Red Tent Rising - A Resource-Full Post

I am just getting the supplies ready for our very first red tent gathering... a box of womancraft books for the red tent library, a piece of embroidery for the centre piece, a welcome sign, some futons for resting and reading.... It will be the first I know of in the south of Ireland... I am very excited.

Held on the dark moon, a red tent is a women's circle which is open to all women in the community and offers a place to rest during menstruation, to connect with other women, share wisdom and be held in every stage of our female unfolding.

(Want to know more about what a red tent is? Watch my short video which I made for the red tent summit or grab a copy of my free red tent booklet - Password= love.)


I planted the seed of this red tent when I wrote Moon Time.  I had never been to a red tent, and there was little information out there about them. I was hungry for knowledge... so I reached out to some of the movement's leaders, gathered all the information I could lay my hands on, and shared it in the book. That's how I roll! Mine was the first print book to explore the phenomenon and support women in setting up their own. I have been told that it has inspired and supported the creation of red tents in the UK, Canada and Australia as well as an online one which I am a member of.

And now we will have our own real one, in our community.

My stomach is churning and I am being a little short with my family as my brain goes into tables and chairs mode. But the excitement is overriding it... the fact that this long held dream is being born, that so many women are curious about it, that this work, and a dedicated women's space is opening up for our community... I just think of the growth, love, support, magic, empowerment, connection and healing that will emerge from the very existence of this space and shivers run down my spine...

More women sitting in circle together than ever have before in our community. Learning to speak their truth openly and be heard. From learning to listen with an open heart and without judgement. In having a place to come and be held, to rest and recharge. A place where new ideas can take seed, new books found, new friendships formed. Where women can learn to understand and trust and even celebrate their bodies.

How it came about...

I set myself a challenge out loud - which meant I couldn't go back on it, by promising the proceeds of the e-versions of Moon Time would go towards establishing a local red tent! And since then I have researched and reflected and waited. I knew I couldn't do it on my own, I was waiting for conspirators... and when I met them I knew right away... I did not say anything to them at all about it -  I was in the midst of launching The Rainbow Way and I had only just met them... I just held the vision consistently affirming it, and gently released the women's group I had run for 5 1/2 years which had run its course. Numbers were dwindling and we couldn't find any more new participants...

And then two months later, the time was right for us all.  One of the women asked on Facebook if anyone knew of a women's group or red tent in the area... and the flame was lit. Within an hour we had a FB group. And the other woman jumped right in as an admin, unbidden. Within a week we had a date and venue. In a month we have gotten over 100 women to our group, organically. We only invited 35 between us... the rest were just drawn to us. 

We have had minor bumps in the road naturally, including our first venue cancelling only days before. But we have a new, better space now.

And our first meeting tonight and are expecting about 25 women.... many of whom I know personally, some I have only met online, one I taught blogging to, and others are completely new to me. For some it will be their first time doing women's work with me... others have done much before having been part of our long running women's group ... there is an excitement tinged with deep nervousness, as no one knows quite what to expect. What is a red tent any way, they wonder... will it be for me? Will I be expected to sit around talking about their periods, will I know anyone else?

I try to allay the nervousness with information - links to the red tent summit which I have just spoken at, my booklet on starting a red tent, with reassurance and love...  but this is new, uncharted territory... of course there is apprehension.

Some are travelling nearly an hour to join us... others are following by Facebook - we hope to inspire them to start their own in their own community.

Are you ready for a red tent in YOUR neighbourhood? Wouldn't it be wonderful to have one in your city, town, village, or community?
Imagine not having to wait any longer...
Imagine knowing exactly how to create a Red Tent, monthly, where you, and your women friends, can simply BE, rather than DO...

DeAnna L’am who created the Red Tent Summit has created an Online Class designed to inspire, motivate, support and equip you, to start your own Red Tent.

The Global Tele-Tent Class starts on March 12, but you can register today.

I believe that the vision of a red tent in every neighbourhood - is possible in our life time!
And I want to help you make it a reality in YOUR neighbourhood!
Please join me, and women from all over the world, to make it so!

If you are looking for more resources I would recommend:

• My free red tent booklet - Password= love
• If you are local, our Red Tent group is here on Facebook. For resources, connections and listings UK red tents and here, Red tent Temple movement, Red Tents in Every Neighbourhood
• DeAnna L'Am's upcoming teleclass
• The Red Tent Movie - buy it, rent it, read the blog, watch a video from the maker on how to create your own red tent.
• And ALisa Starkweather's monthly teleconference and Facebook support page.

Reaching for the Moon launched today! Grab your FREE e-copy!

Ooooooooooooooohhhh mama what a day! 

I have (as those of you who are on FB/ Twitter or signed up to my mailing list) been launching of my third book – Reaching for the Moon, the girl's version of my much-loved first book, Moon Time. (Be sure to read to the bottom of this post to find out how you can get your FREE e-copy!)

WOWSER the response has been tremendous! The steam is fizzing off my computer! And my brain! I'm feeling short of breath and my heart is racing - in a good way! Within an hour it had been requested for review for a US parenting magazine!

It's so funny how different it is to the launch of Moon Time. My very first book launch. A bit like the first time one has sex (yes, it does all have to come back to sex on here, that's how we roll at Dreaming Aloud!) - messy, feeling very exposed and not very coordinated.

What amazes me is how much social networking has changed since the last launch, just how BIG Facebook is... and how much more connected I am to so many beautiful, connected women (how much I have changed), and how much of an appetite there is out there for my work. It is truly humbling. And exciting. 

There are three responses I am getting 

1) "Oh wow, I've been waiting for a book like this..."

2) "I've been waiting for YOU to write this book - at LAST, I've been asking for at least a year!"

3) "Another book? Seriously... Which one is this again?"

This is Reaching for the Moon - a girl's guide to her female cycles.Written especially for girls aged 9-14 as they anticipate and experience their body's gradual changes. This has been requested time and again by mothers, godmothers and aunts who wanted a gentle, loving, soulful introduction to women’s cycles for the special girls in their lives. 

ISBN: 1482363038

80 page paperback or Kindle.

Beginning with an imaginary journey into the red tent, a traditional place of women's wisdom, some of the gifts and secrets of womanhood are imparted in a gentle, lyrical way including:

* The secrets of the moon.

* The secrets of our cycles.

* The gift of self-care.

 Along with practical advice on:

* Preparing for her first period.

* Choosing menstrual products.

* Herbal healing.

* Celebrating menarche.

Reaching for the Moon is a nurturing celebration of a girl’s transformation to womanhood.

It is available as a signed copy + bookmark + FREE greetings card of one of my paintings (usually €2.50) from The Happy Womb. £6.99 + P&P

(Orders will be dispatched from 11^th June. Offer available until 23^rd June.)

It is also available from Amazon as a paperback or ebook.

(Buy on Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com.)

***TRY BEFORE YOU BUY!***

From today until Sunday (midnight PST) you can download your

FREE Kindle version, so you can sample it before purchasing for the special girls in your life. (Please note you do NOT need a Kindle to read it. Kindle books can be read on tablets, android phones and computers).

Free Kindle copy - UK customers only.

Free Kindle copy – rest of world.

Please do share it far and wide, on Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook and by email - let's get copies into as many mama's hands as possible.

Happy Birthday Dear Book Baby

Moon Time is one!

As my first book baby celebrates her first baby she is really standing on her own feet and I am one very proud mama.

She has sold over 500 copies, putting her in the top 1% of self-published books. Sales are rising month on month, and are now at 2 copies a day! Women in Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, America, Canada, Brazil, Alaska, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, France, England, Ireland and South Africa have my book on their shelves, in their bags and beside their beds, with pages turned down, ready to come back to another month. I know because they tell me. They email me every week to tell me how my words have changed their lives.

“Life changing” is a term that comes up a lot in those emails. It is not a term I take lightly. To have made an impact on another woman’s life, one whom I have never met, to have helped shift her self-concept, alleviate her physical suffering with my words, brings tears of gratitude to my eyes every time.That women who don’t even know me take the time to write emails and cards of thanks, sharing their life stories and intimate details touches me profoundly.

My book has been to four festivals and conferences in two countries – in Cork and Dublin in Ireland, and London and Devon in the UK. And every time the response is the same. Women pick her up, cradle her in their hands, and begin to tell me, a complete stranger about their cycles, their body wisdom, their hurt, their pregnancies, and pain, their births and bleeding. This little book is a wonderful ice-breaker to get us women straight into deep personal dialogue.

My little book has been the seed that has started two red tents that I know of and a couple of women’s groups. It has given many women the courage and desire to come off the Pill and have IUDs removed. It has given women the tools to shift their cycles so that they ovulate on the full moon and bleed with the dark. I know all this because they have told me. See what some women have said about it here. 

And then women come back to buy moon dial mandalas, and a copy for their sister or best friend, and woman by woman Moon Time is shared. I am very grateful to have been called to be her mama, constantly aware of how much I do not know – but delighted to be part of her magic.

Thank you to every one of you who have bought a copy, told a friend about it and cheered me on.

Embracing the Magic of Moonlit Nights

Welcome to the July Mindful Mama Carnival: Mindfulness and Nature
This post was written for inclusion in the Mindful Mama Carnival hosted by Becoming Crunchy and TouchstoneZ. This month our participants have shared their experiences of mindfulness and the natural world. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
***
I remember the first time I really saw the stars. 

I was seven, visiting my cousins in America - and the summer sky seemed alive with a million twinkling dots, awe inspiring in their infinitude. The moon floated in glory and I felt so full of life. Amazed that I had never really seen the night sky. 

As a child the night was for being inside, for bedtime. I wasn't afraid of the dark, but nor was I shown its majesty.

And as an adult I seem to continue this pattern. As the darkness falls we retreat inside into our own cosy cocoons, forgetting the celestrial display of the skies above our heads. The nightly reminder of our position in the universe and the beauty of nature, of our precarious position on a tiny spinning globe of rock dancing amongst millions of others, of the pure chance or design, whichever your belief, of the very existence of life itself, let alone our own individual lives.  


And so I commit to two things this summer to bring the night into our lives. 
The first is to bring our children out and lie on our backs and look up at the stars. Just to be and to see.

And the second is to celebrate the full moon with other women every month. 

Since making the connection between the moon and my cycles when writing my book  Moon Time: A guide to celebrating your menstrual cycle,
I now find that I really feel the lack of the full moon in my life if I miss it one month. I find the full moon energising, illuminating even.

And I have, for a whole host of reasons, missed it now for a few months in a row. As a result my cycle shifted totally and my energy seemed to sink. 
  

A few months back a couple of friends and I met down on the beach on the full moon and did a gentle mindfulness ceremony - breathing in, feeling the sand beneath our feet, the wind in our hair, washing away the past month and visioning the new, blessing ourselves and each other (via a mama water fight!!) with an icy cold ocean blessing. The moon hid herself that night, but we all left the beach feeling connected to each other, ourselves and our place in the universe. Revitalised and invigorated from being together, from taking time for ourselves, in nature and with sisters.

So I am calling out to all mindful mamas far and near, to mark the full moon in whatever way speaks to you.

(You will notice that there are TWO full moons in August. This is a Blue Moon  -  the second full moon in a given month, this gives rise to the phrase "once in a blue moon" as it is very rare to have two full moons in a month!)

You might choose to:

• make and walk a labyrinth on the beach,
• light a bonfire and dance around it, 
• lie on the grass on your back, 
• sing together in harmony,
• go for a walk with your lover, 
• breathe mindfully by yourself, 
• pick flowers for yourself by moonlight,
• have a bubble bath by moonlight.

Do something that fills you with light.

I am making a commitment to myself, and all women in my local area to be out on our local beach, Shanagarry strand at moon rise for every full moon of the year from now on. Please do join me, spread the word - it would be so exciting for it to grow every month!

Resources:
Moon Time: a guide to celebrating your menstrual cycle - Lucy H Pearce
The Stargazers Handbook: an atlas of the night sky - Giles Sparrow
Earth Child - Games Stories, Activities, Experiments and Ideas about Living Lightly on Planet Earth - Kathryn Sheehad, and Mary Waidner
The Green Hour - Todd Christopher
http://www.moonphases.info

***

***
Visit The Mindful Mama Homepage to find out how you can participate in the next Mindful Mama Carnival!
On Carnival day, please follow along on Twitter using the handy #MindMaCar hashtag. You can also subscribe to the Mindful Mama Twitter List and Mindful Mama Participant Feed.
Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

• Zen and the Art of Raising Chickens Jenn at Monkey Butt Junction has found a connection to nature in her very own backyard, thanks to her chickens.
• Healing Gemstones and Crystals for Children Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama discusses which genstones and crystals are best used by children to support physical, emotional, and/or spiritual healing.
• A Gardener’s Meditation Andrea at Tales of Goodness shares how she finds peace and renewal through gardening.
• Weeding My Thoughts Amanda at Let’s Take the Metro discusses how nature keeps her in the moment and stops her endless stream of thoughts.
• Grounded in Nature Rani at OmSheSaid shares her walk in nature, and through expressive words, shares this journey to coming home.
• Embracing the Magic of Moonlit Nights Lucy at Dreaming Aloud shares ways to embrace the magic of moonlit nights with your children and as a woman.
• Meditation for a Mindful Mama Alinka at Baby Web guides you through her research on the science of meditation, its numerous benefits, and presents to you a life changing meditation exercise.
• The Wild Within Naturemummy at Motherhood: My Latest Adventure reflects on the soothing qualities of wild places.
• Nature’s Lessons in Mindfulness Tat at Mum in Search wants to bring the same mindfulness that comes so easily in nature to her relationships.
• On Manicured Nature: We Roam in Small Spaces Featherstory at The Aniweda Dream shares her gratitude for her limited natural settings and her plans to expand her children's experience with the natural world.
• Garden (Time Out) Meditation Do you ever need a time out for yourself? Amy at Anktangle finds that during a difficult parenting moment, taking pause to spend a few minutes outside is just the thing she needs to be able to experience renewed patience, focus, and energy.
• Nature Makes Me a Better Mother Terri at Child of the Nature Isle could not imagine parenting without Mother Nature.
• The Healing Power of Sunshine Karen at Playful Planet shares her experiences of reneweal in the natural world.
• Natural History Kenna at A Million Tiny Things gets out into nature, 200 years ago, and isn't sure she likes it there.
• Nurtured by Nature Darcel at The Mahogany Way shares with us how being in nature helps her feel centered and connected.
• Mindfulness and Nature Zoie at TouchstoneZ explores the connection between mindfulness and the natural world.
• A Sense of Awe and Wonder Kelly at Becoming Crunchy shares the feeling she never fails to get from the natural world and how it guides her to the mindfulness she craves.

Mindful mama moon time

Welcome to the March Mindful Mama Carnival: Mindful Mama Challenge
This post was written for inclusion in the Mindful Mama Carnival hosted by Becoming Crunchy and TouchstoneZ. This month our participants have challenges they've set for themselves toward becoming more mindful. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
***
Over the past four years I have become more attuned to my cycles. Over the past year I have become more attuned to the moon's cycles. For the past six months I have been weaving the two together. The impact on my life, and my family's life has been profound.

I started by focusing on the full moon. By absorbing the high energy during my ovulation and retreating at the dark moon. I had the most common "white moon" cycle - bleeding on the dark moon, ovulating on the full moon. At ovulation I knew I would be full of energy from both the moon's phase, and my own hormonal balance. As the moon waned, my mood darkened and I would need to retreat, need to take more time to myself, need to remind myself that I wasn't actually angry at the children, but just pre-menstrual and needing more quiet, more head space. In this way I could be more gentle and loving with myself, and therefore with my children, rather than perceiving them as "the problem". I knew where I was at with myself. It felt good. So different from the intense, out of control mood-swings of PMS when I had got my periods back after our second child.

But then two months ago when my Moon Time book was at the publishers, and I was feeling full of understanding of my cycle and all women, my cycle flipped to a red moon cycle - bleeding at the full moon, ovulating at the new moon. And what's more, the full moon hid behind winter clouds for two months.

Suddenly  I could not look up and know where I was. I felt at sea. Neither rooted in my body wisdom, or the moon's cycles. I felt wobbly and unsure. My PMS felt more out of control.

I needed an aide de memoire to help me to re-connect to where I was in both cycles. Enter the moon dial.  

I had been considering stocking them on my website, and had ordered a sample to check it for quality. It could not have arrived at a more opportune time. My moon time arrived on the same day! I turned Day 1 on the outer petals to align with the phase of the moon: full. Then jotted on the first petal the day's date and my symptoms. Then I aligned the  inner dial to the Wise Woman phase, and the middle one to the month of the year. Now I had a beautiful, visual reminder to help me keep track.


This has been my (almost) daily practice since: a simple way of checking in with myself, and with the moon, of grounding myself once more in my own rhythms and those of the heavens. 

An interesting addition to this has been noticing how the moon seems to effect the children too. The full moon energises them, and yet, on a red moon cycle, my energies are low at this time as I am bleeding. This is a challenging energetic dichotomy, but again, one which now I am mindful of it, becomes easier to manage without blame and anger, but simply by observing.

And so as I write, I am trying to consciously shift my cycle back to the white moon phase, as I feel much more attuned to myself, the moon's energy and my children's energies, when I ovulate at full moon. We are bringing full moon celebration into our family's monthly life together. As well as celebrating on the blog, the children and I observe the moon together as she waxes, guestimating when she will be full once more. Last month we went down to the beach, drew a labyrinth in the sand and walked it together, before singing, strolling and dancing in the moonlight. Next month we are planning a ceremonial fire in our garden. 

Are you attuned to your own cycle, and to the moon? Have you any experience with realigning your cycle and any wisdom you can share from your experiences?

***
Visit The Mindful Mama Homepage to find out how you can participate in the next Mindful Mama Carnival!
On Carnival day, please follow along on Twitter using the handy #MindMaCar hashtag. You can also subscribe to the Mindful Mama Twitter List and Mindful Mama Participant Feed.
Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

• The Importance of a Moment Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama reflects on the need to slow down and breathe in life instead of rushing from one moment to the next.
• Mindful Playing With My Daughters Rani at Om She Said looked at her girls and realized that more than anything they wanted her right there next to them, playing, laughing, creating, and having fun; that's exactly what she did!
• Watch Your Words Patti at Canadian Unschooler challenges herself to make her words a reflection of her intentions.
• The Mindful Benefits of Knitting Dionna at Code Name: Mama shares how knitting has helped lift her out of depression and has given her a new form of meditation.
• Self Compassion: How Thinking About Bad Experiences Can Make You Happier and More Compassionate CJ at Imperfect Happiness challenges herself to be more compassionate...with herself.
• Calming the Home Environment by Selecting Traditional Toys Sam at Love Parenting discusses the benefits of natural toys.
• Quieting my Infernal Inner Ramblings Tree at Mom Grooves writes about her commitment to get out of her head and into the moment with her daughter and husband.
• Changing Our Everyday The Aniweda Dream is sizing up the changes they’ve made by moving across the country and looking at how to make their lives more mindful as a family.
• A Mindful Cup of Tea Amy at The Daily Muttering tells how she's trying to regain control of her life with the chaos of 3 kids thanks to the introduction of a simple daily ritual.
• Mindful Mama Moontime Lucy at Dreaming Aloud shares how becoming conscious of her moon time has helped her find balance in herself as a woman, and a mama.
• Speaking to the Need Shana at Tales of Minor Interest shares how she tries to stay mindful of her preschooler’s needs.
• Going Within Amy at Anktangle describes a centering practice she's been being more intentional about lately, and which she has come to realize is a precious gift in her life.
• Waking Up With Meditation Amy at PresenceParents shares how awakening with presence carries her through the day.
• Mindful Meditations Zoie at TouchstoneZ explores six weeks of seated meditation and discovers some things she doesn't expect.
• Mindfulness in the Kitchen - an Everyday Challenge Kelly at Becoming Crunchy shares how she’s been challenging herself to involve more mindfulness in everyday tasks - especially in the area of cooking for her family.

Full moon rising

February 7th is this month's full moon. And I am looking forward to consciously celebrating. Tomorrow I will be taking part in Miranda Gray's Womb Blessing which I am looking forward to. And I will be heading outside and absorbing her glowing, positive, renewing, sustaining light.

Last month I was so deluged under bad nights' sleep, editing Moon Time and miserable winter weather that I didn't get out in the moonlight, the first time in many moons. And so perhaps for that reason alone, or all of them conbined, my cycle has realigned itself, mother moon having a gentle joke at my expense about my very limited human understanding, and the irony that I have just written an "authoritative" book on her unknowable mystery. So here I am, with my greater knowledge and awareness than ever before, with my beautiful moon dial mandala having just arrived (these will be available from the Happy Womb very soon), and for the first time since my cycles returned, not knowing where in my cycle I am!

Moon Dial Mandala - Created by Zoe Shekinah
http://www.earthlightcollective.com/silver.htm

But that is a true reflection of my state of creativity right now. I did a lot of extra work on Moon Time, so now I am in the situation of awaiting a proof once more, holding off on promoting it till I have a release date. Wating, still waiting to hear back from publishers on the Creative Rainbow Mama book, and wanting to be getting cracking on it again, doing more research for it, more digesting and dreaming. And yet I know that I need to allow enough energy for the final birthing pushes of Moon Time before immersing myself in the deep challenge of shaping all the content that I have for Creative Rainbow Mamas. I am between birth and gestation. I am planning a women's workshop with a dear friend for April, and organising promoting JUNO at the Irish Homebirth Conference, where I am hoping to interview Ina May Gaskin in person - wahoo!

This on top of two sick girlies, and going from nearly weaned to exclusively breastfeeding our two-year-old. I am so excited to have so many creative dreams coming to fruition these next few months. My painting course starts today. I am literally vibrating with excitement about all these strands of my life. But my body is not sure if it is coming or going. I am being creative, then being a full time mama, pulled back and forth like the tide between the twin moons of my creative babies and my flesh babies.

Where are you at dear reader, as the moon becomes her fullest? Do you find that your cycles respond so acutely to your life? Are you celebrating the full moon this month? 

Here it is....

At last.

After weeks of editing and seeking copyright permissions. It's here. The e-version of my new baby. My very first book.

 Moon Time: A guide to celebrating your menstrual cycle

For sale exclusively from

 www.thehappywomb.com

15% discount for the next two weeks 

£5.99

Usual price £6.99  (15% discount brings it to approximately $8.50/ €7.00)

ü  10% of proceeds go to The Red Tent Movie, 90% go to establishing East Cork’s first Red Tent.

ü  Consists of 118 A4 pages- bursting with inspiring and beautiful colour images – including my own photography, original artwork, examples of red tents and a simple moon dial.

ü  Read it on the go on your laptop or i-pad, or print it off at home.

ü  Ready to print PDF format.

ü  Cheaper cover price than the paperback, no postage to pay,  environmentally friendly.

ü  Instant delivery on payment, no need to wait for postage.

ü  Click through the internet links and resources directly.

The first 100 customers get a 25% discount voucher for the paperback version, so you can upgrade to hard copy for yourself, or give a copy to a friend. 

(This will be sent to you by email when the print version comes out in late February.)

OK, great sales pitch… but what’s the book about Lucy?

Well, this is the first of the Woman-craft TM collection of books, which will share the art of being a woman that your mother never taught you.

Chapters include:

• l  Our Cycles: Archetypal Insight
• l  PMT busters
• l  The seasons of Womanhood
• l  Menarche: First Periods
• l  Nutritional and Herbal Healing
• l  Putting the Moon back into Menstruation
• l  Finding our Voices
• l  Honouring Our Moon Time
• l  Red Tents and Moon Lodges

This beautifully written, highly practical guide shares:

• l  creative tools to help you celebrate your cycle
• l  rituals for self-care
• l  nutritional and herbal suggestions
• l  spiritual/ wise woman insight

It will empower you to experience:

• l  deeper harmony with yourself and your cycle
• l  natural ways of dealing with PMT
• l  a greater connection to the moon’s cycles
• l  ways to celebrate your daughter's impending womanhood
• l  the creation of your own red tent or moon lodge
• l  healthy, happy menstruation

Want to have a sneaky peek? The introduction and an integrated menstrual chart are available to view here.

Here’s what other women (heroines of mine!) are saying about it:

“Monumental… so important for women… Your book joins the momentum of changing the paradigms and shifting what will come.”

ALisa Starkweather, founder of Red Tent Temple Movement

OOO 

“A beautiful and inspiring book full of practical information and ideas.”

Miranda Gray, Red Moon

OOO

“Moon Time is a beautifully written resource for deepening your connection with your cycle. This book could change your life!”

Rachael Hertogs, editor of Thirteen Moons and author Menarche: A Journey to Womanhood

OOO

She is one of the special whisperers, who helps us to remember our own power and sacredness as played out in our cycles. Through her writing she initiates a dialogue with her readers. Her writing empowers her readers to have a voice to respond. This is a remarkable gift to us.”

Tracy Evans, PhD researcher on women's rites of passage, University of Aberystwyth

"'Moon Time' is a revelation! How could I be forty years old and know so little about a cycle that defines me? Reading this book felt like having a wise and loving older friend cherish me whilst guiding me through my most intimate world. This newfound insight gives me the emotional vocabulary to, in turn, cherish both myself and my three future-cycling daughters. What a beautiful gift to us all!" 

Meadhbh O'Leary

Thank you ALL for your support and enthusiasm for this project. I hope it brings you joy, balance, self acceptance, community and nurturance into your life.

www.thehappywomb.com

Full moon rising - November

So we are rocketing towards 11/11/11. In true human style, people are getting excited about the day with the triplet date. Mayan elders have been crossing the width of the US with 13 ancient crystal skulls, between the last day of the Mayan calendar (October 28th) and 11/11/11. Some are claiming it as a portal date of a new era, or a transition time - see this post on  From the Wetware if this is your sort of thing. Do you have any wisdom you can share on this date or is it all a load of hoo-haa? (see comments section below for events going on at 11:11, 11/11/11).

But dates aside, tonight is full moon. Do you celebrate full moon? Mark it in your diary? Plant by it? Find your children go a little loopy? Does it affect your menstrual cycle in any way?

I have found that my own cycle is now totally aligned with the moon's phases. I ovulate at full moon and my creative energy surges at this time. I find this energy enhanced by going and being outside in the moon light - to recharge my intuitive/ creative energies. (For last month's full moon post see here).  It really is quite mystical and magical. If you haven't tried this yet, perhaps you will tonight?

My dear friend Becky Jaine of Monkey Chi, Monkey Do,  is coordinating another Full Moon Circle. You may remember we started doing this back in August. I extend the invitation to you...

 "This is a special invitation to a Sacred Full Moon Circle to honor the November Full Moon and celebrate each other and our life's intentions. This month's Circle will focus upon Renewal: renewing our commitments and intentions that serve our bodies, minds, spirits and our purposes on Earth.

This November's Full Moon offers tremendous powers to help us reconnect and reignite an intense focus on our most important intentions in our lives, our calling and our purpose on Earth. We each can renew our commitments to how we wish to live and create our lives. If this speaks to you, please take a few moments this week to write down your closest heart's desires and intentions. Feel free to share here, to create more energy around your intentions and help one another by collective focus, and thinking of each other's aspirations during our Moondance. This will increase our personal power and help to draw and create our intentions for each other.

It really doesn't matter WHEN we do it, OR if you can see even see Mother Moon. She's there, rain, clouds, full whether appearing to our eyes or not.


Together we dance under the moonlight and create energy around renewal and intentions. If you want to actively join us, list your name and location on our beautiful planet, and your intentions for renewal (if you like) we'll be sure to keep you in our minds and hearts."


For some beautiful moon poetry follow this link!

Full moon - the last big shift is here

Please tune out if this is not your thing...

For the rest of you astrologically minded wise women and explorers of things unknown - welcome. We are in special times indeed.

It's the full moon tonight, I felt it before I checked on the calendar, I am getting more and more attuned to the moon's cycles. Sounds corny, feels good. I watched the moon rise, golden white and full over a newly ploughed field as the tractor went backwards and forwards planting seed. Seed which will lie in the ground, quietly gestating, establishing itself unseen, until the silent spring warmth beckons forth green shoots.

This is where I am at too. Planting soul seeds in my womb - with prayers, affirmations and visions. May good things grow there. I am fertile with ideas and creativity, with life itself, and for that I am profoundly grateful. The dark night has passed and a new day is dawning.

If you are that way inclined, head outside and moonbathe. Take your top off and bear your breasts to the moon. Feel the electric glow of moonlight and chill on your skin, take your shoes off, feel the dew beneath your feet. Wash your face in the dew, and your breasts. Imagine this purifying your bodymind. Invoke the timeless wisdom of the moon into your body and soul. Sing or chant, whisper your prayers. Root yourself in the earth, feel your sensitivities rise, your awareness grow, of your body, of the earth beneath your feet and the heavens above you, and your own place in this vast magical plane.

Yesterday was the beginning of the Mayan Seventh Day. This is the last day of the Mayan calendar. It ends on the 27th. Then that is it. The end of all cycles. Done. A new world will be shifting into place at the same time as the New Moon, Samhain, All Souls, Halloween, the end of British Summer Time. That weekend is a massive shift. And we in our way are marking our own shift as my husband completes his last day of work for his current employer, and our own new era begins.

I feel the dreams shifting and changing and possibilities growing by the day. I am consciously shifting through blocks on every level. Bringing darkness out into the light. As so many other people I know are too.

Some wonderful books have arrived in my life these past couple of days - which I shall be blogging about, both about massive shifts in the sacred feminine and in the human population as a whole. And the World's biggest Summit and Big Fat Lies Summits are helping shift stuff and light lightbulbs for me.

I feel honoured to be living in these times. Grateful to be here and now. Loving where I live in all its beauty and community. Loving my work. Grateful and honoured to be my children's mother and my husband's lover. Grateful indeed.

For other great blog posts on the astrological state of affairs right now, check out:
http://bohemiantwilight.blogspot.com/2011/10/aries-full-moon.html
http://fromthewetware.blogspot.com/2011/10/on-seventh-day-we-take-out-garbage.html
http://dreamingaloudnet.blogspot.com/2011/08/moonlight-blessings.html

She who has a hundred husbands

Yes. That's right. That really is the name of a new supplement I am taking which I cannot rave highly enough about. I first heard of it via the lovely Kate Magic Wood, our resident JUNO raw food columnist. Its Sanskrit name is Shatavari. It is a wild asparagus and one of the best women's herbs around, having been used in India for hundreds of years. According to one Ayurvedic website: "This herb is known to increase Sattva, or positivity and healing power. It also enhances the feelings of spiritual love, and increases Ojas." Come back skeptics, usually I'd be with you, running straight for the door at any claims to increase Ojas...

the leaves of the wild asparagus

It is a nutritive tonic, good for...
Women's menstrual health - balancing hormones, lightening bleeding, leveling mood. It is also good during the menopause, threatened miscarriage and infertility.
Supporting milk production and breastfeeding
Strengthening the libido.
And many more specific ailments such as peptic ulcers, and low sexual functioning in men.

As far as I have read it has no contraindicators. It is gentle but powerful. I feel a glow around me, an added strength of life force, and a shiny happy womb area and a very easy moon time! I feel really good in my body - I shan't tell you what happened when I reported these effects to my husband having just stepped out of the shower ;)

The blend I am taking comes from Pukka (my favourite herbal tea company) which also contains seaweed, ginger and spirulina to give you a boost.

and the roots!

I am not generally a supplement taker, or a tonic taker, as many frustrated friends who only want to help will tell you. But this, this is good. I could manage a hundred husbands with grace and aplomb. I'm now on the look out for "she who has a hundred children" I could do with a dose or two of that!


For more on it check these links
http://ayurveda-foryou.com/ayurveda_herb/shatavari.html
http://www.chopra.com/shatavari

Moonlight blessings

Full moon, fill me full...
of love, of courage, of delight.

Full moon fill me full of luminous magical moon light.

Harvesting hopes, visioning dreams

The wise women circle and sway

Points of light around the world
Gathering herbs and dancing in rounds
To welcome a brighter day

United in intention for love, for life,
For healing, for peace and for joy
Joy in our hearts, in our bodies and homes
A brighter tomorrow for all
For our children, our lovers, our sisters and brothers, our fathers and mothers, 

All others, 

Ourselves
All as one.

Something for the weekend: cosmic bodies!

“Between the idea

And the reality

Between the motion

And the act

Falls the Shadow”

– T.S. Eliot, “The Hollow Men

***

So things were kicking off in London - riots, looting, anger, destruction, which hit everyone who has any connection with the UK hard, and left everyone wondering why...

Part of it is social, part economic, part cultural and part is cosmic... check out this great post on why criminality begins in the womb, from a yoga teacher' perspective ...

Cosmic? Yup... If you're into astrology and 2012 at all, then you might appreciate this explanation for why everything feels so at sea at the moment, why old patterns are coming up, along with lots of mental sludge. Hey Allie gives an insight into the cosmic overview

The next 18 days are important with a capital I, and in ways I don’t think any of us can fully comprehend.

Moon time

Moon time approaching, I am following the call inside to reflect, dream, vision and create for myself. I am taking time to read and reflect and create other stuff. I am back reading Red Moon: Understanding and using the creative, sexual and spiritual gifts of the menstrual cycle. I have done SO much writing and giving out to others the past few weeks (you dear blog readers only see about 1/4 of it!), now is my time. This is a retreat within the confines of my daily life.

All my clothes are torn, so I need to focus on "my" stuff very literally!  I have a number of skirts which need repairing and one I have been meaning to make for about 6 months. Also a few little peg fairies are calling to be made now I have gathered the materials...

Yesterday I made a lovely clay labyrinth for a double motherblessing I am leading on Sunday for two members of our women's group. Am drawn to make another. I have been reading so many birth books for a JUNO feature, and making peace with the fact that my birthing days are behind me.