Ripsnorter

17/08/2022

Postpartum to the people is an offering designed for everyday folks who want to learn basic postpartum principles and skills so they can tend their communities and families.

🌙 This is NOT a course or training in how to be a postpartum doula.

🌙The intention of this workshop is to bring postpartum care back to the people, it is for anyone who is wanting to empower themselves with a basic understanding of postpartum so they may utilise & circulate this within their spheres of influence.

🌙This is a space for those seeking to divest from ideologies that keep basic care practices feeling like they are unattainable, only for the highly trained or very privileged.

🌙This is for folks who want to bring postpartum care back into the family & community systems and to decolonise the ways in which we perceive and engage with the application of care.

Through equipping everyday folks with some basic knowledge and the confidence to tend to the postpartum people in their lives we support the healing potential of the postpartum period while divesting from power structures that have sequestered what were once common knowledges and skills woven through the fabric of communities.

August 14th 10am AEST via zoom.

We will look at:

What is postpartum & Why it matters.

What is happening during postpartum?

Basic care practices such as massage and why this is important for the postpartum body.

Supporting mother/parent baby dyad to bond. Why this matters.

Basic postpartum nourishment: basic/accessible meal ideas.

+ more.

This workshop is offered on a sliding scale based on the ‘economic justice: green bottle system’ designed by Worts & Cunning

🚨There are three price options so please read the full description on my website, read the green bottle diagram, feel into and assess your situation before choosing your ticket price 🚨

If you have the means to pay more please do as this supplements those with less in accessing this work and supports me in maintaining momentum with providing this kind of work.

Swipe to see the green bottle system and head to the link in my bio to read more or purchase tickets.

14/04/2021

‘We are groomed to normalise a hierarchy under which systems, structures and authoritative knowledge rule and individual agency, in the context of institutionalised birth, is ultimately still just a concept. This grooming is compounded through every arm of the hegemonic culture; often prevalent in hierarchical family dynamics, mirrored in mainstream schooling and again in the work place. The message is clear: YOU CANNOT POSSIBLY KNOW WHAT IS BEST FOR YOU.

Too often the idea of “choice” is illusory in that we have been conditioned to implicitly trust people in positions of authority, not to question them and certainly not to argue with them. They know better than us, remember? And ultimately they are the boss.

In the realm of birth that implicit trust would have once been given to a known midwife / birth keeper who knew us personally, who was in right reciprocal relationship with us and would provide true continuity of care that centred us as the person birthing.

Our deep desire to trust and be guided during this rite of passage is ancestral and it is energetically pure, yet it has been muddied by many layers of social conditioning. Where we once looked to truly trusted people with our best interests in their hearts, we are now too often looking at people with vested interests, with legal obligations to institutions and with little to no experience in true physiological birth or person centred care.’

Some excerpts from a piece I’m writing in the new members section of my website. This is where I will be sharing most of my writing moving forward. If you’d like to know when it’s goes live you can add your name to the mailing list. Swipe up in my story or head to my Linktree in my bio 🌻

27/03/2021

https://sevenfire.bigcartel.com/product/the-person-to-be-t-shirt

Wearable art on super soft AS colour T shirts. The shirts will be available for Pre-order until April 3. Pre-orders minimise waste but will take a...

26/03/2021

THE PERSON TO BE IS THE ANCESTOR YOU WANT TO BECOME.

I want to be the ancestor my descendants can count on for guidance, nurturing and resilience. What kind of ancestor are you striving to be?

* EDIT: We sold out so quickly of these tees and lots of folks missed out I’ve made a second run of these available for pre order. You can swipe up in my story or follow the link in my bio *
These are printed on super soft cotton in a boxy cut (v. comfy), screen printed in Sydney, Australia.

I have also made the last run of artworks available again for the next two weeks 🥰
https://sevenfire.bigcartel.com/product/the-person-to-be-t-shirt

11/03/2021

HI SYDNEY & BLUE MOUNTAINS FOLKS ||
I am looking to compile a living list of people willing to cook a meal for anyone who is in postpartum, whether they have experienced the birth of a living baby, an early birth (miscarriage), or abortion. All of these experiences are birth & require community care.

I envision this list being available to local birth workers, and particularly available for women and birthing people that are unsupported.

How we are supported through these major transitions & initiations is so vital to the wellbeing of individuals, families and the collective.

I have been deeply held through my postpartum periods and so much of this came through offerings of nourishing food which allowed me more space to heal.

If you are in the Sydney or Blue Mountain area and would like to get involved please head to my story and leave your details.

Aroha Mai Aroha Atu 🌸

11/03/2021

A Sunday reminder that as we nourish ourselves we nourish our babies & children. This is particularly relevant to early postpartum. When a baby is born so too is the mama / the parents. Birth and postpartum are an opportunity for consciousness to shift through the experience of the body. How that shift unfolds is heavily dependent on what happens with our bodies and the support we are offered during and after.
From my perspective the woman or birthing person is the home where new pure consciousness begins to build its form; the body of a baby. This is a monumental task that requires so much energy from the birther on every level. Through this process the body is simultaneously vulnerable and powerful beyond belief, the body drives and guides us through the experience - invites us into the deepest parts of ourselves, offers us profound insights and in return asks for our trust, our care and our love. Preparing food for a postpartum family is ancestral, it is a beautiful offering of healing - a balm in a society that has largely forgotten and pacified the magnitude of bringing new consciousness (in their brand new body) Earthside. When we nourish the mother / parent, we nourish the baby. Babies & kids do not need all the crap capitalism shoves down our throats, they need a parent who is well fed, loved, supported, able to regulate their nervous system and who feels seen / held by their community. This is integral to how we heal the collective and build a new paradigm; through valuing and supporting the entry point of new human life on earth and the rebirth of humans into a new state of being.

Whenever you can make a new family (or anyone traversing a significant life experience) something delicious, filled with love and intention 🌸

09/12/2020

Birth is BIG. Fu***ng, biiiiig energy. The power of life’s longing for itself cracks us open, our bones & bodies quite literally shift & move apart to make space for baby, so too do all other elements of our being: egoic, emotional & spiritual. I wish I could write the sound I make when talking about this. GUSHING WATER, RAGING AHI. The sound and charge of a full power waterfall. Ancestral. Primal. It is pure creation energy. This is what moves through us when we birth. No matter how it happens. The power of life & death.

So, our bones shift & need time & support to come back together, so too do all other elements of our being.

Postpartum is a big fu***ng deal. This is where we rebuild, setting the foundation for the next phase of life, where we ascend from the underworld of birth into the new world of parenthood. Everything is different there. Will we ascend stronger, more capable and able to thrive? Or will we feel let down? Lost? Fractured? Just able to survive? Birth is big energy, and postpartum is the time where we integrate it, heal from it.

Or not.

Mostly, in the westernised world view - postpartum (just like birth) has been completely devalued. The stench of capitalism infuses itself into the modern image of it: “Bounce back!” “Get back to work!” “How to get your pre baby body!”

A “successful” postpartum tends to be framed as how quickly we get on with s**t. And the stench of the colonial capitalist patriarchy has made it near impossible for many folks to do anything other than that.

If after birth & during postpartum you felt let down, scared, fractured, confused, barely able to survive please know that this society is failing birthing people everyday. You are not broken. You have most likely been unsupported.

As a collective we must value these rites if we have any hope of healing the Earth and healing humanity.

Birth is the root of life and postpartum is the soil from which it grows. When we take this seriously, we change the fkn world.

[📸 Altar for my sisters closing ritual It’s been an honour to walk beside you as you traverse these landscapes so powerfully]

09/12/2020

What is Sovereign Birth? For me personally it is the decentering of the white supremacist lens through which modern birth is most often viewed, and the recentering of traditional truly woman (or birthing person) focused care , it is decolonising birth practices, it is the freedom to make choices rooted in culture, it values the spiritual, ancestral and transcendent elements of birth as well as the holistic health of everyone involved. It is the centering of the mama or birthing persons safety in a way that is true FOR THEM, it is steeped in community, the birthing parent is the only authority over their body & choices, it is seeking and having access to unbiased, evidence based and holistic education, it’s being supported to make choices that feel true and aligned for the mama or birthing person which in turn support the needs of the baby/family.
It is decolonial as f**k tbh. It’s the antithesis of - & the healing balm for - what’s currently happening in mainstream institutionalised birth.

Sovereign birth will look different for everyone, how would it or did it look for you?

📷 I had the absolute privilege of sharing space with these amazing wahine / at the Sovereign Birth panel hosted by
For event The Returning. 75% of attendees were there through scholarship - Indigenous, refugee women, single mamas or trading their time/skills. True accessibility & community 🙏🏽

26/08/2020

Standing in solidarity with Wangan and Jagalingou people as they stand their ground against the Adani coal mine. This specific battle has been ten years in the ongoing 200 + year fight against colonisation and the violent occupation of this land. Tribal warriors have issued an eviction notice - Adani will destroy vital ecosystems, land, water, culture and we demand an end to this maddness. Its BEYOND maddness; it’s cultural genocide, ecocide, environmental terrorism, racism and flagrant, violent white supremacy. Get off their land!!! SOVEREIGNTY HAS NEVER BEEN CEDED. “We demand an end to the destruction of our unceded territory. We demand Adani Australia abandon their charmichael mine project immediately. We want them out. We want them to pack up and leave our tribal lands”
/ “We are the Wangan and Jagalingou Tribal Warriors — the original sovereign people of a vast area of unceded land in the Galilee Basin in central-western Queensland. We are acting to protect our land and water from Adani’s Carmichael Coal Mine that interferes with our ancient law and custom. We are tribal warriors and we are

Right now Adani are destroying our culture and country. Soon they’ll start draining the water table and digging their mine. That’s going to drain the life out of our country and kill our dreaming. Adani have given us no choice but to intervene to protect our land, water and culture. This eviction notice marks the start of a new phase of our resistance to Adani’s destruction”
PLEASE FOLLOW, LISTEN TO AND SHARE

16/08/2020

Some recent thoughts 💭 Many of us have been colonised to believe justice must always be punitive, that for amends to be made there must be harsh punishment. Of course sometimes harsh punishment is necessary or the only option, but often and probably mostly - it is not.

We often carry a punitive approach into our personal lives through how we treat others and ourselves; judging folks for their past, punishing our children, consistently criticising ourselves for past wrong doings, staying small and caged in our own internal prisons of shame and regret. To forgive ones self can feel like a betrayal to anyone we may have hurt, & beyond that may unconsciously feel like a betrayal of the system we’ve come to internalise which condemns through its punitive approach thus perpetuating an ongoing cycle of harm.

As I learn more about the philosophy of restorative justice, particularly in Māori and other indigenous cultures, I see that more often than not what we seek through justice is healing and healing comes through deep listening, empathy, forgiveness and shared humanity. Through our stories.

I have been considering how I can continue to decolonise and expand my ideas of justice on a personal level, exploring how we treat each other and how we treat ourselves on our own journeys of healing. How we hold our own stories. And how such a exploration in each of us is ultimately the fuel for collective & systemic change too.

If I believe that others are only ever the worst thing they have done and that harsh punishment is the only pathway to justice then it is possible I believe that about myself too.

Forgiveness, of others and of myself, does not mean I forget, but it can set me free from the prisons too many of us find ourselves in.

Compassion towards myself makes room for compassion towards others (and vice versa)
The collective cannot heal if the individuals cannot heal (and vice versa)