Festing, photography & papier-mâché

My mission: to dance to the drums around our sacred fire at fest while my babe was still in the womb. Mission accomplished. Little did I know that I would be given two additional blessings while at Fest.

One came in the form of a beautiful shaman, Christin Dennis, offering to photograph me while at a festival together. I borrowed some pretty things from a sister, lined my eyes and off we went to the river - which was FREEZING - but worth it...

 ...then off to the open faerie fields, the woods - living and dead - and to a patch of ferns where I was bitten in places no woman should have to apply topical Benadryl. Just sayin' it's not overly attractive to be waddling through a festival site scratching your ass. 

And, proving once again that mistakes can work out phenomenally well, one of my favorite shots ended up being when the setting on the camera was thrown off and the lighting was "wrong" pffft.

I'll take it.

The other was an incredible blessing and sharing ritual with my spirit sisters where they decided they would attempt a papier-mâché mold of my belly (it was colorful). 

Please note, when using tissue paper it's a good idea to put a layer of heavier paper down first, so when someone decides to goop a bunch of glue on top the mold won't distort. And lots of shea butter on the skin first. Holy hell, if you could have seen us trying to pry my skin away from the mold where we didn't lotion it up first... it was a sight. 

So, just make sure when you're doing this that it's totally dry before taking it off. One of my boobs deflated... guess that's what's coming after breast feeding anyway. 

I absolutely loved this experience though, having sisters singing as they placed pieces of paper to mark my growing womb... sharing their birthing stories and passing on advice as the mold dried. Really quite incredible! Although, I may need to try a cast to see if it will hold the shape better, maybe I can layer the mâché with that...

I know when I look back at the photos and recall the memories from that week, it will be like celebrating the second phase all over again. 


Nothing but love of sisterhood and the Goddess.

Next up: henna tattooing