B'Sha'ah Tova: Van Morrison's Astral Weeks

AnonAbba and I put on Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks album this evening to Dremel and wash dishes by, respectively. What we found was a soothing and relaxing album, with lyrics that seemed childbirth’s perfect lyrical accompaniment… Some random insights, keeping in mind that this is not intended in any way to be a halachic dvar:

Astral Weeks
First, is the name of the song- for a complete exploration of the planes of existence, check out Van Morrison’s extensive and comprehensive website, specifically the glossary entry for Astral. The short version is thus: There are five planes of existence ranging from the physical to the nirvanic, astral being the level just above physical and before mental. Humans traverse on the astral plane in dreams, and fantastical beings exist on the astral plane when conjured there with strong enough thought. It would seem to me that during childbirth, the neshama of the baby is being passed down to join the body- somewhere between the nirvanic plane (one of an ideal condition of rest, harmony, stability, or joy- the neshama having been thus far in the company of Hashem) and the physical plane- necessitating a journey through the astral plane, just before entering the physical.

Secondly, the chorus repeats the phrase “to be born again.” I spoke earlier about birth being not only about bringing a new life into this world, but also of changing a woman into a mother- in essence, the birthing woman is ‘born again’, this time as a mother.

The bridge lyrics also speak to the transcendence of one between the physical and astral planes, bringing in an idea of heaven:

In another world
In another time
Got a home on high
Ain't nothing but a stranger in this world
I'm nothing but a stranger in this world
I got a home on high
In another land
So far away
So far away
Way up in the heaven

Beside You
The second song on the album seems to relate to being alone, or reassuring someone else that they are not alone- but about halfway through an interesting interlude of verses seem perfect for the birthing experience:

You breathe in you breathe out you breathe in you breathe out you breathe in you breathe out you breathe in you breathe out
And you're high on your high-flyin' cloud
Wrapped up in your magic shroud as ecstasy surrounds you
This time it's found you
You turn around you turn around you turn around you turn around
And I'm beside you
Beside you

Sweet Thing
Going on to the third song on the album, the repeated verse “I will never grow so old again” first caught my attention. What other rite of passage can one go through where you immediately grow so dramatically in such a short period of time? The song also seems a reassurance that when you hold your baby, the memory of childbirth pain falls away:

And you shall take me strongly
In your arms again
And I will not remember
That I even felt the pain.
We shall walk and talk
In gardens all misty and wet with rain
And I will never, never, never
Grow so old again.

The Way Young Lovers Do
Many natural birthing support sites and books that I’ve been reading lately suggest that the environment most conducive to getting baby out is the same environment which baby got in- namely, a romantic environment. While it is not halachically permitted, Ina May often suggest to her couples that kissing, dancing, and otherwise being loving towards one another can help progress labor- the lyrics of this song seem the perfect accompaniment for this comfort measure:

Then we sat on our own star and dreamed of the way that we were and the way that we were meant to be
Then we sat on our own star and dreamed of the way that I was for you and you were for me
And then we danced the night away
And turned to each other, say, 'I love you, I love you'
The way that young lovers do

Ballerina
Many different ideas here- one a message from the birthing woman to her child: