Shamanism and Menstruation

Today, Monday the 15th, is the Piscean New Moon of this month’s lunar cycle. Yay, for menstrual Monday’s! Hehe…
In honor of the New Moon, I am going to share an idea I have been pondering recently.

“When Women share their menstrual blood with the earth, either individually or in ceremony, an enormous positive collective power is unleashed that can rebalance and heal the planet.” ~ Lara Owen

Women link the celestial bodies of the Earth and the Moon. Our blood is the conduit between the generative forces of the Moon and the receptive, fertile energies of the Earth. We represent the intuitive, cyclic nature of the Moon and reproductive, nurturing energy of the Earth. To put it simply, Women are natural born healers. It is in our programming. Our intuitive understanding and knowing is ever-present. Female midwives and herbalists have been the main ancient healers throughout the ages.

As my studies of the history of Women and our ancient tales persists, I continue to find more and more of a relation between Women and our powers and shamanism, or Shamans specifically. A Shaman is a person who acts as intermediary between the natural and supernatural worlds using magic to cure illness, foretell the future, control spiritual forces, etc. Hmm… Sounds quite similar to the powers if the feminine energy. As I stated, our menstruation links the spiritual bodies of the Moon and Earth to their physical bodies through grounding the wisdom channeled through Women from the moon, in our bodies and out onto the Earth with our blood. I learned a beautiful method of practicing this connecting with my own blood, from the book Her Blood is Gold by Lara Owen. The practice is soaking my cloth pads in a bucket of spring water after I use them, saturating the water with my blood. Then, I take that water and water my house plants (and this spring/summer, my outdoor plants) with it! How sacred.

Anyway – It is so alike: The Shaman linking the natural and supernatural worlds, while Women bond the spiritual and physical planes of our Moon and Earth. Hence, our natural psychic abilities, healing forces, and general superpowers! Are Women naturally Shamans? The more I learn of our history, the more evidence pops up that this is a true statement! There are tales of Alaskan and Siberian Shamans “going to the moon”, or talking about doing so. Going to the Moon for them may not have meant physically going there, but perhaps this represented their spiritual connection with it. I have also heard, that the Shamanic journey may have its origins in the psychic journeys of menstruating Women. If we tune into our senses during our menses (hehe, nice rhyme), we can commonly find insight into any current situations or issues in our life. Our cycles brings that wisdom. “With menarche you meet your wisdom, with monthly bleeding you practice your wisdom, and with menopause you become the wisdom.” ~ Tamara Slayton

There are also numerous Shamanic archetypal Goddesses. There are Dakini’s, the sky traversing, tantric deities. They are the female embodiments of enlightened energy. Sometimes, they are referred to as “sky dancers” or “she who moves in space”. They are energetic beings, evocative of movements of energy in space. All Women have their Dakini spirits. Then, there is Shakti. A more well-known Goddess archetype from the Hindu religion. She is the concept, or personification of divine feminine creative power and primordial cosmic energy. Shakti manifests herself in Women, but is present in Men too, just lacking the physical embodiment. Meaning, Men can possess Shakti energy. The Hindu’s believe her to be ‘the Great Divine Mother’. Shakti worshippers also prized the yoni and it’s blood; thought it to be sacred (which it is, of course!)

“Shamanism – An ecstatic lunar cult, relies on the natural descent into body consciousness that menstruation brings each month.” ~ Monica Sjoo

That quote just about sums up my exact feelings around the relationship between Shamanism and Menstruation. How lucky to be blessed with this these sacred powers at birth, as Women? We are given the ability to ascend our natural consciousness on a monthly basis, to dive into the deepest depths of our souls and do serious work within (and without) ourselves. Wow! Basically, we do Shamanic journeying every month. How cool to see it that way.

Menstruation is such a gift. It provides us with the ability to nourish and fertilize, do soul journeying monthly, and heal ourselves and others. To think some call it a curse… HA!

Check out these Goddess artists who create spoken word/hip-hop/electronic music. All their songs are about feminine spiritual power…
The Goddess Alchemy Project