April Link Round-Up: Medicine, magic, motherhood, and more

Every month I read back over the links and things shared and discussed on the Pagan Families facebook and twitter pages, and write up the juiciest, most useful, most enduringly interesting links here in case you missed something. In April there were new babies, new facebook pages, and plenty of articles to read.

We congratulated Niki from A Witch’s Ashram who moved into her new house and immediately welcomed her baby girl to the world!

Throughout April we observed Cesarean Awareness Month. Studies indicate that moms and babies have the best outcomes when about 5% to 10% of births are by cesarean. In the U.S. the Cesarean rate is greater than 30%.  If your doctor or midwife suggests a c-section, this resource might help you decide if it is right for you. 

We welcomed the Heart Womb Collective Facebook page! “It’s a space and a place in honour of the full spectrum continuum of our womb journeys. From conception to birth, menarche to menopause, pregnancy loss, abortion, assisted fertility, infertility, pelvic dis-ease, surgery, and beyond.” 

Pagans Against Circumcision invited us to check out their page. (Trigger warning for graphic images.) Do you see circumcision as a Pagan issue?

As always, there were some great reads around the web:

• “A Montessori-inspired Yemaya toddler mirror fit for tiny mermaids.“
• “Do we want to teach our children that the magic of life is something that comes beautifully gift-wrapped — or that magic is something you discover on your own?“
• “She was 20 months old and from the moment I saw her, I knew we were destined to be together. I had been terrified on our way to meet her wondering what she would be like. Would she like me? Love me? Would she accept me as her mother? When we entered her foster home and I came around the corner, we locked eyes as she ran toward me giggling; I picked her up and we embraced and I instantly fell in love. She was the child Mary had promised me…“
• “In modern day-to-day North American lives, actual birth-giving body/minds are largely regulated by medical and technological interventions. There is a dearth of religious and spiritual discourses to reflect the creative and intense female experience of actual birth-giving. Yet many women experience birth-giving as a specific embodied spiritual event (Lin, 2008; Maloney, 2006). The mystery is in the experience...”

“Just like the intense opening that happens in birth, there are times in mothering when your capacity will be stretched to its edges.” -Tami Lynn Kent