation, your personality or your most important need – anything that is important for you in this passage to motherhood. Create your own or choose from the list below:
There are many other ideas we can play with that can be neutral or modified according to your desires. Choose among the ideas you see below or come up with your own. All of them and more we are going to discuss with you at our prior meeting before scheduling the event.
Beauty
Consider beauty to be one of the most important elements in your Mother Blessing. A beautiful environment soothes the senses, relaxes the mind and nourishes the soul. So, ensure the space is clutter free and clean, include flowers, candles, gentle music, draped fabrics to soften the edges of furniture, soft textures and soft things to touch and lie on. We can discuss together what we can do to create the environment you would enjoy.
Releasing fears
Releasing fears is usually one of the most powerful parts of Mother Blessing ritual. Expressing fears is not as giving energy to it; in fact, it is the opposite. When you deny that your fears exist, you leave it locked up deep within yourself creating perfect conditions for it to grow. Having women let their fears and expectations go empty the space within them to be filled with wishes, blessings, and other positive love-centered energies. The release of fears can be done by writing fears on the paper and locking them into a jar or burning them in the fire or using anything symbolically to burn while talking about the fear in this safe place of very close people. If you need it we could also invite women to give you an advice after you voice your fears and feelings about your coming transition.
Blessings & Positive Birth Experiences
Traditionally, a blessing is done in the form of a prayer or poem. We can invite guests to bring a poem, a quote, affirmation, song or prayer they have found or personally written, to share with the future mother. The act of blessing can be done with a use of candles, use of rose or salt water, with hands lovingly placed on the mother-to-be or only verbally. Moreover, this activity can be perfectly blended with sharing positive birth experiences that will empower the mother-to-be . Hearing what each of the guests most enjoyed about their births will inspire you and uplift your energy. If you are about to adopt or foster a child, we could invite guests to share with you inspirational stories or biblical passages that speak to your personal journey to motherhood. These blessings could be collected in a book/journal/scrapbook or other special place.
Pampering and adorning
Pampering is done to make the mother feel surrounded by love, and enables participants to communicate their support and care for mother-to-be in the way that words cannot. Each woman will put her loving hands on the mother-to-be in some way, massaging her head, shoulders, and hands, brushing her hair, or washing her feet in warm water with lavender essential oil and flower petals. Different people can do different things and rotate every 5-10 minutes.
If the mother-to-be has long hair, tiny braids, ribbons or dried flowers can be woven into it and then secured at the end with colorful beads. Another alternative could be making a crown of flower for her.
If the mother-to-be would like a body art on her belly or hands it can be a lot of fun for everyone. We could do it in several ways. Using non-toxic paint bought in the store, home maid non-toxic paint or henna, a plant that in India, African and the Middle East is used traditionally for different types of celebrations and is believed to bring love, luck, protection, and good fortune. We could invite an artist to do some special design that you have in mind, or make the activity more spontaneous by asking women to take turns creating some new design together.
If you are not into painting your belly, we could make a plaster belly cast or decorate a cast made ahead of time. A cast needs to dry for 1 week before it is ready to adorn. Making a cast can be messy, but guests and you may enjoy it even more, and it will allow you decorate it the way you like a week after the event.
Affirming built connection
Before closing the ceremony, we will need to make sure these connections we built inside the circle will continue beyond the Mother Blessing event. We might do it by holding hands, moving together, singing or humming together, or visualizing our collective blessings. We could also invite everyone to bind their wrists with a single cord of red wool and keep the string around their wrists until they hear that birth is underway when they all may cut the cord as a symbol of unity.
Feasting
The feast is important part of the ritual as it celebrates what we all will experience as a group, gives us another opportunity to show mutual care and support, and smoothes the transition from a sacred place back to the social place of our daily lives. If you don’t plan on providing all the food by yourself, guests could bring a plate of food to share. Just don’t forget to include it on the invite if you wish for them to do that.
Your investment for a 3-4 hour Ceremony : $450
Contact me to set-up a complimentary consultation.
A Mother Blessing is a ceremony that was inspired by an ancient Navajo ritual called Blessingway; created to spiritually support and empower the new mother for her journey of birthing and motherhood, dedicated to nurturing the mother, and filling her cup so it overflows with love and confidence as she awaits the impending birth of her baby, because a woman who is given lots of love has more love to give in return. Traditionally it was a woman-only gathering including her mother, sisters, aunts, daughters, best of friends and mentors — anyone she respects, values or looks up to. In the power of circle they honored mother-to-be, spending time with her, sharing stories, debriefing fears, instilling confidence and strength, warming her heart, and helping a woman to prepare herself for the birth and her role of a new mother mentally, physically and emotionally.
The goal of modern Mother Blessing ceremony is to give moms-to-be a similar sense of support and honor as Navajo mothers-to-be have received, while being more flexible and meeting needs of a bigger circle of women. A Mother Blessing ceremony is for you if you are about to become a mother by
- giving birth to your baby
- adoption
- foster parenting
- by marriage or union with someone who already has a child
The elements of this ceremony can be built according to the belief system or individual preferences of the woman. It doesn’t matter whether the future mother is a member of a specific religion, someone who follows her own spiritual path, or someone who claims no faith or spiritual practice at all. It is a ceremony that can be designed to provide a deeply meaningful and transformational experience for a woman with any belief system.
When is a good time to do the Mother Blessing ceremony?
A Mother Blessing is typically held at the very end of pregnancy: around 36 to 38 weeks. However, in case the departure of the future mother for birth in another country or city, it could be done a bit earlier. For adoptive or foster parents it can be done just before they take their child home.
Ideas for your Mother Blessing ceremony and a bit about its personalization.
There are many things that we can do for your ceremony. There is no set agenda and there are many options to choose from. The most important is that you feel comfortable and the most yourself in everything you do during ceremony. One way to personalize the ceremony it is to choose a theme that will reflect your situation, your personality or your most important need – anything that is important for you in this passage to motherhood. Create your own or choose from the list below:
- Having a joyful peaceful birth
- Achieving a successful VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean)
- Bonding with the new baby
- Creating family unity
There are many other ideas we can play with that can be neutral or modified according to your desires. Choose among the ideas you see below or come up with your own. All of them and more we are going to discuss with you at our prior meeting before scheduling the event.
Beauty
Consider beauty to be one of the most important elements in your Mother Blessing. A beautiful environment soothes the senses, relaxes the mind and nourishes the soul. So, ensure the space is clutter free and clean, include flowers, candles, gentle music, draped fabrics to soften the edges of furniture, soft textures and soft things to touch and lie on. We can discuss together what we can do to create the environment you would enjoy.
Releasing fears
Releasing fears is usually one of the most powerful parts of Mother Blessing ritual. Expressing fears is not as giving energy to it; in fact, it is the opposite. When you deny that your fears exist, you leave it locked up deep within yourself creating perfect conditions for it to grow. Having women let their fears and expectations go empty the space within them to be filled with wishes, blessings, and other positive love-centered energies. The release of fears can be done by writing fears on the paper and locking them into a jar or burning them in the fire or using anything symbolically to burn while talking about the fear in this safe place of very close people. If you need it we could also invite women to give you an advice after you voice your fears and feelings about your coming transition.
Blessings & Positive Birth Experiences
Traditionally, a blessing is done in the form of a prayer or poem. We can invite guests to bring a poem, a quote, affirmation, song or prayer they have found or personally written, to share with the future mother. The act of blessing can be done with a use of candles, use of rose or salt water, with hands lovingly placed on the mother-to-be or only verbally. Moreover, this activity can be perfectly blended with sharing positive birth experiences that will empower the mother-to-be . Hearing what each of the guests most enjoyed about their births will inspire you and uplift your energy. If you are about to adopt or foster a child, we could invite guests to share with you inspirational stories or biblical passages that speak to your personal journey to motherhood. These blessings could be collected in a book/journal/scrapbook or other special place.
Pampering and adorning
Pampering is done to make the mother feel surrounded by love, and enables participants to communicate their support and care for mother-to-be in the way that words cannot. Each woman will put her loving hands on the mother-to-be in some way, massaging her head, shoulders, and hands, brushing her hair, or washing her feet in warm water with lavender essential oil and flower petals. Different people can do different things and rotate every 5-10 minutes.
If the mother-to-be has long hair, tiny braids, ribbons or dried flowers can be woven into it and then secured at the end with colorful beads. Another alternative could be making a crown of flower for her.
If the mother-to-be would like a body art on her belly or hands it can be a lot of fun for everyone. We could do it in several ways. Using non-toxic paint bought in the store, home maid non-toxic paint or henna, a plant that in India, African and the Middle East is used traditionally for different types of celebrations and is believed to bring love, luck, protection, and good fortune. We could invite an artist to do some special design that you have in mind, or make the activity more spontaneous by asking women to take turns creating some new design together.
If you are not into painting your belly, we could make a plaster belly cast or decorate a cast made ahead of time. A cast needs to dry for 1 week before it is ready to adorn. Making a cast can be messy, but guests and you may enjoy it even more, and it will allow you decorate it the way you like a week after the event.
Affirming built connection
Before closing the ceremony, we will need to make sure these connections we built inside the circle will continue beyond the Mother Blessing event. We might do it by holding hands, moving together, singing or humming together, or visualizing our collective blessings. We could also invite everyone to bind their wrists with a single cord of red wool and keep the string around their wrists until they hear that birth is underway when they all may cut the cord as a symbol of unity.
Feasting
The feast is important part of the ritual as it celebrates what we all will experience as a group, gives us another opportunity to show mutual care and support, and smoothes the transition from a sacred place back to the social place of our daily lives. If you don’t plan on providing all the food by yourself, guests could bring a plate of food to share. Just don’t forget to include it on the invite if you wish for them to do that.
Your investment for a 3-4 hour Ceremony : $450
Contact me to set-up a complimentary consultation.