In many cultures the first blood of a young girl is cause for great celebration. Many years later her journey from the Moon Lodge to the Grandmother Lodge is another opportunity to honor her.
In our culture today there are few rituals that honor the deep wisdom that women carry within our bodies, and fewer still that honor the dark time of bleeding, the time when the veil between the worlds is the thinnest for many women.
In our work to reclaim the sacredness of our bodies and align ourselves with our own natural rhythms, we can re-create the rituals honoring the wisdom of the menstrual time.
In ancient times (and indeed still today in many indigenous cultures), women honored their moon time by retreating to the Moon Lodge, a quiet, intentional space.
In this space, they rested and reflected on their lives, connected with their bodies and with Spirit through fasting and prayer.
Moon Lodge brought women together in community at the time of the new moon.
Before the invention of artificial light women bled together at the dark of the moon.
Together they entered the Moon Lodge, a sacred space set aside just for their powerful moon energy.
Today, as independent, tampon-dependent post-modern women, we make contact with our blood alone, in our own isolate bathrooms.
We no longer come together to celebrate our connection to this red thread of womanhood.
Our eyes and ears may have absorbed messages that our bodies are dirty, our blood disgusting.
Our hearts and wombs remember the truth: we are beautiful, our bodies are exquisite in their wisdom, our moon blood is powerful and sacred.
With this reclaimed information we can reach out to our Grandmothers and connect to their wisdom.
We can also reach deep inside our own bodies, deep down to the essential vibration of each phase in our cycle.
We can draw on this wisdom to re-create rituals that can help us live in harmony with our own unique inner rhythms throughout each moon.
We can rebuild community by coming together.
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CURRENT MOON moon phases