Ancient Wisdom Within Menstruation

Growing up, I never experienced menstruation being celebrated or revered.

As a little girl, anticipating my first bleed, the imagery that unfolded for me was one of subtle embarrassment, burden, and inconvenience. This was indelibly etched into my consciousness as I entered adulthood.

As I began my own journey of self-discovery in later years, I started to pause long enough to ask different questions.

Why do I bleed every single month?

Why are some periods easier than others?

What if it is a form of communication?

Is my body using my cycle to tell me what it needs... what is lacks.. and perhaps what it is holding on to?

Is there a way for me to live in harmony with my womb?

The truth is for a long time, I didn't.

I felt confined to the limited belief about menstruation handed to me in my former years.

There was even a point, where I dreaded being a woman during that time of the month. I never saw the beauty in it. In fact, I saw it as something next to a curse.

My cycles were painful.

Heavy.

Draining.

And in hindsight, I now understand why.

I wasn't living in alignment with my body. My mental state, emotional state, my unhealed wounds, pain I was holding on to, my inner child.....   I had not yet began to address these things. And the body keeps the record. Every single month, I was reminded.

It was not until I began my trod in uncovering my feminine energy, raising my awareness, tending to 'the landscapes of my inner world, that things began to shift.

I started to honor my womb and the power it has

And from that understanding, I began to do the work of living in harmony with it

And slowly, as time progressed...

My cycles changed

They became softer

More manageable

More... intentional

What was once a burden became sacred 

I now see my menstruation as a sacred ritual

A time that I prepare for.

I cleanse my space
I change my sheets
I speak life over my womb
I take spiritual baths
I rest intentionally

I slow down

I tune in

I listen.


The more I began to read and to explore to question, the more the narrative began to collapse.

In my studies I became introduced to perspectives that completely shifted my understanding.

In ancient times, a woman's flow was not seen as a weakness but as a power.
In certain traditions, particularly the Indian traditions, women were asked not to enter the temple during their bleed, not because they were considered impure, but because they were seen as TOO POTENT.

Too energetically charged

Too close to the divine

The belief was that during menstruation a woman embodied such a heightened spiritual frequency and presence, that if she entered a consecrated temple, her energy would disrupt it.

She over-rides it..

By becoming the very presence that the temple was meant to house.

In other words- she becomes the goddess of the temple

So in that state, she was not to come to the divine, but to be the vessel through which the divine flowed.

Hence. the women of ancient times would seclude themselves during their flow as a radical form of self-preservation.

A time where they did not give, nurture or pour outward, but returning inward to rest, to listen and to receive.

There are other ancient traditions that recognize the menstruation of the Earth itself.
Where the land is believed to undergo its own cycle of renewal, honored through a ritual and observance. This belief is accompanied by the idea that if the woman's cycle is out of sync, the entire world and universe as we know it would collapse. 

This further solidifies the ancient's knowledge of the connection between the woman and the Earth

The womb and creation..

It is not accidental

There were also beliefs that during this time, a woman's energy is so potent she could influence the life force around her such as plants, people (especially children) and the environment.
Which is why women were told to be cautious of what they touch and persons were cautioned to not touch her, during her flow.

This did not come from a place of danger, but intensity and sensitivity.

While some of these ideas have become distorted or misunderstood over time, particularly with the advent of religion... what remains clear to me is this:

There was once a deep reverence of this phase of the feminine cycle

A time of access, where the veil between the seen and the unseen is thin

Where reflection comes naturally and the intuition is sharpened

I have now come to see myself as a vessel, deeply connected and not separated from the source during this time. My intuition and clarity is the strongest. It is a time that creates a space where I can commune, reflect, release and call in.

During my cycle, I ask myself:

What needs to be released? What am I holding on to? Emotionally, mentally even physically

What did this past cycle teach me?

What didn't work?

What can I do differently moving forward?

What can I turn into wisdom?

What made me feel good? What did work out?

Every single cycle, there is a clarity that meets me here.

A stillness that I cannot explain. An honesty...

That reminds me that rest is not separate from the work. It IS the work.

And as a woman who often operates in a constant state of doing, moving, working, thinking and providing.. my womb gentle calls me back home, to myself.

"A, slow down."

"Be still."

"You do not always have to push."

"Rest and go within"


In this season of my life, one which I consider to be my awakening,  I have come to the belief that within the womb is an ancient intelligence.

An ancient wisdom. Perhaps to even be considered a living technology, as it communicates, responds and reveals.

Our cycle speaks to us every single month. It tells us the truth.

If the bleed is painful, heavy,  irregular, absent or shifted in away... this is not random.

It is communication. It is feedback. 

It is the body's internal alarm that something is not balanced- mentally, emotionally, physically or even spiritually.

It is like a monthly "check in".

How have you been doing? What are you ignoring? What are you carrying?

If stress has taken root, it will be revealed. If there is misalignment, it will show.
The body keeps a score, it does not lie.

It is a mirror, a teacher and a guide

That should not be dismissed or ignored.

And perhaps one of the most profound tools of self-awareness that we as women, carry within us. 

On the topic of awareness...

I believe that is from the depths of our wombs where our intuition emerges. 
That deep knowing, almost like a quiet pull.

What if the gateway to trusting ourselves as women begins with forming a relationship with our womb?With our body? With our cycles?

I am not claiming to have mastered this.

I am still on the path of learning, unfolding and finding my own rhythm within this.

In the stillness, I listen.

In the stillness, I unlearn.

But I am closer than I have ever been before.

A 🧿🪶