Is Your Menstrual Cycle a Gateway to your Spiritual Self?
What our menstrual cycles can teach us about our spirituality
Can we use our menstrual cycles to connect with our own divinity, whatever we perceive that to be?
I think so.
I am in my holy moments. At the altar of my being. Cleansing, clearing. In emptiness, listening.
Why wouldn’t such an intimate biological process be connected to the intimacy we feel with our spirituality, our innate interconnectedness with life? To the embodied rhythms that pulse in-tune with nature itself?
There is something inherently sacred about menstruation (the bleed phase of the whole cycle). It’s a deeply personal experience that is, of course, an intricate biological process. One that involves the cyclical movement of hormones circulating through us. This, in turn, affects our energy levels, our mental, emotional and physical state of being every day, but there is far more to it than that.
When we become more aware of our own internal rhythms1, it helps us to connect to the animalistic and primal aspect of who we are. It reminds us of being close to nature, and therefore our own true nature.
And, menstrual blood is potent stuff! – it’s crammed with stem cells which are the foundational nutrients from which new life can begin to grow. It is the ‘holy grail’ so to speak, of life. This alone has a certain profundity to it (and is why I choose to ‘water’ my plants with it each month rather than flush it away – what a waste of nutrients!).
EBB AND FLOW
Like a wave in the sea that draws in and out of shore, our cycles and therefore, our emotions and mental state, follow similar ebbs and flows. Sometimes stormy weather brings the waves crashing in, dramatically drawing out, the roar of smashing pebbles sounding like a riot. Wild winds whipping, crests of white stallions galloping, volumes of water that could crush a person.
Then, the following morning, clear skies, the sun brightens our perspective, all is calm and tranquillity reigns as the water laps gently onto shore.
The peaks and troughs, ebbs and flows, highs and lows of a whole menstrual cycle can help us to connect with moments of truth, of clarity and a feeling of connection with all that is a part of our lives. There are places within the cycle, that you will discover as you track it, where you might feel more vulnerable, tender, fragile and cracked open. Or strong, clear and very much on purpose with a depth of insight that you can’t seem to access in other phases of your cycle. In these moments, you might feel as though you are intrinsically connected to life, to its flow and to a higher ‘power’.
These types of ‘connected moments’ can happen at different stages of the cycle for each person. There are also some significant points during the cycle where it’s common to feel closer to this soul-self.
The first point is the diffusion phase – the pre-menstrual phase leading into the bleed time. You might find your awareness shifting from the visceral, material world to a more omnipresent awareness. A sort of dream-like state in which you are ‘separating’ from your ‘normal’ reality. The ability to think logically and have a directional focus dissipates, as you meld into a different state of awareness.
The second point is around ovulation time – where the focus tends to be more outward. I experience a surety and boldness in myself as well as insights about people and life situations. This is when my inner-knowing is clear, just as my physical body feels more robust. This strong reality of ‘embodiment’ has me experience my spiritual nature in more of a ‘I am an animal, part of the world and connected to everything’ kind of way. Rather than in an ethereal way.
I also see the bleed time as an invitation to return home to myself. A homecoming if you will, that forces me out of my head and into my body where I can find belonging. In her seminal book, Her Blood is Gold, Lara Owen says:
“Open to the knowledge that each period wants to bring you”.
It’s a recognition that there is immense wisdom waiting to be unearthed through the release process of our periods. And, if you want it, home can be found there.
This poem sums up the experience:
Blood Moments
I love the way I’ve found a home within myself, within dark, softly rounded corners of my body. Home in the blood moments, in my feet, my womb.
I look at you all, outside of me, and I’m pulled away from this indigenous place. If I spend too long out there floating in the sea of other beings, I’m carried by it. Like a body surfing on a crowd-wave, passed onwards, sideways but with no stage to reach.
I want home.
I want belonging.
And here it is.
Home,
in my blood moments.
Our menstrual cycles hold depths of intelligence and can be a gateway through which we can access our connection with what you might call God, a higher power, the energy of the universe, source, spirit, home…or simply, your true nature.
Have you experienced spiritual or ‘connected to all that is’ moments in certain phases in your menstrual cycle?
What have you learnt about your spiritual nature through your cycle?
Feel free to share in the comments section here, like or share this article with your friends.
Sunday warmth,
Jane x
If you’d like to learn how to track your menstrual cycle – discover more in my midi-course, The Magic of Your Menstrual Cycle here.
If you are on any kind of hormonal contraceptives, your experience of this may be different because pill-induced cycles are not ‘natural’ cycles. *The information is this article is not intended as medical advice of any kind.
*Quote source from Her Blood is Gold, by Lara Owen.
Poems by Jane A. Cormack