The Birth Gem Doula

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Doula Services
Massage and Reiki
The postnatal pantry
Blog
Birth Art Mandala and Belly Painting
Placenta Remedies
Contact

Contact

Phone

07545 061 535

Email

contact@thebirthgem.co.uk

About
Doula Services
Massage and Reiki
The postnatal pantry
Blog
Birth Art Mandala and Belly Painting
Placenta Remedies
Contact

🌸 Bloom 🌸 The beautiful process of becoming!

🌸 Bloom 🌸 The beautiful process of becoming!
First of all, I found this picture of an opening poppy and just had to share it with you all. So gorgeous and amazing how much it resembles a baby crowning!
As I watch the blooms and leaves appear around me I can’t help but think of pregnancy and birth. Every bud takes it’s time, some I watch and predict tomorrow she’ll open, then I return and she’s continuing to gently unfurl, that’s ok you take your time I say! Then one day I notice that she’s open in her fullness gazing into the sun just at the perfect time.
We don’t rush nature, we just watch and admire the gifts trusting that everything knows just what to do and we nurture it when needed. This is how we should trust birth, nurture the mother when needed but trust that she will bloom in her own perfect time. From estimated due dates to birth itself, softly, softly trusting the wise process.
I notice that my magnolia tree has all stages of flower right now, all perfect in their various stages and just as they should be, teaching us to trust and that we all bloom in our own perfect time. The image of an opening flower is so helpful in so many ways and it’s a visualisation I use often. For birth the image of an opening flower is pretty much perfect in my opinion and definitely one of my favourites.
Petals blooming and opening softly, cradling the baby as they make their way into loving arms.
Softly, softly, in your own perfect time. Balance, trust, softly unfurl. Welcoming the soft but powerful bloom. ❤️
#sacredpregnancy #bloom #crowning #visualisationforbirth #bloominyourowntime #open #birthart #visualisation #birthvisualization #opensoftly #lessonsinnature #floweropening #doula #birthdoula

🌸 Magnolia 🌸 The flowering tree I look forwa

🌸 Magnolia 🌸
The flowering tree I look forward to most this time of year is the magnolia. These blooms are so fleeting and so beautiful. In ancient China the magnolia flower were thought to be the perfect symbols of womanly beauty and gentleness, if you’ve spent time admiring them you will likely find this very fitting.
Did you know that the magnolia petals are edible?
After a couple of branches came down this week containing some new flowers I couldn’t bear to leave them so I made a small amount of magnolia syrup with them. Just enough to use in a sweet marscapone cream to top this gorgeous spring cake with!
The flavour of magnolia syrup was the perfect companion for this spring lemon cake, surprising subtle ginger notes!
This is one of many ways to honour and embrace the essence of this flower, they are so fleeting you can probably gather them as they fall. Remember to always thank the tree for her gifts.
🌸Ingredients 🌸
25g magnolia petals
150g caster sugar
150ml water
~
Place water and sugar in pan, heat gently until dissolved.
Add the petals and leave uncovered for 20 mins on a very low heat, barely a simmer for around 20 mins.
Strain through a sieve into a glass bottle and leave to cool.
This keeps in the fridge for a very long time! Swap the magnolia for roses once they bloom, rose syrup is so special. Use as a Cordial, in cream, over fruit. I’d love to know if you try it! #magnolia #giftsfrommothernature #flowermagic #greenwitch #foragedflowers #springcake #edibleflowers #floralrecipes #flowersyrup

🌸Welcoming new energy 🌞 This weekend was a s

🌸Welcoming new energy 🌞
This weekend was a sweet time of heart opening, I enjoyed my goddess day on Friday and carried Venus with me into Saturday to a spring equinox connection out in nature with clients and @eva_shamanic_doula
🌱The spring equinox is a point of such gorgeous balance in the journey of the wheel of the year. I’m sure you feel this time of year setting off a response in you just like in all of nature. We are nature and we too are cyclic beings, Venus says allow this time to fill your heart with fresh energy and love! I’ve not really embraced Venus as a spring goddess before but she is, love and spring.
💖She joyfully celebrates during this light half of the year reunited with her big love Adonis who is released from the underworld where he is kept for the dark half of the year. Love reunited, re birth. Im feeling it more than ever this year.
Each morning in anticipation for the change I’ve tuned in, breathed in the new day feeling and smelling for the change! Can you feel it in the air? I definitely can.
🌸simple ritual 🌸
To honour this day and to welcome the new energy and to give thanks we shared a simple offering of wild flower seed in a shell. The shell representing Venus of course. Shaking out the old and inviting the new loving energy.
🌸Spring cake 🍰
This simple lemon cake is under the spring celebration section of my recipe book. Lemon cake topped with primrose flowers. Yellow is such a hopeful spring colour and lemon carries the fresh energy of spring I feel. It pains me to keep cakes this simple but it felt important to do so!
‘Spring tides are rising high
Life cycles turning
Bursts of energy magic fly
Re birth is the learning.’
Thank you Venus for joining us!
So cake, connection and simple ritual. A perfect way to spend a Saturday and spring equinox 😊
#douladay #springequinox #simplerituals #wheeloftheyear #sacredbirth #sacredpregnancy #connection #heartopening #heartopen #venus

💖Orange & vanilla sugar scrub! This might not

💖Orange & vanilla sugar scrub!
This might not look much but if you could smell it you’d be swooning.
This nourishing scrub is made from just a few simple ingredients from your kitchen and takes no time at all to make. Great for itchy bumps, dry skin and super moisturising, I’m finding this scrub so helpful now we have edged out of winter, I often find I wear the feel of winter on my skin for a while, my hands are dry, my face too and my skin is feeling a little dull and in need of a polish and nourish all over! One mother I made this for was having such an uncomfortable time and found this scrub such a relief for her tight itchy bump!
💖ingredients:
1 cup coconut oil
3 cup sugar (light brown or white either is good)
A few tbsp of almond or grapeseed oil
Vanilla & orange essential oil
💖method
Put the coconut oil and sugar in a table top blender and blitz until well combined. Add the almond oil 1 tbsp at a time blitzing between spoons. I used about 4 I think until I was happy with the consistency. The almond oil helps the coconut oil not to solidify too much. The turn out into a bowl and stir in the essential oils. I used 4 of vanilla and 2/3 of orange. You can leave the essential oils out and it will still smell amazing due to the coconut oil!
💖 if you don’t own a table top blender melt the coconut oil first in a large bowl and allow to cool slightly then mix in the rest of the ingredients. It will firm up so don’t worry if it seems too oily. After it firms give it a good stir.
💖No need to store this in the fridge, you may have to give it a stir occasionally.
#sugarscrub #pregnancytreats #postpartumbody #postnatalkitchen #doula #postnatalpantry #nourishyourbody #nourishandglow

This gem arrived just as I was finishing an episod

This gem arrived just as I was finishing an episode of one of my favourite podcasts @themidwivescauldron! I’m looking forward to diving in and soaking up the wisdom I’m bound to find in these pages! This is at the top of my reading pile now 😊
“Reclaiming childbirth as a rite of passage requires us to recognise that mothers own the power and expertise when it comes to birthing their babies. Whether you are a parent, care provider or educator, this book will transform how you think and feel about childbirth.”
I just know this is going to be a treasured member of my birth and motherhood library ❤️
#reclaimingchildbirth #ancientwisdommodernknowledge #riteofpassage #sacredbirth #birthbooks

On exploring my garden today I found more than 3 d

On exploring my garden today I found more than 3 different types of daffodil and developed a new appreciation for them! I have never taken much notice of them as they pop up every year in various spots but after admiring these sweet happy variations I’m a convert.
🌼They just seem so carefree, some floppy leaning down to kiss the earth that I cut for my home, growing with the wild garlic, nettles, snowdrops and hyacinths, clustered around trees just wherever they please it seemed. A reminder to grow where we are planted and endure, they seemed to offer lessons in adaption. Grasping the opportunity to bloom grateful again and to open joyful to the light half of the year.
🌼It’s rare for me to collect Flowers just to admire, I usually think ahead to their eventual use, will I dry them for remedies, press them, make essences? These though can just sit happy on a sill to bring joy.
In floriography (the language of flowers) the daffodil meant chivalry and unrequited love.
In some floriography dictionaries the message is “The sun is always shining when I’m with you” which I just love!
Superstition says to never give a single daffodil, to always give a bunch to ensure happiness.
Named after the son of the river god, narcissus who fell in the river after admiring his own reflection for too long. I don’t feel like this friendly flower blooms from vanity though!
It is also said that placing a fresh cut daffodil at your bedside it will increase fertility.
#springbloom #thelanguageofflowers #greenwitch #flowerpower #giftsfrommotherearth #messagesfromnature

Rosemary is such a special & magical plant. I have

Rosemary is such a special & magical plant. I have moved twice with the rosemary I grew from seed over a decade ago so you can imagine my sadness at seeing it’s somehow failed to thrive this year despite its reputation for being super hardy! I suspect root rot 🥺 I’m lucky that my local Doctors surgery aptly has several massive bushes that they don’t mind me gathering from.
Rosmarinus “Dew of the sea” isn’t that a beautiful origin name! As the name suggests it is native to the Mediterranean coast, it would be found in the dry rocky areas surrounding it and It’s no surprise that this powerful herb has travelled far and wide and has been used for thousands of years for much more than cooking. I can imagine the hardiness and powerful scent inspiring those who found it.
Greek scholars would wear Rosemary around their heads to improve memory, poems and more mention this herb and brides wore it at their weddings as a symbol of loyalty love and happiness, also placed in the hands of the dead as a symbol of remembrance. As you can see the delicate little blue flowers are in bloom now which always excites me! Legend says that they where once white and became blue after Mother Mary placed her cloak on a bush during her travels. Rosemary is warming, anti inflammatory, antioxidant, a cognitive stimulant and so much more. In 1615 Gervase Markham highly praised Rosemary and wrote about the many benefits of Rosemary water, he spoke of a bath decoction which he called the bath of life!
In magic it is a good herb for memory work including ancestor work as the Druid garden writes It sharpens the mind and brings focus. I have used it in magic pillows with lavender for sleep. Plant it by your front door for protection, use it to cleanse and purify in a smudge or incense.
Today I’m using it in cooking, sparingly as always due to its strength in a chicken, squash and wild mushroom pie. It’s worth mentioning that when we are encouraged to eat more plants herbs count too and are little powerhouses of flavour and nutrition. How do you unlock the magic of Rosemary?
#magicalherbs #kitchenwitch #greenwitch #herbgarden #sacredherbs #eatmoreplants #herbalmedicine

International women’s day 2021 I’ve struggled

International women’s day 2021
I’ve struggled with what to write and who to write about this year as I am so lucky to have so many women in my life to celebrate. I’ve been in and edited this a few times!
For me the past year has amplified all that is motherhood. I don’t think motherhood has ever felt more intense, relentless or lonely for many. Women everywhere have been expected to mother and work productively through a crisis as though this where normal. There have been so many gifts in all of this that will continue to reveal themselves but a very bright light has been shone on how massively mothers have been affected and often let down in various ways during the pandemic. I felt so much for mothers that shared stories and experiences with me and have cried more than once. So many have really deserved better and at the very least to be heard. I have also appreciated more than ever how strong, kind and amazing women really are and have always been, the threads of support seem to have stretched endlessly from heart to heart through the screens of smart phones and I pads, from gifts left on doorsteps and in the soft kind words and garbled messages over social media! Of course I already knew all of these things but my goodness women are so wonderful!
💖The gifts and messages of support and love I have had the pleasure to put together and send out from mothers to daughters, sisters to sisters and beloved friends have been a soothing balm to my own tired mothers soul, because let’s face it mothers are tired and have been expected to pick up the slack and carry on with so much extra added to their roles. What a blessing and comfort this joint act of giving and these notes became.
💖So this international women’s day is all about the amazing women and mothers close to home. Total Goddesses all of you. I am forever in your service!
📷 I’m not sure who to credit for this picture so if you know do tell me. #iwd2021 #womenareamazing #motherhood #choosetochallenge #internationalwomensday

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The Birth Gem - Doula, Massage and Reiki
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