The Mission + The Vision

I have been feeling the fire inside me again.

The postpartum time has such potential to be so creative in so many ways. I think there’s this perception sometimes that it’s a time of slowness, darkness, cocooning, winter. To me, the postpartum has felt more like spring. Everything is bright and fresh and achingly new. Raw and open and ready.

Ready for what?

That’s what it feels like to me… limitless creative potential.

Like my womb/second chakra/hara is suddenly empty and free of its monumental task of creating a new life, but the creative energetic momentum is still flowing. :)

It feels really potent and magic!

So, with that in mind, I’ve been brainstorming, curating, crafting, dreaming.. I’m just a few short months away from being done with midwifery school, and then the world will open up and … what comes next?

Anything is possible!

So, I’ve been dreaming it all up, writing it all out, making lists and stream of consciousness documents and journaling and also a lot of ticking off boxes and getting shit done :) 

For me, what has felt really important is the idea of community.

I normally really love the idea of community building. During my most recent pregnancy, though, that desire for connection with others was turned off and actually kind of turned inside out. My desire became about connecting inward, connecting to my space, to the literal physical space of my home, and to my internal process of growth and healing.

But now that I’m not pregnant anymore that drive to connect with other like minded souls who are here physically close to me, has returned in full force.

Community… 

I think that’s part of the reason I’m here on earth, to be honest, to hold space for communities to really flourish :) I have always really loved creating gatherings and get togethers in my community, no matter where I have lived. 

Once we settled into Sedona, bought a house here, and started having community meetings here in my home, I really was profoundly impacted by how incredibly IMPORTANT and necessary community is -- in parenting, in existing as a human being, in feeling supported and able to THRIVE.

And it’s not just about hosting events for people to gather, but it’s about forming deep connections with the people around us so that everyone’s life is better. 

This translates into my sacred calling of working in the birth world here, too. 

We always talk about how “it takes a village” but then in reality, most of us either don’t have a village or don’t want to be a part of our existing village (local community or our blood family) in a really deep and meaningful way.

Think about your local community.

Do you have friends who will drop everything to help you if you need it?

Do you have people who you trust to come be with your kids at the drop of a hat in an enriching and nourishing way? If you were building a new home, do you have friends who would come help? Friends who will come cook for your family and clean your house if you fall ill?

If you do, that’s amazing and good job playing your role in such a supportive community!

If you don’t, well, I guess you have to decide if you want that. And if you do want that, what can you do to help foster it?

It’s deeper than just reaching out to friends more often and holding potlucks. It’s interacting with your friends in a way that is vulnerable and open and honest, so you can form a deeper connection. 

So, being one of the people in my community (and my community is full of people who have moved here from other places and don’t have family nearby) to hold the space for this idea/feeling/reality of deeply supportive community and “village” to form, feels very important and critical for the vision of the ideal future of this place. 

I also really love the idea of community as a means of spiritual progress.

Using the community here to set the tone for the future..

What sort of energy do we want to feel here as we live here?

What sorts of souls can we hold space for to come in here? Either as babies or as people who choose to move here.

What do we want for our kids? How do we want it to feel here for them as they grow up here?

What is important for the future of this community, for growing into who and what we want to be collectively, for sustainably connecting to and valuing the breathtaking and soul nourishing nature that is found here?

And what are each of our roles in this?

What is the role of the feminine? What is the role of the masculine? How can we each play our roles to ensure that our community evolves in a direction that we desire, that is intentional?

This is what I’m putting out to the universe and to the energy of Sedona in order to try to co-create a bright future for the land, for the people, for our kids :)

And my community here is down for the cause!

I am surrounded by people who want this deeper level of connection, deeper level of intention, and who understand their power in curating this vision for us as a collective. 

We are here to hold a frequency!

And we all have our roles to play. The masculine and the feminine aspects are crucial to form a whole and complete circle energetically and to hold the vision for this community that we idealize. 

For the feminine aspects and how I can contribute to that, I know that practicing midwifery with all of this in mind is key.

Setting the intention that I will be here to hold the space for these women to come into their power, and for these new souls to come in in a grounded and aligned way, is important. And then doing the interpersonal work necessary in order to fill that role for the community with integrity, of course, is my path. 

I love the work of Rachelle at Innate Traditions. She is someone who I look up to in a pretty massive way.

One of the pillars Rachelle speaks and writes about is “revillaging” which she explains is in part about spiritual maturity being a central focus in the community so adults can eventually become elders and wisdom keepers who can help guide the community as it evolves and moves into the future. 

This feels aligned for community-building for me as well, as I’ve thought about how important it is for couples to be deeply connected to each other and to Source, so they can parent their children in a way that encourages spiritual connection to the land and to the divine. This deep and unshakeable connection to self, divine, partner, and community is the necessary foundation for spiritual growth. 

How do we become connected and grounded adults who are capable and interested in doing the work necessary to grow and to serve this vision of community?

Initiation is missing in so many of our lives. We were never initiated as kids, as adolescents, from maiden to mother, from mother to elder, from elder to crone.

It’s challenging to know where to go and what the path is when we are still stuck energetically in child or adolescent or maiden mode.

We are now having to initiate ourselves and help our friends/community initiate themselves too, so we can all move forward in maturity and groundedness, heal our wounding, and raise the next generation to change the world for the better.

We have to figure out our needs, what has been missing, and provide that for ourselves! So we can eventually provide it for our children as well and show them the way.

So what is my role in this vision? 

For my future midwifery practice, I really love the idea of creating ceremony and ritual for the childbearing years of women’s lives, as well as helping women in a spiritual counseling or mentorship way to come into their own power and initiate themselves into the version of themselves that is needed to achieve their dream birth, postpartum, and parenting visions. 

The initiation piece is missing so often in normal modern midwifery care, it seems.

What I am envisioning is acting as a clear mirror but also as every woman’s hype woman! Holding space and cheering along the way as my clients craft their own pathways to greater connection with their authentic selves, their gifts and inner wisdom, their children, their PARTNERS, and with the Divine.

Helping them to set their own personal goals, identifying whatever internal sticky spots they may have, inner belief systems that have been holding them back, and then holding space for them to dissolve those with and in Love.

Helping them to connect with their inner voice of wisdom and to tap into their power to create their dream LIFE, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and parenting visions that align with their soul’s highest purpose. 

My role is not just as a midwife who fills out forms, checks boxes, spends only a short amount of time within the constraints of a prenatal visit with these women, and then shows up at the birth to catch her baby and tuck her into bed and say goodbye.

I’m seriously invested in the future of this community and every aspect of my life is anchored, with integrity, to purpose and meaning, so I will not be comfortable with that type of superficiality in my relationship with these women, their partners, and their children in the womb. 

I believe that birth is a spiritual rite of passage and the whole childbearing year(s) is a sacred event in a woman’s life.

I’m always seeking out the sacred aspects of everyday life, too, so in that sense birth is no different than life.

I’ve felt the call to serve my community, in this way, and that the energy of Sedona specifically has called me into service for the benefit of its future.

I plan to hold open the door for these new higher frequency souls that want to come in.

I plan to protect their mamas while they’re in the hypnotic psychedelic experience that is birth. To guard the birth space.

To hold space and act as witness as these women initiate themselves into motherhood and their babies empower them to grow in ways they never imagined they would. 

I know that the people and women who will be attracted to working with me will be the ones who feel called to step up and who are desiring and seeking out the work they need to do in order to shift onto our highest path collectively as a community.

We are in a new paradigm, crafting a new reality for the world at large as well as for our little community of Sedona.

I hope to hold space for women to be active and autonomous in their experiences, for them to take full responsibility for all of their decisions and for the outcome of their pregnancies, births, postpartums, and parenting/life journeys. 

I am here as a mentor, a guide, a friend, a sister, but ultimately this journey is the woman’s (+ her baby’s and partner’s alongside her) to make. I know this. And I know my role in this process. 

This type of living is not for everyone.

This type of community is not everyone’s cup of tea.

Not everyone is ready and not everyone “fits” and not everyone can do the work necessary to be a part of this vision.

And that’s fine!

There is nothing wrong with that and this is no better or worse than any other path. They’re all just paths. :)

But this is the one I’m envisioning and choosing and this is the place that chose me. 

There’s a saying here in Sedona that you will know right away whether you’re supposed to be here or not.

Sedona either makes it really easy or really challenging for people who try to settle here. I feel fortunate that my time here has been full of ease. I feel honored that Sedona “chose” me to be here during this time and to fill this role. And I’m REALLY excited to be here with all of the others who Sedona has also chosen to be here, now. :)

I’m excited for this community, for our deepening, for the path, for the future of this place that I’ve fallen so deeply in love with.

I hope that by stepping into this path, I am showing Sedona that I am listening to her, and she will co-create this future with us. 

Does this resonate with you? Do you feel aligned with this vision? Are you excited for the work and the journey that is holding this vision for the future of Sedona as a community, and for each of us as individuals? 

If so, I hope you get in touch :)

I hope we can work together in this way.

Because it will ripple out, from each individual, into each family, into the community, and out into the world from here.

We are working on the micro in order to affect the macro.

And I have total faith that we are on the right path!