The Sacred Menstrual Cycle

In 2016 on my trip to Iquitos in Peru, I met a wise women named Melanie Wartho who was a shaman and a true warrior that had been to hell and back into the darkest depths of her soul on a mission to find her truths. I instantly bonded with her on a deep soul level and saw within her a wonderful teacher. To me she fully embodied the archetype of the wild woman, she was a free spirit, she lived in harmony with mother nature, in flow with herself and her cycles. I recognised within her a deep connection to the divine feminine and a purpose to help all the women she crossed paths with, find equilibrium within themselves; and so we sat down together and we began to speak.

We spoke about the imbalances of the modern feminine and how our desire to be seen as equal to men was causing a number of imbalances with our health. Women have developed a desire to do the work of a man, to push and achieve in a man’s world, to be at the top and be recognised for our efforts (and quite rightly so). The issue is, my goodness, we are not the same at all! Women are magical beings, we have the ability to bring life into this world, we are caregivers, healers, mothers, nurturers; we have a longing deep within us for connection with other women and community. We did not incarnate onto this earth to be stuck in an office building all day stressing over spreadsheets. We were born with a purpose and we are meant to be free. We are not men!! How is it that we have forgotten our roots, our hard wired need to be creative in favour of a need to compete with men for recognition and success? I’m not saying that women shouldn’t desire success and equality, as they absolutely should do what makes them happy. What I am saying is that women have forgotten who they are which has caused us to look for validation in all the wrong places and quite honestly, it’s making us sick!

Picture this, a woman goes to work in her high powered corporate job. She spends all day pushing to meet deadlines and targets, whilst keeping the business running smoothly. She stresses, she pressurises herself and others, she misses lunch because she’s on a deadline and then works long hours to get the job done; this is a very yang (masculine) environment. Then she goes home to her partner and children and steps into her role of being soft, she wants to nurture her family and connect with them in a yin (feminine) way. The issue here is her hormones and her psyche cannot find equilibrium between the masculine and feminine and so she becomes deeply out of balance. One of the first signs of illness is fertility and menstrual imbalances and as a society are we not inundated with infertility, polycystic ovaries, missed and absent periods?   I too worked in a high powered corporate job for years, I was hungry for success so I worked and pushed myself beyond my limits. This led to ignoring my needs for freedom, connection and to be understood. To cut a long story short, I ended up with a severe hormone imbalance and endometriosis – the mother of all period pains.

In tribal communities life could not be more different. They really understand the power of the female and how to harness their inner wisdom. It is women that hold the roots of the tribe together. They prepare the food, nurse and parent the children, they hold council, listen and share stories, they make and create things as a group, resulting in a powerful bond of sisterhood that is the cement of the community. The Indigenous Shipibo women in the Amazon Rainforest have a beautiful gift. They sit together and work to create beautiful tapestries with sacred geometry designs, each and every women is connected to the other while creating these fabulous pieces of art, which can sometimes take years to make. It is said that if one woman dies mid process, she is able to pass on her vision from the grave to the next woman to carry on her work, which is incredible.  These communities also share a sacred bond to the earth and their moon cycle. It is a common practice to designate a space known as a  “red tent” or “moon tent” for women to go and rest with other women during their period. Once in this sacred space, women are not to be disturbed and will only leave the tent when their period has ended. To them, menstrual blood is very sacred. They understand the importance of ritual, which is why they sit together in communion, and in doing so amazing things happen to them. Once the pain and stuck emotions have been shed from that cycle, they begin to receive clarity, psychic abilities and wisdom from ancestors, all of which are of immense benefit to the overall community.  Now this way of living may seem outdated to us living in the western world with our families to feed and bills to pay, but in these communities there is no such name for illnesses like endometriosis and polycystic ovaries. So why is that? Could it simply be that these women are able to honour their bodies, slow down and listen their menstrual bleed, unlike the women of the western world who curse their bodies, sever the message it’s trying to send with painkillers and treat the whole experience as an inconvenience, with the attitude of “plug it up and forget about it’.

When Mel and I first spoke of these red tents, I thought there must be some truth in this. What if my disconnection with my cycle, Mother Nature and my tribe of women was linked to my ever growing period pain? Maybe those agonising pains was my soul’s attempt of communicating with me to grab my attention. The more I resisted listening to my body’s cries, the deeper the pain became. What if there was a link between the hormone and fertility dysfunctions that our society was experiencing, like psos, infertility, absent or irregular periods, was simply because we have become detached from our roots? It made so much sense to me, my pain was a message for me to slow down and one that I had been ignoring for so long. So, what did I do? Upon my return to the UK, I began to embody the elements of the red tent days. I gave myself the permission to rest for the first two days of my cycle at least. During that time I stayed at home and I rested, I read self help books and I drank herbal tea while having nice baths fragranced with rose and jasmine essential oil. I went for gentle walks in the woods and reconnected with nature.  I meditated and I allowed myself to become an open vessel to receive that inner wisdom. Slowly I learned to recognise the patterns of behaviour during my cycle. Day two meant I needed to be alone (best that everyone stays the hell away from me!), day three and four were the most creative days of my whole cycle. I felt empowered, I would write, draw, sing and receive clarity about my life. Day ten meant I was ready to take on the world with a twinkle in my eye. The more I listened to my body and honoured my need for rest, the more healthy I became. When my health had reached a new level of high, I realised that I needed to set my wild woman free just like Mel had done all those years ago. For me this meant leaving my job and embodying who I was meant to be.

Now, one year on after learning about the red tents, here I am sitting in the Amazon Jungle living out my own red tent days. I am alone in my little house in dieta, with medicinal plants, enjoying every minute of my moon time. Even the painful bits! Being in constant pain has taught me that there is always a hidden message behind my suffering. There is always something I am not doing or listening to. Being in this tent amplifies this and gives me the space to go within. This month my pain is a shedding of my old life. My old way of living is leaving my body. I have learnt to surrender to this pain and honour it with love as it gives me all the information I need to live in alignment with my true self.

To woman reading this who are suffering with any kind of female reproductive dysfunction, my advice is to learn your cycle and really honour it. Take time out and slow down during your period, work can wait and trust me, you won’t perform at your best anyway. It’s a sacred time for you and there is no shame in resting and taking time to care for yourself. Take care of your womb and she will take care of you.

To all the women feeling overwhelmed in stress-filled corporate jobs; take the time to rediscover your softness. Take up a new creative hobby, learn to make and craft new things. Discover your passion, be it painting, sewing or gardening. Women are naturally creative beings and your body will thrive once you begin.

Pain is a message, an invitation to find out what’s not working for you, the question is, are you ready to listen?

This blog is dedicated to all of the light workers and wonderful women spreading their wisdom through the world. These women have touched my life and elevated my consciousness in their own special way.

Until next time,

Alison