PERINATAL MATRICES
Content Notice: Please note this article below contains information about childbirth. For some people, childbirth is associated with traumatic memories. If anything conveyed in this article touches a sensitive place for you, please know there are therapeutic support options to heal and process past birth experiences or perinatal loss.
What are the Perinatal Matrices?
The Perinatal Matrices, also known as Basic Perinatal Matrices (BPM’S), is a conceptual map of the human psyche developed by clinical psychiatrist and researcher Stanislav Grof (Grof, 1975). The Perinatal Matrices correspond to the stages of womb life and the initiatory experiences of labour and birth. This unique map of the human psyche sheds light on how our womb life and birth experience are remembered in our body and psyche.
The Perinatal Matrices is the primal layer of the psyche that Stanislav Grof identified through his many years of clinical research into non-ordinary experiences of consciousness. The other two main layers within the psyche identified by Stanislav Grof are: the Biographical Layer, related to our experiences from infancy through to childhood and adulthood; and the Transpersonal Layer, related to a diverse array of experiences characterised by expanded states of consciousness which go beyond the usual limitations of time and space in ego bound consciousness (e.g. numinous experiences, past life experiences, out of body experiences, archetypal experiences, mystical experiences, liminal experiences e.t.c.). The term coined by Stanislav Grof to capture some of these non-ordinary experiences of consciousness is Holotropic, meaning “moving towards wholeness” (Grof and Grof, 2023). Stanislav Grof observed that both the Biographical Layer and the Transpersonal Layer of the psyche, have deep associations with the Perinatal Layer of the psyche.
There are four basic perinatal matrices (BPM), defined by Stanislav Grof (Grof, 1975):
BPM1 – Primal Union with Mother
BPM2 – Antagonism with Mother : no exit, contractions in closed uterine system
BPM3 – Synergism with Mother : propulsion through the birth canal
BPM4 – Separation from the Mother : termination of symbiotic union and formation of a new type of relationship
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Perinatal derives from the latin word peri, meaning surrounding, and natal from the latin word natalis, meaning related to birth. Hence it means the time surrounding birth.
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The word Matrices is the plural of Matrix. Matrix is derived from the latin word ‘mater’ which means mother. The original meaning of the word Matrix was ‘womb’ or ‘uterus’. A matrix is “something within or from which something else originates, develops, or takes form” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).
BPM 1 - PRIMAL UNION WITH the MOTHER
The Divine Universe
bpm 1
We can experience both harmonious and challenging aspects of existence whilst growing in our mothers womb. The harmonious aspects are characterised by feelings of: love, contentment and satisfaction of needs, feelings of being bathed in the nourishing amniotic waters, feelings of warmth, protection and safety, blissful states of symbiotic union, union with the Divine, union with the Great Mother, and union with the Cosmic Void. The challenging experiences can be due to the absorption of unmediated toxicity in the form of: medications, drugs and environmental toxins which enter into the mothers system, invasive or intrusive medical procedures, the mothers stress and emotional state, relational violence in the home or culture, feeling unwelcome, not wanted or feeling unloved, experiencing the effects of severe illness or trauma our mother may experience, shock and grief if loss occurs (e.g. twin, parent or family member), threatened miscarriage or abortion.
Image credit: Painting by Olena Provencher, From The Astrology of Love and Relationships by Renn Butler. Used with Permission from Renn Butler.
BPM 2 - ANTAGONISM WITH The MOTHER
No exit, contractions in closed uterine system
bpm 2
The onset of labour begins the process of feeling immense pressure to escape the birth canal. The contractions and extreme forces of constriction and pressure are experienced as a vital threat to the self’s existence. The previous feelings of Primal Union with the Mother fade out of our awareness and we are catapulted into the underworld terrain – the archetypal experience of Saturn. Our mothers cervix is not yet open, and our movement is restricted, hence in our body and psyche we can have experiences of foreboding darkness, a ‘no exit’ situation, or impending death. During or just preceding this phase, might have been subjected to the experience of an induction or cervical stretch and sweep to ‘bring on labour’, or a vaginal examination. We might experience the side effects of medications in our mothers system, either ingested, injected, inserted or inhaled. We may experience the atmosphere of panic from those in the birth space. We may feel engulfed in the emotions and pain our mother is experiencing.
Image credit: Painting by Olena Provencher, From The Astrology of Love and Relationships by Renn Butler. Used with Permission from Renn Butler.
BPM 3 - SYNERGISM WITH MOTHER
PROPULSION THROUGH THE BIRTH CANAL, THE DEATH-REBIRTH STRUGGLE
bpm 3
In this phase of labour the mother’s cervix is opening more to allow for the baby to emerge. Here experiences of liminality can deepen. We can begin to feel the dynamic forces erupting and a surge of energy encouraging us through the birth canal, freeing us from the previous feeling of being trapped. The forces are immense, we can feel suffocation, strangulation, crushing pressures, and a profound struggle for survival. It can feel like death, but we can also feel the powerful urge to be free. This phase of labour often encompasses the experience of ‘transition’, as we meet the dynamic death-rebirth struggle. In babies born in the breech vaginal presentation, this phase is externally clearly visible as baby emerges from the cervix with their body suspended in the exterior world before their head finally emerges.
Image credit: Painting by Olena Provencher, From The Astrology of Love and Relationships by Renn Butler. Used with Permission from Renn Butler.
BPM 4 - SEPARATION WITH MOTHER
TERMINATION OF SYBIOTIC UNION, REBIRTH AND INDIVIDUATION
bpm 4
This is the final stage of birth, in which baby emerges. In a natural physiological birth in which there is no intervention and baby emerges on their own, there are typical feelings of elation, relief and relaxation in the body as the intense struggle through the birth canal has culminated. It is here that we take our first breath on our own and release emotion from our lungs. We have arrived on earth, and begin the journey of a new relationship with our mother and family. This phase encompasses the birthing of our placenta. Ideally the separation from our placenta is gradual to allow for a gentle transition into life on earth. If birth has occurred naturally, there might be an instinctual activation of maternal connection, protection and sensitive attunement to baby, this creates the necessary attachment the baby needs to develop a safe relationship of love and trust. If this occurs, we might experience our arrival as safe and welcoming, an experience that feels like ‘heaven on earth’. However, this does not always happen, so the experience for baby entering the world can be one of trauma and shock, rupture, dissociation, separation from mother, harm and violence to the baby, or in rare instances death of mother and/or baby.
Image credit: Painting by Olena Provencher, From The Astrology of Love and Relationships by Renn Butler. Used with Permission from Renn Butler.
WHAT ABOUT IVF AND C-SECTIONS?
The Perinatal Matrices is a model of the psyche which was developed by psychiatrist Stanislav Grof in the late 1960’s prior to the increase in babies conceived outside the womb with medically assisted reproductive technology (ART), and prior to the rapid rise in babies born by caesarean (c-section). The first baby born by ART was in 1978, since then it is estimated that globally 10 – 13 million babies have been born by ART (Adamson et al, 2025). The global c-section rates in 1960’s are estimated to be less than 5%, this has surged to current estimates of globally 21% of babies born via c-section, and projections this will rise to 29% by 2030 (Thomaidi et al, 2025).
Everyone who has given birth and every baby born experiences the themes of the perinatal matrices regardless of the way the birth happens. However, when a baby does not enter life through the birth canal the experience of entering the world is a different one, as they are pulled from their mothers womb which has been cut open. As you might imagine, the experience is different if a baby experiences an emergency c-section compared with if a baby experiences a planned c-section before natural onset of labour. ART and c-section births have shifted conception and birth into new territory for humanity. We are encountering a massive medical and cultural experiment which we do not know entirely the future impacts on individuals and humanity.
HOPE FOR HUMANITY
My hope in sharing this educational information on the Perinatal Matrices is that humanity may come to understand more deeply the impact our birth and early life experiences have in shaping our individual psyche, as well as the health of humanity and Mother Earth. The majority of the world currently lives in a culture where mothers, babies and children are not situated at the centre. We do not value the tender hearts of babies and mothers. If we were to collect all the tears of mothers and babies we would have an ocean of pain, a Great Flood. We live in a patriarchal culture where there is normalisation of ruinous war, widespread violation of the sacredness of our bodies, oppression of girls, women, mothers and babies. Birth is not just a physiological experience for the mother or purely a physiological experience for the baby being born, it is a profoundly dynamic and multifaceted experience for both. Childbirth is an immensely powerful right of passage experience we are seeking to restore (Reed, 2021). Birth touches the primal, mammalian, archetypal, psychological, and the spiritual dimensions within each of us, reaching into the depths of our being, Mother Earth and the vast Universe. Understanding the perinatal matrices as a map of the human psyche will hopefully allow humanity to widen our sense of birth and provide opportunities to heal the pain we feel from our birth or birthing experiences.
Note to the reader: The information in this article is for educational purposes, to provide discourse for humanity to reflect on the experience of childbirth. The information in this article does not serve as professional or medical advice. Any errors are the author’s.
Article written by: Rose Skerten
references
Adamson G.D, Creighton P, de Mouzon J et al. How many infants have been born with the help of assisted reproductive technology? Fertility and Sterility, Volume 124, Issue 1, 2025, p. 40-50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2025.02.009
Butler R. The Astrology of Love and Relationships. 2022.
Grof S and Grof C. Holotropic Breathwork: A New Approach to Self-Exploration and Therapy. Second Edition. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2023
Grof S, and Halifax-Grof J. Realms of the Human Unconscious: Observations from LSD Research. London: Souvenir Press, 1975.
Reed R. Reclaiming Childbirth as a Rite of Passage: Weaving Ancient Wisdom with Modern Knowledge. Word Witch: 2021
Thomaidi S, Sarantaki A, Tzitiridou Chatzopoulou M et al. The Rising Global Cesarean Section Rates and Their Impact on Maternal and Child Health: A Scoping Review. J Clin Med. 2025 Nov 15;14(22):8102. doi: 10.3390/jcm14228102