For a number of years now, I have been tracking my menstrual cycle, using Fertility Awareness Method. I chose to come off hormonal birth control because I was experiencing mood swings that included anger, snide comments, an overall feeling of not totally myself anymore. I was in a relationship at the time and my partner wanted to help as much as he could. He bought “Taking Charge of Your Fertility,” by Toni Weschler and I loved everything I was reading. This book helped me to feel empowered as a young woman, I was about 20 years old. I have always known there was more to being a bleeding woman and this confirmed everything I was feeling.
I learned to become in-tune with how my body shifted through each phase of my cycle. I knew the exact days of ovulation and intuitively began to know when I was to start bleeding, within a few hour time period. Soon, it began to flow and I began to recognize signals my body was sharing with me.
I have always loved astrology, and as most of us who dive into this subject, I started reading my daily horoscope when I was a teenager. I always wanted to see if it was accurate for my sun sign! This curiosity grew tremendously after completing my first yoga teacher training. I found an astrologer who seemed to say all the right words in her articles she posted about the moon. I would read this articles late into the night and journal what my thoughts and feelings were, how they resonated and studied what was going on in my life that may pertain to the moon’s shifting tides.
Sure enough, the moon played a huge role at a subtle level. Somewhere along the lines, with my passion to know my menstrual cycle, and the passion I had for studying the moon, the connection came. I am a we’moon or womyn that directly links and cycles with the moon herself. My very own menstrual cycle flows with the new or full moon. I began praying that I could bleed with the new moon and have peak ovulation with the full moon, like our ancestors. There was an ancient energy that was pulling me in to investigate more.
Womyn, for centuries, have joined in Moon Lodges or Red Tent ceremonies, in which they would gather their energy together in sacred ritual. These times usually revolved around the new moon, the darkest time of the moon’s orbit. When a womyn bleeds, her energy turns inward connecting to ancestral wisdom. She is able to evaluate what took place in her last moon cycle, then she sets new intentions for higher growth. Womyn in Native tribes were revered for their intuitive wisdom that was gained during Moon Lodges. This energy was used to guide the tribe to the next resource they needed. Womyn connected with the moon, the stars and the rhythmic cycle of the sun to navigate forward. Here, she was honored for her knowledge! Womyn is scared!
Learning this knowledge of our womyn’s not so distant past traditions encourages me to create moon circles now. What power lies dormant within womyn that, in our modern culture, we have forgotten? As the seeker I know myself to be I bring moon knowledge forth and invite you to join! How can moon cycle knowledge spark something new for you?
Breta Moon