Shamanic Wisdom for Pregnancy and Parenthood

A guide to consciously exploring and honoring the spiritual and emotional journey of becoming a parent • Provides tools and meditations to engage the sacred wisdom-keeper within and create personal shamanic medicine to support you and your family • Discusses the shamanic perspective on miscarriage, fertility issues, postpartum stress, blended families, and adoption as a form of birthing through the heart • Provides shamanic teachings and techniques for conception, each trimester of pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period The journey into parenthood transforms us, whether our children are biological, adopted, in spirit, or not yet conceived. As we give birth through heart or body, we not only shape-shift into mothers and fathers, but also gain access to the deep inner well of spiritual wisdom that opens with initiation into parenthood. In this guide to consciously exploring the shamanic journey of pregnancy and parenthood, Anna Cariad-Barrett offers techniques and ceremonies to honor the transformation of becoming a parent and engage the sacred wisdom-keeper within. She provides tools and meditations to create personal shamanic medicine to support you and your family on this journey as well as connect with the wisdom of nature, expand your intuition, and explore altered states of consciousness. Restoring honor to the shadow side of parenthood, the author discusses the shamanic perspective on miscarriage, fertility, sexuality, postpartum stress and depression, blended families, and adoption as a form of birthing through the heart. She explains how to heal any deep psychic wounds from your birth family and transform negative beliefs you may hold about parenthood. She provides chapters on each trimester of pregnancy, offering specific teachings and techniques appropriate to each stage as well as conception, birth, and the postpartum period. Whether you are preparing to welcome your first child or seeking spiritual support for the multidimensional experience of being a parent, the author shows how to reclaim and reconnect all the experiences of parenthood and how, through this rite of passage, we give birth to our most authentic selves.

Anna Cariad-Barrett, DMin, is a psychospiritual counselor, shamanic minister, and teacher with degrees in shamanic psychospiritual studies, marriage and family therapy, and family social science. The coauthor of Sacred Medicine of Bee, Butterfly, Earthworm, and Spider, she is a faculty member at Venus Rising University and teaches workshops around the country. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Foreword by Linda Star Wolf Acknowledgments Introduction A Psychospiritual Exploration of Parenthood Part 1 SOULFUL PARENTING A Shamanic Psychospiritual Path 1 The Soulful Parenthood Journey A Multifaceted Process of Embodiment 2 Psychospiritual Initiation Healing and Transforming Ourselves as Parents 3 Rebirthing into Parenthood 4 Connecting with the Wisdom of Nature 5 Expanding Consciousness, Exploring Your Gifts Part 2 OUR DEEPEST TEACHERS The Light and Dark of Creating a Family 6 Opening to the Wisdom of Your Fertility Journey 7 Pregnancy Loss and Miscarriage The Lost Teachers of Creation 8 Adoption Birthing through the Heart 9 Blended Families Weaving New Relationships Part 3 Psychospiritual Support for the Pregnancy, Birth, and Postpartum Journey 10 The First Trimester of Pregnancy 11 The Second Trimester of Pregnancy 12 The Third Trimester of Pregnancy 13 The Birth Journey 14 Early Parenting and the Postpartum Period 15 Soul to Soul The Family Journey Index