for mothers, from Sil

Mothering: (moth-er-ing); n. 1. Raising your daughter to become herself.

Inspired by the work of her teacher, the Jungian author and analyst, Marion Woodman, Sil transposes Woodman's concept of "conscious femininity" to "conscious mothering." In the Mothering & Daughtering approach and workshops we draw from two concepts (defined by us below) of Marion Woodman — mirroring and containing. Please keep in mind that the process of conscious mothering is not about doing the work of mothering perfectly! We are providing this framework because it has been useful and inspiring to the mothers that we have worked with.

Mirroring: (mir-ror-ing); n. 1. Seeing a person for who she is, without judgment. 2. Reflecting back another person's feelings and perspective, with attunement and empathy.

Containing: (con-tain-ing); n. 1. Setting the boundaries for body, soul and psyche, that create safety for a growing child's experience of themselves. 2. Loving all the parts of a child. Loving a child with emotional maturity.

• Altered Loves: Mothers and Daughters During Adolescence by Terri Apter

• The Mother-Daughter Project: How Mothers and
Daughters Can Band Together, Beat the Odds, and
Thrive Through Adolescence by SuEllen Hamkins and
Renee Schultz

• The Mother-Daughter Food Trap - How to Free Yourself from Dieting—and Pass on a Healthier Legacy to Your Daughter, By Debra Waterhouse

• A General Theory of Love by Thomas Lewis M.D.,
Fari Amini M.D., and Richard Lannon, M.D.

•Hold Onto Your Kids: Why Parents Need To Matter More Than Peers by Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Mate

• Conscious Femininity: Interviews by Marion Woodman

• Coming Home to Myself: Reflections for Nurturing a
Woman's Body and Soul by Marion Woodman and Jill Mellick

• My Little Red Book by Rachel Kauder Nalebuff

A woman who is not identified with the (mother) archetype knows that there's a far greater power than she that created the child and allowed the child to come into being through her. Then it's her task to create a space in which that child can grow into its own being – be who it was born to be. In other words, she will mirror the child to itself.

Marion Woodman
Conscious Femininity: Interviews of Marion Woodman