Ep#30 Roots of the Womb with Davana May

In this episode of Your Story Medicine, I welcome Davana May, a certified holistic wellness practitioner, ceremonialist, student of the Divine Feminine Mysteries, and Co-Founder of Sacred Sacred Sisters Circle. She is a graduate of The Gaia School of Healing and Earth Education, and a practitioner of the wise woman tradition. She has also studied Inner Dance and Inner Guidance with both Pi in the Philippines and Amara in Bali. After her own dark night of the soul and mystical awakening, she now guides other travelers on their unique journey home to themselves, connecting to the Beloved within.

Davana speaks to us about how her experience as a mother of two who turned from the limitations of the industrial medical system led her to discover her medicine of helping women embrace their essence, their femininity, and their power as birth givers as these were celebrated for hundreds of thousands of years.

What did you get to celebrate about yourself today?

Davana: I’m celebrating where I am right now. I’m celebrating the journey that brought me here. I’m celebrating this beautiful land that I’m on—we moved from California to Texas; so, I’m currently in Austin in the land of the First Nations people— the Tonkawa. I’m celebrating all the water around us; all of the abundance; the nature.

How would you describe your medicine?

Davana: Helping people remember who they are, their essence. I love the wild feminine embodiment, empowerment, divine transformation using breath, sound, movement; using ourselves, our bodies, our touch, our voices, connection—all that’s within and, essentially, love.

What is your ancestral lineage and how has that influenced your medicine today?

Davana: My mother is European and she has a mix of English, Scottish, Czechoslovakian, and Yugoslavian. Her grandparents didn’t speak any English. They came here from Yugoslavia and were farmers. My father’s side comes from the Xhosa tribe from Africa. I’m the bridge between both worlds in this body, in this lifetime, in this avatar. Growing up, my friends were very diverse. It was hard growing up because I lived in a mostly-white neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley in L.A. and was more part of the mixed group than I was with the “black” group, never really feeling fully embraced by them. I loved theatre, singing, music, and drama, but never ended up pursuing that passion, which I don’t regret. Instead, I got into health and wellness and got my pilates, yoga, and aromatherapy certification, among other things. I just got deeper into the healing path.

I know that you’re a mother of two. How has your experience been in navigating motherhood and how do you feel that this is rippling out into the healing of the generations before you?

Davana: As much as I wanted my first birth to be natural, I ended up having a C-section and the most medicated birth you can have, mostly out of a fear to speak up and fully trust myself to make a decision. But it was a divine moment and I don’t regret it. However, with my second birth, I decided to go full ancestral. I decided not to take a pregnancy test nor see a single doctor nor do an ultrasound nor do a blood test. I wanted to go full primal. What did our ancestors do? I tuned in, as soon as I missed my first period. It was the most empowering thing I’ve ever done for myself. I know this isn’t the path for every woman, every birthing person to do, but this is exactly what I had to do to reclaim what I lost in my first birth: giving my power away to authority figures. We have been indoctrinated into the industrial medical system and we don’t even know whether we have another option. We forget how powerful our bodies are when we fully trust, even if it means death, because death is a part of birth.

You’re also a birth worker. How did you come to reclaim some of these traditions?

Davana: After my first postpartum experience, I underwent INNATE Traditions’ INNATE Postpartum Care - Certification Training with Rachelle Garcia and became a member of Free Birth Society. The world needs this education so badly because the care that mothers get after giving birth is so sad.

Tell us about Sacred Sister Circle.

Davana: I always wondered why so many women are in abusive relationships; so, I created this community for women to come together and practice self-love, to connect to our bodies and just sing and dance and love on ourselves.

What is your opinion on who should get access to these traditions around midwifery?

Davana: Everyone should get access. It’s people’s medicine. It’s the wisdom of the Earth. That’s what Free Birth Society teaches us, that women who gave birth themselves can support other women to do the same. They don’t have to go to school. They don’t have to be tied to the system and have their license removed for whatever reason. They don’t have to live in fear.

What is it that you’ve had to learn to release?

Davana: I’ve had to learn to release the inner critic: the inner voice—that came from an abusive father—that essentially wanted to bring me down. I had to let go of the old self. That’s what motherhood is, is letting go of an old part of yourself and bringing in a new one.

What is a ritual, practice, or words of wisdom that you would invite us to embody?

Davana: I invite you to have a seat or lie down, to ground yourself and connect to your breath. Close your eyes if that feels comfortable for you. Scan your internal environment. How does your body feel? Just check in. Stay connected to your breath. Inhale… exhale with sound. Soften your jaw. Open and close your mouth a few times. Another breath in. Then exhale… release. Soften your shoulders. Open your palms and rub your hands together, knowing that we are all healers. We are all here to heal ourselves and we can do that with the power of sound, our voice, our hands. Place your hands, nice and warm, over your womb space whether you physically have a womb or not. Connect to the energetic womb, just feeling that sacred space. Take another inhale, and on your exhale, send healing, golden light from your palms and into your womb space. Do that about ten times with inhaling and exhaling, continually dropping out of your mind and into your heart… then down into your womb. The womb has its own consciousness. The womb is listening. The womb is holding onto our life experiences. It’s important to check in with your womb to release energy that your womb is holding on to. Ask your womb a question, whether it’s what we need to know in this moment, or for clarity or guidance on a specific issue. When you feel complete, take another deep breath in and exhale with sound. Repeat that two more times. When you’re ready, open your eyes, thank your womb, shake your hands, and give yourself a hug.

If you could speak to yourself as a future ancestor at any time in your life, what would you say?

Davana: I would say, “My sweet, beautiful divine child, you are so perfect as you are. You are a daughter of God, and embodiment of the Goddess; so, just keep being you. Just keep shining your light. Keep singing your song as medicine. Keep dancing with the flowers. Keep being who you are. You’re so perfect and you don’t have to change a thing.”

Conclusion: Embrace your essence as a woman and don’t enslave your body to the systems that were put in place in colonial times. You need to trust your own body—especially your womb—and the unlimited power that it has, as perfect as it is.

Action Integration: Take three minutes to ground yourself, connect with your breath, and slowly move from the mind space down to the heart space down to the womb space. Connect with the energy of that sacred space and let your healing emerge from it.

Learn more about Davana and her offerings:

Visit her website: www.sacredsisterscircle.co 

Follow her on Instagram: www.instagram.com/divinedavana