I’ve heard it said by a few that birth keeping is not a path that one chooses. It is a path that seeks you out and calls to you. All you can do is heed the call. This resonates strongly for me. And yet it is no simple path. It splits into many meandering little passages and we must choose which suits us best. We must choose, and more than that, we must protect them all with a gentle fierceness, and we must protect ourselves. This is not something that can be done alone. We must explore different ways of caring for a birthing women, with each birth differing while maintaining the common denominator of compassion and gentle care. Humanity has forgotten Birth and we are remembering the way home together. The True Midwifery Study Spirals have been my monthly refuge for three years now. We hold each other through practical learning and deepening our skills. We hold each other through the tender spaces of processing the grief and joy of such a sacred and profound path. Whether I have been actively attending births, or simply maintaining the umbilical cord to this passion and necessary learning, these monthly meetings have been a sanctuary that facilitate this remembering. The gifts of this space are infinite; knowledge and wisdom shared with us by elders of this path, literature and resources shared, a global and culturally diverse community to tap into with questions and wonderments. We sing, we dance, we feel and we heal the space of birth for ourselves and humanity. May this space continue to spiral out . - Erie