I attended my first blessingway after I had already become a mother and was apprenticing with my midwife teachers. I was deeply touched by this ceremony.  It was so different compared to the baby showers I went to with my mother. Here I was in a circle of women who were all singing to a mother who was preparing for birth. We fed her with nurturing, nourishing goodness as we gathered to honor her and the nine-month journey of growing a child. We did our best to feed her spirit with strength and sustenance for the coming birth. We anointed her so she may walk fearlessly toward the initiation of Birth, a powerful rite of passage into Motherhood.