Last episode, we spoke with therapist Shawneshia Hoover and cultural producer Cat Petru of We Rise for a foundational conversation around Loss & Grief. We covered topics such as coping mechanisms, harm reduction, the power of community, the role of professional help, and more.

This episode, we listen to birthworker Maureen Buttner as she tells the tale of her mother giving birth to her and her twin, Sydney. Listeners, please take extra care around this episode as this story includes the death of a grandmother in addition to a 2nd trimester miscarriage. Following this heartfelt storytelling, we discuss the dual gates of life and death, the need and power of community, healing as a cyclical journey, and power of intuition- especially as a birthing person!

Stay tuned for our next episode with birthworker and co-found of the Roots of Labor Birth Collective, Elena Aurora. We dive even deeper into ways loss and grief can manifest in the birth experience, what we as birthworkers can do to be of support, and how we as birthworkers can best support ourselves through such work when we are struggling with our lives.

Join the conversation on instagram by following @birthbruja.

More Show Notes <3Opening Blessing- there aren't enough characters here- go to our IG account @birthbruja to see the written version.

Meet Maureen:Hello! I’m Maureen Buttner. I am a queer feminist witchy cisgendered white woman gifted with intuitive abilities and a deep, unending desire to be with nature. I believe strongly that it is every human being’s right to reclaim their own identity & their own authentic voice and to live freely according to each person’s own inner guidance. The modern western paradigm of white supremacist, imperialist, cis-hetero-patriarchy has conditioned us all to believe that the ways of this world are normal, even as we can all so clearly see how toxic & oppressive these structures are. Remembering yourself is an essential process, one that has been blatantly and deliberately inaccessible except for a privileged few. I seek to use all my professional work but particularly my intuitive tarot abilities as a tool to aid folks in the process of self reclamation and in repairing from the harm inflicted by the systems of this world. I work with Motherpeace tarot, which is a deck that seeks to reimagine the world without patriarchy and to allow the reader access to extensive healing. My current work spans the realms of full time professional child care, volunteer birth work, space creation/organization/maintenance, and therapeutic tarot readings. The bridge between these worlds is the strength in my ability to provide folks (women and femme identified folks in particular) with an accessible, safe, nurturing space to tune into & explore their own authentic voice & identity, during peak, transformative, or growing experiences and within everyday life. It’s a privilege and honor to be of service in the ways that I can, thank you for taking the time to learn a little bit about me. :)

For further inquiry into my work, please reach out to me at [email protected]. I am presently available for readings, sliding scale postpartum birth work, and home organization. Website & instagram forthcoming!