Interior of Red Tent, Belly & Womb Conference, Baldwinville, MA, 2005

The act of reframing the menstrual cycle–as a source of deep awareness and even, power–is hardly news, and yet, it seems that way to most of us.

Liz Kissling sent me this link to a 2002 essay written by Gina Cloud. Here is a classic passionate call for a new (or very old, perhaps) way of responding to menstruation.  While I bristle at the essentialism at the root of this reframing, I certainly appreciate any effort to reclaim the menstrural cycle and render it as more than a nasty nuisance that depends on consumerism to make it go away. Cloud renames the menstrual cycle, the “sacred cycle” and PMS as “powerful monthly insight.” For her, the week before a menstruator’s period is a time to “get clear”  and unblock what she calls the “repression of expression” most women are socialized to practice every day.

Cloud numbers among a steady stream of women–health educators, midwives, at least one physician, and lay women dedicated to empowering women through resisting more conventional attitudes about menstruation. They  have written books, led workshops and generally promoted the idea that menstruation can and should be seen as a not a curse, but a gift.

In  1978 Jeannine Parvati published her now classic Hygieia: A Woman’s Herbal. The tone of the book is vintage late 70s, hippie discourse infused with cultural feminist valorization of all-things- feminine. In her chapter On the Rag & Other Menstrual Rituals, Parvati cites “the images, our body fantasies, our cultural myths and poor health” as barriers to the “ecstatic renewal” [emphasis in original] of menstruation and said that “[b]leeding is part of being sexual,” connecting menstruation to female sexuality. She also included a hand-lettered pattern for homemade reusable cloth menstrual pads.  1978!!!! Parvati’s book was a breakthrough.

Tamara Slayton beautifully illustrated Hygieia and herself, embarked on her own menstrual health work around the same time. Inspired by an unplanned teen pregnancy that she was forced to hide, Slayton connected the “shaming of the fruit of the womb” (her words)  with the pressing need for positive menstrual education for girls.  In 1989 Slayton published Reclaiming the Menstrual Matrix, a Workbook for Evolving Feminine Wisdom. Here, she advances the idea of menstrual consciousness as a MATRIX (long before that term was applied to feminist thinking by sociologist Patricia Hill Collins, or the blockbuster sci-i action film trilogy by the same name)  Here’s Slayton’s take:

With menarche you meet your wisdom, and with your monthly bleeding you practice your wisdom, and then at menopause you become the wisdom.

More on the radar  is Dr. Christiane Northrup, author of the bestselling Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom

On her website she writes:

The menstrual cycle is the most basic, earthy cycle we have. Our blood is our connection to the archetypal feminine. The macrocosmic cycles of nature, the waxing and waning, the ebb and flow of the tides and the changes of the seasons, are reflected on a smaller scale in the menstrual cycle of the individual female body.

Some folks bristle at this kind of reframing. It is not for everyone. But it can and does resonate for some. The idea of tuning into the menstrual cycle, even to celebrate it with a ritual bath, journaling, or a few hours in the company of other women in a ne0-Red Tent, is a compelling idea.

What if we channeled our “tidy it up” or ‘turn it off” energies into seeing our cycles as creative, restorative and HONEST moments in our lives?  Continue reading...