Sensitive Midwifery - Issue 43 - July2019

Where women gather Margreet Wibbelink contacted well-known North American midwife, Sister MorningStar, to discover the essence of her instinctual birth message. Dimensions S ister MorningStar describes herself as ‘a keeper of a story, a woodland mystic and a preserver of the sacred feminine’. She was only 12 years old when she started her first ‘wimyn’s study group’. She had never read or heard of such gatherings but was just following her heart and soul, so was thrilled to find other girls wanted to gather with her. ‘Womyn’ (plural ‘wimyn’) is the feminist spelling of ‘woman/women’, with the purpose of objecting to its man-derivative. Sister MorningStar would spend lots of time in silence and solitude in the woods and walking the creeks, day- dreaming as teenagers do. She describes those times as a fundamental part of her unfolding life, realising even at that young age that women’s issues are important; how closely the body, mind and soul are interconnected; and that healing, peace and happiness come first to the spirit and leave from there first as well. ‘We often die spiritually, long before our bodies die,’ explains Sister MorningStar. Five decades later, she still meets once a week with a circle of women, talking about what is relevant in their lives. In 1993, together with her three daughters, Sister MorningStar moved to a little cottage in the woods of Missouri surrounded by hundreds of acres of Ozark Mountains. This is where the initial circles grew into the well-known community, called ‘MorningStar Community’; in 2018, the community celebrated their 25th anniversary. The women’s circles are still the heartbeat of the community life. Straight from Sister MorningStar’s heart ‘Please tell South African midwives that the wimyn gather. That the babies are birthed in power and passion and under the moon. That mothers feed them that power through milk from their own bodies and that they can look at the moon and hear the voice of their pack across the big waters. That instinct can be grown and sisterhood can too. May they have strong bodies, lucid minds and clean spirits. ‘To the birth keepers, break the silence, tell the stories, ask the questions, learn from nature, trust instinct, be a believer in what you believe. Thoughts are things. You are queens on your pelvic thrones. What you say, you decree. Think about what you are thinking about. From first to last breaths and all in-between, simple and sacred will preserve the ancient wisdom ways of the sacred feminine. You are the birth keepers. The story tellers.’ Three main MorningStar messages 1. Women need to get together to talk about what is going on in their lives and in their hearts. 2. Women in isolation are trapped, scared, sad, depressed and hopeless – not so much in their circumstances but within. All that changes when they can be with other women and begin to talk openly. 3. What one ‘womyn’ can do, all ‘wimyn’ can do. What one village can do, all villages can do. What I can do, you can do. 28 eSensitive Midwifery Magazine Issue 43