A call for mitigating matters of menstruation and changing the language.

Beth FiĂĄin

A call for mitigating matters of menstruation and changing the language.

The colours flow from me as I move through the cold desert night. I walk alone. I feel the millenia of evolution descend earthwards through my body and I am tired, yet so strong.

Some notion of death is lingering yet I am no longer afraid of the darkness. There is regenerative powers in my blood this night as I seek to rest in the belly of the Earth.

The First Blood By recognising the culture surrounding menstruation on any given continent, amongst all different peoples we are given insight into how the history of menstruation unfolds. We can see the west begin to flow to all corners of the inhabited globe. Generally, it is clear that little acknowledgement is given to this remarkable transition in a young women’s life, the ability to foster new life on earth although as we see, many women wait as many years again to conceive and become a mother.

Looking at the products available for purchase in general stores and supermarkets is enough material for a clear understanding of what is actually going on. The bleached white. The invisible tampons. The masks and charades. The pretense one can do as much as at any other time of the cycle. The desperate need to try. The chemicals untested, exposed to ones most private and sensitive anatomy.

There is no initiation. No celebration. No rite of passage. Yet on a more deep and profound level where individuals are continually searching for meaning and fulfilment, could this not be the start of a profound journey into womanhood where each one can begin to recognise their own unique gifts and talents. A time to share and remember. A time to tell stories and listen to wise women, aunties,

Beth FiĂĄin grandmas sharing all cycles and stages of life and the great transformative power within all women. It is a vision, it is possible.

Movement and the Seasons Essentially menstruation is movement. It is not a beginning and an end but more a growing story with continuous threads linking it to reproductive evolution allowing it to flow on towards an unseen end. It is one part of the fertility cycle which is easily broken down into four, the follicular phase, ovulation, the luteal phase and menstruation.

It can be likened to autumn coming into winter, preparing the ground and the seeds for spring. How different I feel in each of the four seasons, how different I am during each of the phases of my cycle, they are directly related. What about the late summer? Does that represent an imbalance in hormones?

Or the short luteal phase? Or the scant or very heavy period? Certainly there is a message in everything if you listen. By tuning into seasonal changes within and without and recognising the progression we can invite a new continuum into our lives helping us to find placement in the greater rhythms and cycles of nature.

Aside Though this does bring up a conundrum. Living in Laos for 4 years brought a very different experience of the seasons. Nature there is in perpetual growth states. Trees do lose their leaves but not all at the same time, it is more a constant flow. There are seasons but defining them is tricky, there are great rains and great heats preceeding them, there is some kind of winter which is actually a good time to work in the garden! How then is the body affected by this? I did not grasp the language well enough to get deep into the subject with Laos women and i’m not sure a true dialogue would have even been possible as it

Beth Fiáin seems hard to really integrate into Lao culture. Yet take one look in the shops and stalls and you can see how menstruation matters follow the west, just like all other areas of development. Being as China is such a huge influence over Laos their history of menstruation and how women’s cycles and transformations have been celebrated or ignored could be informative and of course that of Thailand and Vietnam.

If we look at what is left in people today we get a good indicator of how things were but development is happening at a frightening pace, although I beg to question is it development or rather a move further away from nature and the reality of truth.

The Moon, True or False More to the point, does it matter? Instead of arguing over whether or not the Moon has an affect on women’s cycles, the moon can be seen as a clear and physical reminder in the great skies over our heads to be reflective. The Moon is literally reflecting light and with that light we can see in what would otherwise be darkness. Therein we can see that reflection allows you to work with the darkness, to work within the darkness. The darkness is an integral part of life and can be seen as a way to let in the light. By blocking out all that is dark it is impossible to really embrace the light.

So let the moon be a reminder of the cycles and stages of growth and change, death and decay, incubation and rebirth no matter when menstruation occurs. Just like the annual seasons. Just like the life cycle of a cell, an organism, a body. Just like the cycle of the moon, the crescent, the full light, the fading light and the total darkness. It is all connected. If other animal’s life cycles are affected by the moon, is it so outrageous to think that a woman’s could be also?

Beth Fiáin More to the point, when did women begin to realise they could cycle with the Moon as some women surely do. How did the migration patterns of people affect women’s cycles? How about the change in diet? What happened in pre-agricultural populations, how were the cycles of the nomadic tribeswomen? We can look at tribeswomen today but things have changed too much. Still it is a good indicator of the deviations of the westernised women, and the need for some kind of return, or rather remembering.

Cyclical Transformation and Growth Rather than trying to cycle with the moon why not try to listen deeply to your own cycle . If the body wants to it can cycle with the moon and if it doesn’t, let it be!

There is wisdom inherent in every woman’s cycle and so we need to work with that. Everyone can self tailor their own methods to find a new language to commune with self, measured by our own systems, insights and intuition. No one else can tell you better than you but no one is harder to listen to.

It is about finding regular practices to bring this into consciousness and begin the process of self healing and cyclical transformation. Men are different to this. Their bodies always need to be full power, they are always fertile, women go up and down, like it or lump it.

Women of Wisdom The return of non-biological mothers, psychic midwives, spiritual warriors. Commitment from us today so that we can be there for our children, so they can be there, truly there, for theirs. They face challenges our grandparents would not have dreamed of. Yet here we are, bringing them up in this world.

Beth Fiåin So lets hope that a future can bring celebration to all cycles of a women’s life, from menarche to menopause and hold each other in that.

There is much for everyone to learn from each other.

The Future Imagine if we were taught at school that every period was actually a chance to really improve ourselves, to face the challenges and learn the lessons, integrate the experience then really focus on what is needed to grow and bring a next and better version into life, to dream big and move towards it, imagine how prosperous young lives could be, the vitality of youth with an intuitively directed intention!

Anyway, I am no longer in my twenties and you have to meet yourself where you are at. We begin and continue. Needless to say, the education system needs to change, the language needs to change and we are the ones to start implementing those changes and it starts by changing ourselves, our relationships to our bodies and therein all of life.

The more we listen to our bodies, the more our bodies will naturally regulate with the greater cycles of nature.

Listen to the body. The body knows.