Waiting for Change

Hi Birth Peeps,
So far just two votes for the year's theme.

Whether Fifty Ways to Change Birth in Our Culture or Birth as a Heroine's Journey is chosen.... we have to begin at the beginning... we have turn our attention back before the birth, even before conception and pregnancy.

Everywhere there is talk about changing the corporate medical model of birth. There is a sense of futility and frustration because the medical model is a very big Dragon, symbolically speaking. It is fed with billions of dollars and entrenched in an old system. No matter how passionately an individual swings her "sword," her truth, counter research and logic, seems pointless; she begins to believe her sword is merely a toy in the face of such a huge system.

My son, Sky, was telling me various ways social change can come about. As a society, we are passively oriented to power. We believe that the power to bring about change begins at the top and trickles down. In this mindset, we "wait" for change to come from authorities, whether that is a political or religious leader, or a medical expert. We wait for those at the top to see the light and do the right thing. We are in a sense "followers" and "waiters." We grumble down below, but do not realize our power in numbers. And so we wait.

The dominant model or belief in a culture does not necessarily need to change first from above. Change is (non-violently) forced when the majority of people say, "No mas. We don't want this anymore, We won't take part."

The system is a product of everyone's participation.

Change can come through a gradual chipping away at the foundation. We don't need to "behead the leader" or knock down doors.

But we do need to begin with understanding. Tolstoy wrote:
"To understand everything is to forgive everything."

Pam

Pam

A Year Long Blog Theme

Hi Birth Peeps,

Now that the blog is up, and you are starting to find us... I am thinking about what kind of theme I would like to have for the year. Please give me feedback on which of the topics I'll propose speak to you. Or perhaps you have an idea.

I would like to write you three times a week about:

• A Year Following the Map of Birth as a Heroine's Journey
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• A Year of Delicious Great Stories about Life, Birth and Initiation-- one a month.
• 
  
• Fifty Ways to Change Birth in Our Culture

Any other ideas....

Pam

A Hopi Newborn Ritual

Hello Birth Peeps and Friends,
It's a lovely evening in New Mexico. I've been reading a well used, old book by Frank Waters, "Book of the Hopi" published in 1963 by Ballentine.

It is a rich account of the Hopi "Road of Life" willingly shared by some thirty Hopi elders who wanted to help Waters write about their way of life and ceremonies.

There is one bit piece about childbirth:

"Their birth too is associated with the east and with the sun. For twenty days after birth every newborn child is kept in darkness. Then at dawn he is carried to the east and held up to the rising sun, the mother saying, 'This is your child.'"

Pam

Welcome to Birth Peeps

Hi,
For years I've wanted a smaller, personal website to connect with friends, parents, and peers here in New Mexico--and of course, everywhere. So wherever you live, please join Birth Peeps and create an ongoing dialog about the mystery and magic in life and birth. This blog is also a place to look at our personal dream and the dream of the planet. And to talk about delicious books, videos, the arts.

Check out the new website,  http://www.bfwnewmexico.com . Still needs a little tweaking.
I need more photos for the website. If you have photos and stories about birth art, or your baby... and you want to share them on my website, please send them with your consent.

I'm going to an open drawing session tonight with my son, Lucien. Looking forward to using the other side of my brain!

Laters,
Pam