Jane Hardwicke Collings
I am a postmenopausal grandmother at the sunset of my life.
I am mother of a blended family with 4 adult children and 3 grandboys.
I am a former Registered Nurse, and worked in that capacity in Paediatric Intensive Care Units and Women’s Operating Theatres.
I became a midwife at 26 and left the hospital system so as not to be complicit with institutionalised acts of abuse and violence on women and babies masquerading as safety.
I ‘grew up’ in the homebirth world and was a homebirth midwife for 30 years in the city and then rural areas.
My own births have taught me who I am and what I am capable of.
My menopausal experience has taught me to focus on preparing for the great great grandchildren.
And the beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.
I travel to give workshops on the wisdom of the cycles and the spiritual practice of menstruation; preparation for menstruation for mothers and daughters; and the sacred and shamanic dimensions of pregnancy, birth, mothering and menopause; and how to reclaim and heal our rites of passage. I also offer teacher training for these. I speak at conferences and festivals and offer my books and e-courses to help heal the wounded feminine and wounded masculine of our patriarchal culture.
I carry the lineage of Shamanic Midwifery from my teacher Jeannine Parvati Baker (deceased) and I created the School of Shamanic Womancraft (formerly the School of Shamanic Midwifery) in 2009, an International, Women’s Mystery School to share and carry on this lineage.
I see myself as an Agent of the Goddess, a Priestess at the altars of transformation.
This is my mission.
I see myself as an Agent of the Goddess, and practically speaking that means my work in the world is informed by my commitment to work for the Earth, Mother Earth, and all her inhabitants.
What that looks like is helping heal birth through helping mothers be more informed about how the system works and their rights, to heal traumatic birth experiences, to help birth workers be more aware of their impact on babies, mothers and fathers, to help heal menstruation by encouraging conscious rites of passage at menarche (first period) and helping women remember the importance of being connected to their body and their menstrual cycle, to banish menstrual shame and co-create a positive menstrual culture, and to reclaim menopause from medicine and help women harness the transformation powers of menopause.
To reclaim feminine knowledge, wisdom and power through reconnection with the women’s mysteries.
I am one of four visionary co-creators of Hygieia Health a Not For Profit with a mission to create free standing birth centres and fund homebirth.
I live in the bush on the edge of a huge forest in NSW, Australia and I am committed to walking my talk and treading lightly on the earth. I am currently unregistered with the Australian government as a nurse or midwife.
