Our Moon Cycles

 

In the Yoruba tribe, the word “ase” is used to express power of a spiritual nature.  In women’s circles the word can be used to express a woman’s life force—her menstrual blood.  The Goddess of the moon is the divine mother of all the divinities, the One who controls the surface of the ocean, the cycles of the moon, and the affairs of women.  She is the Goddess of witchcraft, healing, intuition and motherhood.  She is the fullness of a pregnant women’s belly.  She connects us with women’s power.

When we return to our connection with the moon, we nurture a balance of emotion and strength.  When the moon enters the sign of Cancer, our psychic awareness is heightened.  As women return to worship the moon Goddess, we celebrate rather than curse our power to bleed and begin to awaken to a more sensuous way of being, allowing ourselves to “feel” with our wombs instead with our heads.  Spiritual women live in a secret divine place within themselves.  When we bleed, our gateway to divine visions, astral travel and dreams of the ancients opens wide and the window to the worlds opens.  We become more at one with the Goddess and her cycles of life, death and rebirth.

When we tap into the depths of our spirit, we can remember memories of tribal ways, of women’s circles, moontime lodges for our time of menses, children suckling contentedly upon the breasts, and sensuous drums compelling us to dance.  In contrast to this world of knowing, women today often have to work, nourish, provide and survive in a society that does not honor our power.

How can spiritual women of today maintain their connection to the fertile powers of the moon?   How do we teach our daughters to live in a sacred way and to respect their bodies.  We can refer to a woman’s blood as moontime.  Traditionally women’s menses corresponds with the moon.  Generally, at the full moon, we ovulate and we bleed at the new moon, starting the cycle over. It is called the Blood of the Moon when you bleed on a full moon; this is considered a very powerful time.  Originally calendars were created by the moon cycles; 13 moons every year.  Women living or working together, usually have the same menstrual cycles.  We have strong spiritual bonds, we move as one.  We can reclaim women’s rituals and our connection to nature.  When we connect together, we gain even more feminine power.

During your moontime, you should rest and enjoy solitude.  It is the time to go within.  We become creative and intuitive.  The more you rest, the more you can connect to your powerful dreams.  By loving ourselves, and honoring our natural cycles, we show our love for our Creator, Gods/Goddesses and our families.  I suggest you do the following during your moontime.

  1.       Rest and nourish your self.
  2.       Don’t rush…connect to the moon and your inner self.
  3.       Meditate
  4.       Do gentle exercise like yoga or walking.
  5.       Create a spiritual space to journal, meditate, read and dream.
  6.       Drink nourishing herbs.