As women, we are privileged to have a natural cycle that gives us the ability to understand two important aspects of life: activities that are constructive, creative and expanding; and those that call us to go within, to reflect, and to renew ourselves.
What Modern Society Wants from Women
Modern society encourages a productive and fast-paced life. Many women have become trapped playing the role of Super Woman, forgetting (or wanting to forget) that there is another side of ourselves to consider.
Today, we have reached the point of insanity, where we have accepted contraceptive pills which completely eliminate our monthly periods. All types of nonsensical theories are given to women to keep them enslaved to the production needs of modern society.
This attitude needs to be understood from the roots, to be reflected on, and to be faced with an unshakeable personal position of self-respect and integrity.
Time to Go Within
Healthy women have always bled monthly with no harm to the body. In many cultures and throughout history, women would withdraw from everyday life during their moon cycle, ceasing all social activities, responsibilities, and intercourse with men.
During the moon time, they would retire, meditate, and perform certain rites. In this sacred seclusion, women were free from worries and from the psychic energy of others, giving them the opportunity to use the moon cycle as a catalyst to bring their energy inward and to renew themselves.
The moon cycle process may sound quite simple but this was the moment when women gained and increased their consciousness, devotion, and perspective of themselves in relation to nature.
The intuitive understanding of this internal cycle gives women a pearl of deep wisdom.
It was women’s vast moon-based wisdom and the understanding of these life cycles that provided the foundation for agriculture, astronomy, and even mathematics.
From Sacred to Taboo
Over time, women have lost the real meaning of menstrual blood, which is truly a symbol of regeneration or rebirth.
Instead, women’s blood has gradually become redefined by men or churches as something contaminated instead of sacred, and women’s self-imposed seclusion has become exclusion from the community.
Our bleeding and our moon cycle have become taboo and associated with guilt, crushing the vital feminine force into a concept of illness and inconvenience.
Women have placed upon themselves laws of prohibition that have dehumanized and isolated them. They have allowed society’s workforce, religion, and men’s desires to mutate them and degenerate coming generations.
What the Moon Cycle Does for Women
Our moon cycle is a sacred cycle on many levels. At the physical level, menstrual bleeding releases the body’s excess of stored iron, undoubtedly reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, and strokes in premenopausal women.
The release of hormones during the menstrual cycle is also important for the health of the breasts and bones, especially in the development of adolescents.
At the psychological level, menstruation is a time when women learn to stop their countless activities, worries, and burdens, and instead, to access their emotional process and to offer insights in the family’s renewal.
The Flow Is Spiritually and Socially Supportive
The time of menstruation can be used for surrender, devotion, and prayer, according to the woman’s level of awakening. The body’s natural weakness at this time opens the door for the spirit to be concrete, present, and experienced, where meditations can be sweet, personal, poetic, and soft. In comparison, yogis would need to fast and perform many austerities to reach this level of experience.
Socially, we are also giving our families a break, where we need to take a day off, to reduce expectations, and to show that you welcome a warm bowl of soup or a foot rub. By allowing others to take care of you at this time, members of the family learn how to serve and offer nourishment.
Sweet Surrender
The sweet surrender to our moon cycle is a celebration that can rescue the grace and wisdom of nature within us. By taking care of ourselves and honouring this time, we increase the collective acceptance of women and we teach men about the hidden force of our changeable nature.
Most of all, honouring our menstruation passes on a grain of wisdom and regeneration to future generations who are presently so bombarded with dishonour, shame, and guilt.
By honouring ourselves, we honour this dance between our bodies and the universal law of renewal.