Why We Believe in Christmas but Not in Ourselves
- Brainz Magazine
- 8 hours ago
- 7 min read
Written by Gemma Gains, Director
Gemma Gains is a Space Holder and Facilitator in the world of healing and transformation. She specializes in the subtleties of reading and harnessing energy.
From a woman who gave birth to a “miracle” son, who was conceived without sex. Not through miracle, myth, or divine exception, but through modern medicine, science, trust, and artificial insemination. And yet, when we speak of belief, we are far more comfortable accepting ancient stories of immaculate conception than we are trusting the body’s capacity to heal, adapt, and thrive. Provocative, I realise. Especially as I believe more in magic, miracles, and God’s presence in all our lives now, more than when my son was conceived.
The Christmas scene, the paradox of belief
Over the last few weeks, you have probably run yourself ragged trying to find your nearest and dearest magical presents that they will not want to return, filling the cupboards with foods that you probably would not touch for the rest of the year, in every variety, whilst trying to clear the decks for family, guests, and vast amounts of new belongings that are going to need a home in the coming weeks.
You visit the kids’ Nativity and watch the baby white Jesus fall on his head a few times, while the shepherds pick their noses and the kings amuse themselves by play fighting. You turn the house into the Elf on the Shelf’s chaos realm, thinking of innovative ways to make your kids laugh, and then threaten any mischievous behaviour with “Santa doesn’t gift naughty children.” On Christmas Eve, you leave St. Nick his plate of goodies and Rudolf’s travel snack, then neck the sherry after the kiddies go to bed super early because they want ALL their pressies.
You spend Christmas Day in a flurry of paper, glitter, and tantrums, as everyone has had no sleep, is hyped up on sugar, and full of big expectations. You completely overeat on all the foods you collected over the month and drink from 11 am, leaving you exhausted by dinnertime, on the sofa and bloated by 5.
We love Christmas as a society, suspending logic joyfully for one season of the year, like a big weekend where work stops and we are free. But are we?
Dogma masquerading as truth in fairy lights?
Ok, I get it. We do not need to tear Christmas to smithereens like a toddler falling into the Christmas tree. You are about to embark on a festive adventure towards the New Year and your resolutions. I would like to give you a seed to plant within those resolution thoughts, a bright light that bursts in the darkness.
Is belief easiest when it is symbolic? Is belief hardest when it is transformational?
The next few weeks of your life have been programmed into your consciousness through family traditions, the media, and society, all external influences that will not only shape your present, but will also have a lasting effect on the following year and the choices to come.
The bright light that bursts in the darkness
We watched on screen as my son was conceived with a flash of light. Conceived through IVF, after two operations and months of invasive tests, and over ten years of “trying.” I am not rejecting medicine here. I celebrate it.
But I now understand that, for me, belief in myself, my body, and God was missing from the equation in ways I did not see at the time. The process I went through with my IVF, pregnancy, birth, and the early years of mothering brought God closer than ever before, and I have used this closeness to create more and more magic, miracles, and wonder in my life.
Notably, during my last operation before my IVF commenced, I had my fallopian tube clipped, making getting pregnant naturally impossible. I had just the one. In November 2024, I was diagnosed with a 13 cm ovarian dermoid cyst, which they thought was cancerous.
I called on God, on my body, and I meditated every day. I asked to protect my ovary and to get rid of the clip. I asked my body to break it down and let it pass from my body with no trace.
“Anything foreign to the community, which is Gemma Gains, is to be broken down and dispersed through natural means.”
I gave myself six months to heal and booked to have my cyst removed in June 2025 with my chosen surgeon, whom I sought out. My belief in her was solid. The power of belief is ineffable.
The surgeon told me before going in to remove my cyst that there was no healthy ovary to save, based on the opinion of a previous surgeon.
“You are a magician. I know you are the best at what you do. I know that you will find a way,” I said.
The surgeon came to me after the operation. She really struggled during the procedure. The way she first attempted it, there was no tissue to save. She then remembered what I had said and tried another way. Sure enough, she saved my ovary, and no clip. No sign of the clip, gone.
She also said it would take three or more cycles for my body to come back to a bleed. It took one month. This is not proof. This is science, religion, and magic in harmony, as it was once studied.
Religion: Faith without evidence, scepticism with the self
When I met my son’s daddy, I was so far away from myself. I was told so many conflicting stories about my fertility that I had lost all faith in myself, my body, and God. Constantly chasing this elusive place or person I needed to be. Wanting to be a mummy had consumed so many years. I felt like life had passed me by, and my faith had been shaken.
He reminded me who I was when I could not see. He brought back my faith when I had lost it, and he helped me to believe again. I believe that God was working through him. I found a new fire to follow my own path to fertility, forged a path with my own authority, went privately, and sought out medical professionals to have success in our first round of IVF.
My son’s birth completely and profoundly shifted my whole existence. I would not be the person writing this had his dad not believed in me. I would not be helping others heal. The importance of belief lives in the body. We believe in divine intervention, but not in biological intelligence.
The economics of disbelief
Is it spiritual or systemic? While we believe that God is separate from us, some master power in the clouds, we are left separated from our own power and the power we have to heal one another, the power to build our own realities.
Who benefits from us not believing in our health? Who profits from illness, debt, consumerism? Excess is celebrated. “You deserve it” overrides “Is this good for us?”
Our doubt and separation from God and ourselves cost us. You only have to scroll social media and see the plethora of supplements, tonics, and protocols being sold to offer alignment, contentment, and health. Our separation from our personal beliefs facilitates the growth of billion dollar industries.
The psychological cost
When I was a child, I had tonsillitis every month. I found myself in the GP’s office every time, picking up my prescription for bright yellow, banana flavoured antibiotic gloop. When I reached university age, I was sent to have my tonsils out.
My body was not the problem. The tradition in my family to “put up and shut up” was. I was taught, as most of us were, that the doctor would heal you, that antibiotics are normal, and that the only way out of pain or discomfort was medication.
The destruction of belief can be devastating. I was taught that I had no power over my body, no capacity for healing or health, and that my existence was in the hands of a stranger. I was taught to outsource my responsibility, wait to be saved, and believe that parents and authority figures knew what was best for me, with no evidence to back that belief up. Is this resonating for you yet?
Reframing shared stories and the idea of proof
The amount of effort, intention, and energy we put into Christmas is pretty impressive as a society. In the UK alone, consumers are expected to spend tens of billions of pounds over the Christmas period, roughly £24.6 billion nationally and around £460 per adult on gifts, food, drink, and celebration.
We believe in Christmas, with what proof? We rest on religious stories for meaning, with what proof? Do we accept them simply because they are shared stories? Do the stories we tell ourselves heal or harm our human potential?
What would your Christmas look like if you built new traditions around personal power, in the belief that happiness comes from being free from obligation and expectation? Proof does not always come first. Belief often comes before evidence.
The greatest gift
What if all the energy, intention, and effort you put into Christmas and pleasing others were put into you and your family? What if this Christmas you asked your children to believe in themselves, in their ability to manifest the reality they desire, not one that profits from their doubts?
Christ being born to a virgin can be truly symbolic to those who see. I will share the greatest gift I was given, an insight. Jesus, Yeshua, Yehoshua means “the Lord is salvation,” to deliver and to rescue. Born to a virgin, purity, honour, and wholeness.
The biblical scripture could be showing us the way to God, to ourselves, through purity, honour, and wholeness. To believe in ourselves, in the unexploited, the unprocessed, the untainted. If we can believe in magic once a year, what might happen if we believed in ourselves every day?
Read more from Gemma Gains
Gemma Gains, Director
Gemma is a space holder, guiding you as a compassionate, protective, and dedicated shepherd through the subtle energies of your field. With patience and wisdom, Gemma uses her intuitive card readings, deep conversation, and body work to help release blockages and heal generational traumas, realigning your energetic flow. Drawing on principles of quantum physics, Gemma can help you understand how your inner world reflects your relationships with yourself, others, and the Earth. As your unwavering guide, Gemma is dedicated to supporting you in returning to a "right" relationship with yourself, while leaving you with full autonomy over your healing journey. Her intention is to empower you to reconnect with your true self and cultivate harmony within your body, energy, and the world around you.
