Knowing Your Cycle
BLEEDING WITH THE MOON
The moon has an influence on our bodies, whether you bleed or not. The lunar cycle is a guide that reminds us of our cyclical nature and changing phases. Exploring how you experience these phases takes tuning in and tracking the many dimensions of your emotional, physical and spiritual being. It's a relationship that deepens over time and shifts with the tides.
Lunar Seasons
The energetic signature of the new moon is said to parallel the energy of menstruation and the season of winter. Does that mean it's a time of stillness, a time for the body to release, reset and rebuild. Is it more 'natural' to bleed on the new moon?
The energy of the full moon can feel more active, outgoing and parallel the energy of ovulation and the season of summertime. Does this mean that you should be ovulating on the full moon? I don't think so, do you?
In Western society, female bodies are often seen as problems that need to be fixed or controlled. Moon blood arrives on the phase of the moon that responds to what needs to be expressed through each bleeding human in that moment.
The moon is a reflective mirror in the sky that pulls you outward and back inward again. To know your cycles means to know your version of filling and emptying - nourishing and releasing. How each of us embodies the rhythms of the moon is unique, and how we experience menstruation may change from one month to the next. When you track your menstruation on the Lunation Journal you begin to see how the multiple cycles overlap and intersect at different points.
WHEN DO YOU BLEED?
How do you keep track? There are so many apps, but nowadays it seems wise to keep that data to yourself. For most of my teens and twenties I had not idea whether I was ovulating or about to bleed. The surprise and stress that came from not knowing my own cycle created so much chaos in my life. I was told to put a red dot on the calendar which made no sense to track a cycle in a linear format.
Did I not know how to tune in to my body? Was I too busy to be bothered with counting days? I definitely didn't have access to the work of authors and activists who have begun to completely reframe the conversation around how we access our wisdom and superpowers by tuning into their cyclical nature today.
GETTING OFF THE GRID
The lunar cycle is the container that holds our experience, but that doesn't mean there is one way that every woman should experience it. Cycles are hard to track on a linear calendar full of boxes in a grid. That may be part of the reason I was out touch with how and when I bled, I didn't have the right tools. After charting my menstruation on the circular Lunation Journal it deepened my connection to my cyclical nature. I could see that I began to bleed on the full moon, then started to flow around the first quarter moon and then moved closer to the new moon. I know it will continue to shift and change over time.
I’ve experienced 25 day cycles and I’ve had 32 day cycles. This could be labeled as irregular, but I now see it is an opportunity to notice what influences the fluctuations in my cycle. I am more in tune with what brings more ease and what contributes to more discomfort. Rest, stillness, retreat and release are needed. Movement, self-expression, connection and pleasure are also part of each cycle. When those are out of balance, my cycle reflects that. What brings you more ease? Do that!
Where are you at in your cycle?
Understanding your own rhythms begins with noticing and tracking. Paying attention. Finding what contributes to ease and what exacerbates pain. Sharing resources, wisdom. Honoring the decisions of other women. Connecting to expansion and contraction. Trying to not resist the flow.
Since 2015 was the year that the period went public, it's much less taboo to talk about menstruation. Yet still there seems to be a 'right' way to do it. Is your story being told? Sharing your cycle can help illuminate a wider range of collective experiences, build more unity, support and global solidarity around menstruation.
Want to go deeper? Take a listen to our Wild Power Interview with Alexandra Pope and Sjanie Hugo Wurlitzer
The updated edition of the Lunation Journal is available in the shop! Order your copy today.
This simple and beautiful circular calendar and journal establishes the new moon as the starting point for each monthly cycle. By using a circular calendar you perceive time in relation to nature more clearly, and patterns in your own experience become more apparent. It provides a structure for connecting to your inner wisdom and natural rhythms.
