Painful and powerful birth energy moved through her body.

The energy in the room shifted with celebratory grace and tearful smiles. We welcomed this precious one to the earthly realm of gravity, air, and land.

Joseph Campbell calls the “ultimate truth.” Campbell posits that myth and ritual can only be the “penultimate truth.” Nothing in human language or in art can adequately express the immensity of the one energy that underlies existence.

Through the bodies of women, we are all born into time and space. Each one of us must also walk through that great, uncharted door of death.

Doulas offer a counterbalance to a medical system that places an inordinate amount of value on gadgets, medicine, and machines. Helpful and often lifesaving equipment need not eclipse the power of compassion.

My college professors served as wise academic mentors, but I needed spiritual support.

Studying philosophy and religion is not the same as practicing it. I longed to experience community rituals and missed the presence of elders and new babies in my life.

she said. While such a practice may seem unorthodox, many midwives I know commonly recommend a glass of wine in early labor. Divya smiled as she raised her glass to toast the occasion. Her magical, full-moon birthing had begun.

Zen Buddhist wisdom reminds adherents not to confuse the finger pointing to the moon with the moon itself.