I Bleed to Life

in #ecotrain6 years ago (edited)

cycle.png

Before I share my truth, I wish to say thank you to @wombloom who wrote such a beautiful post about WomensMenstruation mythsplease take the time to read it. Her writing has inspired me to write my truth about our woman moon cycle.

Instead of loving, respecting and honouring all that is sacred within all living things, today's society treat all natural cycles from ageing to death with such fear and hostility. Women were and still are made to feel unclean and ashamed and have been punished down through the ages during their moon cycle or menstruation. I know that for me, I was very ashamed when I first started my cycle, my mum gave me a book to look at and that was it. There was no mother daughter chat as she was as embarrassed as I was. It was just not what happened when I was growing up.

Going into a shop to buy sanitary products, was a huge ordeal, I would hide them at the bottom of my basket and look around hoping no one saw me. So much shame, I hated having to buy those things and as a result I dreaded the time when my menstruation started. I felt uncomfortable, in pain, dirty and very embarrassed. Nobody talked about it in school for fear of being teased especially by the boys.


Image Source:http://www.mysacredcycle.com/ourmission/

I spend so many years feeding right into all the bullshit that was surrounding this time of the month. I had no idea about the actual power or wisdom that I had inside me, I had no idea how to tap into it. Like so many young girls and women I suffered in silence. Silence is something that has held woman back for too long. It has been one of the greatest ways we have been oppressed, our silence led us to being so dis empowered. But this silence came from fear and a very long history of being punished for being a women.

Yes times are changing and we are moving forward. But yet so many of us remain silent. There still is such negative connotation around a girl/woman's cycle. Recently whilst I was back in Ireland I saw an ad that was about sanitary products for woman and it said 'How to beat Mother Nature' or something along those lines. This really really pushed my buttons, sending a message out to young girls that mother nature is the enemy, that having your cycle is such an inconvenience and something that still needs to be kept undercover.

Even using the word sanitary for products that women use, that really feeds in to the idea that we are unclean during this most powerful time. There is even deodorant available to help conceal the fact that we as women bleed every month. Why should and why are we as women made to feel shame at the fact that our bodies can create life and sustain life. This is something so sacred and powerful and yet to this day it is being promoted as something unclean and dirty, something that is a huge inconvenience to us as modern woman.


Image Source:http://homepage.eircom.net/~cronews/archive/history/neolithic/neobruna.html

So I will be writing more about our cycles, because this is something that needs to change. We need to move back to a time where all cycles are honoured and respected.

As women we need to end our silence and start our healing. We bleed because our womb is shedding it's lining in preparation for the next cycle, in preparation for our bodies to create and sustain life. While we release that lining, it is an opportunity to release all the emotions that we have been harbouring over the month. It is our greatest form of natural healing, it is our bodies aiding us in becoming more in balance and more aware. We are truly blessed to have this opportunity each month.

We are so intertwined with the cycle of birth, death and rebirth within our own bodies. This is our connection to nature. This is our power, a power we need to reconnect with. We need to take this time to rest and restore, to release and let go. This is what our monthly cycle is all about. Please let me know what you think, lets talk about our cycles, if you feel inspired please write a post about your story, your truth.

I have not finished my truth, this is only the beginning.

I leave you all with a poem by Felicity Artemis Flowers

I bind myself to myself
I am sacred woman
I bind myself to all who bleed
Who have bled
And who will bleed to life
Sacred Woman
I bind myself with life
Blessed Be.

resteem.png

Big Big Thank You To @byn for designing my logo.




Sort:  

I love that poem! It made me cry, I am anyway crying about everything today that touches my hear tas I am having my period. Good that you write about our menstruation power too sister! The more pride is spread the better! We have dragon powers while we are bleeding, not to be messed with. This dragon power is ours to call upon also while we are not bleeding, but when we are bleeding the dragon is unapologetically there, to fend for us. Mama dragon I call up on you to always fend for me, I m so glad you show yourself while I am bleeding so that I am reminded of my power!

thank you @wombloom, oh I know I get so emotional too, but we are meant to be releasing. I want to write more too, I feel we should be more open and share ways to nurture and honour ourselves xxx

Definitely woman!

I love how you honor our bodies so much. I was taught a lot about the power of our moon cycle when I was in native ceremony. Women are not allowed in most ceremonies when they're on their cycle, especially if men are involved. The reason is that the power of a cycling woman is too strong for a man. In that tradition women don't do anything during their cycle. They are to rest and vision for the community and they are totally cared for. I think there would be a huge shift if women were honored in this way and allowed to rest. I think most men are afraid of the power and surely don't want to allow a woman several days of rest. And that has caused a whole host of problems. Right now I'm dealing with such mixed emotions because menopause is dealing me such a tremendous blow. I'm super duper ready to crone. I am grateful for the power that was gifted to me and the beautiful thing it has been, but I'm ready to move on.

I'm so glad to hear you are ready to hit crone. I'm still a bit reluctant - i think I'm a few years off but it's starting to do funny things - i guess it's a sign it's a-coming and when it comes, I'll be ready for it. Sorry to hear menopause is tough for you - eek - i'm terrified!!!

I am super ready for it. The hot flashes and borderline psychotic rage eased up a few days ago, which is a huge relief for me and probably an even bigger relief for my family. Irregular periods was my first sign because my periods were super regular until they suddenly weren't. I can roll with that, but the hormones and the hot flashes are intense.

Borderline psychotic rage??? Aaaah ... I know that one. Well.. i know who to come to for advice now!!!! I went to a naturopath and im trying to do some things that will ease me through but knowing me it will be a doozy ... xxx

For me it's been pretty similar to pregnancy hormones but a little less weepy. There are a lot of days I feel proud that I didn't physically injure anyone. I need to get in to see someone or at least get some jungle herbs. There's gotta be a plant here that will help me.

oh there is such a long history of women been made to feel weak when in actual fact it is when we are at our strongest. But we need to take the time to nurture and honour our bodies at the time we are on our cycle, we need to tap into that energy. Be gentle with yourself during this transition it is a huge one, you should think about having a little ritual or something to honour this part of your life to really acknowledge was has been and what you are about to become. sending you much love and healing and light xxx if you decide to do so let me know and I will light a candle for you and send you some gentle transformative energy xxx

There is no doubt of our power, and it was really great to be in a community that honored that. I definitely need to be more gentle with myself in general, and especially now. I am sure I will do some kind of ritual, but it doesn't feel super close. I think I probably have at least another year or two. Maybe more. I read recently the average for hot flashes is 7 years, and I have probably only been dealing with those for a year or two. I really hope it's less than 7 years for me. There has been some respite the last few days, though.

Blessed be indeed. I've never been ashamed of my period. I don't know if it's Aussie girls or just the ones I grew up with but we were always loud and proud about our periods. I never felt a sense of shame or need to hide it and I've always been blessed by it. I feel kinda sad that I'm not far off the days it's gonna leave me!

Sanitary pads is a godawful word, isn't it??

We definitely, as a society, celebrate and honour these natural cycles. I love bleeding on the earth when I'm gardening! It feels right and natural and connected to all that is.

A beautiful post.

Oh and the purple Tribe SteemUp banner looks amazing - I'm going to use it on my next post if you're using it - love love love it!

thank you lovely, I think it's being raised a catholic that done it, so much shame carried and projected on to us. And yes that banner is awesome, love how the figures make it flow xxx

This already had me fighting tears riveted on my screen...

Instead of loving, respecting and honouring all that is sacred within all living things, today's society treat all natural cycles from ageing to death with such fear and hostility. Women were and still are made to feel unclean and ashamed and have been punished down through the ages during their moon cycle or menstruation. I know that for me, I was very ashamed when I first started my cycle, my mum gave me a book to look at and that was it. There was no mother-daughter chat as she was as embarrassed as I was. It was just not what happened when I was growing up.

You wrote many women's truth condensed in a single paragraph. Your depth with words is beautiful. Thank you for sharing this. Truly :)

thank you @tezmel, it really is something I wish a lot more women would talk about, because when we open up we allow the truth into our lives.

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.35
TRX 0.12
JST 0.040
BTC 70601.11
ETH 3576.21
USDT 1.00
SBD 4.78