Moon Cycles - Part One

Did you know that “Mens” is the root of Menstruation, and also the “Moon", menstrual cycles have always been connected to the lunar cycle. The radiance of lunar energies is connected to feminine or Yin energy; weirdly, this magnetic reflective energy is viewed as weaker in our modern world, but truly  it embodies the power of the unformed and holds infinite possibilities. It is affected by the moon's magnetic pull; just like the moon directs the tides of the oceans, why would it not influence the ions and fluids of our body? After all we are 70% water. 

The earth wisdom traditions have always had an inherent empathy with the natural cycles that we seem to have lost. For example the native American Objibwe women seclude themselves in a moon lodge during their moon (period). They saw it as an essential time of rest and renewal and also to acknowledge the vital role they play as life givers and guardians of the community. The Objibwe believed the women possessed great power during their moons and their bleed was the release of accumulated experience and stress of being a women. Their moons were a time of deep cleansing and a cycle that kept them healthy. For Hawaiians, pre-christianity, menstruation was thought to be the most absolute and sacred time for women. Celtics believed that to be stained with the red (menstrual blood) meant you were chosen by the goddess. 

Over time, we've forgotten this essential connection to nature and its cycles; many earth-based philosophies still profoundly connect and celebrate a woman's many transitions from child to teenager to woman and into the wisdom years. These are powerful and defining moments for women; whether it's the discovery of menstrual blood or the swelling of your breasts, the swelling of a belly fertile with the promise of new life and then when maturity calls, a sudden disconnect occurs. I wonder why we are so ill-equipped to deal with these transitions? The surprise  or dread of periods rather than the celebration of the blossoming, of fecundity; the mourning of waning fertility, and not the honouring and embracing of a wise woman's journey into her wisdom years and the knowledge she carries which allows us to create not just new life but, also ourselves.

The courses of the moon was a term used to describe a women's monthly cycle. For centuries people have reflected on why they were linked; the idea may have come from the length of both cycles at 28-29 days. Before we discovered electricity, we ovulated during the full moon and bled at the new moon. The full moon light stimulates the pineal gland, it senses the amount of light at night and sends a signal to the ovaries to release an egg and ovulate at the height of the full moon and the most light. Now days artificial light interrupts this natural sychronisation.

Every cycle creates the opportunity to renew ourselves with positive energy—an essential thing to understand. The energy, thoughts and feelings you begin your cycle with build a thought pattern that lasts throughout that cycle. If you start negatively with ideas like “Oh no, my periods are here again" or "this is going to be painful," this energy gets planted in the psyche and is then carried through that cycle. Instead, plant seeds that  allow you to expand and not contracted so it will feed you and help you grow and acknowledge your inherent power. 

"You know, if we, all the women, got it together with our prayers and intentions, maybe even re-synchronized our cycles with the moon and with each other – we could use this energy to heal the planet." – Jane Hardwicke Collings

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