Short words for big feels today...
I've watched many people transform into Mothers; of their own babes, classrooms of kiddos, partners beloved children, projects, pets. It's like watching a performance through glass that has vaseline on it sometimes. You can see the daily ceremonies and rituals of their lives unfurling, you can guess at the possible metamorphosis - but you'd be taking a gamble from an obscured view. These Mothers in our lives emerge from the cocoon of who they once were into a version remodelled and reshaped, resembling something very different and wildly divine.
I don't know what Motherhood really does to a person, but I do know what it can do to the things that are Mothered.
Mothering allows the tiny cracks of our broken pieces to be stuck back together with gold. It's soft hugs and hard truths. Mothers show us to the world in their outstretched hands saying 'look what I made' all while reminding us of the nurturing they have waiting for us upon landing.
Despite the complexities of our individual experiences with Mothering I think the birthing experience is the key. Some of the Mothers in our lives have birthed babies, some have lost their littlest loves before they could, some have birthed ideas and visions so sublime and multifaceted and some have birthed a connection between themselves and another. This seems to be the moment of transformation, where idea, expectation and hope is abandoned - and messy, chaotic, serene, beautiful reality sets in.
After months of preparation for who or what they're readying to welcome, the surrendering to delivery requires immense sense of self and immense ability to let go of outcome.
So this Mother's Day, to those of us who have Mother figures to celebrate, and those of us who recognise that sense of nurturer and surrender in ourselves - let's say this... Mother is a verb, and however you Mother, the collective feels it.
Without you, the world would be without the slow sewing of the seed. Without the patient waiting for the bloom. Without the cooling water falling over and without the knowing of the unfolding.
With gratitude, M.
Ps. I'd like to send particular reverence to the beloved sister of a special friend - a person who took in their partners children with a love they had never before known, and can no longer hold. To you my dear I say, f*ck that. X
Daily Ceremony is grateful to live and work on Yuin land that holds the stories of the Dreamtime. We pay our respects and honour the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders past, present & emerging and acknowledge the stories, traditions and living cultures of our First Nations People
Ceremony [ ser-uh-moh-nee ] A unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion. Aka, life.
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