What’s the Caul Birth Spiritual Meaning?

Having a child is the most awe-inspiring, memorable, and rewarding experience for any mother. The moment your baby is born feels like you’ve been gifted what some describe as a miracle. But as a delivery phenomenon that happens once in a long while, what’s caul birth spiritual meaning?

A caul birth is when your baby is born with the amniotic sac still intact. Your newborn is wrapped in a soft, fluid-filled bubble which is then safely removed by the doctor or midwife. It’s thought that such babies develop into natural empaths or psychics, with an increased awareness of the metaphysical.

Also known as a mermaid or veiled birth, a caul baby appears gift-wrapped inside the balloon-like amniotic sac. It’s a thin, organic, transparent covering that’s quickly peeled or snipped off by a qualified delivery specialist. In this article, find out if your en caul child has an extrasensory perception or ESP as that’s believed to be one of the earliest marks of a psychic.

What Is a Caul Birth and What’s the Difference with an En Caul Birth?

In a caul birth, your baby comes out while partially wrapped or still inside the amniotic sac. It looks as though your newborn is inside an unbroken or broken membrane, water-filled bubble. Also called a veiled birth, it’s very rare, occurring in less than one of 80,000 deliveries, and mostly with preterm babies.

However, en caul and caul aren’t the same thing, seeing as the latter occurs when the membrane covers only the head or face of your child. It sometimes drapes over the shoulder and chest when it’s large enough, a transparent hat that’s easily removed.  On the other hand, en caul is when the amniotic sac covers the entire body, and compared to caul births, this is even rarer.

The amniotic sac is made of two membranes that start to fill with fluid soon after conception and implantation of the fertilized ovum within your uterine wall. It’s this light-yellow liquid that keeps your baby warm and protects it from external influences. Your unborn child sometimes drinks this solution, which also helps in the development of lungs, bone, muscle, stomach, and intestines.

You’re less likely to have a caul or en caul births through normal vaginal delivery as compared to a C-section. That’s because labor causes the amniotic sac to rupture, occasioned by this fluid pouring when your water breaks. Induction into labor also removes the sac, but this phenomenon becomes less rare with preterm births.

Is It True That a Caul Birth Is a Spiritual Sign of Greatness and Protection?

A caul birth is a rare condition for which many cultures have attached spiritual and magical beliefs. Its Latin name, Caput galeatum, means head helmet, and it’s more common than a fully enveloped en caul birth. Often, such a birth is viewed as a sign of good luck for the baby and its parents. In some regions, the amniotic sac is even preserved after drying as a charm, as it’s thought the child can’t be unlucky.

Other beliefs hold that a baby born caul is destined for greatness and that they don’t drown. It’s said that many great and famous people were caul births. These include Sigmund Freud, Napoleon, Charlemagne, Lord Byron, Jesus, Alexander the great, mystic poet Kahlil Gibran and Liberace.

Other cultures hold that such a person can’t be defeated, especially in legal battles, as happens in the courtroom. That’s why Roman midwives would steal cauls and sell to spiritually ambitious lawyers, who believed that possessing them helped win cases. Inordinately, due to the belief that cauls or the person born with one couldn’t drown, sailors almost always carried a dried piece on voyages.

However, the immunity lasts as long as the caul is in one’s possession, and throwing one away was thought to almost always cause death by drowning. Such superstitions extended to cultures in England, Iceland, and Denmark, while other beliefs held that the dried, powdered caul cured malaria. Coal miners considered carrying one into the depths of the earth warded off explosions and fires.

So, What’s the Caul Birth Spiritual Meaning and Significance?

In early modern Europe, the sac from a caul birth was preserved as a memento and good luck charm. Midwives would press a piece of thin paper against the membrane on a baby’s face, head, or chest. They would then present it to the parents as a keepsake or heirloom.

In many places, such as Belgium, the sac would be buried in a field or placed under a dying person’s bed to ease their passing. Traditions also linked a caul birth to having an ability to defend the harvest, or wealth against sorcerers and evil. In Scandinavia, such births were associated with a fylgja, an accompanying spirit that manifests as a person, animal, or object.

However, there’s always been a dark side to caul births. These children were once said to have powers that perceive ghosts or become witches and such. Some societies even burned them as werewolves or vampires. The divination where the caul is interpreted as a form of worship is called Amniomancy, which sometimes involves burning the amniotic sac.

Alongside these capabilities, caul children are said to sense weather changes, detect underground water or know when the harvest of food or fish will be plentiful. That aligns with western spiritual meanings of this type of birth, where it’s mostly believed that these babies have psychic abilities. Others, derived from old Nordic beliefs, maintain that caul bearers or those born from such births see the future or can navigate between various worlds.

Conclusion

History has attached fortune, fame, psychic and magical abilities to caul birth spiritual meaning. The amniotic sac has been preserved countless times as a token of protection from evil or drowning. Many cultures, including ours, still hold that used as an ingredient, cauls cure diseases or form protective or love potions.

Whether special or not, a caul birth is spectacular to behold. It does not harm your baby in any way, seeing as they’re still using oxygen-rich blood delivered through the umbilical cord. Doctors, nurses, and midwives almost immediately remove the amniotic sac from your newborn’s face to help them breathe normally.