About Matriz Weavers

Our heart and mission for traditional midwifery

Woven with mothers, healers, grandmothers, sisters, and servants in mind. We are calling in those that are being pulled into their community to tend the flames of Wise Woman care. Do you have this relentless pull towards herbs, hand skills, dancing in the threshold, and building authentic autonomy driven community care?


We remember and honor the sacrifices of our foremothers - midwifery wasn’t born in hospitals and classrooms. Midwifery was born from women’s bodies, born from fire and pain in unimaginable conditions, born in cabins and cottages. We thank you. Without you, we wouldn’t be here. We serve for our ancestors - the women of color, the under-resourced, those seeking refuge, the ones serving their villages against all odds. 

OUR MISSION

We are passionate about passing on this wisdom that’s ours as women. This is our right and our heritage. To hold this wisdom and pass it on to the next generations is the purpose that so many of us are hearing the calling to. 

We are a constellation of those who have gone before us, weaving their stories into our hearts. The most precious tapestries are the ones filled with intricate designs, colors, and pieces mended to strengthen the integrity.

Our mission is to reclaim and remember the knowledge that has been forgotten or locked away in textbooks behind the key of credentialing and professionalism. 

We are not concerned with proper essay format or grade point averages. We prioritize knitting our souls together with the wisdom that our hands crave and know to be ours. 

Every birth has something to teach us. We expect to learn from our students just as our students expect to learn from us. Midwifery has been passed down through oral tradition and story, so here we are - to retell, reclaim, and remember, collectively. 

Together, we will explore the middle way between black and white - between nuance and structure. Ideology has painted an image that traditional midwives attended births with a drum and a pair of scissors. When really, tools and hands filled with skill and discernment have always been what shepherd mothers and babies as they dance in the threshold. We are here to question ideology and dogma while discovering what our community needs from us and answering that call with humility and compassion.

about alisha, our director

My love for serving women in their childbearing years started at my little sisters birth at home in 2013. I was present for my moms prenatal care and her birth, in that a spark was kindling! Nine months later, we approached her midwife and asked if there were books or courses she could recommend for me to do just to get my toes wet! She saw something in me and jumped straight into years of teaching me, she taught me many skills and passed so much wisdom down to me! She was so generous with her time and wisdom; I spent 8 years with her and her families. Thank you to those women and their families for welcoming me into their stories and being patient with me as I learned. Some women I got to serve through 4 pregnancies!

My heart for birth and women has been seen through years of sitting at their feet serving them during their birthing years. I am active in pursuing continuing education whether through personal deeper study, breech and twins training, resolving shoulder dystocia's, Postpartum Mother Roasting, CPR/NRP training, and much more. All for the purpose of guiding and educating my private ministry families, so this women's wisdom can continue. Our path of walking together is wide and covers many areas, because our birth journeys are only the tip of the iceberg of what we’re being invited into! I am first and foremost a tool for the hands of our Creator. I am not a licensed midwife or certified professional midwife, I am not a doctor, nurse, nurse-midwife, or medical provider. I am a woman that walks with women. Over the years I have spent time travelling serving families and working alongside traditional midwives across the country in my "downtime."

My passion for freedom of birth choices and First Amendment rights is also seen through my own unassisted pregnancy and birth with my daughter in 2022 - to read my birth story and watch it (!) head to my Instagram, @birthcultivated

ABOUT ANCIENT ART MIDWIFERY

Matriz Weavers Community Birth School is a licensed partner of Ancient Art Midwifery, using their time tested curriculum and Student Resources to reach our communities and grow more midwives!

AAM Contributors & Mentors

  • Suzanne Arms

  • Marcy Axness

  • Lori Barklage

  • Dr. Elliot Berlin

  • Dr. Sarah Buckley

  • Patricia Edmonds

  • Henci Goer

  • Gail Hart

  • Carla Hartley

  • Claire Hall

  • Joy Jones

  • Laurine Kingston

  • Gloria Lemay

  • Angela Murdaugh

  • Elizabeth Noble

  • Michele Odent

  • Jodilyn Owen

  • Shonda Parker

  • Dr. Rachel Reed

  • Laura Shanley

  • Dr. John Stevenson

  • Karen Strange

  • Debby Takikawa

  • Elly Taylor

  • Dr. George Wootan

  • Suzanne Arms

  • Marcy Axness

  • Lori Barklage

  • Dr. Elliot Berlin

  • Dr. Sarah Buckley

  • Patricia Edmonds

  • Henci Goer

  • Gail Hart

  • Carla Hartley

  • Claire Hall

  • Joy Jones

  • Laurine Kingston

  • Gloria Lemay

  • Angela Murdaugh

  • Elizabeth Noble

  • Michele Odent

  • Jodilyn Owen

  • Shonda Parker

  • Dr. Rachel Reed

  • Laura Shanley

  • Dr. John Stevenson

  • Karen Strange

  • Debby Takikawa

  • Elly Taylor

  • Dr. George Wootan

HISTORY

AAM was established in 1981 as The Apprentice Academics Midwifery Home Study Course.

Since then we have enrolled more than 2,700 students and updated our curriculum many times; we even changed our name to Ancient Art Midwifery Institute in 1994 and since then have been known as Ancient Art Midwifery® or AAMI - but we have never lost sight of our original vision for midwifery education.

Ancient Art Midwifery® is fundamentally dedicated to the promotion of midwifery as more than a contemporary profession. Midwifery is a sacred art and through it we honor those who came before us. Our generation did not invent the right to give birth where and with whom one chooses, and we revere the instincts that facilitate healthy non-medical births all over the world. We want to be known as someone who held space and provided resources for the next generation of smart, caring midwives who practice the ancient art of touching the future.

Matriz Weavers is a licensed (#260216) Study Group Partner with Ancient Art Midwifery and is ministry offering from Birth Cultivated Ministries is a 501(c)(8) private association. All activities are spiritual, educational, fraternal, and fellowship-based purposes only and is intended for members. We do not offer licensed medical care, diagnosis, or treatment. By accessing this information, you agree to our Terms, Conditions, and Bylaws and take full responsibility for your own choices and outcomes.