MOON CYCLE
It is believed that women ovulate on the full moon, a time ripe for conception; and bleed on the new moon – when their Earthly nature is powerful and moving – allowing them to lay low in the dark, relax and vision. This is called the White Moon Cycle. Many female bodies ovulate on the full moon, and also; many bleed on the full moon, the same goes for ovulation. Bleeding on the full moon and ovulating on the new moon is called the Red Moon Cycle. If you are reading this, and do neither – read on…
There are studies that claim there is no linkage to the lunar and menstrual cycles; claims that the moon is hollow in fact, a spaceship. I would comment that the first calendar was 28 notches, woman's calendar - and indigenous peoples honor the moon and the sun, Nature and her life wisdom. Many women among us, perhaps the participants in the study I read; live too far from nature, under false lighting, overstressed, undernourished, functioning by the rhythm of the clock and not the earth – taking hormones or taking them unconsciously via the water supply; and I admit it is difficult to be synced with mother Nature and lady luna – when one’s environment is overtly synthetic and/or far from her…Study the women of the earth, who would live stewarding or die trying, and see who is synced to the monthly seasons of the planet. It has become an increasing topic of interest…what symbolism lies in which cycle you are attuned to…
A TIME FOR REFLECTION
Your period is a time for rest and introspection, to let your body do its work - moving your internal waters - and you, focusing on nourishing your physical, emotional, spiritual body. It should be a time of creativity, journaling, cooking and putting your feet up. Many of us enjoy getting our monthly blood, as we recognize its power and rejoice in the need for self care and pampering. If your bleed is heavy, long, and generally uncomfortable; with symptoms of PMS, Cramping, excessive bleeding, migraines, weakness, etc. – it is a sign that something needs your attention. Perhaps you just need to rest and take the time necessary to be introspective, creative, and relaxed. Perhaps you need to be on a custom diet. Perhaps the issue is larger, and you need to speak with a clinical herbalist, naturopath, midwife, or other care provider.
• Self care isn’t selfish.
• If you're menses is a difficult time, it could be that on a metaphysical level, you are involved in toxic patterns, habits, relationships, etc. and your GPS is speaking to you...
• Go inside of yourself with music/meditation/Listen & take head.
+ Cycle flip flopping – from new moon to full moon – This has been noted – and I think, reflects greater themes addressed in this essay…
WHITE MOON CYCLE
• Ovulating on The Full moon is a full belly, life force present –it is believed that women ovulate on the full moon, a time ripe for conception. Our birth rite – Conception. Conception of a baby, and also; the conception of ideas, creative endeavors, new relationships, and coming into soul contact. Ovulating on the full moon would lead you to bleed on the new moon…
• Bleeding on The New moon, symbolically, is a fresh start, regeneration and renewal – To bleed on the new moon, is to have all your energy and power present to cleanse and detoxify your body – perhaps your body is prioritizing cleansing and quiet time, cleaning and getting rid of that which does not serve you. Rather than speaking up and trying to make change – surrender to the universe during this time…
• Femme bodies in their maiden/mother phase of life – would allow for regeneration by self cleansing their vital organs and going deep inside of themselves to harness sustainable power and energy for the following cycle, during a dark new moon. The vaginal wall is regenerating as it sheds its skin, and creates a bleed.
• As the new moon is the darkest night of the cycle (It is not visible because the sun is shining on “the dark side of the moon”)– this is a good time for introspection, recapitulation, self care, trance/vision journeys, and listening to your intuition. Take time for yourself and your body.
@Earth_heart_herbal preference for bleeding with the new moon, feels better – has been synced to both.
@krismob bled on the full moon pre- pregnancy – now in motherhood – she is back to bleeding on the new moon.
I wonder, is there is a correlation between childbearing and which cycle you sync with. Labor and birth are empowering, allowing a woman to step through that full moon portal – now needing that strength and energy to go deep inside and navigate the tricky path that is parenthood.
In my blood rite findings, I have made some conclusions about the metaphysical/emotional signifiers in syncing with full moon vs. new moon.
There is testimony to bleeding with the full moon pre-motherhood – and new moon after birth…This is longwinded, forgive me…
I would say that as women, it is no secret that we shy away from our intuition and our fullest voice – because we have been told over and over again, that we are too much.
And men too, hiding their emotional bodies as to appear without emotion…
And in the same breathe – we are told to be more.
That we were made for more…
Some of us were born into families who encouraged spontaneity, wildness, creativity, the arts, being in nature, and random acts of kindness – no matter how we presented our gender. And in that, learned to activate our essence – the spirit that moves us.
Many among us were brought up and simply told not to move. “Don’t move a muscle” – “Don’t speak about this or you’ll get it” – /behaving/and sitting for long hours at desks, unmoving, and silent - listening to uninspired humans talk of the nonsense and lies that make up the history of the world through a very specific lens….
I digress –
we are oppressed - is what I am getting at.
And some of us are more victim to that oppression than others.
When you know that truth and justice is honesty and kindness, and you see wrongdoing – you want to speak up, but may face harsh consequences.
You may be in an environment that is unhealthy.
Bleeding on a full moon might bring that to light and give you the power necessary to make positive change in your life. Perhaps you need a big push to complete a project, start a new one, or manifest ideas into being – bleeding on a full moon might help with that too.
There is an old dynamic that I have been privy to and it involves emotional abuse by someone’s partner(s), friends, family members, coworkers, sometimes complete strangers do this; in an attempt to silence. “You can’t cry so much.” "You're being too loud" “You’re crazy” “You’re too emotional” “You’re a joke” things of that nature…things that make you feel small. If you need to speak your truth, not only would Acornus Calamus help you, but you may specify your intentions for truth and love while bleeding on a full moon – when the power is apparent to you.
Perhaps this whole time you feel like a little girl, out of control, and being controlled. And then you give birth.
And you are empowered by the mystical process of life giving
and before, where you might shy away from speaking – you are steadfast in your tone.
For your child’s safety could be at risk – and you find yourself in mama bear mode – and your voice is full and you are grounded and keen.
And so you are safe – and you are protecting your own in that safety net that you have built. You are safe enough to make a container; which to bleed on a new moon, needs that. You need a safe space to go inside and do the shamanic work that women must do in order to care for and keep the living alive – to keep surviving. If your body was in any way open to harm, a sudden distraction, exigency, or emergency – you wouldn’t be allowed to go deep, you’d have to keep your consciousness at the surface in order to move earth and ether with your hands and senses keen about you…
RED BLOOD MOON
Bleeding on a full moon may symbolize your need to be pushed by outer forces to move, that maybe you are moving how and when you are told – that you may not be safe to speak your truth. It may indicate that you now have the power to make real change in your life.
It is a warning and also a blessing – giving you immense creative power and strength.
If a new moon blood is about your spiritual path; symbolic of a woman feeling safe and comforted enough in her environment to go deep inside of herself. A full moon blood, the Red Blood Moon, to me, seems like a wild wolf on the hunt and surviving – needing the light of the moon, and her water body, to power up and gain enough vitality to get by – not so much about going deep inside and doing shamanic work – but just getting by. Surviving. Pupils dilated. Needing the light of the moon to see through dark times. Sympathetic nervous system exhaustion? Perhaps a woman who bleeds on the full moon is not yet ready to be with child…Not that it is impossible or wrong to bleed on the full moon (I currently attune with this cycle, tmi now you know about my life) but it would make sense. Following the doctrine of signatures; for why ovulating and conceiving a child on a full moon would be the optimum time for a big full belly and abundance. Ovulating on the full moon would be your deepest potential to conceive and is when sexual energy is awakened so that you can make love to your partner. And therefore, bleeding and renewing yourself on a new moon, when all is dark and quiet – and harnessing your power and energy – to do inner work at a time when your body is sensitive and enjoys resting and taking things slow, would make sense as well. When it is too dark to see outside, and you must remain in your cave and attend to your blood rite…
Full moon blood – red moon cycle – needs creative energy and abundance, possible depression, heat, lack of boundaries, not speaking your truth, step into your full power with a full moon.
SEX as SACRED
Blood aside, your moon time is clearly related to your reproductive cycles, and you find yourself feeling more sexual during certain times in your cycle. If you are ovulating and also noticing that you’re craving sex – animal instincts rule; and your drive to procreate is lining up in favorable ways for babymaking…
Sex is a sacred act; this is subjective, and yet – a very important topic of discussion as promiscuity and polyamory are major topics in the sexual revolution. I only wish to make a distinction from being free, open, and loving in your sexuality vs. using sexual activities and perversions to live out unresolved issues and traumas – or distract you from deeper visions. It seems that our blood rite is a time in our lives, that we have to/ get to- put ourselves before our families/ that we can keep our bodies to ourselves. If people think you are 'too much to be around' at this time, good – take your space! If men think that we are dirty, shameful, or unworthy during this time – better to be without their presence during such a sacred time anyway. (And also – indicative that you may want to seek the company of someone more open minded) For the most part, open minded femmes and their partners are coming to understand the medicine that lies in the menses…This should also open up conversation about celibacy and/or ritual during the blood moon between partners and with ourselves.
Dorothy Hall notes, IN YOUR HERBAL PROFILE – that some species of animals, can expect death after having too many mates. It is not inherent in the human genome to interact with people on a psycho spiritual level, mindlessly, and without regard to the psychic ties that form…Much of the openness to ‘casual sex’ lies in the fundamental beliefs society projects; which are the glorification of busy – and the ‘casual’ of anything else…including relationships. This is a much bigger topic to be discussed at a later date…
+ While working at Ye Olde Herb Shoppe, I was once told by an old Witch that sex was black magic, and to be careful of whose hands I fell into...I was once visited by a man who claimed to be a Vampire, and told me to do rituals before intercourse to protect myself from the evils that lurk in lustful creatures…And a yoga instructor who informed me, “protect yourself and close yourself off after having opened up in the act of intimacy, by rolling around horizontally, with your hands above your head and your legs outstretched, Pencil position!…(Also a practice used to ward off Breast Cancer…)
ECOFEMINISM
• Women are symbolic of Mother Nature. We have the ability to bleed in tune with the cycles of the moon, wax and wane with her energies. We have the ability to sync ourselves with the stars, the weather, powerful energies present within our bodies – often intuitive of greater themes.
We have the ability to give birth; along with Gaia.
• Ecofeminist note: A violation on Mother Nature is a violation on Women, and so; it is important to honor the earth during our lives, and especially during our bleed. Rather than use unsustainably sourced feminine products, waste our sacred menses into toilet water, and exist far from Nature, we need to honor her. We seek her cycles to promote efficiency in our lives; to gather information about ourselves, to see into the sacrament. Give your blood to your plants, to the earth. Free bleeding, Menstrual Cups, cloth & reusable hemp/cotton/fleece pads/undies are all considerably more sustainable than tampons, pads, or releasing it to the toilet altar. We do what we can, and we call it our best…
HERBS FOR MOON TIME
•Motherwort: Mother magic – like a mother soothing her child – you need to be comforted and feeling safe during this time – Motherwort is here to comfort you, strengthen your blood, calm your pulse, and move your blood so you may more easily detoxify your body during the time of your menses. Get cozy with a cup of tea – Also used to bring on/regulate a period.
• Crampbark: (My go to for cramps) – like the name says – it helps with cramps. Crampbark is antispasmodic to the uterus, and relieves cramps and bloating/gas from water retention – drink lots of fluids to flush out the system…
•Damiana: for the woman who needs to accept her wild body as natural, beautiful, and deserving of love. Get into your body and really be with your breathe, feel the subtle differences in your thought forms taking on a rosy tone, and the light too – filtered differently. – (as pointed out to me by Sean Donahue)
•Catnip/Mint: to cool the body if overheated – and generate overall health and wellness during this time – Mouna PeacefulEarth says that Mint is the ultimate adaptogen and brings about homeostasis in the body.
Catnip is anti-spasmodic and therefore can stop the cramping action of your uterus – it favors the lower burner – also functioning as a stomach soother, and great for children or adults who find bitter a difficult taste.
•Angelica: To bring on a period – drop doses – very strong – not to be used while pregnant. Also good for smoking cessation/ so taken during a new moon blood – with Angelica present in the first day or so - you are increasing your chances to shed old habits and patterns and move them out of your body – allowing for sweeter smelling things to inhabit. High in volatile oils – moves the blood. I have seen Angelica bring on a late menses within minutes…it is powerful.
•Nettle: For loss of blood and wanting to up your iron levels – to boost immunity and nutrition if you find yourself weakened, depressed, and/or feeling sick during your period. Great as a tea, in soups, added to salt as a gomacio – or used in baking. The flavor of quality nettle leaf, will leave you wanting more - if your body is in need of minerals.
•Lemon Balm: for overheating and excessive bleeding – to calm a hot head, to soothe an overworked mind – chamomile could be used for this as well.
• Rose: Cooling and nutritive (rosehips = vitamic c) Rose could be used ritually during moontime - to envoke the divine feminine and increase connections with the other divine realms. Ideal for visioning with soul integration as a focus.
•Blue Vervain: For PMS/PMDD - general anxiety and depression - around the time of your blood – After ingesting this medicine – take deep cleansing breathes, look to what you are frustrated at, and try on a different perspective – asking the plant for its consciousness and allied awareness…
•Skullcap: For when you are overworked, tired, and lacking inspiration; it will take away your stress, give you a bigger container for it – and allow you to rest. (Thomas Easley indications) Skullcap is also a neurovaso dilator – so it can soothe an upset nervous system or digestive system by opening up congested pathways - get things moving again; and allows for elimination. Not only can skullcap bring on a bowel movement, in large enough doses – it relaxes you enough to feel like you could handle bleeding for 3-7 days… ;)
•Passionflower: for peace and right speech, and a remedy for menstrual dizziness - for when your thoughts are like two squirrels chasing each others tails – (matt wood indication) If you are having the same thought round and round; you may want to consider taking a break from thinking, take some passionflower, and connect to your essence, it is a flower for spirituality and awakening to your higher self.
•Black Cohosh: for the dark brooding moon time in which you awaken your inner kali but also need to chill and function in the human world – a guiding light and a hint of spring in what feels like a winter moontime. Be empowered but grounded, and aware of the bigger picture.
•Yarrow: for excessive bleeding – astrigent – drop doses: could cause cramping in high doses. Spiritually insightful, could be used in energetic drop doses to connect to your light body.
•Kava Kava: for relaxing and accepting that - all things are, as they are – to be in your body and feel relaxed in your body; also good for pms/pmdd – as it eases communication difficulties – and allows for communal turn up and impassioned living.
•Burdock Rt. : for the person prone to breakouts during their period – which is linked to increased cortisol/stress levels – caused by hormonal shifts and increased perceptivity.
There are so many herbs in our materia medica – often you will find an herbal ally presents itself to you. A story told in a red tent ceremony comes to mind – where a young woman was having difficulties with her health and menstrual cycle. She prayed, she went to the doctor, she tried natural remedies – nothing helped. One day while walking around her neighborhood, Vitex, Chaste Berry Tree, spoke out to her, she listened. She took from the tree it’s bounty, and made medicine with it. She took the medicine, once it was ready – and found relief from her aforementioned problems. This tree is known for its affinity with the female reproductive system and its hormones. Many of us have stories like these, and they enrich our culture and ability to heal ourselves. If you have a story that relates to the blood moon/ herbs for moontime/ rituals for moontime etc. please share in the comments below!
ACTIVITY:
So;
+ if you bleed on the full moon ask yourself:
- What can I create with this power, what kind of change can I move like water?
- Am I in living or thriving?
- Am I safe?
- Do I feel heard?
- Are you feeling anxious or depressed?
- Is there an underlying thought giving way to anxiety?
- What does your fullest potential look like tomorrow?
- Can you hear the voice of truth speaking softly in your ear?
GO with you instincts, be keen & watchful.
+ If you bleed on the new moon ask yourself:
- What in my life needs deeper consideration?
- Am I willing to do the hard word to have a spiritual practice?
- What themes do I want to commit my blood rite to?
- What can I envision?
Full moon is about power, creating and making moves to make change in your life. New moon is about visioning, manifesting, and prayer. Attach these themes to your blood moon or your ovulation cycles, in order to navigate life with more wisdom and mindfulness.
Happy bleeding femmes
One Love,
TGD
The author of this essay, neither claims, nor implies; that any instruction, advice, counsel, suggestions, recommendations, services, or products they or their representatives provide, whether in person or by mail or by telephone, will cure, treat, prevent, or mitigate any disease condition; but are provided solely for the purpose of increasing energy, supporting the natural function of body systems, and otherwise improving general health and fitness.