During Stargate, Hokhmah, as a Midwife, recognized that the five–step process described as a psycho-spiritual journey has parallel relevancy for pregnancy and childbirth. Staci, in her master’s thesis in Women’s Spirituality, focused on pregnancy as an opportunity for transformation. In our collaboration, we became excited with viewing the pregnant woman as a conscious initiate: a newly pregnant woman is on a path from maidenhood to motherhood. She can choose to embrace the journey consciously and make empowering choices along the way or abdicate her power by following the authority of others.

We consider the five–steps, described by Stargate, to be the steps of an initiate who accepts the challenge to venture into the mystery. In our work, we use the five–steps to map out the developmental process of a pregnant woman as she moves through pregnancy and childbirth into motherhood. For more details regarding the relationship between the five–steps and Holistic Childbirth Preparation see conceptual weavings.

While developing Holistic Childbirth Preparation and Birthing Intuition we realized that preconception also offers opportunities for women to cultivate wisdom and empowerment. We wished to offer women a place to gather and explore the preconception experience and so we started the Preconception Support Circle.