Mothershift: Reclaiming Motherhood as a Rite of Passage

by Jessie Harrold

Explore this supportive, grounding guide for new mothers navigating the cascade of identity change and transformation that is motherhood—based on the internationally acclaimed program, Mothershift.

Our modern, Western societal understanding of what happens to a woman when she becomes a mother—beyond emotional rollercoasters and healing her pelvic floor—remains largely uncharted territory. The transition to motherhood actually takes two to three years, not six weeks or three months as we’ve been led to believe. Mothershift offers a supportive, affirming road map to take women through this transformational process.    

Jessie Harrold introduces her “map for your becoming,” a research-based, four-phase model that maps out how the transition to motherhood unfolds and helps women to navigate every step along the way. She has used this model to guide thousands of women through the shift into motherhood. Harrold also includes self-inquiry questions and journal prompts in each chapter to help women identify and thrive amidst the cascade of changes they can expect as they enter motherhood.

Topics include:

-Normalizing the feelings of grief and loss of self you may feel along the way,
-Navigating the discomfort of not knowing who you are anymore now that you’re a mother;
-Guiding you to cultivate a sense of empowerment and leadership in motherhood, showing you how mothering is a counterculture act;
-Showing you how to use the “superpowers” that motherhood offers— self-tending, creativity, embodiment, ritual, community, inner knowing, and earth connection to become powerful change agents in a world that desperately needs mothering;
-Gently guiding you to explore who you are becoming;
-And much more

Mothershift offers a wise, inspiring, and practical view of what it can look like when women are supported and encouraged to experience motherhood as a doorway to becoming more deeply in touch with who they are—and what is possible in their lives. It is a vision for an experience of motherhood that is understood as a rite of passage filled with power and potential.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Self Help

256 pages, Paperback

Published November 12, 2024

About the author

Jessie is a coach and doula who has been supporting women to navigate rites of passage and other radical life transformations for over fifteen years. She is the founder of the internationally acclaimed matrescence support program MotherSHIFT, as well as The Village, its sister program for postpartum support professionals.

Jessie also works one-on-one with women and mothers in her practice and facilitates workshops, rituals, retreats, and wilderness quests. She has a master’s in health promotion and a B.Sc. in neuroscience, and her research on women’s experiences navigating health and well-being has won multiple awards and been published in peer-reviewed journals internationally. Jessie’s writing and work have also been featured in International Doula Magazine, Spirituality & Health, Today’s Parent, Green Parent, Motherly, Expectful, She Explores, and more. She is the author of Project Body Love: My quest to love my body and the surprising truth I found instead and the host of the Becoming Podcast.

Jessie lives with her partner in an oceanfront cottage on the east coast of Canada where they raise their children and steward the land.

Reviews

[Kelsey Mech · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a beautiful book! Jessie has done an incredible job of capturing the experience of early motherhood and postpartum. I felt so seen and so much less alone in reading this. This is a profound and necessary addition to the all too small collection of books for mamas. I would highly recommend if you, or someone you know, is struggling in those early days. It is easy to read, practical, and so so tender.

[Vania · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been following Jessie‘s work for years and have personally benefitted from her insightful wisdom about the transition into motherhood. Her new book Mothershift is a healing balm for anyone who’s going through this major rite of passage. It’s filled with a map that embraces you with guidance, witnessing and community. Jessie had put her heart and soul, as well as passion and expertise in this book and it’s such a gift that she put her years of study in supporting parents into one place. She also writes with such beautiful words and imagery, which is also a gift in itself. New and seasoned parents, community members and anyone in general who wants to build a stronger community will benefit from reading this book!

[Isabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jessie Harrold’s book is a comforting, reassuring hug for the new mom. Well researched and good for the soul. I feel like it’s a must read for all new moms out there trying to understand their new identity during this period when your brain, routine, life, values - everything - has changed.

This book is also significantly changing the way I think, helping me trust my intuition, trying to be more in the moment with my baby even if it’s a 4am feed, even changing the way I drink water (this is my nourishment/my self care).

I was worried about the lasting impacts of “mom brain/brain fog” and I found this book so empowering with its focus on the superpowers that come through matrescence. We gain so much, we grow so much.

Thanks Jessie for this roadmap. I really needed to read it, and I’ll be reading it again and again and recommending it to all my new mom friends.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been following Jessie's work for a while, I took her Mothershift program a few years ago. I thought this would be review of ideas I had already heard from Jessie but I was delighted to find that it covered so much more content and themes than I expected. This book goes DEEP and is so excruciatingly validating for mothers. There is so much unspoken about the experience of mothering in our culture and I appreciate that at many turns Jessie is also careful to point out the important differences for racialized mamas and mothers from a range of cultures living in North America. This book showed me how much I still have left to process and excavate in my experience of early motherhood. I look forward to sharing this resource with every. Single. Mom. In my life.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is what I wished I had when I began my motherhood journey. After recurrent pregnancy losses, when I finally had my daughters I was craving recognition and acknowledgment of what I had moved into. I yearned for something then that Jessie’s book so perfectly describes ~ a validation of the changes I felt, and embracing the imperfect, messiness of the experience. This book is a gift for a new mother, a seasoned mother, and anyone who sees mother as a verb not a noun.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE Mothershift so far. I was crying with relief less than a chapter in because Jessie just GETS IT. Her words make you feel like in fact maybe you aren't going crazy - that the experience of motherhood is a transition of epic proportions, a rite of passage (not unlike the earth shaking one we go through in adolescence) and it is totally normal to feel disoriented, confused, and even like a completely different person than before you became a mother. I cannot wait to read further into the Four Elements of Radical Transformation section, which has already been so grounding, reorienting, affirming, and invigorating. If you are a Mom, you will find value in this wonderful book <3

[Christina Tsitouras · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book 🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼
It is basically a roadmap to all things relating to matrescence- the journey from woman to mother. It educated me, gave me tools, inspired me, opened my eyes and left me feeling like every woman needs this in her life as she opens up to the journey of motherhood. I highly recommend this book for all mamas.

[Lianne Raymond · Rating 5 out of 5]

This, finally, is my first review on this site even though I have been reading them for years. This is the book that was so remarkable I had to put my appreciation into words.

I have been a life coach for women for over 18 years and I have wanted a book like this to recommend to so many of my clients over those years. I consider "bibliotherapy" as a wonderful complement my work with clients and I have a nice catalogue of books I recommend over and over - but there was a large gap when it came to giving something that would speak to the soul of the new mothers.

Here at last is the book I, and they, have been waiting for. I have already been able to share it with two clients - one a brand new mom, the other a mother of a 2 year old and 4 year old. They both devoured it and reported that it was just what they needed to make sense of what they had been through.

Becoming a mother is one of nature's organic initiations and Jessie Herrold's beautiful articulation of this passage transforms it from simply an event to be endured to one of conscious maturation.

Destined to be passed from woman to woman for years to come, this book satisfies a deep hunger.

[Knutselenmetjufjannie · Rating 5 out of 5]

De Nederlandse vertaling gelezen:
Moederend- jouw transformatie van vrouw naar moeder

Op 1 februari ben ik moeder geworden onze eerste zoon en sindsdien ben ik enorm bezig met de zoektocht naar mijn nieuwe zelf. Ik hoopte dat dit boek mij zou helpen om de reis naar die andere versie van mijzelf vooral te accepteren.

Het grootste gedeelte van het boek las ik ‘s morgens om half 6 tijdens m’n eerste kolf-sessie van de dag. Even een momentje voor mijzelf en door dit boek voelde het net alsof net alsof ik samen zat met andere vrouwen die ook zo vroeg uit bed gingen om te voeden/kolven.

Het boek geeft een eerlijk beeld van het moeder worden en liet mij bij veel onderwerpen denken: “Oh, dit is normaal, dit voelen/ervaren andere moeders ook. Ik ben dus niet de enige.” En dat vind ik zo fijn aan dit boek, (h)erkenning!

Vanaf deel 1 is er een hoofdstuk ‘en nu jij’ toegevoegd. De vragen zorgden ervoor dat ik (ondanks ik een echte overdenker ben) werd aangezet om nog eens goed te reflecteren.

Het liefst zou ik willen dat iedereen het boek ging lezen. Ik geloof namelijk dat er dan meer begrip komt voor moeders.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Emily Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mothershift was the exact validation I needed as a stay at home mom to twin toddlers. I was shocked, saddened and ultimately scared when my medical team was so scarce during my postpartum days- a new title, two infants, and a diagnosis of severe pre-eclampsia left me scrambling for my mental, physical and emotional health. I wish I had this book in my hands at that time. Every new mom for the first or fourth time will gain the validation, empowerment and self study that is so pivotal to coming back home to yourself and eventually the new version of yourself as a mother. Acknowledging the heartache, beauty and transformation that is caring for your child. It is a thoughtful guide on becoming the kind of caregiver that provides for their children, themselves, and nurtures the miraculous world in which we all have inherited. This book is a gift.

[Marianne Pestana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A transformative guide for new mothers navigating the profound changes that come with motherhood. Harrold challenges the conventional timeline of motherhood, highlighting that the transition actually takes years, not just weeks or months. Through a four-phase model, she offers a roadmap for women to embrace the challenges of identity shifts and grief while guiding them to cultivate empowerment and self-empowerment. Each chapter includes self-inquiry questions and journal prompts, making it a deeply personal journey. With insights on tapping into the “superpowers” of motherhood, this book helps women reclaim their power and thrive during this life-altering rite of passage.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our modern understanding of motherhood is evolving, and Jessie Harrold's Mothershift offers a supportive road map for women embarking on this transformative journey. Harrold's research-based model guides women through a four-phase transition, equipping them with tools to navigate the changes that come with motherhood. With self-inquiry questions and journal prompts, Mothershift empowers women to embrace the power and potential of this rite of passage.

[Vanessa Lindsay-Botten · Rating 5 out of 5]

So grateful for this book by Jessie Harrold! I'm 22 years into motherhood and wish I had had a book like this as a new mom. I feel a homecoming in Jessie's approachable, relatable writing, rituals, and thoroughly presented research. She offers us a poetic, conversational guidebook on the incredibly transformative, and often lonely, journey of mothering. Gifting this book to a new mom friend of mine. Highly recommend!

[Devon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cried a few pages in when it washed over me, knowing a bit of the journey it took to get this book into the world, how much the world desperately needs this book. I will be buying it for, recommending it to, and teaching its principles to the mothers in my life for a long time to come. This book is accessible, thoughtful, well-researched, poetic, and profound. It may not be enough to save us on its own, but its pages will soon become a well-worn piece of my revolutionary toolkit.

[Vanessa Liberatore · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you became a mom and you’ve thought to yourself “what is happening to me?”, this book is for you. If you had a baby and unexpected also gave birth to a new you as well, this book is for you. This book is so well researched, but also written directly from Harold’s mama heart. I cried several time throughout this book. I kept thinking to myself “wow, she really gets it. It’s like she’s speaking to me”. I will revisit this book again. So many amazing kernels of wisdom here.

[Cherie · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the author def has children who are a bit older, it felt like it was written more for new mothers with babies. Indeed, if I had read this when my daughter was a baby, I would have connected much more deeply with this title. Took me a while to finish; some elements felt repetitive (but could be me as a mother of a 7YO vs a baby). Nice reflections in here though.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating, empowering., brilliantly researched, easy to read, this book is a must for any mums to be or mothers at any stage who want to understand the transition we go through in motherhood. Invaluable.

[Sherise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must-read, not only for new mothers, but for all humans who have been birthed into this world. Jessie has created a work of (very well-researched) art that helped me feel both seen and held in the experience of mothering through these isolating times.

[Cassie Rosen · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4?) Interesting anthropological perspective! I really liked Part 1 (the four elements of radical transformation, as a map for matrescence). I didn’t like Part 2 on mother powers, as I found it to be too woo woo for me

[Megan Riddle Shulman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, but most of the content wasn’t original (although credit was given to Lucy Jones, eve Rodski, etc)
I really enjoyed the section on “green motherhood”

[Hannah Early Bagdanov · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book I want to gift every new mother. It was especially wonderful to listen to.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

empowering, supportive, reassuring. Definitely recommend to all mothers

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buy this book for every mother you know! It No book has better put into words the difficulty, beauty, and power I have felt becoming a mother, giving me a sense of comfort I have had a hard time finding elsewhere. It made me feel clear, empowered, and cared for in a way I really needed and continue to treasure.