Cariad-Barrett - Shamanic wisdom for pregnancy and parenthood: practices to embrace the transformative power of becoming a parent

This book is dedicated to my children, Aidan and Isla.
Thank you for being my greatest teachers and co-journeyers in this life.

Shamanic Wisdom for Pregnancy and Parenthood

In a day and age where parents are pulled in so many directions, we forget the power and the wisdom within, the wisdom we were born with. Anna Cariad-Barrett reclaims this deep wisdom and reminds us that we are sacred beings. She supports the physical and emotional layers of becoming a parentfor the first or tenth time. Anna walks us through each trimester like no other book has done and provides simple tools to bring great abundance to our journey. She reminds us of the importance of being in a partnership and making our relationship a priority. This book is a must-read.

SARAH LONGACRE, FOUNDER AND OWNER OF BLOOMA, PRENATAL YOGA INSTRUCTOR, AND BIRTH DOULA

Whether you are pregnant, adopting, trying to get pregnant, or raising small children, single or with a partner, this book is a must-read! Anna Cariad-Barrett carefully articulates the issues and challenges you are facing and offers clear guidance on how to deal with them. Her information, stories, and guided visualizations are relevant regardless of your situation. I wish this book had been available when I was first pregnant and parenting young children.

NICKI SCULLY, AUTHOR OF SEKHMET: TRANSFORMATION IN THE BELLY OF THE GODDESS

Anna Cariad-Barretts book is an essential companion for anyone on the transformational journey of creation, whether birthing a baby, a family, or ones self. By connecting us with the wisdom of nature and our inner knowing, she has taken the journey to a whole other dimension. A must-read for childbirth and parenting education if we are to secure a better future for humanity.

THEA SUMMER DEER, AUTHOR OF WISDOM OF THE PLANT DEVAS, CLINICAL HERBALIST, RESEARCHER, EDUCATOR, AND FORMER MIDWIFE AND HOLISTIC CHILDBIRTH EDUCATOR

A beautiful book about the powerful transformation process that takes place when one sets out to become a parent. Anna Cariad-Barrett weaves the often overlooked sorrows of the journey, including pregnancy loss and pregnancy after loss, with the joys that are imprinted into an individuals identity as a parent.

LINDSEY M. HENKE, MSW, LICSW, FOUNDER OF PREGNANCY AFTER LOSS SUPPORT

To birth and raise a child in todays world may be one of the greatest of initiations. Anna Cariad-Barrett has created a wonderful book, exploring the soul contract between the spirits of an incoming child and its parents. This book is a thoughtful psychospiritual guide that will assist in your personal transformation.

HANK WESSELMAN, PH.D., ANTHROPOLOGIST, AUTHOR OF THE RE-ENCHANTMENT, THE BOWL OF LIGHT, AND THE SPIRITWALKER TRILOGY, AND COAUTHOR OF AWAKENING TO THE SPIRIT WORLD

Anna Cariad-Barrett beautifully writes about the joys and challenges of parenthood from a unique and refreshing perspective of shamanic initiation. She connects parenthood with a larger perspective of a spiritual journey through life. Reading this book brings ancient shamanic practices into everyday life, enhancing and empowering people to be joyful and effective parents!

NITA GAGE, DSPS, MA, COAUTHOR OF SOUL WHISPERING AND COFOUNDER OF THE NEUROIMAGINAL INSTITUTE

Anna Cariad-Barrett has written a profoundly important work for all parents, whether their child is yet to be born or is already alive at any age. Our culture has only weakly supported the most sacred of the rites of passagebirth. Many of our family traditions shared wisdom and positive experiences in raising a child; but many more could only pass down trauma and dysfunction to the next generation. This book is for anyone who wants to transform existing patterns in their own or the collective family and offers practical and spiritual exercises for assistance. Bravo, Anna, the children of the world thank you.

KATHRYN W. RAVENWOOD, AUTHOR OF HOW TO CREATE SACRED WATER: A GUIDE TO RITUALS AND PRACTICES

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the incredible team at Inner Traditions Bear & Company, especially Jon Graham, Jeanie Levitan, Ehud Sperling, John Hays, Manzanita Carpenter, and Erica Robinson. I send heartfelt thanks to Jamaica Burns Griffin, my editor and literary midwife, for her wonderful work in the birth of this book.

Thank you to my husband, best friend, and partner in life, Robert, for your unconditional love and enthusiastic support throughout the journey of writing this book. Thanks also for being the wonderful father and co-parent you are. It is a delight and a pleasure to co-create family each day with you.

Many thanks and applause to the amazing Grandmother Babysitting Team, made up of my mother, Carol, and mother-in-law, Patti! Your support was instrumental in making it possible for me to balance motherhood and my professional life throughout the writing of this book. In addition, thank you to my mother, Carol, for raising me with incredible love, wisdom, and a commitment to personal healing and growth. Our journey together has been the inspiration and foundation for my work as a counselor, author, and minister.

Heartfelt gratitude and wolf howls to my mentor and teacher, Linda Star Wolf. Thank you for your wise guidance, loving encouragement, and support for my sacred purpose. You are a luminary for living a sacred life that honors the shaman within, deepens the soul through transformation, and is centered in loving service.

Thank you to each of the parents who shared their personal stories in this book with courage, honesty, and wonderful insight. You are wayshowers for so many other parents who are ready to grow, heal, and transform in the incredible journey of family.

Finally, thank you to all the parents and dear friends that surround me in my parenting community. Thank you for your stories, your mentorship, helpful ideas, and encouragement as I stepped into motherhood. Thank you for laughing with me at the absurdities of parenting and sharing in my sorrow, joy, and amazement at the blessings of this journey. Thank you for the dedicated work you do each day as parents, raising a wonderful new generation of children who are so in touch with their own hearts and spirits!

Foreword

I think it is safe to say, when one seriously considers what it takes to birth and raise a child in this world, that it is undoubtedly one of the biggest and greatest initiations that can occur on this planet. The other two great initiations are being born oneself and then the shedding of the body when death finally comes knocking at our door.

The journey of learning how to become a parent began with the first parents on Earth, and all the parents since that time have added to this journey. In essence, all that has been learned about parenting is in the collective unconscious and is there for each of us to tap into. From our fellow parents across time and space, our true families of origin on Earth, we can find comfort and guidance in the parent archetype as we explore our biological families of origin and any patterns with which they may have gifted us.