Blessingway for Meghan
Thank you for your kind words and enthusiasm on my last post! I'm excited to be back, too.
We have a lot going on around here. I don't know that I've ever felt so crazy! Since I'm still not totally organized, or back into the swing of posting, I thought I'd share a few photos today from my dear friend Meghan's blessingway (which was in July). Her beautiful baby girl was born two weeks later.
The first blessingway I ever participated in was for my friend Melanie more than four years ago. I'd read about them, but had never attended one, and was so excited when Melanie's sister-in-law organized one. Since then, just about all of my pregnant friends have had one. My own -- two and a half years ago tomorrow -- was really special; James was born 12 hours later!
A blessingway (for anyone who hasn't had the opportunity to attend one) is based upon the Navajo tradition of honoring people as they stand on the threshold of a life transition. In the last several years, the tradition has been adopted as an alternative to a "typical" baby shower.
It gives the friends and family of a pregnant woman the opportunity to honor her, to support her at a time when she is probably feeling vulnerable, and to celebrate together as a community preparing to welcome the new baby. I have always felt like it buoys the mother-to-be with a bit more strength, knowing that she isn't alone on her journey to the birth of the new baby.
Some of the blessingways I have attended have been very spiritual in nature, and some have been focused more on pampering the new mother. Either way, each one I have attended has been as unique as the friend it honored, and as beautiful.
Thank you, Meghan, for counting me as one of the women to join your circle.
Edited: Here are a few resources on blessingways if you want more information!
*Mother Rising: The Blessingway Journey into Motherhood by Yana Cortlund, Barb Lucke, and Donna Miller Watelet is my favorite. I've used this book for ideas and inspiration a lot with the blessingways that I have helped to facilitate.
*I attended a talk given by Anna Stewart, author of Mother Blessings: Honoring Women Becoming Mothers, at the same conference that I spoke at in May. She had some beautiful ideas that I had never tried or seen at another blessingway.
*Blessingways: A Guide to Mother-Centered Baby Showers -- Celebrating Pregnancy, Birth, and Motherhood by Shari Maser has been recommended to me by a couple of people, but I haven't had personal experience with it.
*The best online resource I had seen for blessingways seems to have been removed. :( But it'd be worth doing some online searches if it's something that piques your interest.