Goddess Feminism: Heal Your Life through Your Menstrual Cycle (With Meditation)

We're uncut, unapologetic and in this episode, we're talking about how you can heal your life through your menstrual cycle. We're passionate about all things menstruation and in today's chat, we are discussing how we have personally found our cycle to be our deepest spiritual practice. Looking at how the four different phases of the cycle affect us and reflecting upon how we experience each Goddess Archetype of the Cycle can be incredibly revealing and healing. Intrigued? Listen to find out more! This episode finishes with a powerful Red Tent Meditation, taken from our popular Insight Timer online course - Goddess Awakening: The Power of the Menstrual Cycle. Enjoy!

Transcript

Welcome to Goddess Feminism by Nicola and Sam.

Feminism being the root of goddess spirituality.

It's raw,

Uncut and unapologetic.

And what do we mean by spiritual feminism?

Women coming together in sacred sisterhood,

Rising against the patriarchal system and holding space for justice and equality for all women everywhere.

And healing our lives through the menstrual cycle.

If you enjoy listening then please positively rate each episode so that we can reach the hearts and minds of as many women as possible.

You can visit us at alunamoon.

Com,

Alunamoontime.

Com for more information about our work and healing sessions.

Join us on Insight Timer and at alunamoontime on Instagram.

Enjoy.

Hello and welcome to Goddess Feminism.

I'm Nicola and this is Sam.

Hello.

And today we're talking to you about healing your life through the menstrual cycle.

So if you're familiar with our work already,

You'll know that we're extremely passionate about the spiritual aspects of feminism,

Female empowerment and of course the menstrual cycle.

So we just to tell you a little bit about us,

If you are not aware of what we do.

We're top 10 teachers on the amazing Insight Timer meditation app.

We have three million plays on there now.

So thank you so much for that support because that's just absolutely incredible.

We could never have imagined anything on that scale.

So thank you.

We've got a couple of online courses on there too.

Our most recent being a 30 day course called Goddess Awakening,

The power of the menstrual cycle.

So yes,

We are passionate about the menstrual cycle.

Can you tell?

And so why is that?

Why are we passionate about the menstrual cycle?

OK,

So yeah,

I really feel like for both of us,

It has enriched our lives in our lives deeply by developing a deeper connection with our menstrual cycle.

I mean,

Without making this a personal memoir,

I really feel that the menstrual cycle has become especially revealing and especially nourishing for me and how I can really reach my full potential now by looking at the four phases of the menstrual cycle.

And we do this through the lens of Goddess archetypes,

Which we're going to talk about in this podcast if you're not already familiar with our work.

Yes,

So I've got 26 day cycle and what I find difficult and what I find easy just brings to light what I need to heal on a personal level.

What about you?

Yeah,

Absolutely exactly the same.

I find it such a reflection,

Everything in me that needs healing or looking at is just completely reflected to me by my cycle.

This is how I view it now.

I have a longer cycle,

So I'm the opposite to you.

I've always had longer cycles and I've done various things to balance it out,

Herbs,

That kind of thing,

Which have,

You know,

Have worked and done amazing things.

But for me,

The most incredible work that I've done is on the more metaphysical side,

The energetic side.

So,

Yeah,

I've got a longer cycle and it's the warrior phase,

Which is the phase just after we finish bleeding.

And then it's in between bleeding and ovulation.

Yeah.

And we call her the warrior goddess.

And it's a very it's a very mental energy.

It's all about go,

Go,

Go,

Do,

Do,

Do.

And I love this.

I love this phase because I get so much done in the outside world,

In the material world.

I can burn the candle at both ends.

I can be really busy with the kids,

Go to bed late and still feel brilliant in the morning because I've got so much energy.

It is.

And my pattern in the past has been perfectionism,

You know,

Only getting my worth from doing and achieving.

So for me,

That is highlighted in this phase.

And I feel that for me,

That's why this part of my cycle is longer,

Because there's a resistance,

Which a lot of the time is that it's an unconscious resistance in in surrendering to a more present internal way of being.

So by practicing letting go,

Welcoming the next phase of ovulation and welcoming that presence and letting go of the doing,

It's shortened my cycle so much.

It's now about 30 days,

30,

31 days,

Which is the best it's ever been.

So it's been incredibly healing for me.

That's amazing.

And I just feel like we can really get to know ourselves through looking at our menstrual cycle.

And it's interesting because I've had different dilemmas with the warrior.

Yeah.

So just to reiterate,

This is the phase between bleeding and ovulation.

And I used to love this phase and I used to feel like,

Oh,

My period is over.

Thank God,

You know,

Now I can crack on and tick all those boxes that I need to tick to please the outside world.

I sort of I actually find this the trickiest phase in my cycle.

I now don't have this high of energy,

Which I used to have.

Interesting.

Yeah,

It is interesting.

And I feel like I feel like I now find that out of old thinking quite tedious.

And because I'm in the wild woman energy of my life cycle.

I mean,

What's what's lovely is the four phases of the menstrual cycle are mirrored in the life cycle as well.

So I've just sort of come out of my mother creator type energies of my life cycle.

And I'm now going into my sorceress wild woman energies.

And that since my youngest has gone to school and I sort of got space to inhabit that sort of medicinal wild woman energy.

And so I sort of feel like I've lost my wonder and my curiosity,

Which belongs to the maiden warrior phase.

So this month,

I tried to be really conscious of that.

And last month,

I had an especially short warrior phase almost a blinked and I missed it.

And I had a day I had a 25 day cycle as though do you know,

I mean,

It's like you can't even came into things.

Yeah.

So this month,

I have allowed more space to feel more playful,

More curious about life.

And that was revealing.

And I'm glad that I,

You know,

Gave myself myself the time to do that.

So yesterday,

I transitioned from the warrior into the creator and the creator are the few days around ovulation.

So some people call her the mother goddess.

The transition days for me are usually the hardest.

Yesterday,

I sort of felt a dip.

I quite often feel my energy dampening.

It's sort of like a quietening when one goddess hands the baton over to the next.

I can relate to that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it's a bit disconcerting.

So I actually find my transition days the hardest.

So but now I mean,

My creator energies and Nicola and I were just having a good old laugh before this started because I'm just shiny.

I'm just so shiny today.

You are the sun.

I am the sun.

The summer is the give it a week and I'll be full on wild woman.

But that's the beauty.

That's the beauty of it because women are changeable.

Women are dynamic.

So I feel especially compassionate during this time.

This is when things start to heat up for me.

This is when I start to really roll my sleeves up and really get to enjoy my cycle.

So in the light,

We are positive,

Nurturing,

Compassionate,

Charming,

Generous,

Sexy.

We can be quite diplomatic.

I find this the easiest stage to parent.

I usually find the house is in quite good order.

You know,

I give a lot of myself out and I find that easy.

I love being with friends,

But it wouldn't be cool to stay in this mode,

Even though it is the most accepted part of our phase by modern day society,

Because the patriarchy love the mother.

They love the gentle,

Nurturing energy.

But we need to be able as women or anyone who identifies with a woman to release the sorceress energies and also have time to retreat during our oracle phase as well.

That's especially important.

So,

Yes,

A time when anything is possible so we can release our full creativity into the world.

It's a really juicy,

Fun,

Shiny time.

In the dark,

We can feel wrapped up in other people's expectations.

And therefore it can feel actually really overwhelming,

The creative phase.

Other sticky challenges might be blocked sexual energy,

Underlying guilt,

Not fully harnessing creative power,

Obviously problems with conception.

And an apprehension about really sort of shining,

You know,

Fully showing up.

And if we haven't celebrated ourselves fully during the summer of our cycle,

The transition then into the sorceress phase,

Which is post ovulation,

Can feel particularly laborious.

Yeah,

Definitely.

Because then after that lovely,

Creative,

Motherly,

Shiny energy wanes,

We then go into the sorceress phase,

The wild woman energies.

And this is a much more internal energy,

Isn't it?

This is,

I adore this phase.

I really,

Really come to a place where I adore,

Especially the beginning part of this.

So once ovulation has passed.

And I really do feel like a sorceress,

This priestess.

You know,

Like,

Yeah,

I'm in that part of my cycle now.

And I was at my altar,

I had the candles lit and I felt really magical.

Like I had the power within me to create magic.

So I adore her energies and how connected to nature she is,

The unpredictability.

But this is the part of our cycle when we experience premenstrual tension or premenstrual stress,

Which so many women,

You know,

Struggle with and are challenged by.

And this is this is the part of our cycle which is so misunderstood and has almost been deleted from history.

The wild woman goddess,

You know,

She has been completely repressed and misunderstood.

The patriarchal system has branded this archetype.

The whole,

You know,

We should go into that.

But this is something that I think for me,

My personal experience is the more I've made friends and fallen in love with the wild woman within,

The easier this part of my cycle is.

And to look at the symptoms,

This is how I feel you can heal through this side.

So look at the irritability or the anger or the sadness or,

You know,

The discomfort,

The thoughts,

Like the feelings we have.

This is a very feeling phase.

And to give them a voice,

Because also I feel,

Yeah,

If we've not,

I think we've repressed stuff from an early one in the cycle or the previous cycle.

This is when it's uncovered.

It really can come to light here.

I find it,

You know,

If I have a pretty easy month or,

You know,

I kind of sailed through my warrior and my creator,

This part of my cycle is relatively harmonious.

But if I'm challenged or I've been particularly busy or maybe I haven't been able to find that balance of rest,

Then this is where it comes up.

But it gives us the most amazing opportunity to heal and to ask ourselves,

What are we really feeling angry about?

And for me,

You know,

That journey,

That question has taken me to past lives,

Ancestral stuff,

To the female lineage of how women have been repressed.

It can go really deep.

And this is such a beautiful phase to go deep,

You know,

To start journeying into the dark.

And that's what I love,

Because again,

If you are familiar with us or you're,

You know,

You're on our Instagram,

You'll see we love the dark stuff.

We love the dark stuff.

It's so revealing when you look into that and you think,

Wow,

You know,

What is my,

For me,

It's anger that can come up.

Whenever that anger's there,

I think,

Oh,

OK,

There's something I'm not seeing here or there's something that's trying to get my attention.

And we can really go down into that and use the premenstrual symptoms and the tension as our teacher and our guide.

And it's the sorceress goddess,

Yeah,

Guiding us within,

Asking us to pay attention to what's really happening.

And that is how I've found,

You know,

We can heal through this phase before we then go into the oracle phase where we journey even deeper.

Yeah,

She is the wisest teacher of all,

Isn't she?

Yeah,

She really is.

This is our time of retreat.

So the oracle goddess greets us during menstruation and noticing our feelings here,

Especially during this phase,

Can help us heal what needs to be brought into the light.

And as you know,

As Nick,

You said the conditioning from the patriarchal society,

You know,

Especially oppressive.

What it means to retreat and do nothing.

How do we feel about that as women?

You know,

We are conditioned by this capitalist culture to achieve,

To do,

To be good at.

So when the goddess greets us and beckons us into,

You know,

The red tent,

The darkness,

The time to surrender,

We feel as women as though we need to fight it.

It's not attractive.

It's not attractive.

And I do really feel like our cycle doesn't create problems.

I think as a collective,

We can perhaps use our menstrual cycle as a scapegoat.

And really,

It just unmasks existing wounds.

And it's the perfect feature.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So,

You know,

You might want to ask yourself during bleeding or even now,

How do you feel about stopping?

How do you feel about bleeding?

How do you feel about your womb center?

These are all pertinent questions to ask.

You sort of follow the rabbit down the hole with it a little bit.

It's,

It can be a beautifully reflective time.

She's,

You know,

As I said,

Full of spiritual visions,

Very wise.

It can reveal the unhealed aspects around what it means to be a woman who bleeds,

To be female,

And also to embody an old energy.

You know,

She's not the maiden.

She's not the warrior.

She is the crone,

The older energy.

And again,

That's not attractive.

Older energies aren't attractive in modern day society.

So we need to fully inhabit this.

Are you going to say something?

I was just going to say that word crone itself has become such a negative,

Ugly word.

Yeah.

Actually,

The word crone comes from the word queen,

Crown,

Sorry,

Crown,

Meaning queen.

You know,

The wise queen she embodies and still in certain ancient cultures,

It's the elders who are so highly respected for their wisdom.

But in this part of the world where we are and in our,

You know,

This modern day,

Like you say,

Patriarchal society,

That is not how it is at all.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So we need to find a way individually and as a sisterhood to revere that older energy.

And I feel like bleeding can actually be,

Honestly,

Traumatic.

I would even go as far to use that word.

If we don't have the armour that the warrior has.

So we are completely laid bare.

So,

You know,

It's about getting to know this.

It can actually be a really potent time for spiritual development and insight.

I now love my period.

I can honestly say I love it.

Me too.

You do as well.

It's so cathartic.

And we haven't always felt this way.

You know,

If you listen to us thinking,

We want to always remain inclusive.

And I really feel like if you're listening to this thinking,

Oh,

How can I ever feel that way about the draining,

The bleeding.

It's just,

You know,

It feels so intense.

But and if we aren't at one with it,

We can then resort to coping mechanisms,

You know,

Our usual coping mechanisms.

And it doesn't have to be anything sort of sinister.

It doesn't have to be anything extreme like,

You know,

Full on addictions.

It can be anything that we usually use to cope.

Yes,

So we do really feel passionate if you can't already tell about unearthing the gifts of bleeding and fully exploring our personal menstrual healing journey,

Because it is a journey,

Isn't it?

It is.

It's a journey which lasts a lifetime,

Even postmenopausal,

You know,

The four energies that we talk about,

And we're using the menstrual cycle to,

You know,

To,

You know,

We're talking about it and teaching through that,

Yeah,

Guiding through the menstrual cycle.

But all women,

Those who don't have a cycle,

Postmenopausal,

You all embody,

We all embody these four energies and we always will.

You know,

We're cyclical beings,

There are four seasons,

Four,

You know,

Four energies within us.

And so yeah,

It is a journey.

And if we become friends with our cycle and learn to accept each one and learn about the gifts of each phase,

Because I think just what you were saying there about how bleeding can be traumatic for some people.

Yeah,

Absolutely.

And I've heard of that.

I've heard women say exactly that.

But it's when we begin to uncover what's beneath that and we start to accept that and become friends with our cycle with all of these energies,

It's truly where we heal.

And when we heal ourselves,

We heal the women before us,

We heal the women.

I absolutely love that.

It's so,

I mean,

It's just so amazing,

I just love that.

And such a big part of this is,

You know,

Creating a sisterhood.

And so you might be thinking,

You know,

Well,

How do I begin?

Like,

How do I begin this healing journey?

And we've mentioned it before,

We do have a course,

It's a 30 day course,

Which goes,

Each day is about 15 minutes long.

And there's a teaching there,

There's a meditation and we really go into,

There's four parts for each goddess archetype.

So we teach you everything in there.

So we're building a course that's about the importance of the goddess to a sisterhood,

On the Insight Timer app,

We have the online classroom for the course.

We've now got an amazing 1000 women over 1000 women there now.

And we just want to use our experience and use our voice to channel this amazing ancient,

This is ancient,

These are ancient teachings,

But we've,

We've packaged them up if you like for the modern day woman who can just absorb them in and use them.

So we've got our sisterhood there,

We offer sessions now menstrual healing sessions,

Where we just provide a safe space for women to explore the deepest parts of themselves and their cycles.

So that's really special if you're interested in in sessions you can of course get in touch with us.

And we have gifted you a free meditation so you can begin now with our free meditation.

Yes,

So this is,

It's got a red tent feel to it,

You can use it when you feel the need to retreat,

Whether that's during the Oracle goddess phase during menstruation or anytime you feel like you need to relax.

Just to let you know this will,

In a couple of minutes go into a meditation so you absolutely need to make sure that it's safe for you to relax and let go.

Make yourself comfortable.

My creator energy is just going to stand right ahead and ask for your support in something.

We work for free.

So anyway,

The most important thing actually that you can do is explore your own personal journey with your menstrual cycle that genuinely means the most of us.

We are creating a sisterhood on social media.

And if you feel like you can,

And you've got an Instagram account,

Please join us.

There's a period blog on there,

There's loads of cool stuff on there.

It's at alunamoontime.

And if you like our stuff,

Please rate us on Insight Timer and on the App Store.

As Nick said,

We can now offer menstrual health healing.

We used to be therapists for a long time.

We've seen thousands of clients,

We were originally hit with therapists using counseling and now we are offering healing sessions through the lens of the menstrual cycle.

It's sort of mystical support,

Either on the phone,

Online.

I live near London in the UK.

Nicola is about to move to Portugal.

So get in touch,

Amazing you at alunamoon.

Com.

So we need to spread the word about this.

Please tell your sisters.

And do it together,

Join together,

Get your girlfriends together and listen to this podcast.

We've got so many free meditations on Insight Timer.

You don't even have to pay.

Listen to our free meditations,

Our talks on there.

Get your girlfriends together,

Get the course,

You know,

Go through it all together.

Really journey with your sisters.

That's what will change things when we come together in that community and move forward.

Yeah,

And it's so our Insight Timer circles,

Lovely.

I mean,

The women there have just been so supportive.

So,

Yeah,

It's just been really special.

So we will stop asking for things now.

Let you enjoy your meditation.

So,

Have a wonderful session here and we are holding space for you deeply,

And we will say bye for now.

Take care.

Take care.

Bye for now.

Bye bye.

Let's meditate.

When you are ready and it's safe for you to do so,

Simply find somewhere to rest and relax,

Where you can let go completely without being disturbed by the outside world.

Close your eyes and relax your body.

The chatter of the mind slowly fades and you take refuge in your spiritual self.

Allowing your imagination to take over.

Take a nice deep breath all the way in and all the way out.

Imagine yourself outside somewhere in nature.

It's dark outside and above you millions of stars twinkle against the black sky.

You might feel the presence of the dark moon deep inside your heart,

Deep inside your womb.

You can feel the coolness of the night against your skin.

You wrap your black scarf firmly around you,

Protecting you.

You feel safe and secure here.

Your feet firmly planted into Mother Earth.

She supports you so generously.

Ahead you notice a beautifully lit heavy canvas red tent.

It invites you inside.

As you glide gracefully,

Slowly and effortlessly into this cocoon,

You find yourself withdrawing deeply from the busy material world.

Into a place of total comfort and safety.

The cave like tent protects you from the wind outside.

It's mostly dark but for four evenly spaced frankincense candles and a fire warming your beautiful soft skin.

You are surrounded by luxuriously soft plush cushions.

And you gently and slowly sink your warming body into one.

You get a sense of the magic here.

Here your imagination is boundless.

Here you are answerable to no one and no thing.

Here you are limitless in every way.

Your meditation can take you deeper into trance,

Further into foresight,

Heavier into the dark oneness.

You are safe to journey within.

Your body really starts to let go as you sink further into the soft cushions.

Focusing on the top of the head.

Face letting go.

Neck.

Shoulders relaxing now.

All the way down through into the arms.

And into the hands.

A beautiful presence in the hands.

You may feel a warmth or tingling sensation.

A tingling sensation in your fingertips is your personal truth.

Focusing on the chest.

Releasing and letting go.

Your stomach is settling,

Relaxing.

Your back is softening.

This calm sensation moves down through into the legs.

Every muscle in the legs,

The right and the left leg,

Relaxing.

And out through the bottom of your feet.

Notice how it feels to allow your whole body to melt into that rest,

That comfort.

Daydream for a while.

Allow thoughts to calm and go and enjoy the stillness.

Give yourself permission to let go.

A safe place.

Your body soaks up the quiet,

The rest.

Thank you for watching!

You You You You You You You You You the light,

The dark and of the truth.

I embrace the sacred goddess.

I am her,

She is me,

A whole.

Enjoy your ritual tomorrow with Nicola.

I am her,

She is me,

A whole.

Enjoy your ritual tomorrow with Nicola.

Reviews

Thank you! I loved the simplicity of the meditation. I am a red tent facilitator and beginning to use app. I am grateful that there is a red tent thread to begin weaving on this platform. Many blessings to these teachings sisters. Ahoi

Beautiful ❤️ will be listening to more from you two ✨ 🌙

Very eye opening. Thank you for sharing your wisdom ❤️❤️❤️

Absolutely incredible and transcendent. I was in desperate need of grounding during my moon cycle.
Thank you. 🙏🏼

Absolutely wonderful ladies! That was the first time I’ve thought about my cycle as a healing journey. I can’t wait to harness the energy within the stages and learn more. The red tent meditation was perfect for relaxing as my Oracle phase begins today. Thank you for this! I can’t wait to start your course soon 🙏🏾❤️✨

So fascinating and insightful. I want to learn more!! Glad I found you two on the first day of my Oracle phase. How perfect. ❤️❤️❤️Thank you for all your work.

This was incredible. I needed That. Thank you 🙏💚🌻