Bleeding With The Moon

How the moon affects WOMBen who bleed with the moon:

The moon has always been the primary symbol for female energy; its cycle around the earth takes approximately twenty-nine days, the same amount of time as the average woman's menstrual cycle. It is often felt that as the pull of the moon affects the waters of the world, so does its motion affect the body of woman. When the body expels menstrual blood, we head into a different phase of internal power. We can give birth to that which lies within the spirit, not the body.

A women's blood and hormonal cycle follows the ebb and flow of the moon; from new moon to full moon, estrogen increases leading to ovulation, or maximum fertility, at full moon. From full moon to new moon, the waning half of the cycle, progesterone predominates. Traditionally, women used to start bleeding right before the new moon, in the dark of the moon.

In modern times, women begin their menstruation during different phases of the moon. Their bodies are out of sync with the moon and their spirits have forgotten the meaning of Grandmother Moon. One way to get back in harmony with the moon is by performing ceremonies and rituals at different times during the moon cycle and also by honoring the time of menstruation. Menstrual blood is often used for rituals related to sexual attraction, love, domination and fertility. (See other ritual post related to blood and moon rituals) It is often linked with the force of pull, rather than the force of push. The pull of the tides, the tidal flow, and gravity. That’s why it serves as a powerful tool for attraction. It can be put to other uses, too. Internal uses, which benefit you and have nothing to do with other people.

When a woman begins her monthly bleeding, she has a very special vibration. The blood flow is cleansing as the old uterine lining is sloughed off, one monthly reproductive cycle is ended. At menstruation, women have the chance to rid themselves of all old thoughts, habits, desires, and be receptive to new visions and inspirations for the next cycle. This is the dark moon phase.

If a woman continues her normal routine at menstruation, then she loses a uniquely female opportunity for introspection. She also finds she gets more tired, irritable, and upset because her physical rhythm has slowed down. She needs rest, more time for meditation, and less time doing housework, cooking, working in the outside world, and taking care of children.

In many Native American tribes and other tribal cultures, there is a separate moon lodge to which all women go. Since most women menstruated at the same time (have you noticed women who live together bleed together) during the dark of the moon, the grandmothers and fathers took care of the children. Food was left outside the lodge several times a day. Women during menstruation were/are considered to hold a certain power and not allowed to mingle with the rest of the tribe. Many tribes have taboos against these women, believing that their power would interfere with the hunt or take away the power of the medicine bundles.

This is also why women are not allowed in sweat lodges and must stand outside the circles in other ceremonies when they are in their moon time. We know now that women were also segregated because of fear of the immense power which enabled them to bleed each month and never die -the greatest of all the Mysteries- while a male warrior might succumb quickly after losing so much. You have the power to feel good about yourself and your body. Information, products, and an alternative viewpoint about menstruation so that you can feel great about being a woman every day of the month!

Moon Cycles and women

Human beings are affected by the moon. Women especially are affected by the moon and their menstrual cycle is intimately linked to this celestial body.

The moon:

* regulates your menstrual cycle, * can trigger ovulation and fertile times, * affects your emotions and * affects the way people behave and view the world.

Women are connected to the moon by our blood, our hormones and our souls.

The first step in claiming the gifts of our menstrual cycle is to become re-acqainted with Mother Moon. Putting aside all the scientific phenomena of the way the Moon affects the earths tides, weather, animals, fluids and moods, symbolically the Moon has a lot to teach us.

In myth the Moon is a primary female archetype travelling the great round of Birth, Maturation, Death and Rebirth each month. This is a primal fundamental cycle of the universe of which every single living thing participates.

We all are born, we grow, mature and we die .

Humans do it, animals do it, plants do it and even love affairs, business ventures and economies do it. It is only our modern culture with its focus on youth and never ending productivity that attempts to deny this basic cycle of life. Living in this culture it is easy to forget that we are fundamentally cyclic creatures.

Most of us have been taught to believe that being a cyclical creature is a primitive or inferior affair. We believe that we will be less productive, less useful or just plain stupid if we allow ourselves to follow the rhythm of our cycles.

However, there is much grace, flow and harmony to be achieved through living in a cyclic manner. Being able to recognise and use the most appropriate energy that is available to you at any given moment is in fact a far more efficient use of time and energy.

Just like the Moon's journey through the phases, a woman's menstrual cycle can also be divided up into easily understood and clearly experienced phases. These phases take on archetypal (or universally recognised) feminine energies as set out in the following image.

Each month a woman will experience changes in the way she perceives herself and her world in accordance to where she is in her menstrual cycle.

The moon's cycle also adds another subtle tone to her monthly experience, increasing or decreasing the intensity of the energies depending upon where the two cycles overlap.

For example if a woman is ovulating with the Full Moon, this mode of cycling gives a woman the best chance of physical fertility, great for trying to conceive children, as the full moon accentuates the time of Ovulation.

When a woman bleeds with the full moon, this mode of cycling enhances inner expression, intuition and the development of the inner, spiritual life.

As women become more aware of the different phases and how they experience them, they find it much easier to recognize and use the phase they are at and will also experience a far greater acceptance of their bodies, their menstrual cycle and their feminine nature.