Blessingway Ceremonies. . . .

Blessingway: a term deriving from the Navaho culture and language. A ritual done to honor, bless, celebrate, and emphasize any signifigant life changes in a true and meaningful way. To lend "good hopes" to a person facing a great shift.

A Blessingway is a wonderful way to fortify and inspire the mother to be with love and courage on her journey. It is a celebration of the coming of her baby and ofourse, the mother making itself. In our culture, the tradtitional form of this ceremony is the baby shower. While this ritual has potential to shower the expecting mother with love and encouragement, inspiration and confidence, it often turns out to be a bland exchange of gifts that have small value on in the realm of birth and motherhood.

This can be swapped for a shower of blessings on the mother. The blessingway is not a ritual partial to any faith. The main purpose is to create a safe and supportive atmosphere for the woman who is about to become a mother for the first time or the fourth. Poems can be shared, music played, songs sung, anything that inspires a fierce and loving spirit that is necessary for any mother. It is lovely to create a tranquil atmosphere, allowing the woman to relax and prepare for labor. Food should be shared, and gifts would be nice. Something homemade is always rich with thought and love. Something personal for mom for after the baby is born, a gift for the baby, even a promise of several meals or helping hands with older children or household duties.

Create a scared space that invites peacefulness, comfort, contemplation and warm vibrations. Sing. Groom and affirm the mothers beauty. Write down wishes for the mother. Have each guest bring a bead to infuse with the wish to be later strung on a neclace that will hang around the womans neck for her labor. Revel in life and its wonders. The beauty of the woman as a vessel. The miracle of the light inside her.