The first menstruation, Menarche, in particular is celebrated throughout the world. The Ancient Greeks built a temple, African tribes pertained a Dance Ritual and the Hebrews celebrated a girl’s first menstrual period with an ointment and a prayer to the Gods so that she would be healthy and fertile.
Paul’s letter to the Hebrews in the Bible, interestingly, features an explicit reference to the all-encompassing Power of blood. In this letter, we read that Moses … ‘took the blood of the calves and of the goats, with water and scarlet wood and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying ‘This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded for you.’ The tabernacle also and all the vessels of the ministry he sprinkled likewise with blood; and with blood almost everything is cleansed according to the Law, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness’. This ritual, then, is undoubtedly connected to the Ancient associations with the powers of the Womb and of the Earth.
In the early written language that we are currently able to translate, Sumerian, the word ‘AMA’ meant both ‘the earth’ and ‘womb’. The Aryan root word ‘Mater’ was used for both ‘mother’ and ‘measurement’, from which derive such words as ‘matter’, ‘metric’, ‘material’, and ‘matrix’, which originally meant ‘Womb of matter’.
Long ago, Women who were in their Moontime got time off from their work and family chores in order to celebrate these days with their Sisters in the Moon Lodge.
If I were in a position to decide, Women would be returned this Sacred Time for themselves. The whole of humanity would benefit from the notion that Women could have their own Sacred Space for their Divine transformation, which we go through every time we menstruate. Sacred Visions open themselves to us. It is a loss for our whole society that this Wisdom seems to be mostly forgotten and remains unrevealed for many.
The profound fruits that should actually be given time to heal, be nurtured and then grow during our Moontime, do not get a fair chance. In early ages, Women told each other their Vision, stories and shared their experiences and insights. They came together to be One with each other and to be One with the changes in their bodies. It was one of the strongest acknowledgements of the power and influence that the Moon cycle beholds. It was also one of the most intimate expressions of ‘Sisterhood’.
Many cultures consider the Moon to have Feminine Powers because of the way in which she affects our menstruation.
When we reconnect with our Mooncycle, we nurture our Beings and restore the balance between emotion and strength, instead of losing ourselves in the emotional turbulence that might occur, in particular, in the days before or during our Moontime. We do not need to take pills for pre-menstrual syndromes. What we dó need, is to learn and become Aware of our own Feminine cycles, to listen to them. Women bring honor to themselves when they listen to their bodies’ Sacred intuition and act on that…
Let us nurture ourselves and our Sisters, particularly during our Moontime.
Quoted from the book:
MOON CIRCLES, the Rising of women in Sisterhood
Author: Tara Isis Gerris
Artwork: Peter Engelhardt
Moondancer Studio and Creative Sanctuary 