Season 2 Episode 10: The Latina Mother Wound with Michelle Gomez

In Latina households, Mother-daughter

relationships can be complicated. **Michelle Gomez** knows what that’s like—having worked through 11 years of

pain herself. As tempting as it is to put the full blame on moms, they’re also victims of colonialist systems of oppression.

When Spanish colonialists conquered Latin America, they brought along teachings of Roman Catholicism. The indegenous people were taught to revere the image of a White, male God. The Bible instructed women how to behave. Colonialists started emphasizing the masculine and devaluing the feminine, even though the natives originally believed in the balance of the two energies. Thus, the patriarchy was indoctrinated and passed down to each generation.

Parents used these colonialist ideals to rear children. If children deviated from the rules, it would reflect poorly on the parents and they would be punished. This was the environment our mothers grew up in, and they didn’t know any better. In order to heal from our mother wounds, Michelle shares two important steps. First, we must reclaim the inner child by working through our traumas. Second, we must grieve our mothers. Recognize them for who they are: imperfect women who did their best to raise their children. In this way, we take responsibility over the healing process, without depending on our mothers for validation or reconciliation.

Michelle is a spiritual life coach who specializes in helping Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color (BIWOC) heal the mother wound, connect to their feminine divinity, and unleash their inner Warrior Woman. She is also a keynote speaker and the author of the international bestseller "Own Your Brilliance: Overcome Impostor Syndrome for Career Success".

What we discuss…

03:13 Michelle’s healing journey

09:53 Returning to the womb

12:27 Colonialist ideals: patriarchal parenting

21:04 Re-parenting the self

26:26 Rage and reconciliation

33:48 Latina mother-daughter relationships

40:05 Sharing the burden of pain through sisterhood

46:11 Interracial sisterhood

50:31 Cultural expectations of BIWOC

57:01 - What's the message of the Divine Mother to us?

Learn more from Michelle: