Wow, well, I’m home from a Wild Power day with the wonderful Grandmother of Menstruation Alexandra Pope and the exuberant Sjanie Hugo Wurlitzer. Oh how these women (and the women we sat in circle with) inspire me! No matter how many years we’ve been doing “this work”, there are always more layers to peel, more discoveries of the self to be had…and I for one love it!
The teaching for the day was how to be in your Wild Power…and essentially its quite simple- live your cycle and your body takes you there. But like all things, the simple ain’t so simple to put in to practice- its a discipline, and a spiritual, mental, physical and emotional discipline.
Looking back I had a basic method of charting my cycle from the start……my diary had a big P in the corner on my moon blood days and I was curious to try predict when next months might start! As I got older and delved deeper in to my cycle awareness my focus was more on watching my ovulation pattern than my menstruation! 1994 was my first experience of sitting in circle and sharing cycle awareness- hearing other womens stories and creating a menarche ceremony was a massive turning point for me, I knew I had found my calling!
Whilst I loved the womens circles, it wasn’t always possible for me to embrace them fully in to my life as a single mum….but what I could do was make cloth pads other women and continue my inner work…..
Now, here I stand, with over 30 years of following my menstrual cycle as my spiritual path, over 30 years of going through that monthly initiation with as much consciousness as was possible and today I wonder how much of a ‘rare breed’ am I? How many women will join me as we head towards our menopause with this deep knowledge of ourselves? Conscious Menopause?
This I do know….I need elders to learn from, I need the womens stories, when we listen to our inner seasons and the cycles of other women we can gather so much insight.
Even after 30 years of cycle awareness I am still peeling back layers, listening carefully to myself, my cycles are not regular any more, some months I seem to have “lost” my Maiden/Inner Spring and just when i’m not looking she pops back in…. in every phase, every week, every season of my cycle, something new is revealed to me! This just keeps me wanting to dive deeper and deeper into myself – my cycle is such a gift to me, it guides me home to myself and takes me on such amazing journeys!
I feel such deep gratitude to have embraced the Gifts of my Cycle….and I urge all women to embrace theirs….and join the Menstrual Revolution!! Changes are coming!