Why Traditional Midwifery is Essential to Society

Anshin B. Kelly, Traditional Midwife 🪷

   The ancient practice of Traditional Midwifery is rooted in trust, it is also the root system of all modern variations of midwifery today.

     The bond, contract or agreement between a pregnant mother and her midwife needs to be trust; without this essential element, the very essence of what it means to continue life, and therefore build relationships and a society through that very foundational act of creating life, will be lost - and not just for singular, or familial situations - but ultimately for society at large.

     Because the foundational element of Traditional Midwifery is trust, then marketing credentials (as in certifications, medical degrees etc.) as more legitimate, or important than this trust, will not only serve to totally undermine the much older, and therefore more experienced, as well as wiser form of Midwifery; but through the normalization of this undermining, we as a society will ultimately harm ourselves through harming, and neglecting the root system that Traditional Midwifery sustains for the continuation, growth and health of society at large.

     One of the major reasons Traditional Midwifery is constantly under scrutiny in the West, and the modernized world at large is because Traditional Midwifery sustains with unwavering certainty that childbirth is inherently safe. Childbirth is a normal part of life. So normal in fact the ancient world long, long before medical practice, had no trouble at all populating the world; without pharmaceuticals, without medical degrees, certifications; through disasters, war and famine.

    Through it all, women and their traditional midwives have brought us here, today. 

    But there's no money, or prestige in that! No, no there isn't, is there? When I was very young it always struck me how the peasant woman and the Queen, would in childbirth, be brought to the exact same position; and no amount of money, power or status could change the fact that a baby is born the exact same way, for every woman, no matter what.

     When the bond of trust between traditional midwives and pregnant mothers came under assault through the predominantly male, aggressive history, spread, and marketing of modern medicine, modern women at large began to see motherhood and childbirth as something to fear; and therefore began to experience this fear manifested in a deluge of problems mostly triggered by a predominantly impersonal relationship they have with their practitioners - who again for most of modern medicine's history, were male.

     Traditional Midwifery sustains, represents and manifests the trust women need to have for, and with each other. Without this trust -bond between women in a society, we are bound to accumulate fundamental problems much more rapidly, that become pervasive intergenerationally. Because women create life, we are the link between all human relationships.

     If we destroy the presence, and active, free practice of Traditional Midwifery, we will, as a society, destroy ourselves from within. 

    The Traditional Midwife, as I have stated, practices, and creates bonds through trust. Because of this she is extremely versatile. It is my strong belief that medical practice could be an enormously beneficial support system to Traditional Midwifery, but as it stands now, and has for many hundreds of years, the foundationally male practice of modern medicine seeks to have predominant control over the realm of childbirth. However, it only takes a small amount of perspective to see that modern medicine is not ultimately the more knowledgeable, or experienced, or versatile practice in childbirth, it is Traditional Midwifery.

     The Traditional Midwife understands women, and is present for women. Her only criteria therefore in order that her relationships to her patients succeed and be mutually beneficial are that there is trust, and therefore mutual respect. A Traditional Midwife got her credentials through years and years of experience in working with senior Traditional Midwives, self-education, and having a skin-touch everyday relationship with women and childbirth. 

     Too often, I have seen over the last fifteen years or so, Traditional Midwives serve their communities for decades, with enormous success in benefiting, healing and renewing trust in women and childbirth; and when at times legal, or medical powers suddenly want to cast suspicion on, and harass the Traditional Midwife, that same community deserts her, and leaves her to either slug it out on her own, or be cut down, and forced out of practice.

     As a Traditional Midwife in her younger years of practice, I am calling for this kind of neglect, and undermining of Traditional Midwifery in the culture to be closely examined, cleansed, and healed in the cultural fabric. Without this kind of crucial reform, and close attention to how we, as a society treat our foundational women in the culture, we will soon find ourselves bereft of the connection we truly need as women, mothers, families, and communities, in order to thrive and continue forward - birthing, building, and cultivating the coming generations

Our Website