the moon + the menstrual cycle

Just as the moon governs the tides and the waters, she is also our timekeeper.

Our cycle is her cycle.

The words menstruation, menses, and month, all have roots connected to the word “moon.”

As women, we have within our physical body a very intimate connection and rhythmic relationship to the moon — her phases mirror our phases, and vice versa. This is why you may hear women say, “I’m on my moon” or “It’s my moon time” when they are in their menstrual phase. Our wombs desire to be in balance with the rhythm of the moon. This is also why women who are together often will synchronize together and bleed together.

I say “her” in regards to the moon with an endearing respect for all of creation.

Native peoples across cultures, places, and times have regarded the moon as “Grandmother” and the sun as “Grandfather.” We have much to learn and gain when we experience the world around us from the lens of curiosity, respect, and reverence for the ancient things we often take for granted or flat out overlook in modern living.

As women, what a beautiful thing it is to be able to embrace our cyclical nature that shares in energy with the moon. In life, this can translate as honoring our rest time (menstruation), utilizing our “do” time (follicular phase), capitalizing on our golden creative time (ovulation, when everything we touch shines and we literally exude beauty to the world around us), and then to respect our decline in energy and the need to prepare (luteal phase) before we come back around to our rest time (menstruation.) How much less resistance we meet when we schedule our lives with this pattern and follow our body’s innate knowing and feeling.

Men, on the other hand, cycle with the sun.

This is why to them women “take forever” to get over things. We cleanse monthly, while they cleanse and complete their cycle in a single day. This too has a beautiful place and role in the world. The masculine nature is so driven and consistent, while the feminine nature is not designed to be the same day after day. This is why girls and women struggle (physically, emotionally, spiritually) when trying to conform to societies that force linear, consistent and constant doing. Women carry wisdom and insights that men aren’t necessarily built for, but we gain it over the “changing seasons” of our inner terrain. The divine masculine and feminine, the sun and the moon, the day and the night — we balance and rely upon one another.

Each piece of the standard healthy cycle represents and interweaves with each phase of the moon. Menstrual, follicular, ovulatory, luteal — new, first quarter, full, last quarter. And then, we repeat.

As we talked about before, the Standard Healthy Cycle (SHC) tends to sync up with the moon. Our healthy cycles will be the length of her cycles — varying between 28, 29, and 30 days. One month timespan.This does not at all mean that we all bleed on the same moon phase necessarily — but it is common to bleed with the new moon (our “inner winter” when the moon is dark and also introspective alongside us), or to bleed with the full moon (a balance of energies, the moon in full strength while we then are resting), and of course we can bleed with the growing or waning moon as well.

This is true also for ovulation, which the moon is a magical representation of. If we bleed with the new moon, it’s common (again with the SHC) to then ovulate with the full moon — bleeding when the moon is dark, and then releasing our full, ripe egg with the full, round, bright and energetic moon. Our hormones bright and dancing, juicy, creative, and full of potential, just like the full moon. Or again the opposite, bleeding with the full moon and then ovulating with the new moon — an incredible balance of energies.Beautiful, yeah?

Our follicular phase is when we are growing in energy, not quite at our fullest creative potential, but preparing for it. With a rise in FSH (follicular stimulating hormone) and a gentle increase in estrogen, we’re getting our egg ready, cultivating our “ground” and preparing our seeds. Like our inner spring.

The luteal phase is the decline, preparation again, but for rest this time instead of growth. Like the waning of the moon prepares us for the dark nights when the moon is absent. Much like in the fall we prepare for the winter. We’re wise at this time to button up our projects, clean house, plan to energetically (and literally) shut our door in the coming week as we transition back into our menstrual phase.

In this way and more, we can connect the dots between our selves and the rhythms of the world around us.

Rest, rise, create, prepare.

Winter, spring, summer, fall.

Dream, do, give, take.

Plant, sprout, bloom, decay.

Night, morning, noontime, evening.

Low tides and high tides, the rising and falling between.

Conception, pregnancy, birth, death.

And all that happens in between.

May this remind you of your role and relationship to the world around you, and bring you a felt sense of connection to the earth, sky, and all of creation. May your divine feminine guide you and bring you peace.You are part of something so much bigger than yourself.

These are some of the things I want the rising girls and women to be aware of, for the grandmothers to be able to teach and pass down to the next generations. That they may feel powerful and confident in the messages their bodies give them, allowing them to eagerly and compassionately respond and have deep respect for the temple that carries their divine spirit. This is the reason for the Auntie Circles, where we give voice to these lessons and create space for questions, concerns, and curiosities.

May this inspire you to honor your rhythms and embrace your own inner phases.

You are beautiful, and so are they.