• Skip to main content

Cycle Harmony

Create. Love. Flourish. Be.

  • Start Here
  • About
  • Blog
  • What’s New
    • Vaginal Discharge
    • Fertility and Pregnancy
    • PMS | PMDD
    • Period Symptoms
    • Menstrual Irregularities
    • Hormone Imbalance
    • Health and Healing
You are here: Home / Health and Healing / Red Tent / Women’s Wisdom: A New Relationship with Menstruation

Women’s Wisdom: A New Relationship with Menstruation

Last updated on April 4, 2018 By Vild P. 1 Comment

I have just read Anna Fedele’s brilliant Looking for Mary Madgalene. It is a beautifully sensitive book, based on her PHD dissertation. The book deals with pilgrimage and spirituality, the sacred feminine – and there’s lots about menstruation.

Anna Fedele points out that the relationship that we how have with menstruation, including us in Cycle Harmony, is very new. Yes, women have always menstruated, but never before have women menstruated as much as we do now. You know, I had never thought of this before.

Before the contraceptive revolution, most women had lots of kids. In my own family, one great grandmother bore six children, another bore seven. Such big families are quite rare in many places today. So, counting the time it takes to bear forth a baby, plus the time before becoming fertile again, there’s roughly a year, or sometimes more, with no menstruation.

Which means that when we think of the red tent, and the moon huts, we shouldn’t think of them as places where all the women gathered every month. It’s us who do that, because our childbearing patterns have changed. We are the ones who immerse ourselves in the rhythms of our bodies, uninterrupted and regular. Which means that the wisdom we are gathering now, is as potent and just as valuable as the women’s wisdom of our great grandmothers.

Just as we need to hear their stories where they are still told, we must tell our own.

Never before have women been so free to do what we will, with our own bodies. This is a new chapter in the stories on women. In days gone by, it would only be a few women who did not bear children and therefore menstruated every month, every year. Now that’s become the norm for so many of us.

What does this new information mean for us? I guess it means we can have greater courage in our spirituality. We can have stronger faith in our own stories and our own traditions. It isn’t as if we’re the make-believes and the ones who went before us are the real ones. We are changing history, and we are changing the world.

So when we go to the red tent again this month, let us do it with joy.

We are the fortunate ones, who have the freedom to delve into the mysteries of womanhood in a totally new way. As I prepare for my monthly bleed, I can feel my body getting ready to shed the blood. I can feel my sensitivities sharpen, my spirituality awakening. I am so much more sensitive and open in this time. And I’ve got the time and space – in difference to my great grandmothers – to enjoy this time of bleeding.

For me, it is sacred time. And I and my sisters are weaving new women’s wisdom in the Red Tent.

Vild Prestegard is an anthropologist, holistic therapist, Reiki master and public speaker based in Norway. She is a regular blogger for Cycle Harmony. You’re welcome to contact her at helhetligbehandling@gmail.com with questions and comments.

Image source

       

Related Posts

  • Women's Wisdom
  • Women's Wisdom and Global Warming
  • Women's Wisdom and What We Pass On

Please help us educate other women in your circle. Thank you!

Hi, this is Jing. I created Cycle Harmony to share what I've learned to live in harmony with my body - and my life. Join us and share yours @facebook.com/cycleharmony!

Reader Interactions

Comments

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Jingtastic says

    August 29, 2014 at 1:30 am

    This is a really interesting perspective! Yes I think we’re creating a new relationship with our menstruation than ever before in history. There are positive aspects and negative aspects. I like your optimism though — we do have a chance to write it as we desire and tell our own stories 🙂

    Reply
cycle harmony amazon store

Let’s Connect

Facebook Pinterest Youtube Envelope Rss

FACE YOUR PAIN

 

Vaginal Discharge

 

Fertility and Pregnancy

 

PMS/PMDD

 

Period Symptoms

 

Menstrual Irregularities

 

Hormone Imbalance

BEGIN TO HEAL

 

Menstrual Health

 

Menstrual Tracking

 

Mind Body Healing

 

Nutrition and Recipes

 

Healthy Lifestyle

 

Emotional Wellbeing

 

Relationships

 

Menstrual Myths and Rituals

 

Red Tent

LIVE IN THE FLOW

 

Create. Love. Flourish. Be.

 

ABOUT

 

About Cycle Harmony

 

Our Amazon Storefront

 

Contact Us

 

Connect with Us on Facebook

 

Site Map

CycleHarmonylogo150

Copyright © 2022 — CycleHarmony • All rights reserved. • Terms • Privacy Policy 

Disclaimer: The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Jing Jin and her community. We encourage you to make your own health care decisions based on your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional.

Disclosure: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.