This is one of my favorite maternity photos from my time in Congo. I feel like this woman depicts the essence of what it is to be a woman. She is fierce. She is love. She is raw. She is magic. She is the fear-inducing power that, in ancient times, sent women to the stake.

She is the power that we ALL have inside us, sometimes buried so far inside us, beneath layers of calluses, and fears, and things built up against that which surrounds us, that we no longer remember this power. When we peel back those layers, THIS woman is what we find.

The Mother.

A strong human being, capable of profound wisdom and soaring, cosmic love. Capable of superhuman strength and a vicious sense of protection. Empowered by compassion and grounded in forgiveness. She uses her foresight to create a harmonious future for all. THIS is the woman I am invoking today, on my 40th birthday.

THIS is the woman I am moving into and embodying for this new decade of my existence.

One. Bad. Motha, Being.

Magic 223/365, The Mother, Tshikaji, Kasai, DRC, June 6, 2015