Menstruation as a powerful aspect of womanhood has been silenced in our culture for perhaps 5000 years. I have never given much thought to my monthly cycle, except as it pertained to procreation and the monthly inconvenience it brought with it.  When working with circles of women doing spiritual work, I was at times thrown into early menstruation, which resulted in my having powerful energetic and therefore physical consequences.  I began this search for knowledge and wisdom concerning menstruation and healing as a result of these powerful and draining experiences.  This search has encompassed the biology, meaning, history and eventually the power of this time in every woman’s life.  It has lead me to understand myself and the archetype of the healer and perhaps, more importantly, as a woman healer. In all practicality, our spirituality is inseparable from our work with subtle energies.  We seem to tap into this unseen, ephemeral dimension that awakens us to realms of archetypes, intuition, and knowing.  My hypothesis is that our time of menstruation connects us even more powerfully and significantly to these dimensions and realms.
    I will begin this journey with you by first looking at the biology, then history and finally some conclusions about this miraculous gift.
BIOLOGY
    I would like to explore the physiology of menstruation to see if there is a link between the chemical reactions of menstruation and the possible expanding or opening to greater power and knowing.  According to Joan Borysenko’s book, A Woman’s Book of Life, at puberty the female body becomes “minutely attuned to the lunar energy cycles” (J. Borysenko, 1996).  Studies have shown that peak conception rates, and therefore ovulation, occur at the full moon or the day before.  During the new moon, ovulation and conception rates are shown to decrease overall, and more women start menstruating at this time.  In fact, most women start menstruating between four and six a.m.  –  the darkest part of the day.
“The lunar cyclcity of the menses is orchestrated through the interlocking effects of four hormones: follicular stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), estrogen, and progesterone.  To understand how these hormones interact, we need to consider four separate organs: the pineal and pituitary glands, within the brain, the ovaries, and the uterus.  The pituitary gland responds to myriad subtle influences including emotions, stress levels, sex, nutrition, pheromones, the sight and smell of one’s beloved, and day length.  The pituitary, in turn, is acted on by another gland buried deep within the brain, the pineal, which secretes the neurohormone melatonin.  The pineal, filled with little crystals called brain sand, is actually a vestigial third eye whose capacity to respond to changes in light/dark cycles regulates both the circadian rhythms of the body and tells the pituitary when it is time to begin secreting the hormones of puberty.  The French philosopher Rene Descartes called it the seat of the soul.  And perhaps it is, since many cultures believe that the onset of menstruation is associated with a profound awakening of power, intuition, and a capacity to access knowledge from other realms.  In Eastern cultures, the pineal corresponds with the sixth chakra, or third eye.  So perhaps at puberty, when the output of hormones from the pineal is at its peak, we have a literal opening of that wisdom eye (J. Borysenko, 1996).”
Borysenko goes on to expound on the biological facts that women are more outgoing and creative when estrogen levels are high (just before ovulation) and more inner directed when progesterone levels are high (just before menstruation). If pregnancy does not occur, the progesterone and estrogen both drop off quickly and the lining of the uterus shrinks and decomposes.  At this time a woman often feels a letdown, as if something that was planned has not happened. It is at this low phase that women’s psychic abilities seem to be heightened.  About two days after bleeding has started, the body begins to respond to the absence of estrogen and signals the pituitary to start producing FSH and to begin a new cycle.  All of these changes are dependent on the light/dark cycles of the body – the cycles of sun and moon.  In culture after culture, the moon has symbolized renewal, the feminine, immortality, and eternity, as well as in its’ waxing and waning the control of both the oceans and menstrual blood.  The word for moon in Greek – mene, meaning “measure of time” is the root word for menstruate.
HISTORY
    Many centuries ago, the menstruating woman was considered blessed; the word blessing derives from the Old English word, bletsian, or bleeding, according to Webster’s dictionary.  When did women’s cycles become so maligned?  In ancient times, over 25,000 years ago, calendars were found made out of bone that are believed to link the menstrual and moon cycles (Crawford, 2004).  The initial instinct of ancient peoples to honor the woman for her ability to bleed on a monthly basis and not be harmed and then to carry a new life within her was considered miraculous (Crawford, 2004).  It is difficult to pierce the patriarchal veil that descended on particularly Western culture with the advent of the “Burning Times”; a time when up to 9 million women were tortured and killed for being women and healers.  That time period, from approximately 1500 – 1700 c.e., and subsequent patriarchal values, has tainted our concepts of being women and our feelings about our bodies and its’ cycles.  I have found two sources of information that still honor the feminine cycles: Tantra and female shamanism.  Many traditions such as the Native Americans believe that women are powerful at this time, but they also believe that women should do their spiritual work separated from men in the women’s moonlodges (Owen, 1998).  I believe this is a remnant of patriarchy.
TANTRA
Tantrism is an ancient yoga practice, which has as one of its central mysteries, called Maithuna, sacred sexual intercourse (Shuttle, 1978/1988). Tantric tradition includes sacred sexuality techniques where the purpose is that of spiritual illumination.  The optimal time for this illumination to occur is to have sex during a woman’s menses when her “red sexual energy” is at its peak. This energy is then harnessed to rituals, meditations, and yoga.  This tradition continues to honor the rejuvenating qualities of the menstrual blood that flows at the dark of the moon (George, 1992). Taoists believe that the menstrual flow of blood is a primary contributor of qi for the female (Lai, 2001).  The Tibetans appreciated the healing properties of the menstrual elixir: a combining of the red menstrual blood and the white semen (Noble, 1991).  The Taoists, Egyptians, Persians, and the Celts also had group rituals where wine mixed with menstrual blood was considered a sacred and powerful ritual.  “In the Christian sacrament of communion, red wine is a symbol of the blood of Christ.  But red wine had been used as a symbol of the Great Mother, the Holy Woman, for centuries before Christ” (Owen, 1998).  Durdin-Robertson tells us that the word Charis (the name of a Goddess) means “grace” and is derived from the word for menstrual blood, which became the root for eucharist (Durdin-Robertson, 1974).
FEMALE SHAMANISM
“ Women were everywhere (in ancient times) the original mantics – the shamans, the ecstatic oracular prophets, the visionary poets.  Mantism is the natural art of prophesying, divining, receiving psychic-biological energy from the (spirit world) Earth and from the Moon.”  “All pagan orientation was a biomystical discipline designed to help the individual and the group channel and direct the real power of the universe radiating into and from all of us.  Women were the first bearers of this technique… women are tied to the moon by both a mental and a blood cord (Barber, 1994).”  
Female shamanism is based in the blood cycle, also called the blood mysteries, menstrual mysteries, or menstrual matrix.  The blood mysteries of birthing and menstruation are at the core of female shamanism.  Geoffrey Ashe, a British scholar has written that women were the original shamans and that it was not an individual phenomenon, but something that was practiced by the women as a group.  The power of women’s groups is biologically rooted in menstruation and the blood mysteries.   Women once bled together with the moon, as women today will still do if they live together for at least four months. 
Can you imagine the power of an entire community of women bleeding together?  What would it have felt like to know when you bled that you were participating in a universal mystery, that you were carrying a sacred trust?  Imagine that when you bled that you were able to use the psychic powers that open and become available to you and through you to your community.  You would have been respected, honored, and valued for the guidance, wisdom, healing, and direction that you brought to your community.  How would this have changed your life?
    “Female hormones play a central role in women’s shamanic abilities.  Just before and during menstruation women experience their strongest healing and oracular powers.  Mood swings and heightened sensitivity at this time of the month - which in the West have been labeled premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and treated as an illness – are actually manifestations of an altered state of consciousness made possible by female biology.  Along with a receptiveness to trance and ecstasy there’s another advantage: as serum estrogen levels rise in a woman’s body, the levels of key neurotransmitters also rise, increasing the amount of adrenaline available for strenuous all-night healing sessions.  Women shamans are keenly aware of their monthly renewal of energy. (Tedlock, 2005).”
     I have taken in all this information and much more. I read a total of fourteen books in the last several weeks to begin to understand the complexity and depth of this information.  I am not touching on the dark side of the Divine Feminine, how our culture needs to awaken to this dark and earthy energy, the repercussions of negating our power in PMS, eating disorders or the role of menopause on the female healer, or feminist politics in the 1970’s and 1980’s, in this paper. All of these topics are worthy of more time and space in another paper.  I am convinced that women have a cyclic nature that predisposes us to the natural rhythms of the planet, the collective unconscious, and the unseen realms.  It connects us to the very essence of healing.  What I have not found are specific instructions on how to use this information.  I found a few notes on how to work as a shaman-leader in the Shakti Woman book by Vicki Noble.   The knowledge and techniques feel lost in a veil of time. 
I decided to interview other energy therapists about this issue from different lineages of healing.  I interviewed Ron Moore, Lori Ann Anderson, Michele Mayama, Maria Peterson and Jeanne Cherner.   All are experienced healers who I have taken classes with. Michele Mayama brought up the issue of minerals, and in particular iron, when we do a lot of energy work.  If we are working with an electromagnetic energy, we need to drink a lot of water (water conducts electricity), but we can also become very depleted in our mineral content. This deficiency would show up in our blood.  I scanned all the energy therapy books I have accumulated over 7 years of training.  Donna Eden in her book, Energy Medicine, makes a reference to PMS as a gift.  “PMS drops you deep into your own being, and your own truth explodes forth.  Whatever you have been successful at burying or denying to yourself bursts forth at this time of the month.  It is a truth serum from which you cannot escape, and if you carve out space for it, PMS makes you wiser” (Eden, 1998).  PMS is the only topic currently being brought to awareness in the energy healing community.  Not one source or healer had received or read anything specific about women and the power of menstruation!  The only information currently available is the current beliefs of Native American traditions that exclude women from healing ceremonies if they are menstruating.  I find this absolutely fascinating!  I have asked these healers if they would be willing to bring this issue into their awareness and to let me know of any interesting developments or impressions that emerge for them. They have all enthusiastically agreed.
     In the synchronicity that flows from such times, I was given a book called Earth: Pleidian Keys to the Living Library, by Barbara Marciniak.  In this channeled book, there is a whole chapter on the blood mysteries and their importance for us as women and as a planet.  It is believed that the blood mysteries are a key to connecting to the source of our power and deep inner knowledge. The way the blood can be altered and enriched is by intention.    It can accelerate many things, and it is one of the grandest gifts.  This knowledge and wisdom is needed to return us to a sharing of power through partnership with men.
     I am committed to continuing my journey to learn how to use the gift of our menstruation to heal myself, others and our community.  I can envision teaching energy therapists to ask their clients if they are menstruating, if they have PMS, are perimenopausal, or menopausal. Another angle is to be able to discern our capabilities as healers at this time.  Am I more vulnerable to negative energies?  Am I able to shift energy in a different way at this time? And what about women healers who are menopausal – they are seated in their wisdom – do they interact with clients differently?  Do we need particular grounding exercises during these various cycles?  I am becoming aware of my own abilities as a healer during these powerful times and learning how to modulate the flow of energy in a meaningful way.  And just as importantly, or even more importantly, how should we come together as women in groups and circles?  Will we inventory our cycles to ground our groups with menopausal women who are seated in their wisdom and perhaps magnify or use the openness of the energies from the menstruating women?  I believe the naming, calling forth and use of the energies of our cycles is an honoring of our ancient power, and a reclaiming of our gifts as women and healers.  I believe this time of menstruation is so powerful, that as energy therapies become more incorporated in our culture, we need to rediscover and evolve the ancient wisdom to fit our modern sensibilities and capabilities. We need to harness and protect these powerful energies as they become more and more accessible as we reclaim our power as women and healers.  I believe this is a necessary addition to our work as we break the menstrual silence and begin to honor who we truly are as women and healers.
References
Barber, E. (1994). Women's work. New York: W. W. Norton and Company.
Crawford, C. (2004). Daughters of the inquisition. Tensed, Idaho: Seven Springs Press.
Durdin-Robertson, L. (1974). The cult of the goddess. Enniscorthy, Eire: Cesara Publications.
Eden, D. (1998). Energy Medicine. New York: Penguin Putnam, Inc.
George, D. (1992). Mysteries of the dark moon. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
J. Borysenko. (1996). A woman's book of life: The biology, psychology, and spirituality of the feminine life cycle. New York: Riverhead Books.
Lai, H. (2001). The sexual teachings of the white tigress: Secrets of the female Taoist masters. Rochester, Vermont/USA: Destiny Books.
Noble, V. (1991). Shakti woman: Feeling our fire, healing our world-the new female shamanism. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
Owen, L. (1998). Honoring menstruation: A time of self-renewal. Freedom, California: The Crossing Press.
Shuttle, P. (1988). The wise wound: Myths, realities, and meanings, of menstruation. New York: Bantam Books. (Original work published 1978)
Tedlock, B. (2005). The woman in the shaman's body. New York: Bantam Dell.