Sacred Motherhood is a term I use to describe the transformative and healing experience of Motherhood when embraced, integrated and embodied by the Mother to become a life affirming experience, an experience that then results in positive change for the family and wider community.

The Conditions of Sacred Motherhood

For the metamorphic effect of Motherhood to be fully realized, the conditions that support this Motherhood experience need to be in alignment with this and provide a deep understanding of this powerful time of transformation. The initiation into Motherhood needs to be acknowledged and celebrated, and this initiation needs to be inclusive of the postpartum phase. The Mother needs to feel supported on a holistic level – mind, body, spirit – and to feel held by their immediate support network and wider community during this time of awakening and healing.

The War on Sacred Motherhood

Given the conditions needed to facilitate Sacred Motherhood, it is imperative that the Mother have their basic socio-economic and safety needs met. Beyond this, there needs to be a deeper level of understanding in society of this Sacred Motherhood experience, and the immense benefits it can bring for the family and social change. When a Mother is empowered, instead of overwhelmed, during this time of transformation there is a great potential for personal growth and healing. Throughout history we have witnessed the devaluation of Women and Mothers, and systems and structures have been created to obstruct Mothers to achieving their fullest potential. This has then impacted their potential to Mother from this place of heart-centred Sacred Motherhood. In an increasingly Modern World this war continues as Mothers are asked to endure this healing and deeply personal evolution through the context of financial and technological pressures, isolation, crisis and trauma. This is also the reason why coming back to a space of Sacred Motherhood is more important than ever, and why I created the term Sacred Motherhood Activist.

Reclaiming Sacred Motherhood

More and more Mothers are questioning these less than desirable conditions of Modern Motherhood and are reclaiming the Sacredness of Motherhood on their own terms. We can see this from the increase in birth empowerment and choice, to wider knowledge about traditional and alternative postpartum care. Within the scientific community who are calling for a longer definition of the postpartum care to extend beyond 6 weeks. There has been more openness and discourse around the mental health of mothers in mainstream media and a push for more support. From interest in homeschooling to early childhood development, and childhood development specifically within the context of trauma prevention, we are waking up from the Modern Motherhood narrative and creating new ways of existing which better support the Mother and child.

Sacred Motherhood and The Mama Temple

Out of my own struggles since becoming a new single mom in 2019 to my beautiful daughter, I wanted to create more space for the Sacredness of Motherhood to be seen and heard in the Modern World. It is my dream that the significance of the initiation and experience of Motherhood, and the opportunity it presents for deep level personal and community transformation, is widely accepted and acknowledged (and supported by) society.

The Mama temple seeks to continue to explore what it means to become a Mother from this perspective, and to create a platform where these ideas can seen and heard.

By Kate Aries, Sacred Motherhood Activist.