Visionary Woman: U Cannot Haz Placenta Casserole!

[Witsec1]

All you pregnant mommies out there, Natalie Klejwa of Visionary Womanhood has weighed in on the practice of placentophagy, or eating the placenta. I can tell that many of you have been tempted by the thought of noshing on your afterbirth, due to breakdown of traditional Judeo-Christian values in our society. Do not give in to the temptation! Do not eat green eggs and placenta!

visionarywomanhood.com/eating-the-placenta-a-christian-worldview-perspective/

So What’s The Bottom Line?

If you are a Christian, you are not forced to live consistent with a Christian worldview. In fact, most do not. But then have enough courage and integrity to be honest about that with yourself and others. If, on the other hand, you desire to live consistent with a Christian worldview, and you still want to eat your child’s placenta, then you’ll need to make a Biblical, Christian worldview case for doing so. At the very least, you will need the following to make your case:

1. Biblical precedence or principle for consuming raw, human flesh.

2. Historical evidence of the Church of Jesus Christ practicing and promoting this based on the above precedence.

If you are unable to do that, then you are left with your own autonomous choice, apart from God.

I will practice placentophagy because…

…I will.

You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.â€

Isaiah 14:13-14

That’s one way to respond to our Creator.

Jesus modeled another way:

…not my will, but yours, be done.

Luke 22:42

There you have it, ladies. If you truly want to be like Jesus, you will give up your self-centered desire to eat your placenta!

[ilovetchotchkes]

Dammit anyways! I was saving mine for a special ocasion! I was hoping to serve it to my husband and I in a orgy of hippie crunchiness!!!!

[Annette]

Dammit anyways! I was saving mine for a special ocasion! I was hoping to serve it to my husband and I in a orgy of hippie crunchiness!!!!

Please say you are going to sit on it naked first!

[Lady Elaine]

Remember when Emily was going to eat hers with Rigatoni? That was the one thing that got me interested in fundies. It just seemed so bizzare and unthinkable to me. Now nothing surpises me anymore.

[Guest Anonymous]

Rats! I was planning to bake it en croute, with chicken, sherry, mushrooms and tarragon.

[Guest Anonymous]

Does anyone know what wine to pair with it?? I'm thinking a Pinot Noir???

WTF ever happened to the good old hippy way of dealing with a placenta?? Ya bury the friggin' thing and plant a tree or a rose?

[AnnoDomini]

a chianti, of course.

[anniebgood]

A good strong burgundy, my mom's doctor told her to drink a glass a night to build up her blood. I can't drink red wine, I feel like I'm chewing it.

[Guest Anonymous]

A nice Riesling.

[JesusFightClub]

What? I am quite startled by the thought that Jesus, or anyone else for that matter, would have an opinion on this that went past "yum" or "ick" into "sinful".

How many people eat it raw, anyway?

And does this mean if a Christian cuts themselves on the thumb by accident while doing a manly task, they aren't allowed to lick the blood off? :mrgreen:

[aelar]

There's a few of us old hippie throwbacks around. We did the bury and plant a rose bit. We would have been far too tired to get around to cooking the darn thing before it went off (just what is the refrigerator life of a placenta anyway?), it was hard enough finding time to dig a hole and toss it in! Unless freezing the thing for a later feast is acceptable, in which case, I guess we missed out and wasted ours.

[CanadianHippie]

And does this mean if a Christian cuts themselves on the thumb by accident while doing a manly task, they aren't allowed to lick the blood off? :mrgreen:

From there it's just a short hop to vampirism, and then pot, and next thing you know the kids'll all be listening to rock and befriending heathens!

[bionicmlle]

Oh dear... this thread has convinced me I need to get pregnant just to have an afterbirth (you can't very well get an afterbirth without a... birth). Mama's hungreeeee!

My mom used to teach child birthing classes in the 80's -- I would go with her sometimes (but would have to miss Little House because it was Monday nights) and during week 4 of each class she would "dissect" a placenta for all of the moms-and-dads-to-be. She was a labor & delivery nurse so was not hard to get a fresh one. I remember being so excited if I was able to go to her "placenta class."

[aubrietta]

So, the people I know who have eaten their placentas have always cooked them, never eat them raw. Except for the women who had them dehydrated, powdered and encapsulated to take daily to avoid post-partum depression. (pretty sure the placebo effect came into play there, but that's neither here nor there)

I don't think her scripture is really a here nor there sort of proof. It's just a "this is what she did" sort of thing because THERE WAS NOTHING ELSE TO EAT. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

We also have science and medicine on our side. There are many women who have found physical help by way of nutrition as well as hormonal therapy for postpartum depression. The ancient, eastern practice of eating your child’s placenta is not the only solution available to women today.

But it could very well be the only unethical one.

There is a great deal of anecdotes and passed on from generation to generation oral tradition around eating the placenta to stop post-partum hemorrhage. All those "pagan" cultures she's talking about - they don't have access to the miracles of modern science. All those "pagan" cultures she talks about? They don't have access to science or medicine. So, back to desperate times calling for desperate measures. No handy shot of pitocin after you have your baby to stop the bleeding? Eat the placenta, it's full of hormones that help with that. But no, Biatch has to say that's unethical, those heathens surely are going to hell for eating their placentas, or burying it under a nice tree. Dirty Wemmicks.

***Full disclosure**** I did NOT eat my placentas, but I DID make prints of them, frame them and hang them on my wall. because I think placentas are really, really, really super cool. Does that make me a Wemmick?

[aubrietta]

OMG OMG OMG In the comments:

Meg @ Cracking An Egg says:

October 8, 2011 at 1:13 pm

Natalie,

This is quite possibly the first time I’ve EVER heard a Christian perspective on placentophagy! I had quite seriously considered this as an option for our next birth, although I’ve never struggled with post-partum depression. My husband and I had discussed it as opposed to a lotus birth, where the cord is delayed clamping until all the blood & nutrients have drained back into the baby from the placenta. Once this is done, of course, the placenta is no longer viable for placentophagy. Now that I’ve come to a better understanding of this practice, we’ll definitely allow those nutrients to go to the baby, rather than to me. :-) THANK YOU. May God bless you for opening our hearts to this important message.

Reply

Wemmick Girl Saved by Grace says:

October 8, 2011 at 1:32 pm

Meg, I can’t tell you how relieved I am to know that God is using this information to strengthen His people in His beautiful ways! Thank you so much for sharing your change of heart/mind on this issue…not only with me, but with other readers. It is always such a lonely battle to swim against the tide of popular opinion, but when I hear testimonies like yours, the Holy Spirit blesses my heart with the encouragement that it will be worth the struggle in the long run. May He be praised!

Okay, so don't eat the placenta, because that's pagan and unethical, but it's TOTALLY FINE AND AWESOME to have a "lotus birth" which is based out of yogic practices (like the really spiritual ones that are the reasons that these types of Christians won't do yoga) and the people that practice it usually have all sorts of reasons about it being bad for the baby's psyche and spirit etc. Although, just to be clear, Meg appears to be an idiot and may not actually know the difference between simply delayed cord clamping, which is quite common practice, and an actual lotus birth where the baby stays attached to the placenta until the cord dries up and falls off. Yup, you cart a decomposing placenta around with the baby until the cord detaches on its own. So Meg thinks that's cool and not pagan, but taking a bite out of a hormone laden organ is evil. These people are FUCKED UP.

[MonkeyMomma]

Although, just to be clear, Meg appears to be an idiot and may not actually know the difference between simply delayed cord clamping, which is quite common practice, and an actual lotus birth where the baby stays attached to the placenta until the cord dries up and falls off. Yup, you cart a decomposing placenta around with the baby until the cord detaches on its own. So Meg thinks that's cool and not pagan, but taking a bite out of a hormone laden organ is evil. These people are FUCKED UP.

My thoughts exactly ...

[Witsec1]

I knew that Natalie would not be able to keep the crazy under wraps forever. Before this one, she had a blogspot blog that was just full of wingnuttery. Now she appears to be trying to tone it down somewhat and get more mainstream women into being "visionary". But I think this post shows the crazy is still there, thank goodness!

Meg's comment was also so full of awesome crazy; welI spotted, Aubrietta.

Meg, I can’t tell you how relieved I am to know that God is using this information to strengthen His people in His beautiful ways! Thank you so much for sharing your change of heart/mind on this issue…not only with me, but with other readers. It is always such a lonely battle to swim against the tide of popular opinion, but when I hear testimonies like yours, the Holy Spirit blesses my heart with the encouragement that it will be worth the struggle in the long run. May He be praised!

I get the idea Natalie really thinks that placenta-eating is the latest craze with tons of peer pressure behind it. And maybe it is, in the weird amalgam of crunchy and authoritarian wingnuttery that is the Quiverfull lifestyle. Meanwhile, in my simply crunchy corner of Northern CA, I have never met anyone who ate her placenta.

[masagoroll]

This whole thread is making me feel like barfing!

The idea of burying the placenta and planting a plant on it is a pretty good one, though!

But I'll probably just...do nothing with mine when I have my own placenta! (LMAO! My own placenta!)

[celestial]

This whole thread is making me feel like barfing!

Glad I'm not the only one! I was not aware that eating placentas was a "thing."

[masagoroll]

Glad I'm not the only one! I was not aware that eating placentas was a "thing."

OMG, you must have not gone to the mothering.com forums, then. They are all about lotus birth and also eating placentas and they have all kinds of disgusting threads about it.

P.S. While looking for the barfing smiley, I found this one and I can't stop laughing! Here is one smiley fundies would not enoy:

:gay-imgay:

[Boogalou]

At the very least, you will need the following to make your case:

1. Biblical precedence or principle for consuming raw, human flesh.

2. Historical evidence of the Church of Jesus Christ practicing and promoting this based on the above precedence.

If you are unable to do that, then you are left with your own autonomous choice, apart from God.

Really? This is what you are supposed to ask yourself? Does that mean you need biblical precedence for using computers, the internet, democracy, American flags, blogs, denim skirts, electricity, etc? Because I am pretty sure if you make every decision in your life based on those two questions then your life would be drastically different. I guess you are just supposed to ask that when it's convenient.

[maybeizfundie]

lol. Totally not into placenta eating. ew.

But I don't think her logic forbidding it is solid.

[Wolfie]

I leave the placenta eating to the critters. They have the instinct to do so, we don't. I don't mind the people who plant them, but I probably won't do anything of the sort if I ever have kids.

[Guest Anonymous]

There's a few of us old hippie throwbacks around. We did the bury and plant a rose bit. We would have been far too tired to get around to cooking the darn thing before it went off (just what is the refrigerator life of a placenta anyway?), it was hard enough finding time to dig a hole and toss it in! Unless freezing the thing for a later feast is acceptable, in which case, I guess we missed out and wasted ours.

I was a home birther who had to transport. The hospital knew we were freeks and were kind enough to freeze it (for a week) before the kiddo and I could go home. Hell it sat in the freezer outside for a while before we got around to buying a plant and diggin' the hole.

[ilovetchotchkes]

Please say you are going to sit on it naked first!

Of course! and don't worry! i'll make SURE I'm on the rag when I'm doing it!