Matrescense is a life-changing word coined by Anthropologist Dana Raphael in 1973, that encapsulates the physical, hormonal, social and emotional transition that a woman experiences when she becomes a mother. This is a lifelong process that is often referenced as similar to adolescence, in that once this change begins in us there is no returning to who we once were.
Matrescense looks different for everyone, and I am confident that this beautiful conversation with the deep and wise Jacqueline Kelly will move something within you yearning to be acknowledged. Without acknowledgement of this monumental change, we (and others) expect us to be the same person we once were– with the same capacity, priorities and even personality we once had.
This is what we do now– free ourselves from the limitations that this unconscious society has put on us.
Moment to moment, mama to mama.
**Also, I want to acknowledge that at the end of the episode I misspoke. The mind bending statement, “The Cave you Fear to Enter Holds the Treasure You Seek” is Joseph Campbell, not Carl Jung. And actually! In our Insta Culture, turns out this is not a direct quotation from him. The full passage is:
“It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasure of life.
Where you stumble, there lies your treasure.
The very cave you are afraid to enter turns out to be the source of what you are looking for.”
Here is the TedTalk we referenced by Dr. Alexandra Sacks: https://www.ted.com/talks/alexandra_sacks_a_new_way_to_think_about_the_transition_to_motherhood?language=en
If you would like to connect with Jacqueline on IG: https://www.instagram.com/our_bravehearts/
If you would like to connect with me and my work on IG: https://www.instagram.com/the.reprogrammed.parent
