Acknowledgments I want to acknowledge several people who have given many hours of their time and expertise in helping me make this project a reality. One is Barbara Crafton, whose advice, support, and depth of life and ministry I greatly appreciate. She walked me through this process with clarity and gentle prodding and deftly critiqued the manuscript. I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Sue Stanley, who labored for many months typing the various changes in the text. Her patience, humor, and generosity
INTRODUCTION ?Birthing is the most profound initiation to spirituality a woman can have.??? Robin Lim ?Birth is the epicentre of women?s power.? ?Ani DiFranco ?Giving birth and being born brings us into the essence of creation, where the human spirit is courageous and bold and the body, a miracle of wisdom.??? Harriette Hartigan ?.. and the quotes go on? The unique power of a woman lies in her ability to conceive and give birth and this has been described as the most blissful event in her life