Warrior Thy Name Is Mother

Let’s get right to it, shall we? Anyone who has given birth to a child is a Mother-f***ing Warrior. That’s right…a warrior. I liken the experience to the Triple Goddess, which was the subject of much writing by mythologer and writer Robert Graves. According to some Neopagans, there are three stages a woman must pass through before her return to the spirit world. The Triple Goddess is frequently described as the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone, each symbolizing a separate stage in the female life cycle. I will go through each quickly, but it’s Mother that we will be focusing on.

1st Right Of Initiation: Maiden

Maiden refers to the joys of youth. That is a fleeting moment in a woman’s life where everything falls into the right places with minimal effort and low maintenance.  It is her time of self-discovery, a total reckless abandonment. Most women look back on these years fondly but only after passing on to the other stages. At the moment, she is usually riddled with self-doubt, a lack of confidence, and an overall feeling of trying to find her place in the world.

2nd Right of initiation: Mother

Once impregnated with the seed of life, she moves from Maiden to Mother, a fantastic right of passage and blessing that is not to be taken lightly. She is the bringer of life, and she does so knowing that her own life will change forever.

3rd Right of Initiation: Crone

Finally, after years of child-rearing, if she doesn’t croak from her uterus falling out, she moves on to the final stage known as Crone. A woman is now in the last act of her life’s play. She has crossed the threshold from her Mother as her children are now independent. She is at her most beautiful in many ways, as the gift of wisdom lines her face with grace. She has finally come into her own.

There is a common misconception about pregnancy.  Just because many women do it, often multiple times doesn’t mean it’s easy. Let’s get real. Each pregnancy is as different and diverse as the woman carrying it, and each pregnancy per each woman is different.  So we will get down to it and explain why mothers are warriors.

1. Body Morphing

In a strange uncontrolled fashion not unlike something from X-Men, a woman’s body morphs into an incubator for sustaining new life. Unfortunately, thanks to society’s idiocy, I always hear pregnant woman lament, “I got so fat!” Ummmm yeah. That’s the point. There is, of course, an optimal weight to be maintained for the health of you and your baby, so by all means, don’t go crazy but “getting fat” is quite different than what is happening. Your entire body is shifting to make room for a baby. When one gets fat, their organs do not turn up, and their uterus does not expand. A warrior’s body morphs into a vessel. She becomes a vehicle for transportation between two worlds. That’s right, ladies, much like the goddess, we walk between  worlds.

2. Extreme Strength

The first time I knew I could kill was when I was pregnant. No weapons are necessary. The strength and endurance you have are only matched by maybe superman, and he could never tolerate the process of giving birth. You might be physically exhausted and possibly ill, but you are still the strongest  being on the planet.

3. Labor

Again, this is different for everyone, so telling a woman precisely what her labor will be like is virtually impossible. However, no matter who you are and how high your pain tolerance is, this shit hurts.

This tiny little creature ready to enter this world is doing so through your body, using its head to carve the way out. I don’t care how much hypnotherapy you do (and for some women, that works); this is quite possibly one of the most painful experiences a woman will ever go through (bring on the epidural). Yet, there they are all over the world, popping out humans at home, hospitals, fields, cars, or airplanes; these mother warriors are bringing in new life.

Their bodies rip, tear, bleed, and sometimes cut open to give breath to their most cherished gift: their baby.

So don’t be upset when you look in the mirror and see the excess weight, stretch marks, sagging skin, scars, rips, and tears! Be proud! You have walked through the fires of initiation from Maiden to Mother and have come out victorious. These are your battle scars, your body’s way of reminding you that you, my dear sweet, beautiful woman, are now and forever a mother.