Blessingways

A blessingway ceremony is a beautiful way to honour the mother-to-be. It is performed around the eighth month of pregnancy. Blessingways feature several symbolic elements and rituals, such as the red thread, henna belly, bellymask or beads, and can easily take between 2 and 4 hours.

Veronika officiated a blessingway ceremony for me when I was pregnant with my only daughter in 2005. I had not heard of a blessingway ceremony before, and was blown away by its power and magic. From the seemingly simple act of naming our foremothers at the opening of the ceremony to the mother-nurturing acts, such as the other women picking local wild flowers and plaster-casting my tummy, the blessingway was full of energy and power which I felt set me up for a gentle and beautiful birth. I came away with amazing memories of the well-wishes of the other mothers and a string of beads to make these wishes more tangible in labour.

Veronika oversaw my blessingway ceremony with reverence and love. Being such an advocate for, and believer in, ecstatic birth makes her eminently suitable to officiate at blessingways. I could not recommend her ceremonies more highly as a means to honour your pregnancy and birth.

Siobhán Kramer, Ireland