Most women are taught from an early age that their period, and really their entire menstrual cycle, is a pain to deal with. It’s a nuisance they have to put up with, an event filled with shame, pain, and embarrassment. In that, we are taught how to reject a key aspect of our bodies as well as the biological mechanism that gives rise to life. They tend not to honor ourselves and the hormonal fluctuations that occur naturally in our bodies, and so we remain detached from how to tune into our own inner wisdom.
Women are rarely ever shown the sacredness, creativity, and wisdom that is embedded in their rhythmic monthly cycle—the feminine cycle—or how to harness its power.
If they live in alignment with their cycle, stop rejecting it, and actually understand which of our strengths and qualities are highlighted during each phase, we can become more productive, more at ease in our own bodies, and more confident, proud, and powerful women as a whole.
Their moons are a time of cleansing and renewal. Recognizing this cycle helps keep us healthy in body and mind and reminds the community of our significance as women.
Throughout ancient history this time of the mother was thought to have been sacred by many cultures. It was a powerful time, one in which a woman’s energy would overpower all the rest. Thus, the reason many ceremonies and rituals are forbidden to women during the moon cycle.
For instance, Ojibwe women traditionally secluded themselves in a moon lodge during menstruation. Women retreated to a small wigwam, where they slept separated from their husbands and infants. They refrained from sex, food preparation, and ceremony. They were careful not to step over young children, touch babies, men, or communal food. Female friends and relatives ensured the menstruating woman was safe and fed, and they helped care for her family in her absence.
“Traditionally, if you arrived at a woman’s house and saw that her cedar boughs were missing from her front door, it was a sign that she had taken them to create a pathway to her moon lodge. Cedar is a medicine to keep women safe. The missing cedar was a sign for other women to visit her, feed her, and check on her.”
“In the Hawaiian community before Christianity, menstruation was supposed to be the absolute most sacred time for women. And because it was already a matriarchal society where women generally were seen to have the most spiritual power, it was believed that when women were bleeding, they were so powerful that if men were around them, the menʻs mana or like soul energy would just get sucked out because they couldnʻt handle such sacred power.
To the Jews, this time of the month is called Niddah, one translation meaning separation or make distant—a time for no physical contact with one’s spouse (the underlying meanings vs. what patriarchy has deemed it over the centuries has been an interesting read). And then to partake in mikvah after (a ritual bath usually from rainwater) during times of transition, many women also do this do during any transitional time in life if they so choose—from marriage to menopause and some less traditional do it after graduations)
In Celtic Britain, to be stained with the red (presumably menstrual blood) meant you were chosen by the goddess. The Celtic word “ruadh” means both red and royal.
The eggs of Germanic Goddess Eostre (womb symbols that have evolved through to modern day Easter) were traditionally colored red and laid on graves to strengthen the dead for the afterlife. In Greece and southern Russia, graves were reddened with ochre clay for a closer resemblance to the Earth Mother’s womb from which the dead could be birthed again.
Celtic rites were often granted by elder women in the community due to the belief that being post-menopausal made you the wisest as you had permanently retained your “wisdom blood.”
There is an ancient Hopi prophecy that states, “When the women give their blood back to the earth, men will come home from war and earth shall find peace.”
The moon cycle is a powerful time. It is a time to be creative, usually pulling within and preferring isolation. It is a time of reflection and cleansing. It is a time of natural completion being pulled by the affects of our moon. It is also a spiritual time for connection and ritual.
RETURNING THE BLOOD
There are many different menstrual rituals in different cultures throughout history. Some tribes would drink a mixture of menstrual blood and water to obtain specific powers.The Maori people viewed menstrual blood as a powerful medicine, so they painted anything sacred red, including sick people in an effort to cure them. There were also many menstrual offerings to the gods and to the moon.
The Lakota tribe believed menstrual blood to be so powerful that it could weaken the strength of warriors or interfere with a healer’s ability to heal. They would return their sacred blood to the Earth by free-bleeding on their seeds.
The most common ritual is to return the sacred menstrual blood back to mother Earth. This is a strong symbolic act. Because menstruation is the physical release of blood where no life occurred, it is seen as a symbolic act of completion.
This powerful blood can be used in various ways by mother Earth. Blood contains high nitrogen and protein composition, which is just what plants need to grow strong. Offering your diluted menstrual blood to gardens, trees and flower beds will do astonishing things.
It will also strengthen your feminine connection to your cycle, the tides of the ocean and the pull of the moon. It will heighten your awareness on the importance of this sacred time and take you deep into a conection of forgotten traditions.
Honor your cycle, be proud to be a woman and throw the shame of bleeding out the window.~
~Ja Phathyte
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