Dra.T’Karima Ticitl, PhD, CM, LM, Partera
I was born in California and grew up as a XicanaIndigena with my family background from Zacatecas and Jalisco, Mexico, with Mexica/Wixárika roots. I am the mother of three boys, Axayacatl, Kuauhteotl, and Tletlhuitzin, whom I love so much and all were born at home, in the temazkalli. My life is dedicated to the ceremony of birth and peyotl. I am a ceremonial woman, active in the Native American Church, Teo Kali Quetzalcoatl and a Mexica dancer with my danza group, Kalpulli Xochiquetzal.
I received my bachelor’s degree in Ethnic Studies from the University of California at Berkeley in 2005, and my Master’s in Childhood Education from New York University in 2006. I earned my Doctorate in Education from the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College in 2011, and in that same year I enrolled and completed a six-month doula fellowship. I began online prerequisites for midwifery school in 2013, and in 2015 I began the Direct Entry Midwifery program at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, where I graduated in May 2019. I am certified with The American College of Nurse Midwives and licensed by the States of New York and New Jersey. Passionate about midwifery, I have enjoyed supporting and caring for people during pregnancy and childbirth throughout the United States, Mexico, Colombia, London, and New Zealand.
I am the Co-Founder/Co-Director of Raíces Birthworker Education & Mentorship Program. Raices is a 12-month workforce development initiative that prepares Spanish-speaking community members to become culturally responsive birth workers while preserving Latin American and Indigenous birth traditions.
I have authored six books: Decolonizing Nahua/Mexica/Aztec Children’s Literature, Blooming Flower, Shooting Star, Boys Can Have Long Hair, Too, Evolution of Traditional Doula and Midwifery Arts, Birth is a Ceremony, and My Body, My Birth.
Lastly, I am the founder of Cihuapahtli Matriarch Council, Inc., 501c3 and I look forward to my midwifery journey, I am so excited about this, a prayer answered. Thank you to Creator and thank you all for the prayers, networking, and support.
MY CALLING
My oldest son, Axayacatl was born on November 16, 2006, while pregnant with him, I thought so much about birth and life givers. To make a long story short, the midwife I had seen for my prenatal care with Axayacatl no longer wanted to help me with a home birth in a temazkalli, three days before my guess date, I looked for a new midwife. In this search, I remember thinking, if I was just a midwife, I could do it myself. Then, I thought, I’m about to be a mother, I can do the birth myself. This was honestly the first time I thought of becoming a midwife. Then in a peyotl ceremony, I prayed about this thought, that evening, it was clear, tatewari (fire) showed me that this would be my path. By the morning water prayer, I saw this as my life, my calling, I would sit behind the sacred hikuri and receive babies the rest of my life, so I enrolled in a midwifery program. No matter all the bumps in my path over the years, I was determined to complete this program. With the births of my two other sons, Kuauhteotl and Tletlhuitzin, I was working towards becoming a midwife. In 2019, I became a certified midwife and I am committed to home births the rest of my life. I look forward to being your midwife, in your home. Many blessings.
MY CREDENTIALS
Licensed Midwife in New Jersey, 2020
Master of Science in Midwifery from SUNY Downstate Medical Center, 2019
Certified Midwife by the American Midwifery Certification Board, 2019
Licensed Midwife in New York, 2019
Indigemama: Ancestral Healing, A Cerrar Las Caderas, Mexican Traditional Medicine Postpartum, 2019
Indigenous Remedies, Certificate of completion for Herbal Education, 2018
Health and Fitness Coach, Team Beach Body, 2018
Traditional Doula and Midwifery Arts Co-Founder/Co-Director, Instructor, 2015 - present
PhD in Education from the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College, 2011
Co-Founder of Kalpulli Huehuetlahtolli, Tercera Palabra, 2010 - present
Masters in Childhood Education from New York University, 2006
Ceremonial Woman, Teo Kali Quetzalcoatl, 2005 - present
Bachelors in Ethnic Studies and minor in Education from the University of California at Berkeley, 2005
Neonatal Resuscitation Program, Integrative Resuscitation of the Newborn, Karen Strange - active
Basic Life Support, American Heart Association, CPR & First Aid Emergency Cardiovascular Care - active