Mother Blessing Ritual: Wrist Binding
This ritual is a tremendously powerful activity. I find that it makes a nice conclusion to the main part of a Mother Blessing as everyone is joined together and then cut apart.
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Wrist Binding
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You will need:
- A new package of cotton or hemp jewelry cord or yarn
- You will need one long, unbroken piece of cord
- You will need about 10 feet or more if you have a lot of guests
- If you have a nice long piece of jewelry cord left over from making a birthing necklace, it will do nicely!
- However, do not use anything too strong as you will need to be able to cut it using one hand and you want it to be comfortable to wear.
- Scissors
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How To Perform the Wrist Binding Ritual
Have everyone, including the expecting mother, stand in a tight circle. 
Each guest should wrap the cord around the wrist of the person to their left and say "From women we are born into this circle, From women we are born into this world." When everyone is linked together, everyone should hold hands and make a wish for an easy birth. You can also sing a song here. After the wishes and songs, pass a pair of scissors around the circle and have each person cut the person to their left enough of the cord to keep wrapped around their wrist, plus enough to tie it. If the cord is made of natural fibers (wool, hemp or cotton), make sure you leave the bracelet loose as it will shrink when you wash your hands and shower. Everyone should be instructed to keep making their wish whenever they look down at their bracelet and keep wearing the bracelets until the baby is born.
Tips:
- Since you will have one hand "tied" in the circle, have the scissors handy near where you will make the circle. We once had to waddle as a group over to a pair of scissors!
- Consider the occupational hazards/requirements of your guests before deciding to perform this ritual. For the full effect, the bracelets are meant to be worn continuously until the baby is born -- no taking them off! We actually could not use this ritual at my blessingway because one of our key guests was a sign language interpreter and cannot have any type of jewelry or other "distractions" on her fingers or wrists.
- I would not recommend using embroidery floss or any type of light string. If the baby is late, the floss will get really tattered and even fall apart.
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