A true midwife operates from a place of deep respect and reverence for life. She understands suffering and is therefore capable of magnanimous compassion. Such a midwife is able to stand in her strength yet be as flexible as a willow branch in the wind, in order to withold her projections and refrain from disturbing the process of labour and birth.
The notion of spiritual midwifery is clearly beginning to re-emerge in Western culture. As society has become more and more technologically based, many aspects of our lives have been reduced to purely physical functions. Childbirth especially has not escaped this rationalisation/de-mystification trend. In this process of focussing on what is happening to our bodies and the physical condition of the baby, many have lost the opportunity to experience the spiritual nature of childbirth.