I know the value of writing about these things while they’re fresh and before we move onto new chapters. I did this in my blog posts about my ankle breaking experience — brain dumping every feeling, thought, experience, and insight. And that has helped a lot of people who have needed someone to validate their experience.

I hope this can be a useful bunch of words for those who are challenging their ideas of the American/western death industry and/or for those who are ready to do death differently.

The world gets ever louder and more chaotic, and the past 2 months I’ve carved out a tiny nest of peace for myself and my children. It turns out, it was more needed than I ever could have imagined.

Four days ago, my mother took her last labored breath.

I’ve been busy ever since, taking care of the business that is a requirement in our modern world of industrialized death rituals.

And also…

I’ve been softly sinking into the depths of the pool of eternity, unmoored in the abyss of the liminality between life and death.

I’m starting to suspect that at some point in the recent past I somehow sent out a signal to the Universe – “Hey, I’m tired of existing in this apathetic and frozen rut… send me something to shake me awake?”

Unexpectedly bringing my mother into my home (and with so much drama surrounding the situation) was a LOT. I thought I was bringing home a dying woman, and the death midwife inside of me was prepared and ready. I was ready to build the beautiful death nest, offer endless love and compassion as she walked across the rainbow bridge, preparing a cozy cocoon for us both to sink into as we journeyed together.

I haven’t written anything that I’ve felt like publishing the past couple of months or so. Why? Because my elderly mother suddenly took a turn for the worse and I brought her home with me to keep her safe, well-fed, and as comfortable as possible for an 84-year-old healing from a hip fracture.

It’s strange to exist in this time and place. On one hand, I am very passionate about women and the rights of mothers and their babies. I take a timeless stance with this passion, anchored in anthropology, evolution, animism, a deep respect for life and death, and cross-cultural pre-civilization perspectives.

I’ve wanted to share my own spiritual path for many years, but I was raised to not step on people’s toes or upset others. It’s taken me a lot of years to unwind these fears and realize that my voice and story matters, even if it makes others uncomfortable.

Writing about the mouth seems weird. But trust me, you’re going to want to read this. It’s the foundation for physiological wellbeing - setting you up for good sleep, balanced hormones, less pain, and greater wellness. It’s also about growing babies who are physiologically well from the start. Being a mother is overwhelming, but there are so many amazing ways we can help ourselves and help our children. The power is yours. And it starts with your perspective of and relationship with your body.

We live in a culture that doesn’t honor female biology, but instead tries to control, medicalize, and pathologize it. The truth is that our biology IS our superpower and we’ve been lied to about….almost everything. Reclaiming our biology is the first step in harnessing our most wild and authentic selves, and our most well and strong bodies. Developing awareness and care for our biology is the first step in the journey.

Abortion is a complex topic, yet it is treated as a black-and-white shouting match in our society. But it deserves a deeper, wider conversation. It deserves a woman-centered perspective, anchored in history and cross-cultural analysis. Women deserve true freedom, including freedom from societal structures that harm them. We can do better.

We need more women speaking up, sharing their female experiences and perspectives…and we need to create a safe society where they can do so. This is my stand as I embrace a new year of being alive, and my act of ceasing to bite my own tongue.

The Wise Woman Tradition is the oldest healing tradition that exists around the world. In our healing journeys, it’s important to understand how we are approaching our experiences so we know if it is aligned with how we want to be present for life. Learn more about the 3 healing traditions and how the Wise Woman tradition supports our deepest healing experience.

Unassisted birth (freebirth) has been on the fringe of society for a number of years, but is currently getting a lot of attention (positive and negative). This is my perception of what freebirth could be after 17 years of reflection since my own unassisted birth. Birth is powerful and belongs to women, not medical providers. We get free when we accept our own inner power. Explore this idea with me through the lens of freebirth.

Birth is a powerful portal that takes us from being a maiden to being a mother. Here are my two birth stories - one with midwives at home and one birth unassisted (freebirth). Both experiences were powerful and I share details of my freebirth 17 years ago and my love for Jeannine Parvati Baker and her support in helping me to find my power.

Childbirth in the United States has a long and sordid history. There are many ways to tell this history and this is a general outline of what happened to birth from prehistoric times to the modern American birth scene. A historical analysis can help us to better understand our options today and make choices in context.

While the nature of truth sounds like a super heady, philosophical idea (and it really is), it’s also important for deeply understanding why we think the way we do and make the choices that we make. And it’s crucial to change our relationship to truth if we’re going to make the world a better place with less suffering.

Food is such a hard topic for most people — our culture has created such dysfunctional relationships with food…and we have a LOT to heal personally and collectively. Explore this process with me through the lens of food as love and food as grief.

Ancient human culture centered mothers, women, and children. They were gentle, protective, and healthier. It’s time to bring back the centering of mothers in our own cultures, to give power back to women so we can heal our world and create a new cultural narrative of thriving for everyone.

Everyone has a food story. Especially women. This is mine. From extreme childhood veganism, to raw veganism and fruitarianism, to paleo, and everything in between. To finally embracing true nourishment, a pro-metabolism approach, and feeling whole. We all deserve a healthy relationship with food and our bodies.