Maiden/Maen and Menarche

We celebrate the Maiden or Maen (an alternative word for this life-phase for those who do not resonate with the term Maiden) in the month of April and Menarche in May.  We create this distinction to unlearn the trance of equating Maidenhood with reproduction and sexuality, focusing instead on sacred Desire.

In this Season, no matter what our age, we embrace our inner youth.  This a good time to journey or quest, learn new skills, practice the balance of self-care and caregiving.  We seek the inspiration raging in our guts – our genius- that which is ours alone to manifest.  Ask the Maens and Maidens in your life, and within yourself:  Beloved, what is it that you truly Desire?

In May, we honor the pattern that replicates itself in the seasons, the waxing and waning moon, the ebb and flow of ocean, and in the bodies of Women.  We respond to both sunlight and moonlight through the magical science of the hormones and the pineal gland – “the seat of the soul”.  Our hormones dance and flow in sync with these large forces of nature.  This cycling is a built-in mechanism for renewing mental and physical health, taking us inward and outward, to release what no longer serves us.

Archeology and anthropology teach us that menstruation was central tot eh development of human civilization.  Women responded to their Blood Cycle by going within tot listen, then coming out to share with their tribes what they experienced in their monthly “vision quest”.  This sharing was not about reproduction, but about the creation of the whole universe.  I ask women to sit with this remembering.  There is science involved in this magic, but it is magic first.

Desire is the Outward call, our internal guidance system.  Menarch is the Inward call, where we seek wisdom, about how to bring desires to fruition.  The natural and personal cycles are One.  We become She Who Cycles.  Now that is something to tell a young woman on the day of her First Blood!