I met Anna at a Birth Lodge when I was expecting my son Andrew in 1995. We became fast friends and she has always had a place in my heart. Her passion for healing birth and helping women connected us, and the fact that we both love to write and document this thing called life layers the depths of our friendship.
I attended her workshop, Motherhands when I was expecting my son Benjamin five years ago, and it was a wonderful way to set aside a few hours from my busy life to focus on the baby and my intentions around his birth.
I saw her at a park a few years ago and she told me that she was working on a book about Mother Blessings. Here is the Amazon Link.
Mother Blessings: Honoring Women Becoming Mothers
Motherhands Web Site
It is always challenging to plan your own party around birth and the sacred milestones of life, (at least for me it was), but because of my friendship with Anna and her understanding of how important these celebrations are, I planned my own Blessing Way before Ben was born in 2002. We held this party on Labor Day, and Paul and I were very blessed to have Rico and Jeaninne Parvati Baker join us for this wonderful Ceremony.
I documented My Blessing Way on my web site here.
Having Jeannine with us was such a blessing, even more so now that she is no longer here. She died in 2005 and is greatly missed by all of us in the Birth Activist world. I sometimes feel her spirit around me, encouraging me, as I write and share insights around motherhood.
I praise Anna Stewart for taking the time to document The various Blessings that can be ours as women when we take the time to honor, love, and appreciate each other. I attended a Blessing Way for my friend Susanna back in 1998, and it was the first time I had ever felt the spirit of the Lord at a baby shower. Up to that point I had been to dozens of showers and had been the recipient of several showers around the births of my first four children. These parties were wonderful, and I was grateful for the time, money, and effort that various friends and family put into them.
But as we sang to Susanas baby, prayed together, and then shared our hearts and hopes for our wonderful friend and her new child, I realized that the materialism of the American Baby Shower had stolen from women our sacred and holy potential to truly honor and bless each other. The Blessing Way takes womanly connections and puts them into the spiritual stratosphere, rather than keeping those relationships tied down to materialism and silly jokes and games around birth and mothering.
Here are a few more links, mostly articles written by Anna about her work, but also some blog entrys by women who loved what she had to say:
Blessing Ways for all Women

Mother Blessing
Mother Blessings Intro to the book (PDF)
Gifts from a blessing way
And here is the text from my own Blessing Way article:
(Click on the link to see the pictures.)

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