A Little Bit of My Story...

I began my wise womb path at age 22 when I was working on a farm in rural Ireland. For years, I had suffered from painful, heavy periods (exacerbated by my copper IUD) and I had yet to find a long-term solution outside of handfuls of extra-strength ibuprofen every month. While living on the farm, I was fortunate enough to accompany a wonderful Irish elder, herbalist, and medicine woman who very casually pointed out a few plants in her garden and instructed me in how to prepare myself an herbal infusion to support myself during my painful bleeding days. To my pleasant surprise, within twenty minutes of drinking the tea, all of my pain was gone and my heavy bleeding had drastically decreased. This experience left me reeling…What was this magic?!! Can it actually be this simple?!! How can I learn more??? This is where my path with the plants began… 

A few years later, at the age 24, I was initiated into a ceremonial way of life in the heart of the Colombian jungle. Leading up to this experience, I had been dealing with back to back yeast and urinary tract infections that had been plaguing my body for the better part of a decade. Finally, in one of the most unforgettable ceremonies of my life, I put my hands on my womb and heard the voice of a wise female elder saying to me, “Claire, you have a foreign metal object in your body [my copper IUD]. When you fly home, you have to get it removed. There are older, ancestral ways to avoid getting pregnant…it’s finally time that you learned them.” Thus, from that moment forward, I have dedicated my life to learning anything and everything that I possibly can about womb sovereignty, fertility tracking, conscious contraception with plant allies, natural vaginal health practices, menstrual cycle education, physiologic birth, postpartum care, herbs for hormonal balancing, ancestral nutrition, and the divine intelligence of the womb care continuum. 

Since 2021, I have spent significant time in the indigenous territory of the Putumayo Jungle (Colombia) while learning under traditional healers of the Cofan lineage. After traveling back and forth from the territory over many years, I eventually ended up living with my late and beloved elders, Abuelo Querubin and Abuela Maria, for a year and a half. It was during this period of time that I helped accompany them both through their respective dying portals. I consider the deaths of my teachers to be my first true initiation into the path of traditional midwifery—that being one of womb-to-tomb care that holds the sacredness and inevitability of birth and death in both hands. 

Currently, I am pursuing clinical training, licensure, and certification under the apprenticeship model of direct-entry midwifery—serving families in the home birth and birth center settings. In my studies, I am immensely fortunate to be learning under a handful of midwives here on the US/Mexico border who seamlessly weave Western science and earth-based wisdom in order to best support mothers, babies, and families. 

My prayer is to eventually offer full-spectrum traditional midwifery care and education but this dream will take many years to come to fruition. Thankfully, I am in no rush to arrive anywhere other than where I currently am now on my wise womb path…I’m enjoying the ride!