Word Midwifery

In qualli ticitl

the good physician: she gives them potions, purges them, gives them medicine...She anoints them; she rubs, she massages them.

In aocmo meia chichioa

The nursing woman who no longer produces milk: she is to drink an infusion of roots, pulverized with a stone. Then one is to wash her breasts with saltpeter. Or she is to drink the infusion many times when she comes from the sweat bath.
old Aztec verse

Word Midwifery

My great grandmother was a midwife who rode bareback to the homes of women to assist with the birth of their children. Today I ride bareback to greet the riders who are coming to the Abbey, to help birth their words and images. We are rehearsing at the old inn at Duwamish Bay and will sweep into the Abbey on black mares within a few days. We will have many stories to tell.