What is a Womb Keeper? The Rite of the Womb & Munay-Ki initiation explained
If you've ever wondered what a Womb Keeper is or what a Womb Rite means, this blog post is for you. This is not only for the woman seeking to walk a path in shamanism, but for any woman seeking a deeper connection to her body, her womb, and earth-based practices that can be deeply nourishing in this busy life we live.
What is the Rite of the Womb?
The Rite of the Womb or the 13 Rite of the Munay-Ki is a simple yet very powerful, loving, ceremonial, and energetic transmission to heal and restore your womb to her innate, sacred wholeness and to strengthen the natural balance of your creative centre. It is intended to reconnect you with the sacred feminine principle of your womb.
When a woman receives this energetic transmission she becomes a Womb Keeper. to be one is to acknowledge the sacredness of being a woman. It means learning about the divine feminine, about the elements, and about earth, teachings that are not mine but belong to all of humanity.
In shamanic studies, Earth and Water elements represent the feminine aspect of energy. The more we connect with these energies, the more we contribute to balancing our Earth, a world long led by the masculine aspect (represented by Air and Fire).
Being a Womb Keeper is an honour and a calling. It signifies that you have received a sacred initiation to heal and empower the womb, transforming it into a wellspring of creativity, strength, and life.
What are the Munay-Rites
The Munay-Ki are nine rites that prepare us to birth ourselves into the future times. It is a body of wisdom that comes from the spiritual Andes, a sacred shamanic initiation and technology that has been kept by the Q'ero people of Peru for millennia.
If you are interested in learning more about the Munay-Ki rites, the initiation and what it means, follow this link.
The origins: Marcela Lobos & the Shipibo lineage
The 13th Rite of the Womb Ceremony came from the female shaman Marcela Lobos of the Shipibo Nation in northern Peruvian Amazon. This lineage comes from the jungle in Peru. Medicine women spirits gifted us the 13th Rite of the Munay-Ki.
Marcela received this transmission in a dream back in 2002. It helped her alchemise her own emotions and work within her own being. Finally in 2014, she received guidance during a plant medicine ceremony that she was now ready to receive the blessing and share it with as many women as she could.
I was initiated as a Womb Keeper in 2023. From the moment I learnt about this initiation, something in me felt deeply connected. Later I received the other nine initiations of the Munay-Ki rites.
As a shamanic initiate, it is my duty to share this beautiful rite with any woman of any age who feels called to receive this transmission.
What the womb holds
The womb is a sacred sanctuary of consciousness, of creation and life, a vessel that receives and holds energy and wisdom. Within this hallowed space, we not only create life but also can accumulate unwanted emotions that no longer serve us affecting the harmony and balance of the perfect container that is our womb.
Emotions long buried may reside, awaiting recognition and release. It can also hold the echoes of others' energies—past lovers, children, friends, and the ancestral memories of our lineage, our mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers. This sacred centre may even harbour the weight of birthing pains, grief from lost pregnancies, or the scars of past wounds.
To honour your womb's wellbeing and your feminine essence, it is crucial to release, purify, and cleanse these deep-seated emotions.
Womb awakening
For centuries, the collective feminine has been stifled, silenced, and scarred. Many still carry the pain and bitterness of their female lineage and all the women who came before them. Some may bear wounds from past lives or trauma in this lifetime that cloud their joy and stifle their connection to their inner power.
Now is the moment for every woman to awaken, to rediscover her radiant, loving, and wise self.
By healing our wombs, we also mend the spirits of our mothers, grandmothers, sisters, and daughters, bringing healing to Pachamama, our Mother Earth, and her sacred waters.
The Rite of the Womb is a profound gift women can offer themselves, their loved ones, their ancestors, and each other. For as we transform, so does the world around us.
The 13th Rite of the Munay-Ki is a blessing that can be received at any stage of life, during pregnancy, or even if your physical womb is no longer present. It is also connected to the 13 moons—an energetic seed planted within your luminous energy field, within your womb.
Becoming a Womb Keeper
Together we are a lineage of women who know that we did not come to suffer in this life, but to be the creatresses of our deepest longings and destinies.
This realistion is the sacred call of the Munay-Ki initiation to become a Womb Keeper. In becoming Womb Keeper, we also become stewards of life.
Once you have received this rite, you hold the power to share it with other women. This transmission can be added to any in-person or online healing session, or offered on its own as a special ceremony. The ceremony can be personalised—it can include a meditation, sound healing, shamanic journey, and embodiment flow.
This shamanic initiation is for any woman who feels called to receive this blessing.
What Womb Keepers commit to
The women who choose to receive this rite commit to:
Becoming a healer and protector of the womb, not just for yourself but for others as well. This rite helps release the pain and trauma stored within, allowing the womb to blossom into a source of profound power and beauty.
Embracing the divine feminine. The rite deepens your connection to the divine feminine, honouring the womb as a sacred vessel of creation. It reminds us that women are creators, and their wombs are places of strength, not suffering.
A sacred duty to share. As a Womb Keeper, you hold the responsibility to share this rite with other women, spreading its healing and empowerment. You are a bearer of the message that women are not meant to suffer, but to embrace their divine creative power.
Of course, like anything, we have free will, so only share it if you feel called to do so from an open heart. It is also totally okay to nurture the rite for yourself as your intimate practice.
Ongoing sacred practice. After receiving this shamanic initiation, you are encouraged to nurture and honour your womb through meditation, rituals, and connection with nature. This deepens your bond with the divine feminine and helps sustain the healing energy within.
Any shamanic practice is a journey, a way of life. In essence, as a Womb Keeper you embrace and share the sacred power of the womb, weaving healing and empowerment into the lives of women everywhere.
Nurturing the Rite
Once a woman receives the Rite of the Womb, she will start the year as soon as she holds her first womb ceremony.
A continuation of the Munay-Ki initiation is that the woman will nurture its power for thirteen moons of an entire year with a practice shared during the initiation. She will hold a womb ceremony on her own to strengthen the transmission—the seed implanted in her sacral energy centre, her womb.
Nurturing the Rite of the Womb is a journey back to your true essence. There's no rush, no urgency. This is a chosen path.
What's the difference between the 'Rite of the Womb' and a 'Rites of Passage' ceremony?
1 . Rites of Passage are ways of honouring special moments in life: rites rooted in ancient, earth-based traditions.
These ceremonies are a way to pause, celebrate, and mark a transition in a sacred, intentional way, just like our ancestors once did.
Whether it's becoming a bride, stepping into motherhood, blessing a new baby, or honouring a birthday, these rites are not initiations — they are celebrations of life's natural thresholds.
2 . The Rite of the Womb is a shamanic initiation. It is an energetic transmissions passed from shamanic practitioner to initiate. They come from lineages of wisdom keepers and are offered to those who feel called to deepen their spiritual path, expand their energy field, and work consciously with the forces of nature and the unseen world.
The Rite of the Womb is a sacred transmission of feminine healing energy, passed through a lineage of medicine women to support the restoration of balance in the womb, the feminine and the earth.
