Midwifing the World

mid·wife
/ˈmidˌwīf/
Bring into being.


Birth is traumatic, beautiful, unpredictable, uncontrollable, revolutionary, disruptive, sacred, messy, and divine.


The role of the midwife during a birth is one of magic. It is not simply to assist a mother and baby, but to cultivate, facilitate, and nurture a space for newness, while at the same time catalyzing healing during the trauma, ferocity, and pressures of birth. 


The trauma is required for the baby and mother. The pressure is required for the process to take place. The heaviness and pain serves as important information. 


The tears are both joy and pain, pleasure and suffering. 


In an unpredictable way, we are experiencing the squeeze.


The local news email I received this morning squeezed me, stating that Mental Health referrals had increased 100% during 2020, so far. Watching the state of the world through our phones, TV’s and our own windows over months has been covertly traumatizing. We will undeniably be seeing the negative impacts for decades to come. 


What I believe to be true is that churned soil is the most fertile. With disruption, we have opportunities. 


Birth and death come involuntarily together. The only certainty with beginning is end. This is apparent in everything, a life cycle, a moon cycle, a whole lifetime, or a single day. 


What can we intentionally end in this catalyzing storm? 


Can we palliate the racism tree that was planted specifically to conquer and divide humanity centuries ago growing as a strong dominant species bearing only the toxic fruits of superiority? 


There are many things we can do to facilitate post-traumatic growth, but first we must acknowledge and accept the additional care and the laborious efforts needed to assist in moving through trauma, no matter how short or long, gentle or scary it appears. 


In traditional Amazonian ceremonies, the shaman provides a space for healing by empowering individuals to face challenges, move through pain, and learn. They encourage the destructive process of growth because they know that by learning and acknowledging shadows eventually reveals lightness and helps people to practice love, compassion, and unity. Much like the midwife, facilitating the birth of new life, the shaman facilitates the evolution of the soul. 


What happens if we learn to caretake our souls, then midwife the birth of a new collective world? It is our responsibility to tend to our healing and the healing of humanity.


 Our naive children are watching the avoidance and destruction of human connection. They see physical distancing and are asked to stay in boxes. They are witnessing our fear of viral droplets and the way we clumsily navigate our hearts that yearn for real connection.


What if we treated ourselves, one another, and this earth the way we innately desire to treat our children, reminding them of the lessons of love, kindness, and respect necessary. What if we role model our outward loving kindness? 


To accept that there is no going back, labour has begun, the unjust silencing and status quo is no longer an option, it’s time to birth what is new, evolution. 


A I write this as a man in his 90’s walks by with a mask on and says, “I may have to rob a bank to talk to people, what kind of world is this?” he laughs at the fact that he is wearing a mask and continues on mumbling “it is getting better”. 


Let’s midwife one another through the squeeze of this collective destruction and give birth to a new, more sensical and light world, teaching our children the possibilities in new life. 


A resilient world.


May you be well. May you be well. May you be well.

-N