As a certified midwife practicing home birth midwifery since I began as a student in 2012, I noticed that the educational training and standardization of the art of midwifery had its benefits as well as drawbacks. I am happy to see midwifery care becoming accepted by the general populace as a safe and practical alternative to hospital birth and I am relieved that modern families have more options for choosing individualized care and birthing in the safety of their own environment. I am also convinced that this return to normalizing birthing is a necessary movement away from the fear driven and obscene medicalization of a natural process as age old as human birthing.
However, one massive disappointment I had once I completed my midwifery training was that the emotional and spiritual aspects of the process of pregnancy and birthing were not emphasized and that understanding the medical skills needed to attend women at home safely was only one piece of the puzzle. After having two miscarriages during my training and early practice, I recognized the skipped over spiritual potency of pregnancy as a time to prepare for birth as a powerful and sacred rite of passage that changes women forever. I saw countless women receiving home births and midwifery care but still left feeling disempowered and unprepared for the spiritual event they were facing in their birthing experiences. I saw women reliving trauma through their unexamined childhood wounding during their labors and births. I felt helpless and at the same time inspired to offer more and infuse midwifery care with more in depth self healing, inter-personal transformation and a weaving in of spirits magic through connection to nature, ritual, and intention.
Also, as a person focused on transformation for my own life, I realized the impact of my own wounding on my ability to be present for others. I touched in with many families along my journey and simultaneously saw the implications of unresolved childhood wounding playing out in parenting. To really prepare parents for parenting, we must address the unconscious ways in which parenting creates wounding in ourselves first to prevent unnecessary passing on of intergenerational trauma. We see this in politics and in society now more than ever that uninitiated and wounded distortions from people in power ripple out and affect everyone, and so it is with parents and their children. Imagine this as a macrocosm for family structures as the unresolved wounding ripples out and shapes the child who grows in that environment. In order to create a more harmonious world, we need to each do our work to wake up and make a conscious choice to heal our unhealthy patterns by first identifying them. The pathway to that is by turning and facing the shadows that have been suppressed and repressed by modern society and work to integrate and embrace the wounding that motivates a distorted relationship with reality. These musings inspired the creation of Elemental Birth Rites as a modality and map for guiding parents to use the pressure of the container of pregnancy to make lasting changes in their lives for not only their own wellness but the wellness of the family structure.
Elemental Birth Rites taps into the elements of the natural world, connection to a universal spirit through simple ritual and breath, and self examination as a guide for navigating shadow work. The journey through this medicine wheel offers expecting couples a path to assess the roots of their individual wounding as a means for transformation in preparation for the arrival of a new life. The rituals and exercises suggested in the journey, along with the powerful container offered by the Elemental Birth Rites practitioner creates a healing chrysalis for parents to begin their journey towards wholeness by guiding them to take inventory on their shadows and challenges and giving them tools to take responsibility for their healing and awakening. This training is for midwives, doulas, birth keepers, or any healing arts practitioner who wishes to strengthen their offering and provide solid pathways forward for their clients to feel truly empowered and prepared for the ceremony of birth.
Please reply to this email or contact
rachaeljean@elementalbirthrites.com with questions or to discuss enrollment. Visit
Elemental Birth Rites to explore our offerings consider joining a free introductory call on the topic of Reclaiming Pregnancy and Birth as a Sacred Initiation where you will meet the team and be able to ask more questions about the training and the work.
This call will be offered on the winter solstice December 21st at 3pm EST for all interested in joining, please send an email to receive the zoom link for this call.
Sincerely, The team at Elemental Birth Rites