Sunday, August 16, 2009

A womans 'Moon Time'


Just recently my moon time ( menstrual time) has come to have a very spiritual meaning to me.I have always thought it to be a beautiful time in a womans life (Woman= Womb of Man) and I think its pretty significant that almost 1/4 of every month during our childbearing years is spent dedicated to it.My moon time has become very sacred to me.During your moon time you have both life and death in your body going on at the same time.The death being the releasing of the old uterus lining and the unfertilized egg , the life aspect is the renewal and the fresh lining.And during this time you have those dueling energies occurring so a womans personal energy and power is greatly amplified.In most if not all Native American cultures it was a time of great respect from both men and women.Tribes had 'Moon Lodges' and a woman would go into and stay in the lodge until her moon time has passed.(Other cultures called theirs 'red tents' or many other terms, but all kinda along the same lines) During her time in the moon lodge the elder women would teach her medicine, herbs, ceremonies, rites, prayers and on.Teachings were handed down to her.The women , at this time, were expected to rest and not perform any chores and she was taken care of by the elder women of the tribe.No cooking,cleaning or lifting.This was a time for the woman to learn and nurture herself and to also embrace her womanhood.A womens moon time was never looked down upon, there was no negativity put on it.( There were no jokes about PMS, lucky for them).The men respected and revered her.The men also cooked and took care of the children at this time which was a wonderful time of bonding between a father and their children.Its was a time of love and respect.Women are the ones who nurture life and carry it, and on top of this, women are the only sex that can carry two souls/spirits in her body at the same time, being her own and her unborn child's.( just imagine multiple births, twins and so forth!!)

Now this part might freak some out so if your faint of heart go check out one of my squirrel pics.................Ok dont say I didnt warn you.

Menstrual blood was thought to carry extreme power and many women harvested their own menstrual blood.It was the most natural and powerful element that could be harvested from a person and it was the same as holding life/death itself in your hands.It is still used today, although I believe not to the same extent as it was in times ago.There is also use of the placenta after child birth ( a topic for another day).

Ok you can peek again :)

Getting back on track, the native view of moon time for me is very deep.I have another post to come after this one branching off of this topic and even after that I have 2 ( count them 2!!!) product reviews on their way....again along the same lines as this.Just thought I would give you a heads up.Im not sure who else is interested in this topic but I know I am so if anyone reading this has ANY info at all, or has any views on a womans moon time PLEASE share it with me.I would love to hear it.Also if anyone would like to see a post with more indepth folklore on this topic let me know and I would be happy to post it.
Love and Light!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm pretty interested in this subject. Honestly, before about a month ago I really hated my periods. I'm even considering getting on the birth control that gives you less periods a year. But after doing some reading, such as this post, I'm starting to feel as if I'm looking at it one-sided. Here is another site that I've read a bit more about this subject:
http://www.pathcom.com/~newmoon/menstral.html
http://www.pathcom.com/~newmoon/blood.html

I'd love if we could get some discussion with some other female Pagan bloggers going on this subject. It seems like something that I see other women express an interest in, then it just sort of dies away because other people are squeamish or something.

Crazy Squirrel Lady said...

Thanks so much for the links! Im off to leave you a message on your blog about this.I would love to see a open discussion going on this topic!

5 Orange Potatoes said...

Perfect timing to read this post. As I have gotten older my flow has decreased, but my "pains" and fatigue have increased. I have been looking at it very negatively lately. Your post has just woken me up....I need to slow down at this time, that is what my body is telling me. Boy do I wish we had a moon lodge to enter, all the wisdom shared every month at this time would be so beautiful. I will have to do something similar for my girls when the time comes. Thank you.

Lisa :)

Crazy Squirrel Lady said...

Thanks for the comment Lisa,
There is alot going on with a woman during this time.Its going to take its toll.We all should be able to take things back a bit and allow our bodies do what they are going to do....we seem to want to interfere and try and fight it almost.We all need go with the flow, so to speak ;)

Anonymous said...

i have a really hard time with my moon time (i once had to have blood transfusions 'cos it was so heavy). however, i've found that drinking raspberry leaf tea, using cloth menstrual products (no bleached cotton) and doing some gentle yoga has helped tremendously. i'm interested in seeing what others post, too. cheers and BB!

Anonymous said...

i love this post! i had a similar feeling when i started using natural products. i'd love to read more about this, since it's a subject i love and am creating a workshop about. thank you for this!

http://reluctantbeauty.blogspot.com/2007/11/noche-de-la-mujer.html

and

http://reluctantbeauty.blogspot.com/2008/02/this-blood-is-sacred.html