By Kristen Nagle

In a time where there is an app for everything, new smart technologies to think for us, and the never ending reminder to trust the science – do we remember or know how to trust ourselves?With every convenience we have, a sacrifice is made, often one we aren’t consciously aware of. As we move into a technocratic society, what does it even mean to raise nature’s child? What is nature? It seems we have worked hard to push nature away, repelling it, unless we feel we need it. Otherwise, it remains separate from our lives.

Not too long ago, women were the gatherers, homemakers, the life force, bringing miracles into the world. There were no apps to let women know when they were ovulating; they understood the changes in their bodies as well as their surrounding environment. They also understood the sky, the moon cycles and the changing of the sun in its intensity and height. They were in harmony with nature, realizing the connection they shared with the elements of the world and with our creator.

Eventually, we thought we could outsmart nature, do better than what God had created for us. We are now amidst a technology driven era, where we no longer think for ourselves and are desperately disconnected from who we are, the earth and our creator. We no longer listen to our bodies or recognize the subtle signs it whispers to us; we barely hear it when it begins to scream. We are constantly looking outside of ourselves for answers, for quick fixes, for anything and anyone to blame.

Women used to work together in communities, support one another, pass down stories, recipes, knowledge and wisdom. A woman’s first period was celebrated and she was honoured as she entered womanhood. She now possessed the ability to create life —miracles.

The young mother was supported by the other women in the community, through pregnancy and even during delivery of the baby. The woman was cared for, loved and supported, feeling empowered through her rite of passage to motherhood. Her baby also loved and welcomed earth-side, as a perfect, divine miracle, needing only their mothers touch, warmth, love and milk. Women walked in sacred circles with one another, they were the heart of every home.

We now witness a different story. Women are often isolated, caring for the home and working full-time, trying to do it all, missing the support of other women in the community. They spend their days in boxes (homes), to go to work in another box (indoors), commuting between the two in a mobile box (vehicle). They are cut off from the world, specifically nature.

Exhausted at the end of the day, they typically numb themselves with television or a beverage before heading to bed, only to wake up and do it all over again. The hustle and bustle of our fast-paced society, leaves no time or energy to research important topics. This leaves it up to the “experts” to dictate what is best, for them and their children. Children are placed in the care of someone else to raise and teach. Society has lost faith in parents as experts.

How are we to raise nature’s child when we don’t really know what that means? When a woman suspects she is pregnant, there is a list of generally accepted actions she must take. First, she usually books an appointment for bloodwork and/or ultrasound with a doctor or midwife to confirm the pregnancy, rather than listening to her intuition and observing the changes within her own body. Then, she continues with regular appointments, a few more ultrasounds and tests to make sure everything is progressing appropriately and that everything is ‘normal’. But what is normal and by whose standards? At each appointment, responsibility of our bodies and that of our babies is conceded to the medical establishment – proving how disconnected we are from self. Mother’s intuition is being sacrificed. She is conditioned to ignore it and to place decisions in the hands of an ‘expert’.When it is time to bring the baby into the world, it is typically done in a sterile hospital setting with medical ‘experts’. Mom is told how to position herself, how to breathe, when to push and for how long. She is completely outside of herself as she listens to external input, instructing her how to conduct her own body. Again, she remains fully disconnected from self and all intuition. Once born, the baby is whisked away from mom, rubbed dry, examined under bright lights, given intramuscular injections and drops of erythromycin in their eyes (as mom may have chlamydia?!). This ritual insinuates that the baby is flawed, weak, and needs man’s synthetic creations to ensure it survives.

We, as humans, have forgotten that each one of us is perfectly, divinely designed, without mistakes. God doesn’t make mistakes, humans do. “For it was You who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise You because I have been fearfully and wonderfully made”. Psalms 139:13- 14

We continue to give up our bodily autonomy, not trusting our motherly intuition, as we voluntarily book our well-baby visits at each marker of development. Again, this is to ensure that baby is developing normally, growing well, eating well and remaining healthy. In addition, babies must continue to receive man’s synthetic creations (i.e. vaccines) because our creator obviously made mistakes. Man knows best. Isn’t this what we’ve been told over and over?

It is time to break the cycle of control and victimhood! It’s time to reconnect with our intuition and our creator and get back to nature. Only then, can we move forward to raise nature’s child in all its glory, beauty and magic! It is time for women to remember their sacred womanhood, gifts, stories and whispers from ancestors. They must remember that they are the life force that will continue to bring miracles into this world for generations to come. Women must take back their power in all its might and pass this on to their children. This is how the cycle ends.

It is important to understand how perfectly we are created and our connection to nature – we have a symbiotic relationship even down to the breath we share with the plants and trees around us. This is intentional so that with every breath, we remember we are one, we are connected and we rely on each other’s existence to survive. Nature’s complexities and the abundant gifts around us, open windows and doors into our own intricacies, our own perfect divine design. How sad is it that we continue to destroy it all: nature and ourselves? How we’ve come to misunderstand the human body, how wrong we’ve gotten it all!

The nut tree, for example, teaches us important lessons in the seasons of life. Its strategy is to drop its nuts every three years. During years of abundant food, the squirrels do well, have more babies, but can’t keep up with the nuts that have dropped, thus new trees are planted. More squirrels means more hawks, more foxes and so on. The next fall, if there are less nuts, the squirrels have to come out and search more, leaving them vulnerable as prey, which decreases their population. Without this cycle in nature, there wouldn’t be any generational continuation of the nut tree.

We all have our cycles, phases and seasons in life and they all serve a purpose. When we allow ourselves to sit in the discomfort and stillness, it allows us to see and feel the experience, the lessons being taught and the growth happening. This leads us into our next phase of life. I look forward to the day when we are all comfortable to sit in discomfort, with patience and the goal of understanding. This is when we gain wisdom and insight into who we are, who our creator is, and connect back to all that is important to us. Once we can achieve this, then we can truly raise nature’s child— our future generations.

Kristen Nagle is one of the founders of www.CanadianFrontlineNurses.ca